Dancing in the streets: Jazz & Roots Festival

SPRINGFIELD — Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival returns to the city for the second consecutive year in a multi-day format, with over 16 musical acts on tap as well as arts activities, music workshops, and a documentary about the tradition of New Orleans jazz funerals.

The festival, which features a mix of national and local artists playing jazz, blues, funk, hip hop, Latin and more on two stages in Stearns Sqaure, is presented by Blues to Green, a nonprofit group started by Kristin Neville of Huntington as a means of using art and music to address economic inequities in Springfield.

Neville was also inspired by the life of her late husband, the saxophonist and composer Charles Neville, a past performer at the music fest.

Tonight (Friday, July 21), three artists, beginning at 5:30 p.m., will perform, including blues belter Shemekia Copeland, daughter of legendary bluesman Johnny Copeland. (The festival hosted a kickoff concert by The Garifuna Collective July 20 at the Student Price Cafe.)

On July 22, the traditional second line parade from City Hall to Stearns Square starts at 12:30 p.m., with music then beginning at 1 p.m. Among the performers will be Valley bassist and composer Avery Sharpe, who will lead his 400 Project with members of the Springfield Symphony and Chorus.

Others performing July 22 include acclaimed jazz drummer Jonathan Barber and his Vision Ahead project, as well as Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra from New Orleans.

Over the weekend, there will also be three showings of Jason Berry’s film “City of a Million Dreams,” which examines the tradition of jazz funerals in New Orleans. The film will be screened at the Reevex Lab at 270 Bridge Street.

The Springfield festival, which takes place rain or shine, is free (donations are encouraged), but attendees are asked to register in advance so that organizers can keep an accurate headcount. You can also register at the gate the day you attend. Visit springfieldjazzfest.com for more details.

 

An extended run for ‘Let Go’ at A.P.E.

NORTHAMPTON — No Theater, formed 50 years ago in the city, is celebrating its anniversary by extending the run of its current production, “Let Go,” at the A.P.E. gallery through July 29. 

The play, a “short, adult comedy about love, death, and a pile of papers” starring No Theater veterans Roy Faudree and Jane Karakula, takes place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Seating is limited; visit apearts.org for tickets and additional information.

Music in the hilltowns

WORTHINGTON — In a tradition that dates back 55 years, the Sevenars Concerts continue this summer, with weekly performances that this weekend will bring the MOSSO-Springfield Chamber Players’ Horn Trio to the historic Academy building in South Worthington.

The trio, which plays July 23 at 4 p.m., includes violinist Beth Welty and French horn player Sarah Sutherland, both of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and of other ensembles, and pianist Elizabeth Skavish, who has played with numerous orchestras and chamber groups.

The July 23 program includes Brahms’ Horn Trio in E-flat as well as music by Frederic Duvernoy (1765-1838) and Norwegian composer Trygve Madsen (born 1940). The trio has also commissioned a new work for this concert, the world premiere of “Triptych for Horn Trio” by Max Mueller, a California-based film composer.

The Sevenars series continues July 30 with a return appearance by Ukrainian-born pianist Liana Paniyeva, who will perform music by Ravel, Schumann, Brahms, Gershwin-Wild, and more.

The regular Sevenars concerts conclude Aug. 20, with a special memorial concert for the late clarinetist Bob Sparkman, a longtime series performer, taking place Sept. 9.

 

Celebrating BIPOC artists

EASTHAMPTON — July is another busy month for Easthampton’s art scene, including at The Elusie Galley, which is currently celebrating what it calls “The Summer of iZM,” a new exhibit of work by Holyoke artist iZM PRiZM, whose day-to-day name is Orlando Santos.

The self-taught painter, whose work has an energetic and vibrant, pop-art feel, is exhibiting a range of portraits at the gallery through Sept. 2, including an iconic look at the late, great Tina Turner. He’ll also be accepting portrait commissions during the course of the show.

In exhibit notes, Santos says he first started working with charcoals and cray-pas but came to feel that approach wasn’t working: “The work was very dark, both in colors and theme. Full of pain. I wasn’t being good to myself at the time.”

So he switched to paint and his work “evolved into a more colorful and digestible class of art that most anyone can relate to and enjoy.”

The artist says he also took up painting as something to do for fun with his daughter Wynter, which is why you’ll find a “W” hiding within all his work.

Also in Easthampton, 50 Arrow Gallery – which featured a solo show by iZM PRiZM last year – has just opened a Flat Files Collection, featuring the work of 17 artists who have previously exhibited at the Eastworks space.

From paintings and drawings to prints and mixed media, the artwork represents a wide range of mediums, styles and themes, and gallery founder Jason Montgomery says the collection will be rotated to give art enthusiasts and collectors plenty of choices to consider.

In a statement, Montgomery called the Flat File exhibit, which will run to July 2024, “a celebration of artistry and an opportunity for the community to support and engage with the vibrant artistic culture we have cultivated.”

A portion of the artwork sales will go to supporting local artists and expanding the gallery’s community outreach initiatives.

Founded in 2021, 50 Arrow Gallery is a BIPOC-centered space that’s “dedicated to promoting social equity and inclusion through art,” as the gallery website states.

 

Cross-cultural music at Porter-Phelps

HADLEY — The Afro-Semitic Experience, which blends elements of Jewish and African-American music, comes to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum July 26 at 6:30 p.m.

The Connecticut-based band, now marking its 25th anniversary, was formed by African-American jazz pianist Warren Byrd and Jewish-American jazz bassist David Chevan (who grew up in Amherst) in 1998, expanding over the years to include new members and musical influences.

Combining piano, saxophone, trumpet, bass, drums and percussion, the group ranges from world-beat, funk and jazz, to cantorial, gospel, salsa and swing, according to its website, and aims above all to “offer a positive and meaningful message: Unity in the Community.”

The concert, part of Porter-Phelps’ annual Wednesday Folk Traditions concert series, takes place in the museum’s sunken garden. Admission is $12 for adults, $2 for children 16 and under, or free for participants in the Card to Culture program.

In the event of rain, performances will be held at Wesley United Methodist Church, 98 North Maple Street in Hadley.

— Compiled by Steve Pfarrer

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