There are few if any Harlem institutions that are more beloved than the Jazzmobile. The non profit Jazz advocacy and educational forum which was founded in 1963 by Rivertonian pianist extraordinaire, Dr. Billy Taylor and managed for many years by Dave Bailey; is presently operating under the capable stewardship of Robin Bell-Stevens. Over the years, the familiar filigreed, flatbed truck(sustained by generous support from Chase Bank) has provided a stage and audience to virtually everybody who is anybody in the wide world of Jazz.
As regular as a Timex, its 8 week summer concert series,which is produced by Johnny Garry, has become a cultural mainstay on the Harlem landscape. In addition to its concert programming, Jazzmobile also provides low cost musical instruction to the community and has been instrumental in passing the torch to generations of listeners, and musicians alike.
As we have lost the likes of Dizzy , Bags, and Blakey a new generation of standard bearers has emerged. At the vanguard of that group is the incomparable drummer Winard Harper, who fronted this slammin' sextet in 2002. He will be making several appearances this summer , and is a crowd pleaser without rival......see ya there!!
2 comments:
I'll never forget that wednesday when Milt Jackson was slated to play at Grants Tomb and and been felled by the ilness that would prove fatal. In his place, a little known drummer, who is now a household name had the unenviable task of standing in for a legend. He
"killed it" and the rest, as they say, is history!
The Jazzmobile has always been a place where those in attendance will acknowledge excellence from well-known as well as "unknown" jazz musicians. I still look forward to "re-connecting" with fellow jazz fanatics every summer. I hope it never ends.
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