Festival Schedule
Saturday August 4th
Martha’s Vineyard Jazz Festival Kick Off Parade
2nd Annual Line Parade Featuring “Made in the Shade”
11am – 2pm
Oak Bluffs MA: Beginning at the Ferry and Parading to the Tabernacle
Don’t miss this fun musical parade. The MV Jazz Festival kicks off with their annual “MV Jazz-festers Parade” with Boston’s own “Made In The Shade”, a New Orleans 2nd line Dixie band. “Made In The Shade” will board the 12:00pm ferry with other arriving “MV Jazz-festers” arriving in OB at 12:45pm. They will then parade through OB (up Circuit Ave) picking up people as they move along, parading through the Camp Grounds to the Tabernacle, where they will continue to perform and lead off the “Cool Jazz Saturday” show at the Tabernacle. This is a great way to kick off the MV Jazz Festival week with family and friends. This is a free event, all welcome.
Saturday August 4th
Cool Jazz Saturday
Five Great Performances
Tabernacle Pavilion, Oak Bluffs MA
Join the celebration as the MV Jazzfest 2012 kicks off with the “Cool Jazz Saturday” show in the beautiful Tabernacle pavilion in Oak Bluffs. The show is featuring the best in contemporary jazz, including the saxophone sounds of Elan Trotman, Smooth Jazz new artist of the year, guitar sensation Drew Davidsen, the bass extraordinare Gerald Veasley, the Urban Harmonica Sounds of Fredrik Yonett, and 2011 Grammy winner for “Best Jazz Vocal Album” drummer, Terri Lyne Carrington. Experience five shows in one spectacular afternoon of jazz. There will also be a special guest DJ to keep the party going between the sets. Indoor pavilion. Event is rain or shine.
Cool Jazz Saturday Performers
Elan Trotman, Sax
Saxophonist Elan Trotman, quickly becoming one of jazz’s most thrilling and emotive performers, continues to stand out and push boundaries as a composer, performer, teacher and recording artist. Trotman’s playing, though inspired by Grover Washington, Jr. and Kirk Whalum, among others, displays his own fresh ideas and distinctive tone. So much so that he’s a 3-time winner of the New England Urban Music Award for Best Jazz Male, nominated for a Boston Music Award in 2010 for Best Jazz Male, and winner for Instrumentalist of the Year (Barbados) in 2011.
Drew Davidsen, Guitar
After a smash smooth jazz hit single and an inspiring collection of holiday tunes, American Smooth Jazz Award-nominated guitarist Drew Davidsen “Best New Artist” with his new infectious CD , Spin Cycle (Creative Soul Jazz), released on Feb. 22, 2011, hosting 10 original songs of contemporary jazz that are as fresh as anything your going to hear. Davidsen, also nominated as Best New Artist by the Oasis Contemporary Jazz Awards in 2011 is considered one of the rising stars in the field of Contemporary jazz.
Gerald Veasley, Bass
Renowned bassist Gerald Veasley, is a formidable player and composer, Veasley latest project as a leader is the Electric Mingus Project. The group’s self-titled debut album revisits ten Mingus compositions using modern electronic instruments. When asked to explain the goals of what initially appears to be a tribute project, the former bassist for Grover Washington Jr. and Joe Zawinul responds surprisingly. “Any recording should reflect not just how you play, but also who you are as a person.
Frederic Yonnet – Harmonica
Using an instrument that many have owned but few have mastered, urban jazz harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet’s musical skills and stage presence crushes every preconceived notion that you’ve ever had about the harmonica. Regarded for decades as the choice instrument of street musicians and loners who wanted to express themselves through country music or the blues, in Yonnet’s hands it becomes something else entirely: a lead voice in urban jazz, R&B and hip-hop. With each performance, stereotypical walls come tumbling down as Yonnet presents the harmonica in a refreshing and modern context. It’s stylish. It’s cool. It’s brilliant.
Terri Lyne Carrington, Drums
In July 2011, Terry Lyne released her Grammy winning album, The Mosaic Project (Best Jazz Vocal Album), her fifth recording overall and first on Concord Jazz. Her new album once again gathers a myriad of voices and crystallizes them into a multi-faceted whole that far outweighs the sum of its parts. She produced the 14-song set which features some of the most prominent female jazz artists of the last few decades: Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sheila E., Nona Hendryx, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen and several others.
Roberto Giaquinto, Drums
Roberto Giaquinto started to play the drums in a music school in Naples (Italy) where he also had his first experiences in the music scene of his town, being a member of different jazz, blues and rock bands. After attending one year of high school, he moved to Rome and he enrolled at Conservatorio Licinio Refice where he studied jazz arranging. While in Rome he performed with many musicians from all over the world, in the clubs of the city and in several main festivals in Italy and in Europe (Casa del Jazz, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Villa Celimontana, European Jazz Expo, Actual Festival etc). He also received different scholarships (Elvin Jones Zildjian Award, Most Active Drummer from Berklee Percussion Department, Nuoro Jazz from Paolo Fresu, Roma jazz’s cool) and won some national competitions (St Louis Jazz Contest, Baronissi Jazz, Piacenza Jazz, Ronciglione Jazz).
