Caramoor Presents Its 22nd Annual Jazz Festival on July 18 – Headlined by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Singer Cécile McLorin Salvant
By Roslyn Wertheimer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information: Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group 212.625.2038/gpetry@21cmediagroup.com
Caramoor – now celebrating its 70th anniversary season – once again puts the spotlight on America’s great indigenous art form on July 18 with its 22nd annual Caramoor Jazz Festival. Curated by Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of a new programming collaboration with Caramoor, this summer’s Jazz Festival will feature events and performances for jazz enthusiasts of all ages, culminating in a headline performance by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The critically-acclaimed big band will be joined by special guest, rising-star vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, about whom DownBeat magazine said, “Making the old sound new and the offbeat feel inevitable, she’s a jazz songbird for the 21st century.” The daylong Jazz Festival will also include a set by Salvant with a trio, along with sets by inventive pianist Orrin Evans and his quartet, eleven-year-old piano prodigy Joey Alexander (recently featured on the front page of the New York Times), and much more, with full lineup details below. An All Day & Evening ticket provides access to all performances and activities; a Day Only ticket provides access to everything excluding the headline performance. The festival takes place at the historic Caramoor estate: 90 acres of picturesque Italianate architecture and gardens in Katonah, NY, just an hour’s drive from Manhattan – an oasis for jazz aficionados and newcomers alike. Following the Jazz Festival, on July 24, Caramoor and Jazz at Lincoln Center will present stylish New Orleans phenom Jon Batiste – recently named music director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – in an intimate Spanish Courtyard concert. For ticket information and more, go to www.caramoor.org/music/jazz. For almost three decades, Caramoor has included jazz in its cultural mix, with performances by the likes of the great Ray Brown, as well as the big bands carrying on the official heritage of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Since its founding in 1993, the Caramoor Jazz Festival has been devoted to convening an eclectic array of jazz legends and future stars for one-of-a-kind collaborations and fresh synergies. In recent years, Caramoor’s exquisite setting and laid-back charm have attracted such performers as Chick Corea, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, Vijay Iyer, Dr. John, Christian McBride, Robert Glasper and Paquito D’Rivera, among others. As the Huffington Post said about jazz at Caramoor: “One couldn't ask for a more exciting and contemporary selection of musical performers to choose from.” The new programming collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center sees Caramoor only deepening its connection to American’s original art form. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – winner of the DownBeat Readers Poll for Best Big Band – performs a world of music every year, and it has done so in some 400 cities in 35 countries on six continents. Jazz at Lincoln Center programming will offer audiences the chance to experience world-class jazz from one of the nation’s foremost cultural institutions in Caramoor’s idyllic setting.
Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Spanish Courtyard, July 24
The young keyboardist and singer Batiste – like Marsalis, raised in the cradle of jazz – has pointed out, “Jazz is like the universe: it’s been expanding since its creation, and it’s connected to everything.” Batiste will play in the intimate setting of Caramoor’s Spanish Courtyard on July 24, but he will be connected to a much bigger audience come September, when he will take on the role of music director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. For a glimpse of Batiste’s eclectic approach, see this “Jazz Night In America” episode, with Batiste leading his band in an impromptu parade atop a 190-year-old fort after their set at the Newport Jazz Festival.
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About Caramoor
Caramoor is a performing arts center located on a unique 90-acre setting of Italianate architecture and gardens in Westchester County, NY. It enriches the lives of its audiences through innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality. Its mission also includes mentoring young professional musicians and providing educational programs for young children centered around music. Audiences are invited to come early to explore the beautiful grounds, tour the historic Rosen House and on special Sundays enjoy a delicious Afternoon Tea or unwind with a pre-concert picnic, and discover beautiful music in the relaxed settings of the Venetian Theater, Spanish Courtyard, Music Room of the Rosen House, and the magnificent gardens. Summer concerts take place in two outdoor theaters: the 1,508-seat, acoustically superb Venetian Theater and the more intimate, romantic 470-seat Spanish Courtyard. In the fall and winter all concerts are presented in the magnificent Music Room in the Rosen House. Caramoor’s gardens, also used for concerts and the Garden of Sonic Delights, are well worth the visit and include nine unique perennial gardens. Among them are a Sense Circle for the visually impaired, the Sunken Garden, a Butterfly Garden, the Tapestry Hedge, and the Iris and Peony Garden.
Getting to Caramoor
By car from the West Side of Manhattan and New Jersey, take the Saw Mill River Parkway north to Katonah. Exit at Route 35/Cross River. Turn right and, at the first traffic light, make a right turn onto Route 22 south. Travel 1.9 miles to the junction of Girdle Ridge Road. Follow the signs to Caramoor. (For detailed directions call 914-232-5035 and press 4, or visit www.caramoor.org.) Parking at Caramoor is free. By train, take the Harlem Division of the Metro-North Railroad to Katonah, New York. Taxi service from the station to Caramoor (just five minutes away) is available.
Jazz at Caramoor
July 18Caramoor Jazz FestivalJazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Cécile McLorin Salvant 11:00am / Picnic Parking Welcome Area Sammy Miller and The Congregation 11:20am / Picnic Parking Welcome Area The Amigos Band Noon / Friends Field Sammy Miller and The Congregation 1:00pm / Friends Field Bryan Carter Quintet Plays Ray Charles 1:00pm / Venetian Theater Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra 1:30pm / Venetian Theater Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra featuring Joey Alexander 1:45pm / Venetian Theater Joey Alexander Trio 2:15pm / Friends Field Orrin Evans Quartet 2:30pm / Sunken Garden Alphonso Horne, trumpet, David Linard, melodica & Patrick Sargent, saxophone 2:30pm / Spanish Courtyard Ibanda Ruhumbika, tuba & Ben Flocks, saxophone 3:00pm / Garden Courtyard The Amigos Band 3:15pm / Friends Field Jazz for Young People on Tour: “Let Freedom Swing” with the Jerome Jennings Sextet 3:30pm / Sunken Garden Russell Hall, bass & Gabe Schnider, guitar 3:30pm / Rosen House Jake Hertzog, guitar 4:00pm / Venetian Theater & audio broadcast to garden listening areas Cécile McLorin Salvant Quartet 4:15pm / Garden Courtyard The Amigos Band 4:30pm / Rosen House Jake Hertzog, guitar 5:30pm / Friends Field & Tapestry Hedge Elijah Jamal Balbed Trio 5:30pm / Spanish Courtyard Jazz Chat: A Conversation and Q&A about the evening performance, led by Seton Hawkins 8:00pm / Venetian Theater Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Cécile McLorin Salvant July 25 at 8pmJon Batiste & Stay Human
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All concerts made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with funds from the Westchester County Government.
All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature
© 21C Media Group, July 2015