Germantown aims to hit a high note with brand-new jazz festival this weekend

Germantown has long played a meaningful role in Philly s jazz scene nurturing homegrown talent at local clubs churches and district centers However over the last scant decades especially since the pandemic the neighborhood has seen the closure of various of its iconic jazz venues A new event this weekend Germantown Jazz Festival is hoping to rectify that I love jazz Jazz is in my soul mentioned Khadijah Renee G Morgan a vocalist and event producer for the festival We have three days of it and it s featuring various of Philadelphia s outstanding local jazz musicians who made names for themselves both regionally nationally and internationally as well Morgan has been producing jazz events for the past five years and the launch of this project is her biggest yet The festival will celebrate Philadelphia s jazz legacy through three days of live music Jazz has a lot of history in Germantown she revealed Doing venues there and producing events there indicated me that Germantown loves music the music of jazz Morgan s smaller jazz events in the neighborhood have been effective so she thought the neighborhood might be hungry for something more I decided to create something bigger that would trigger interest in re-establishing Germantown as a destination for jazz she noted If we can come out en masse and show people that we love jazz at the festival then maybe that would drum up particular interest and particular venture capital for greater things Jazz bassist Mike Boone is excited to bring specific force to the neighborhood through his music at the festival He used to perform in Germantown alongside musician Tony Williams who passed away in Pre-pandemic we were at a place called La Rose right on Germantown Avenue Boone stated And that was really a command center in terms of the music Boone explained La Rose was patronized by an older more sophisticated crowd jazz lovers since the s and s We ve had octogenarians in there he reported It was a hub and since the pandemic there really hasn t been anything like that Courtesy of Khadijah Renee G Morgan Courtesy of Khadijah Renee G Morgan Courtesy of Khadijah Renee G Morgan Courtesy of Khadijah Renee G Morgan The inaugural Germantown Jazz Festival will take place at three locations the Germantown Friends Meeting House from to p m on Friday the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown from to p m on Saturday and the Nile Caf from to p m on Sunday The lineup will be filled with musicians of different ages and backgrounds Boone for example will be playing twice on Friday night with the Robert Landham Quartet and with his own group He teaches at Temple and his band is full of his students and newest graduates I m still learning myself he stated and the younger crowd keeps me on my toes I m not going to rest on my laurels because of what I might have done when I was their age so it keeps me pushing he declared I want to be able to play with those young guys and have something for them I want to be able to kick their ass a little bit I know they re going to kick mine The festival is being put on in partnership with Artcinia a local organization which promotes the performing arts In addition to musical performances there will also be artwork on display at a special Art Pavilion sponsored by October Gallery curator Mercer Redcross Plus Saturday will include a kid-friendly tent from The ArtSisters organization with live music painting and drawing beginning at noon in Vernon Park Any live-music event has a sense of the unknown going into it but jazz can be truly improvisational Audience members will get to see performers in real time making musical choices based on what they are feeling in the moment You have a framework Boone revealed You may have a beginning and an ending and a structure a certain amount of bars so that foundational thing doesn t change But there s a lot more freedom after you state the melody in jazz And then everybody gets a chance to create or improvise their own melody based on whatever the chords are That s going to be different every time Alfie Pollitt an -year-old keyboardist and Bryn Mawr native will be playing with his trio on Friday He has been around since the heyday of the Philly jazz scene and has seen it evolve and transform learning from legends like John Coltrane McCoy Tyner Bud Powell Bill Evans and Red Garland We ve been on board playing since the s Pollitt explained We were fortunate to be around a lot of the musical greats world-class greats who were no longer with us and even got to meet and play with specific of them The Germantown Jazz Festival is hoping to revive the neighborhood s jazz scene Courtesy of Khadijah Renee G Morgan His trio consists of himself Richard Hill Jr and Alan Nelson and he is looking forward to seeing where inspiration will take them We ve had not that several rehearsals Pollitt reported We follow the tradition of several of the people that came before us A lot of what we do is bounce off of each other so to speak The drummer you know he bounces his drum sticks on his drums he joked So that s a little different Tickets for the festival are at the moment on sale Prices range from to Tickets at the door will cost an extra Morgan is hoping that the public will come out and promotion the event so that it can continue for years to come Sadly we didn t raise the budget that we thought we would get she disclosed So we re working from a shoestring budget We still need sponsorship The event in part is being crowdfunded and anyone is welcome to head to the Germantown Jazz festival website and donate But while seeking aid for the festival Morgan is excited to see the impact that the event will have on the region There s a lot of anxiety a lot of hopelessness a lot of fear We re definitely hurting as a region she declared We can come together for music the celebration of way of life the celebration of the legacy of who we are I think it s going to be very healing for the city as well as the area of Germantown 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