Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival

Name: Moving! Robotics, Automata, and the Stories We Tell
Start: 2023-09-22
End: 2023-09-22
Location: Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights, Morristown, NJ, 07960, United States

Note: In the event of inclement weather, please visit the event host’s website at https://www.morristownjazzandblues.com for the latest updates.

The Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival brings free music for everyone starting at 4:00pm on Friday, September 22, at the newly renovated Pioneer Park, conveniently located between Headquarters Plaza and 1776 on Morristown’s Speedwell Avenue.

The Spectrum Jazz Band comprised of Morristown High School Students will open at 4:00pm followed at 5:00pm by jazz singer and entertainer Ty Stephens. He has performed all over the world with his jazz, funk and R&B group Soul Jaazz.

Ty Stephens is followed at 6:30pm by guitar sensation Debra Devi who has been compared to Susan Tedeschi and has overcome barriers in a male dominated genre. She brings her top-notch group with whom she has been tearing up the festival circuit.

The final group on Friday night beginning at 8:00pm brings a mainstay in the Chicago blues clubs, The Downtown Charlie Brown Blues Band, whose leader hails from Morristown. In fact, singer and keyboardist Charles Brown is celebrating his 50th Reunion from Morristown High School where he sang and played trumpet in a band. He and his quartet have a unique sound as they blend Delta, New Orleans and Chicago style blues.

On Saturday, September 23, the Festival moves to the Morristown Green and the music begins at noon with the U.S. Navy’s premier jazz ensemble, The Commodores. This 18-piece ensemble draws on big band charts from the Swing Era to today’s music and everything in between.

At 2:00pm, the festival goes Latin with the exciting Gotham City Latin Jazz Septet, led by Grammy Award-nominee, drummer Richard Baratta. Joining him are the highly acclaimed award-winning pianist Bill O’Connell, the great saxophonist Vincent Herring, award-winning guitarist Paul Bollenbeck, and the superb rhythm section of bassist Michael Goetz and percussionist Paul Rossman.

Then at 4:00pm it is the sensational hot jazz ensemble The Hot Sardines who were praised by Forbes magazine as “one of the best jazz bands in New York City today” and approach their music through innovation, verve and sheer joy. They will come to Morristown following a week at New York’s famed Birdland Jazz Club.

At 6:00pm, the Festival turns to the blues with one of this country’s great guitarists, Ana Popovic, who was a sensation at the Festival in 2017. Since going on her own more than 20 years ago, she has secured eight Blues Music Award nominations and has appeared on the cover of several major guitar magazines. Her newest recording, Power (ArtiseXclusive), debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart in May.

The final slot at 8:00pm heralds the return of Louis Prima Jr. and the Witnesses, thanks to the Gia Maione Prima Foundation and the law firm of Sherman Atlas. The band brings their own special approach to the music of Louis Prima Sr., including such hits as “Jump Jive ‘an Wail,” “Just a Gigilo,” and “Sing Sing Sing.” It is an exciting way to bring this year’s Festival to a close.