Germantown has lengthy performed a significant function in Philly’s jazz scene, nurturing homegrown expertise at native golf equipment, church buildings and neighborhood facilities. Nonetheless, over the previous few a long time, particularly because the pandemic, the neighborhood has seen the closure of a lot of its iconic jazz venues.
A brand new occasion this weekend, Germantown Jazz Competition, is hoping to rectify that.
“I like jazz. Jazz is in my soul,” stated Khadijah Renee G. Morgan, a vocalist and occasion producer for the competition. “We now have three days of it, and it’s that includes a few of Philadelphia’s excellent native jazz musicians who made names for themselves, each regionally, nationally and internationally as nicely.”
Morgan has been producing jazz occasions for the previous 5 years, and the launch of this mission is her greatest but. The competition will have a good time Philadelphia’s jazz legacy by way of three days of stay music.
“Jazz has plenty of historical past in Germantown,” she stated. “Doing venues there and producing occasions there confirmed me that Germantown loves music — the music of jazz.”
Morgan’s smaller jazz occasions within the neighborhood have been profitable, so she thought the neighborhood could be hungry for one thing extra.
“I made a decision to create one thing greater that may set off curiosity in re-establishing Germantown as a vacation spot for jazz,” she stated. “If we will come out en masse and present folks that we love jazz on the competition, then perhaps that may drum up some curiosity and a few enterprise capital for better issues.”
Jazz bassist Mike Boone, 68, is happy to carry some vitality to the neighborhood by way of his music on the competition. He used to carry out in Germantown alongside musician Tony Williams, who handed away in 2023.
“Pre-pandemic we have been at a spot referred to as La Rose proper on Germantown Avenue,” Boone stated. “And that was actually a command heart when it comes to the music.”
Boone defined La Rose was patronized by an “older, extra refined crowd — jazz lovers because the ‘30s and ‘40s.”
“We’ve had octogenarians in there,” he stated. “It was a hub, and because the pandemic, there actually hasn’t been something like that.”
The inaugural Germantown Jazz Competition will happen at three places:
- the Germantown Pals Assembly Home from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday,
- the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and
- the Nile Café from 4 to six p.m. on Sunday.
The lineup will likely be full of musicians of various ages and backgrounds. Boone, for instance, will likely be taking part in twice on Friday evening. He teaches at Temple and his group is stuffed with his college students and up to date graduates.
“I’m nonetheless studying myself,” he stated, and the youthful crowd “retains me on my toes.”
“I’m not going to relaxation on my laurels, due to what I might need achieved once I was their age, so it retains me pushing,” he stated. “I would like to have the ability to play with these younger guys and have one thing for them. I would like to have the ability to kick their ass just a little bit. I do know they’re going to kick mine.”
The competition is being placed on in partnership with Artcinia, a neighborhood group which promotes the performing arts. Along with musical performances, there may also be art work on show at a particular Artwork Pavilion sponsored by October Gallery curator Mercer Redcross. Plus, Saturday will embrace a kid-friendly tent from The ArtSisters group with stay music, portray and drawing, starting at midday in Vernon Park.
Any live-music occasion has a way of the unknown going into it, however jazz may be actually improvisational. Viewers members will get to see performers in actual time making musical selections primarily based on what they’re feeling within the second.
“You have got a framework,” Boone stated. “You might have a starting and an ending and a construction — a certain quantity of bars — in order that foundational factor doesn’t change. However there’s much more freedom after you state the melody in jazz. After which all people will get an opportunity to create or improvise their very own melody primarily based on regardless of the chords are … That’s going to be completely different each time.”
Alfie Pollitt, an 82-year-old keyboardist and Bryn Mawr native, will likely be taking part in along with his trio on Friday. He has been round because the heyday of the Philly jazz scene, and has seen it evolve and remodel — studying from legends like John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell, Invoice Evans and Purple Garland.
“We’ve been on board taking part in because the Nineteen Fifties,” Pollitt stated. “We have been blessed to be round plenty of the musical greats — world-class greats who have been not with us — and even received to satisfy and play with a few of them.”
His trio consists of himself, Richard Hill Jr. and Alan Nelson — and he’s wanting ahead to seeing the place inspiration will take them.
“We’ve had not that many rehearsals,” Pollitt stated. “We comply with the custom of a number of the folks that got here earlier than us … Lots of what we do is bounce off of one another, so to talk.”
“The drummer, you realize, he bounces his drum sticks on his drums,” he joked. “In order that’s just a little completely different.”
Tickets for the competition are at present on sale. Costs vary from $25 to $50. Tickets on the door will value an additional $5. Morgan is hoping that the neighborhood will come out and help the occasion in order that it might probably proceed for years to return.
“Sadly, we didn’t increase the price range that we thought we might get,” she stated. “So we’re working from a shoestring price range. We nonetheless want help.”
The occasion partially is being crowdfunded and anybody is welcome to move to the Germantown Jazz competition web site and donate. However whereas in search of help for the competition, Morgan is happy to see the affect that the occasion can have on the neighborhood.
“There’s plenty of anxiousness, plenty of hopelessness, plenty of worry… We’re positively hurting as a neighborhood,” she stated. “We will come collectively for music, the celebration of tradition, the celebration of the legacy of who we’re. I feel it’s going to be very therapeutic for the town, in addition to the realm of Germantown.”