The end of summer inches closer with each passing moment, but there are still plenty of free concerts and interesting programming presented by Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage to jam-pack into your schedule before the season comes to a close. Highlights include Flo Fair, a health and wellness fair hosted by Harlem rapper Ferg; the 32nd annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, featuring performances by jazz legends like Ron Carter and Gary Bartz; and Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues experience, narrated by the Academy Award-winning actor.
“For me, it’s always about finding the right artists who are simply New York, and wherever possible, connecting them to communities and parks that resonate with them on a very human, and personal level” said Erika Elliott, executive artistic director of SummerStage for more than two decades, to the AmNews in a phone interview.
The City Parks Foundation has brought music and art to New York City since 1989 through their annual SummerStage series, which offers connective pathways to culture and community through a diverse array of programming. So far this year, the stage has hosted legendary jazz fusion bassist Marcus Miller; activist and Afrobeats pioneer Femi Kuti; and contemporary funk/jazz drummer Yussef Dayes, who performed selections from his 2023 album “Black Classical Music,” each taking audiences on a journey into the storied artistic history of New York and beyond — tracing Black contemporary art back to its roots in the city and on “the Continent.”
Flo Fair, on August 14 at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, will feature yoga classes, sound baths, interactive art, and performances by Harlem rapper Ferg, who wanted to bring wellness practices he learned on the road back to his neighborhood. The event is free, and fans can sign up for wellness activities here.
The next day, August 15, famed jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington will take the stage in the same park, performing a reimagination of Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite,” a landmark artistic work of the Civil Rights Movement.
On the 16th, “Run It Back: The Art of the Sample” will take place at the Harlem park, hosted by Soapbox Presents, which was founded in the wake of the George Floyd murders and champions “Black and Brown expression.”
August 16–17 are jam-packed with celebrations and festivals, so there are multiple opportunities to access free music based on your taste or location. The Blacktronika Festival, started by artist Charlie Dirk and featuring performances by house legend Phuture, will celebrate Afrofuturism and electronic music at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield off 72nd Street. Famed DJ and NYC legend Funk Flex will celebrate his birthday at the Coney Island Amphitheater with a plethora of special guests, bringing hip-hop to the spotlight in the city where it was born.
The Charlie Parker Jazz festival, named after the famed genre titan who revolutionized be-bop in Harlem during the mid-20th century, will return for its 32nd year August 22–24. The event will be hosted at Marcus Garvey Park on the 22nd and 23rd, featuring headlining performances by Ron Carter, bassist of Miles Davis’s “Second Great Quintet,” and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The third day will be held at Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side and features former Miles Davis saxophonist Gary Bartz.
The next week, on August 27, Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman will narrate a Symphonic Blues Experience at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield, offering fans a unique way of engaging with cross-disciplinary art and one of film’s most beloved actors.
On August 31, IZA will bring Afro-Brazilian rhythms to the same stage, closing out an incredible season of diverse programming.
“Art is for everyone, and in New York, we are so lucky to have been the center of so many important cultural movements,” Elliott told the AmNews. “We live in the best city in the world, I think! And nothing says that better than being able to walk into your neighborhood park and see top-tier talent performing for free … I think it’s a really big celebration of the diversity and beauty of our city and its people.”For more info, visit cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage.