Festival Event · Friday, July 24, 2026 · 7:45 PM

Saxophonist Don Braden is marking his 29th year as a member of the Litchfield Jazz Family, and this year he is bringing the full house. For the 31st Litchfield Jazz Festival and its celebration of Litchfield Jazz Camp’s 30th anniversary, Don has assembled a ten-piece ensemble of world-renowned players who all serve as LJC faculty members with deep roots in the Camp. The program will feature original compositions and new large-ensemble arrangements.

Meet the Artist: Don Braden

Don Braden is a world-class saxophonist, flutist, composer, and educator with a career spanning 45 years. He has performed in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, Saturday Night Live, and Harvard University, where he studied engineering as an undergraduate. He has played at countless jazz festivals and clubs around the world.

He has toured in the bands of Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, and Betty Carter, and has lately added annual tours with Herbie Hancock and The Hancock Institute to his calendar. He teaches at Prins Claus Conservatoire in the Netherlands and at Montclair State University, and directs the Harvard Jazz Combo Initiative.

In addition to heading up the Camp with co-director Albert Rivera, Don serves on the Litchfield Performing Arts Board of Directors, where he served as President for two terms.

The Litchfield Jazz Fest Dectet

This special ten-piece ensemble brings together some of the finest faculty artists in the Litchfield Jazz Camp family:

How Don Braden Came to Litchfield

The story of Don’s arrival in the Litchfield Jazz Family is itself a great jazz tale. In 1997, LPA founder Vita Muir traveled to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to scout Art Farmer’s band with an eye toward booking him for an upcoming Litchfield Jazz Fest. Farmer was rather subdued in his delivery. Age, and illness, had sapped his strength. Jazz musicians don’t retire; they just play until they can’t anymore, and meanwhile they add to the band an outstanding young player to help carry the show.

Art’s choice was a 32-year-old Don Braden. Muir had experienced this tactic once before when she heard a very young Roy Hargrove backstopping an aging Clark Terry. Don delivered with enough fire for two horn players and an artistry that was thrilling. He had already toured in the bands of Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, and Betty Carter. After the set, Muir found him and introduced herself. He was as engaging as he was talented and, to her delight, he lived in New Jersey.

That winter, while Muir was at her desk mulling over who could replace inaugural Camp music director Steve Davis (who was going on tour in the summer of ’98), the phone rang. It was Don. He has been part of the Litchfield Jazz Family ever since.