April is the coolest month
Central Brooklyn Jazz Fest swings into the borough
New York City is rightfully known as the jazz capital. From the days of stride piano in the ’20s, and swing bands in the ’30s, to bebop in the ’40s, 52nd St. in the ’50s, free jazz in the ’60s, and loft jazz in the ’70s, the identity of jazz has been closely tied to Manhattan.
However — as quiet as it’s kept — Brooklyn in particular can lay claim to some serious jazz real estate, too.
For the past 13 years, a group called the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium (CBJC) has presented a festival in April, the month proclaimed by the Smithsonian Institute as Jazz Appreciation Month since 2002.
In 2000, the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival ran for nine days. Now it’s the whole month.
“We’ve got 40 events, despite the difficult economy,” says Bob Myers, CBJC communications director. “This is because of the organizations that comprise the Consortium, such as community centers, entertainment venues, faith-based institutions, and cultural institutions in Brooklyn that make this festival go.
“There’s no corporate sponsorship; it’s truly a people’s
festival. The musicians, the patrons, and the venue operators are the triad that makes this work.”
More than 100 musicians will perform at 35 events in venues from Coney Island to Williamsburg. Close to 4,000 people, mostly Brooklyn residents, but domestic and international tourists also, came last year. This year’s festival, which began Friday, is expected to draw even larger numbers.
The theme: “Jazz: A Music of the Spirit.”
Events planner Bessie Edwards recruited Myers, then owner of the Up Over Jazz Café, into the consortium early on. A few years before the founding of the CBJC in 1999, she and founding member Torrie Mccartney got things going.
“What really sparked it for Torrie and me was the idea of multicultural tourism because that was starting to kick off in Brooklyn at that time. People were flooding Manhattan but not coming to Brooklyn. We thought it would be a great way to get people involved in Brooklyn,” Edwards recalls.
But that idea didn’t take hold until a group of black Brooklynites, dedicated to the music and its preservation, formed the CBJC.
“Instead of complaining and lamenting a lack of support for jazz, we said what are we gonna do?” Edwards remembers.
“The Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival gestated in the womb of a lot of different minds: co-founder and first chairperson, Jitu Weusi, Alma Carroll, Torrie Mccartney, Deacon Leroy Applin, and Viola Plummer of Sistas’ Place,” Myers explains.
This year’s festival higlights include e performances by Pucho and His Latin n Soul Brothers, Lou Donaldson, Arturo ro O’farrill, Pucci Amanda Jhones, Housuston Person, James Spaulding, the original inal Last Poets, Winard Harper, Rudi Wongozi, Kenyatta Beasley, Brandon Sanders (with vibraphonist Warren Wolf), and Dee Alexander, direct from Chicago’s Southside.
And toward the end of April, jazz bass legend Bob Cunningham will be inducted into the Brooklyn Jazz Hall of Fame.
In years past, clubs such as the Blue Coronet, The Continental, Putnam Central and Pumpkins were gathering places for Brooklyn jazz patrons. And many notable jazz musicians made Brooklyn home for portions of their careers. Eubie Blake, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Thelonious Monk, Betty Carter, and Max Roach were among them.
The great pianist Randy Weston, who turns 86 on April 6, is considered the dean of jazz musicians still living in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn resident Jo Ann Cheatham, publisher of Pure Jazz magazine, has aligned the annual release of her periodical with the festival.
She emphasizes the importance of the types of artists who participate — knowns, unknowns, young, old, men and women.
"We have both known and unknown musicians,” she says.
She notes jazz is more than just the music.
“Jazz is important because of the lifestyle, how people live their life, and how they t treat each other. As the festival has grown, g the jazz community has grown, and a the cultural life of Brooklyn has been enriched.”