Saratoga Jazz Festival comes back to SPAC
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.» Thousands attended the 40th annual Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival over the weekend at
Saratoga Performing Arts Centers, seeking good music and atmosphere.
This long-running festival, which usually attracts between 10,000 and 12,000 attendees, is a staple for regional jazz-lovers and a kickoff to summer for many annual event-goers.
The Saratoga Jazz Festival is known for presenting both superstars and rising stars in the jazz realm.
On the bill this year for the anniversary were headlining acts Chaka Kahn and Gipsy Kings, along with Jean-Luc Ponty and Dee Dee Bridgewater, who were part of the first festival in the late 1970s.
One of the lesser-known artists to make his Saratoga Jazz Festival premiere was Jacob Collier, a young English multi-instrumentalist who grew a following making Youtube videos.
The two-day festival also marked the debut of the SPAC’s new, much larger secondary stage, the Charles R. Wood Gazebo Stage, located on the venue’s back lawn.
Now in its fourth decade of existence, the Saratoga Jazz Festival is one of the most celebrated and longest-running jazz events in the world. The festival has entertained more than half a million fans since it was first established in 1978 by George Wein.
Some fest-goers can now say they’ve been at Saratoga Jazz Festival for all 40 years.
Attendee Belinda Gravett of Latham has been at the festival for at least 30 years,
and her husband have been around since the very beginning. What Gravett likes best about the event each year is “being around good people,” she said. “It’s a feeling, I think.”
Gravett’s friend Carrie Nowik, of Altamont, has also been attending the festival for a long time. She and her husband are teachers, “So it’s our kick off to summer,” she said.
From her memories of previous festivals, “The weather today is the best weather I think there ever has been,” Nowik said on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Nowik brought her young daughter, Cecelia, too. She enjoyed the music, particularly the all-female band that was playing on the gazebo stage at the time, and getting ice cream from one of the vendors.
The women both enjoyed seeing Chaka Khan in concert on Saturday night. “She did not disappoint,” said Gravett, who was also impressed with up-andcomer Jacob Collier’s performance.
Karen Jackson and Patricia Slade of New Jersey started going to the Saratoga Jazz Festival in June of 1981, and have been coming back ever since, with a large and ever-growing group of music-lovers. “When we first started it was just five of us,” Jackson said. Now there are about 40, and they set up tents and chairs in the same exact area each year.
“We always have a wonderful time,” Jackson said.
“All these years,” Slade added.
Some of their most memorable highlights from over the decades are hearing acclaimed musicians Natalie Cole, Ray Charles and Mel Tormé perform live on the SPAC stage, but they’ve also discovered new jazz artists over the years that are making their way to fame as well.
Unlike these longtime fest-goers, this was the first time experiencing the Saratoga Jazz Festival for SPAC president and CEO Elizabeth Sobol, who played a role in organizing it this year.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Sobol, who loved talking with the regulars amongst the crowd.
From those conversations Sobol determined that the new gazebo stage, a project she spearheaded, was a huge success. “Everybody’s been saying it’s a great acoustic, a great vibe,” she said. “It’s so much more artist-friendly.”
Overall, Sobol said after watching a set by Jane Bunnett and Maqueque on that new stage, “It’s pretty spectacular.”