Free jazz concerts continue this week

NEW MILFORD » Jazz After Work, a series of free summer jazz concerts sponsored by Litchfield Jazz Festival, returns to Litchfield Jazz Camp in New Milford. The camp’s all-star faculty performs Monday through Thursday nights for the full four weeks of the camp’s run. Student camper concerts happen every Friday evening and the public is invited to these as well. Concerts are held at Canterbury School’s Maguire Auditorium, 101 Aspetuck Road, beginning at 7:15 p.m.

Heading up the faculty and starring weekly on concerts is camp Music Director Don Braden. A saxophonist and flutist, Braden is an internationally known performer and educator who has been a sideman with jazz greats Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and others. Camp faculty performers this summer include this year’s Jazz Journalist Award Winner for baritone sax, Claire Daly, and saxophonists Jeff Lederer, Jimmy Greene, Kris Allen, Caroline Davis; trumpeters Jean Caze, Nick Roseboro, Claudio Roditi; and vocalist Nicole Zuraitis. Others include pianists Zaccai Curtis (Chamber Music America New Jazz Works, 2017), Carmen Staaf (Monk Institute), Orrin Evans; guitarists Dave Stryker, Paul Bollenback, and Doug Munro; drummers Matt Wilson, Steve Johns, George Schuller; bassists Luques Curtis, Mario Pavone, Avery Sharpe, and many more. A full list of Jazz After Work concerts will be posted at www.litchfieldjazzcamp.org.

Litchfield Jazz Camp culminates in the 22nd appearance of the Litchfield Jazz Festival, Aug. 5-6 at Goshen Fairgrounds. Featured artists include John Pizzarelli, Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pac Coalition, Ada Rovatti, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ken Peplowski, Joe Locke, and many more, and tributes to the music of Sinatra, Jobim, and Benny Goodman.

In keeping with its 2017 theme, Discovering Genius, the festival introduces vocalist Michael Mayo, another Monk winner, pianist Joe Alterman, and the 11-year-old pianist, a young man who has already appeared at Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, and the Harry Connick Jr. show, from Miami, Brandon Goldberg.

For information, visit litchfieldjazzfest.org or litchfieldjazzcamp.org, or call 860-3616285.