The 24th Litchfield Jazz Festival made a bold move this year, opting for cozy concert confines and an OuterFest, all on the grounds of the new home of Litchfield Jazz Camp, the Gunnery in Washington, CT. With the Camp’s move there in 2018, to an enthusiastic welcome and great success, the festival’s organizers thought it was high time to bring camp and fest together under one roof. That “roof” included the Washington Green and First Church at the top of the Gunnery grounds where visitors shopped for art, jewelry, tasty food, musical instruments, and handmade products by marginalized artisans worldwide assembled by the Women’s Peace Collective, then popped into the historic Church to enjoy the music of Litchfield Jazz Camp Combos. And what a day it was with OuterFest hoopla and 23 performances all of Saturday.
Meanwhile, Jazz Fest concertgoers enjoyed all that before and between the Saturday shows, nipping across the street for Mainstage Fest performances at Emerson Performing Art Center. This charming 1920 wood-shingled building held 220 visitors a show in air-conditioned comfort for eight performances across the three-day festival.
Litchfield Jazz Fest opened with a Gala Party down the hill in Washington Depot at the stylish Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens where guests socialized in the venue’s manicured surrounds and enjoyed the music of talented Jazz Campers (btw, campers provided music for the Center’s Farmers Markets throughout the month too).
Door-to-door service then brought guests up to Emerson for what one seasoned attendee called “the best Opening Night we’ve ever had!” A top LJC combo warmed up the crowd with a few jazz classics and lots of their own work which did not take a back seat. The performers— ranging in age from 13 ( the group’s pianist, Brandon Goldberg, was a regular at Camp from the age of 10) to 21— got a wild, standing ovation. The featured act of the evening– equally warmly welcomed—was the Litchfield Jazz Orchestra with Montreaux Jazz Vocal Competition winner Alexis Cole.
The stellar fest lineup continued Saturday and Sunday with Mike Stern, Wycliffe Gordon, who was presented with his 14th Jazz Journalists Association Award on our stage, six-time Grammy winner Randy Brecker with the Chad LB Quartet (two out of four members were former Litchfield Jazz Campers! ), vocal trio and Jazz Times Critics Poll winners, Duchess, and a tribute to Herbie Hancock’s masterwork, Speak Like a Child, by the Carmen Staaf Sextet. Carmen is a recent winner of the Monk Fellowship and a long-time faculty member at Litchfield Jazz Camp.
The whole shebang wrapped up on Sunday with a sold-out Jazz Brunch in the hydrangea-ringed Gunnery Bourne Courtyard. It starred the fabulous jazz and blues vocalist Antoinette Montague, backed by the Don Braden Trio. Don, the Music Director of Litchfield Jazz Camp, just celebrated 22 years with the program. LJC/LJF Founder, Vita Muir, discovered Braden serendipitously at the New Orleans Jazz Fest a year or two before, where she’d gone to hear Art Farmer, and with Farmer’s blessing, the young sax man had stolen the show. Miracle of miracles, it turned out he lived not in the Big Easy but New Jersey! Don has since served at the heart of the camp where he has mentored over 7000 students and emerging young artists.
LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR 25th ANNIVERSARY!
We look forward to marking 25 years in jazz next summer at The Gunnery, with a month of Jazz Camp and its nightly faculty concerts open to the community, capped off by the 25th Annual Litchfield Jazz Festival at the beautiful, brand-new 415 seat, state-of-the-art Tisch Family Auditorium at the Thomas S. Perakos Arts & Community Center. The year 2020 marks the beginning of a new era for both The Gunnery and Litchfield Jazz. So exciting!!!
Enjoy these photo highlights compliments of Lindsey Victoria Photography!
