The first Hamptons Jazz Fest set for this summer
Paquito D'Rivera, a featured player with Bill O'Connell & the Latin Jazz All Stars, will be among the headliners set for this summer's inaugural Hamptons Jazz Fest. Credit: Brenda Feliciano
In one more sign of Long Island opening up as the pandemic eases, a new music festival is set to take place this summer in venues from Southampton to Montauk.
The inaugural annual Hamptons Jazz Fest, produced by the nonprofit group The Jam Session, will waft across at least 17 locales from July to September. "The concerts are intended to expose as many people as possible to the wonderful, diverse world of jazz music with mostly free concerts, small and large, inside and outside and accessible to all," the organizers said Wednesday in a statement, adding, "Cultural diversity and roots of jazz will be celebrated with performing artists from the U.S. and around the world."
Venues include the restaurants Gosman's Dock and Navy Beach, both in Montauk, and the Hampton Coffee Company, in Water Mill; the resort Baron's Cove, in Sag Harbor; the arts and educational foundations LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton and Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island; the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, and the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor.
Still under development, the festival so far has three announced events: The quintet Morris Goldberg SafroJazz will perform July 16 at Water Mill's Parrish Art Museum; Bill O'Connell & the Latin Jazz All-Stars featuring Paquito D'Rivera plays July 31 at the Southampton Arts Center; and HipLaJaz with Baba Israel is set for Sept. 25 as part of the 10th annual Sag Harbor American Music Festival taking place Sept. 23-26.
Others among the long list of performers are the Ravi Coltrane Quartet, featuring the Long Island-born son of jazz legend John Coltrane, whose Dix Hills home is a National Trust for Historic Preservation landmark; and the New Hyde Park-based tabla virtuoso and teacher Sejal Kukadia, performing with prodigy Deepa Paulus.
As well, acts include seven-time Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker and the Ada Rovatti Quintet; vibraphonist Joel Ross, the subject of a New York Times profile in October, and his quintet featuring Immanuel Wilkins; the Peter Weiss Trio, whose local appearances have included Sag Harbor's HarborFrost and the Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack; and jazz artists from Italy (Olivia Foschi Quintet), Denmark (Martin Fabricius Quartet with John Patitucci) and elsewhere.
