Outdoor festivals, plus soul and jazz legends
The summer hits a musical crescendo the week of
July 31 through Aug. 6 with whole festivals of blues bands, reggae bands, Beatles tribute bands and jazz bands. The fests can be found throughout the state, from Simsbury to Waterbury to North Stonington. The music is a main drawing point, but the events can also focused on food, or ’60s memorabilia or cannabis cultivation.
With so many outdoor weekend festivals, this list of The Courant’s picks of things to do cluster around Saturday, Aug. 6. Plan carefully, as there’s a lot to distract and excite you that day.
Indoors, earlier in the week, you’ll find a surfeit of ’60s soul, with Earth, Wind & Fire at Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater and the 5th Dimension at Ridgefield Playhouse. A true Connecticut treasure, experimental jazz guitarist
Joe Morris, is playing out with his recent Mess Hall project. In a whole other world, the comic voices of Jeff Dunham convulse Mohegan Sun.
Earth, Wind & Fire Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater, Bridgeport
“That’s the Way of the World,” “After the Love is Gone,” “Sing a Song,” “Boogie Wonderland,” “Shining Star”... Those are just some of the hits of the elemental soul/pop group Earth, Wind & Fire. The ensemble still includes three members who have been with Earth, Wind & Fire since the early ’70s: lead vocalist/conga player Philip Bailey, bassist Verdine White and percussionist Ralph Johnson. Bailey’s son is in the group as well, plus five other guys. In Connecticut, various versions of Earth, Wind & Fire have played everywhere from Toad’s
Place to New Haven Green. Now they’re at the state’s newest arena on Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. at Hartford Healthcare Amphiteater, 500 Broad St., Bridgeport. $39-$149.50. hartfordhealthcareamp.com
Joe Morris Group
Cafe Nine, 2 5 0 State St., New Haven
Joe Morris is one of the world’s great improvisational guitarists, and his current project Mess Hall finds him exploring shared thematic concepts with drummer Jerome Deupree and keyboardist Steve Lantner on Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. at “the musician’s living room,” Cafe Nine in New Haven. Also on the bill: New Haven Improvisers Collective founder Bob Gorry with his Roundhouse trio of himself on guitar, Conor Perreault on various electronic devices and Michael Larocca on drums/percussion. $8. cafenine.com.
The 5th Dimension Ridgefield Playhouse, 8 0 East Ridge, Ridgefield.
One of the top pop acts of the late 1960s and early ’70s, The 5th Dimension got some fresh attention from the Oscar-winning documentary “Summer of Soul,” which shows the group performing an outdoor concert in Harlem in 1969. In present-day interviews for the film, some of the group’s members say they were worried how they would fare against some of the soul acts on the bill, yet you see them win over the crowd. The current line-up visiting the Ridgefield Playhouse features founding 5th Dimension member Florence LaRue. Aug. 5 at 8 p.m. $55-$65. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Jeff Dunham Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville.
The most successful ventriloquist of his generation, and today’s most successful live comedian based on ticket sales whenever he chooses to tour,
Jeff Dunham covers all the bases: family friendly material, bad taste jokes, political humor, dumb gags, puppetry. He’s a great straight man at the same time that he orchestrating the laugh-getting puppet on his lap. His new tour is titled “Seriously?,” returning him to Mohegan Sun Arena Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. $39-$69. mohegansun.com.
Fab 4 Music Festival
Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center, 2 2 Iron Horse Blvd., Simsbury
The Fab 4 Music Festival celebrates The Beatles with hours of tribute bands, each of which specializes in a certain era or style of the Liverpudlian legends.
While listening, you can browse dozens of vendor booths stocked with fab Beatles gear. There are even acts devoted to Beatles-adjacent bands like Badfinger and The Monkees. The Fab 4 fest has been around for a long fab time, for years in Danbury and then last summer in Wallingford. This is the first time all those Beatlemaniacs will descend on Simsbury Meadows. Aug. 6 from noon to 8 p.m. $30, $25 in advance. simsburymeadowsmusic.com.
Brass City Jazz Fest
Library Park, 267 Grand St., Waterbury
The latest in a string of city jazz festivals this summer is the venerable Brass City Jazz Fest Aug. 6 from 2 to 10 p.m. in the Waterbury’s Library Park. Brass City refers to the metal that used to be milled in Waterbury factories. Here, it could also evoke brass jazz instruments — namely trumpeter Willie Bradley — though woodwinds seem to be most prominent, with saxophonists Paul Taylor and Doug Jones and flutist Sherry Winston all in the line-up. Also performing: Unit 3 Deep featuring bassist David Dyson, vocalists Lori Williams and Taylor Sorice and the Brass City Jazz Fest Band led by Steve Clarke.