Woburn Resident Terri Lyne Carrington Serves as Artistic Director for Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival Featuring Meshell Ndegeocello, Will Calhoun Trio, Christian Scott, and More

Boston’s Biggest Block Party Celebrates Jazz: The Next Generation on September 28 Natixis-Berklee City Music Scholarship Will Be Presented at the Event

Boston, MA, September 9, 2013 – Music lovers of all ages will gather for the 13th Annual Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, a free outdoor event offering national and local jazz, Latin, blues, and soul acts on three stages. Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM), one of the world’s leading asset managers, is the presenting sponsor. Past Jazz Festivals have drawn 80,000 music fans. The festival takes place Saturday, September 28, noon to 6:00 p.m. on Columbus Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue and Burke Street.

Woburn, MA, resident Terri Lyne Carrington serves as Artistic Director for the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival for the fifth time this year. Carrington is a Grammy Award-winning drummer, composer, producer, and Berklee professor. She began studying at Berklee at 13 and was touring by her late teens. Millions saw her on TV as the house drummer on the Arsenio Hall Show in the late 1980's. After an extensive touring career of over 20 years with icons like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, and others, she returned to her alma mater to teach. Her album The Mosaic Project, featuring prominent female artists like Esperanza Spalding, Nona Hendryx, and Geri Allen, won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Carrington's latest album is Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, featuring new, Carrington-penned arrangements of music from the pivotal 1963 Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach recording Money Jungle. 

This year, the festival celebrates the theme Jazz: The Next Generation, with performances by some of the genre’s most acclaimed up-and-coming alumni artists, including Grammy-nominated trumpeter Christian Scott; Mike Tucker Trio featuring vibraphonist Warren Wolf; and the Matt Savage Quartet featuring sax great Bobby Watson.

“The next generation of creative musicians is quite strong and, having stood on the shoulders of their predecessors, are now hopefully prepared for unlimited boundaries. How exciting to witness and be a part of this process,” said Carrington. “Mentoring has always been an important part of the continuance and advancement of jazz, so we are proud to recognize mentor-mentee relationships this year.”

Highlights also include Meshell Ndegeocello; Will Calhoun Trio, led by the Grammy Award-winning alumnus and drummer of the band Living Colour; and Robin McKelle & the Flytones.

Faculty and students also play a major role, with performances by faculty artists Lawrence “Larry” Watson & the Workforce, The Bell Affair, Matt Jenson & the Liquid Revolution, and Rick DiMuzio Quintet; and students including Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors featuring Adam Cruz, Jazz Revelation Records artist the Simon Moullier Quartet, Giorgi Mikadze Group, the Berklee P-Funk Ensemble and the Berklee City Music All Stars Big Band Jazz Ensemble. Street performers Marcus Santos & Bloco AfroBrazil will perform throughout the afternoon.

Berklee College of Music, for the fourth year, is the proud recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival and its theme. In awarding the prestigious Art Works grant to Berklee, the NEA cited the festival as a celebration of Boston’s diversity as reflected in the attendees, music, food, and crafts. An educational program about the importance of mentorship in jazz is being planned.

The Natixis Family Park will transform Carter Playground on Columbus Avenue with activities including inflatables, face painting, and an instrument petting zoo staffed by Berklee professionals. The park also hosts KidsJam, an interactive program led by Berklee’s Music Education department, introducing young children to a variety of musical activities, including singing and sound exploration, playing rhythm instruments, and creating, listening, and responding to music.

The outdoor celebration also features a variety of vendor booths offering foods and crafts from all over the world.

Discover Roxbury's High Notes of Jazz Roxbury Walk is offering tours throughout the day for a nominal fee, exploring the area around the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival. The site was once the epicenter of music, food, and nightlife for Boston's jazz community during the 1930s through 1950s. Tours will organize from the Discover Roxbury booth at the festival.

Check beantownjazz.org for updates and a full schedule of events.