The Annual Huntington Summer Arts Festival Huntington Jazz Week starts Tuesday, July 18th and runs through Sunday, July 23rd. Join us at 8:30 p.m. every night, except Tuesday. The Tuesday Night Family Series starts at 7:30 p.m. The performances are held at the Chapin Rainbow Stage, Heckscher Park located on Prime Ave & Main Street in Huntington. All performances are free and open to the general public.
The Tuesday Night Family Series continues on Tuesday, July 18th with Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz. Hayes Greenfield brings his popular kid-focused jazz show to the outdoors! Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz, is an interactive show for young people that introduces jazz in a fun, unique, and participatory way. *Come early for our fun, easy and free craft for children at 6:30p.m. every Tuesday night before the Family Night Series performance begins.
Wednesday, July 19th - Huntington Community Band
- Pre-concert @ 7:30PM (HCB "BIG" BAND) - Tonight's HCB concert theme is: "HORNS THAT SWING" featuring an eclectic mix of exciting jazz music in addition to concert band favorites as a part of the week long Huntington Arts Council's celebration of Jazz music! Guest soloists tonight are: HORNUCOPIA - French Horn Quartet featuring: Alan Orloff, Tara Adams, Christine Zacher and Tom Gellert. Northport Community Band Director Don Sherman returns to the podium as our guest conductor. Bring folding chairs or large blankets. *A special PRE-CONCERT of musical entertainment begins at 7:30PM as the HCB "BIG" BAND makes its annual appearance with HCB Assistant Director, Dan Bilawsky, directing!
Thursday, July 20th - Huntington Jazz Week - Ted Rosenthal Trio - Ted Rosenthal has performed worldwide as soloist, with his trio, and as sideman with many jazz greats including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Winner of the 1988 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, Rosenthal has released 15 CDs as a leader. His Rhapsody in Gershwin (2014), reached #1 in jazz album sales at iTunes and features his arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue for jazz trio. Rosenthal is a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School and is a published author.
* The Northport Community Band will be performing at 8:30pm at the Robert W. Krueger Bandstand in Northport Village Park at the foot of Main Street, Northport. Listeners can sit on blankets or lawn chairs in front of the bandstand, or even enjoy the music from their boats. The band's musicians are volunteers from all walks of life and include local students, teachers and professional musicians.*
Friday, July 21st - Huntington Jazz Week - Chieli Minucci & Special EFX -- with special guests: saxophonist Richie Cannata (Billy Joel, Lords of 52nd Street, Bernie Williams), percussionist Mino Cinelu (Sting, Miles Davis) & drummer Joel Rosenblatt (Spyro Gyra, Michel Camilo). Guitarist, composer, and arranger Chieli Minucci is longtime leader of the GRAMMY®-nominated jazz-fusion group CHIELI MINUCCI & SPECIAL EFX, a major force on the jazz and world music scene for almost 35 years. Besides writing and performing his own music, Chieli shares his guitar brilliance throughout the entertainment world. He has recorded and performed with many top artists, such as Celine Dion, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Lopez, and Jewel as well as jazz artists Kirk Whalum, Jeff Lorber, Norman Brown, Bernie Williams, Marion Meadows, Lao Tizer, and many others. Chieli is also a gifted television and film composer and has won 3 Emmy Awards and been nominated 10 times for his eclectic compositional work.
Saturday, July 22nd - Huntington Jazz Week - Coltrane Day - Headliner Kenny Garrett Quintetwith opening act Brandee Younger plus afternoon workshops, performances and jam sessions - all a part of 3rd Annual Coltrane Day. Over the course of a stellar career spanning more than 30 years, saxophonist Kenny Garrett has become the preeminent alto saxophonist of his generation. From his first gig with the Duke Ellington Orchestra through his time spent with musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis, Garrett has always brought a vigorous yet melodic, and truly distinctive, alto saxophone sound to each musical situation. He has also continually grown as a composer, earning six GRAMMY® nominations with one win; is an eight time winner of Downbeat Readers Poll for best Alto Sax Player plus one for Best Jazz Album for Pursuance: The Music of John Coltrane (1996); NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album and a Soul Train Award as Best Traditional Jazz Artist/Group - both for Seeds from the Underground (2012).
L.I. Harpist Brandee Younger's versatility has been her passport to an array of venues and the source of musical synthesis at the core of her work. As a classical musician, she has been a featured soloist with The Harlem Chamber Players as well as the Impulse Artist Series. Deeply influenced by Alice Coltrane, Ms. Younger has worked and recorded with a number of jazz luminaries including Jack DeJohnette, Pharoah Sanders, Christian McBride, Ravi Coltrane, Wycliffe Gordon, Charlie Haden, Rashied Ali, Butch Morris, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Kenny Garrett and Bill Lee. Her work in r&b and hip-hop has found her sharing studios and stages with the likes of John Legend, Common, Drake, Salaam Remi and Ms. Lauryn Hill.
Coltrane Day is a collaborative effort between the Town of Huntington, The Huntington Arts Council and the Friends of the Coltrane Home. Coltrane Day celebrates the legacies of music giants John and Alice Coltrane, who lived in Dix Hills. Featured daytime performers include Charles Neville (Neville Brothers) with Circus Mind; and electric bass giant Matt Garrison, who will also lead a master class workshop for aspiring bassists. Additional workshops and a Community Jam, huge successes at the inaugural 2015 and 2016 festivals, are sure to be highpoints once again as musicians, young and old get to sit in with peers and professionals in a supportive environment. For complete daytime schedule and registration information, please check The Coltrane Home website - www.thecoltranehome.org.
Come early @7:40p.m. for an onstage interview with L.I.Jazz Harpist Brandee Younger by Bill Ayres, WPLJ Radio personality and co-founder of WHY Hunger with Harry Chapin.
Sunday, July 23rd - Huntington Jazz Week - Turtle Island Quartet With special guest pianist Cyrus Chestnut, "Jelly, Rags & Monk" - The extraordinary jazz pianist, Cyrus Chestnut, and the GRAMMY® winning Turtle Island Quartet are back together, displaying their formidable collective virtuosity. Making soulful and sweet connections that delve deeply into the jazz and classical traditions, the quintet embraces a range of composers from Jelly Roll Morton to Thelonious Monk.
This year we will be featuring two new fun activities during certain performances. The Huntington Arts Council will be providing a fun, easy and free craft for children at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday night before the Family Night Series performance begins. Additionally we are pleased to announce Picture This: Where Performing and Visual Arts Meet. These are select evenings at the Huntington Summer Arts Festival where performing and visual arts meet in the park to synergize creative energies. Let the park and performers inspire your creativity. We invite artists to come early and create prior to the start of the evening performance. Two evenings will be devoted to photography and two evenings to painting. We encourage artists to e-mail us at info@huntingtonarts.org their best image to add to our website, showcasing the works created. The two remaining evenings are:
Sunday, July 23 - Painting (prior to Turtle Island Quartet with Cyrus Chestnut).
Saturday, July 29 - Photography (prior to Sara Lee Guthrie and The Mammals/Huntington Folk Festival). A date will be planned after the festival when the artists can gather and show off their finished works. For more information call 631-673-1921 or go to www.huntingtonarts.org
The Summer Arts Festival is produced by the Town of Huntington and presented by the Huntington Arts Council. Canon U.S.A. is a presenting sponsor. Additional support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts and the County of Suffolk. For more information and to download a full calendar of the Festival performances go to www.huntingtonarts.org or call 631-271-8423.