HARLEM WEEK runs from now until August 20. The local family event that began in 1974 has since become an international affair. Its roster of live music ventures far beyond jazz but remains in the element of Black music. When the one-day event, now a fun-filled month, first began its journey, Hip-Hop music was also in its infancy. Now, as HARLEM WEEK celebrates its 49th anniversary, Hip-Hop is celebrating its 50th. And this year’s HW theme is apropos for both celebrations, ”Be the Change. Hope. Joy. Love.”
The last few days will continue with a combustion of activity on August 19. Its Summer in the City event takes place on this day from noon until 9 pm, with three stages of live entertainment featuring performances from Harlem born Hip-Hop rapper, producer and director Cam’Ron, the adult urban fashion show, Broadway Plays and more at the St Nicholas Avenue Main Stage, on 135th Street St. Nicholas Avenue – 5th Avenue. R&B singer and two-time Grammy winner Stephanie Mills, R&B singer Bobby Valentino (known as Bobby V), and HI-FIVE, the R&B group known for its #1 hit “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game),” will appear on the Rise Up NYC Concert Stage.
Hip-Hop pioneer DMC of RUN-DMC will host the Alex Trebek Harlem Children’s Spelling Bee in from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Just as the summer wind must bow to autumn leaves, this historical HARLEM WEEK comes to its finale on August 20, HARLEM DAY (1 pm-8 pm). The day will include four stages of live entertainment featuring performances from the Broadway plays MJ, The Wiz, and Moulin Rouge; celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop courtesy of the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame with a performance from Rob Base, known for the Hip-Hop anthem “It Takes Two;” an Apollo Hour with special guest rapper Fabolous, a salute to the late Heavy D with performances from Jeff Redd & Horace Brown; Mary J. Blige presents a performance from WANMOR (sons of Wanya Morris, member of the international group Boyz II Men), and an international tribute to the late Harry Belafonte. All of the action will take place on 135th Street from St. Nicholas Ave to 5th Ave.
For a complete schedule of all activities, visit the website harlemweek.com.
Since its fledgling times, Jazz in the Valley has offered an unforgettable ambiance, giving fans the opportunity to enjoy jazz while sitting on the banks of the Hudson River, observing birds flying high, as you hear ever so softly the swishing of their wings as they elegantly descend on the river bank. The sailboats are so inviting that it seems as though you can almost leap aboard for a quick sail and return before the next band completes its setup.
Silent serenity is the magical backdrop for the live performances taking place at Jazz in the Valley on August 20 at Waryas Park, Poughkeepsie, New York from noon to 6 pm.
The cast of musicians curated by the festival’s artistic director, saxophonist and composer Javon Jackson will include; NEA Jazz Master and renowned drummer Louis Hayes and his Quintet playing originals and tunes from his latest album release Exactly Right. Also, the Javon Jackson Band will play, featuring Aimee Allen, a daring singer/songwriter who is never afraid to follow her imaginative flow. Jackson has common-geared his own tenor sax voice while coming out of the Cannonball Adderley, Lou Donaldson, Stanley Turrentine school of blues, soul and anything that swings. But having been a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, a bootcamp band of jazz, we wouldn’t expect any less from the tenor. His 2022 album release, The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson), is a joyful emotional journey that takes you directly to the soul of life. This album, with Giovanni’s words, elevates it into the same sphere as Coltrane’s Love Supreme, Alice Coltrane’s Huntington Ashram Monastery, and Pharoah Sander’s Karma. Hopefully, his repertoire will include a few soul-moving tunes from the Gospel….
Sonido Solar concludes the main lineup with an Afro-Cuban tribute to salsa and Latin jazz composer, bandleader, and pianist Eddie Palmieri. Also performing is the rising ensemble Scatter the Atoms That Remain, which features tenor saxophonist Emilio Modeste, bandleader/pianist Davis Whitfield, bassist Otto Gardner and drummer Franklin Kiermyer. With such a group name, expect nothing ordinary; they will be playing tunes from their latest album Emancipation Suite.
For information and tickets, visit the website jazzinthevalleyny.org or call 845-943-2900.
Upon learning the incomparable pianist/organist, composer and lyricist Doug Carn would be performing at Dizzy’s jazz club, I made it a point to be there. Carn is an unsung musician who, with all his outstanding talent, remains under the radar, at least in the States. He says over the years and now, he performs in Paris, Germany and other parts of Europe, including playing at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California. His most recent album was in 2020 with the eclectic record label Jazz Is Dead, with producer musicians Adrian Younger and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. His music landmark swings back to the late 1960s when he was earning a fierce reputation as an organist/pianist forging his own path; he was an innovator from the beginning, as demonstrated with his more than a dozen albums, including those with his ex-wife singer Jean Carn, who later came to fame as a shining R&B singer with Gamble and Huff’s label Philadelphia International (TSOP).
On this first evening of Carn’s two-night engagement, his featured vocalist was Harlem’s own international performer Kathryn Farmer with trumpeter Duane Eubanks, saxophonist Andrew Swandt, bassist Dishan Harper and drummer Russell Carter. Cane announced the set stating, “We will play from the entire album Infant Eyes with a few memorable digressions.” They played “Fatherhood,” an original from Carn’s 1973 acclaimed album Revelation. “Fatherhood” is a breezy mid-tempo tune that gave Eubanks and band members an opening to show off. The original album release featured Carn on organ. Carne’s interpretation of Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme took on another turn with the vocals of Farmer. The songstress handled a most difficult arrangement to play, much less sing, but she handled it with the grace and style of a jet pilot in the midst of death-defying maneuvers. She and the band handled the vocals and instrumentals the same on the song “Revelation,” it was a stirring spiritual movement that inspired a standing ovation. Yes, Doug Carn is still at the top with his harmonic phrases, cascading chords giving to pulsating moments.
During our phone interview, Carne shared how in his earlier days, he wasn’t aware of John Coltrane until a friend turned him on. “I listened to his albums all night and the next morning, I had been converted into a Coltranite,” said Carn. “The next day, I told a friend about my Coltrane discovery, and he promptly noted, ‘well, you should listen to Wayne Shorter.’ And I did, man I love Wayne and Coltrane to this very day.”
Carn loved Shorter’s music so much that he wrote lyrics to his instrumental compositions such as “Infant Eyes” and “Sanctuary.” He says, “Wayne liked the way I wrote and harmonized.” Carne noted, “Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter and Stanley Turrentine can’t be duplicated they are playing more than just scales; they bring in varied tonalities. He feels meeting Farmer was luck and coincidence. “She posted two of my songs on MySpace and I found out that she knew all my songs,” says Carn. “I didn’t have to teach her anything, she had it down. So, I use her as much as I can; she’s exceptional.” Listen for the name Doug Carn; if he’s performing, be there. Carn is a true unrelenting contributor to this style of music.