Roberto is currently part of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, under Artistic Director Danilo Perez and has many mentors such as Dave Liebman, John Patitucci, Ben Street, Eddie Gomez, Wayne Shorter, Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Teri Lyne Carrington, and Adam Cruz. Since he moved to the states to study at Berklee, he has performed at the Blue Note in NY, Detroit Jazz Festival, Beantown Jazz Festival, Kimmel Center, Panama Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center in DC, JEN in New Orleans, and the Regattabar.
Sunday August 5th
Jazz Brunch featuring Vivian Male
2pm – 5pm
Hooked at Lola’s, Oak Bluffs MA
Vivian’s song renditions range in mood and tempo, and demonstrate a musical versatility that appeals to audiences of all ages. Her recording debut was on a collaborative CD, Boston Sings Out. She later co-produced her first solo CD, Our Day Will Come, which aired daily on WPLM 99.1 FM. Over the years Vivian has worked with recording artists Walter Beasley, Bill Pierce, and Andre Ward, as well as producer and composer Rollins Ross.
Ticket price will include brunch, not to include drinks.
Sunday August 5th
The Art of Jazz
4pm – 6pm
Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs MA
Join us for the opening of our exciting art exhibit titled “The art of Jazz” curated by the Featherstone Center for the Arts, featuring jazz inspired works by island visual artists, with special guest artist from Washington DC, Preston Sampson. Sampson is a young, perceptive artist whose illuminating works on un-stretched and unprimed canvases have gained him the acclaim of a coterie of private and institutional art collectors. He has added to the excitement of his art through the use of the unstructured canvas as an actual medium in his work.
Monday August 6th
Featherstone Presents Musical Mondays
Featuring Stan Strickland
6:30pm – 8pm
Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs MA
Enjoy a beautiful evening of jazz on the beautiful campus of The Featherstone Center for the Arts, featuring Stan Strickland. Singer, saxophonist, flutist, actor, Stan Strickland has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand and the former Soviet Union. In addition to numerous radio and television appearances, Stan has performed in many clubs and concert halls, including Jordan and Symphony Halls in Boston, Carnegie Recital Hall and Town Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He also has performed with the Boston Pops Touring Ensemble. His work has been featured on recordings by Bob Moses, Marty Erlich, Webster Lewis and Brute Force. Stan has also performed with jazz greats Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Mann, Danilo Perez, Shirley Scott and Marlena Shaw.
Monday August 6th
Jason Moran & The Band Wagon
7pm – 9:30pm
Dream Land, Oak Bluffs, MA
Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole. In almost every category that matters — improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation — Moran, and his group The Bandwagon — with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits — have earned the reputation as “the future of jazz.”
Tuesday August 7th
The Brian King Nelson Quintet
Two Shows: 6pm – 8:15pm
and 9pm – 11:15pm
The Island House, Oak Bluffs, MA
Brian King Nelson Quintet — the Vineyard’s premier jazz combo — their sound and approach is rooted in the tradition but stretches towards the outer edges of the jazz spectrum. The frontline hard bop sonorities of C-Melody sax (not heard since the ’30s) and trombone ride over the modern push of the group’s piano, bass, and drums creating a new and compelling blend of inside and outside.
The band’s sound is informed by the extensive individual experience of the members garnered from touring across the US, Caribbean, Europe as well as appearing on numerous jazz recordings. Brian King Nelson – C Melody saxophone, Mark Campos – trombone, Glenway Fripp – piano, Matty “Ro” Rosenthal – drums, Brian Sandlin – bass
Wednesday August 8th
Chico & Rita
World Premier Film Screening
7pm – 8:30pm
Dreamland, Oak Bluffs, MA
Nominated for 2012 Academy Award “Best Animated Feature Film” Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey — in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero — brings heartache and torment. From Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas, two passionate individuals battle impossible odds to unite in music and love.
Thursday August 9th
Quincy Troupe Book Signing
Author of “Miles: The Autobiography of Miles Davis” and “Miles & Me”
10am – 12pm
Bunch of Grapes Bookstore
Vineyard Haven, MA
Born July 22, 1939 in St. Louis, Missiouri, Quincy Troupe is an awarding-winning author of eight volumes of poetry, three children’s books, and six non-fiction works. In 2010 he received the American Book Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement.
Among his best-selling works are Miles: The Autobiography of Miles Davis and his memoir, Miles & Me. Other works are: The Pursuit of Happyness, an autobiography he wrote with Chris Gardner that became a major motion picture and that was a New York Times bestseller for over 40 weeks; The Architecture of Language, a book of poems, that won the 2007 Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement.
Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems won the 2003 Milt Kessler Poetry Award and was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten best books of poetry in 2002. Errançities, his newest book of poems, will be published in November 2011 by Coffee House Press, and a new children’s book, Hallelujah: The Story of Ray Charles with illustrations by Brian Pinkney, will be published by Disney/Hyperion in February 2013.
Quincy Troupe is professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego, and editor of Black Renaissance Noire, a literary journal of the Institute of Africana Studies at New York University.
Thursday August 9th
The Larry Brown Quintet
Two Shows: 6pm – 8:15pm
and 9pm – 11:15pm
The Island House, Oak Bluffs, MA
Friday August 10th
Christian Sands
Two Shows: 6pm – 8:15pm and 9pm – 11:15pm
The Island House, Oak Bluffs, MA
