Hall High School Jazz Band to Launch Greater Hartford Jazz Festival – We-Ha

The Hall High School Jazz Band of West Hartford, with special guest trombonist Chris Crenshaw, will kick off the three-day Greater Hartford Jazz Festival in Bushnell Park, an event expected to attract 70,000 music fans.

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The 31st Annual Greater Hartford Jazz Festival, New England’s largest free public jazz festival, kicks off Thursday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. with an hour-long performance by Hall’s 23-person jazz band High School and special guest trombonist Christopher Crenshaw. The show will also feature recent graduates from West Hartford’s Hall High School who were previously unable to perform due to the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the famed Jazz at Lincoln Center musician.

“We couldn’t be more proud to kick off our 31st Annual Greater Hartford Jazz Festival with West Hartford’s own Hall High School Jazz Band and special guest Jazz at Lincoln Center trombonist Christopher Crenshaw on Thursday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Bushnell Park in downtown Hartford,” said Charles Christie, president of the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz. “As Hartford’s own jazz show, offering four nights and three full days of free live jazz to 70,000 visitors who travel coast to coast for our celebrated guest lineup, we are thrilled to heralding another year by saluting our own talented aspiring jazz musicians and heating things up for 13 jazz icons who are part of our 2022 program.

“We have a packed program reflecting all styles and rhythms of jazz, from classical to funk and fusion, with over a dozen performers and beloved bands, from Chembo Corniel Quintet to Spyro Gyra, reflecting several facets of the jazz world. We have a range of sponsorship options for corporations, foundations and individuals to support us and we hope there will be a surge in sponsorship in the coming weeks,” Christie continued. “We are a volunteer-powered non-profit organization and rely on corporate sponsorship and individual donations to come back year after year with great music. There is still time to support our event which is so valuable to local businesses in the greater Hartford area.

The 2022 Greater Hartford of Jazz Festival lineup includes:

THURSDAY JULY 14

Hall High School Jazz Band with Chris Crenshaw, 6:30-8 p.m.

FRIDAY JULY 15

Chembo Corniel Quintet – 7 p.m.

Vincent Ingala – 8:30 p.m.

Boney James – 10 p.m.

Art From Da Hart with Whitney Lucky-J – time TBD

SATURDAY JULY 16

Will Prince and Friends – 2:30 p.m.

Isaiah Sharkey – 4:30 p.m.

Brian Simpson/Jakeim Joyner/Steve Oliver – 6:30 p.m.

Spyro Gyra – 8:30 p.m.

Medium White Band – 10:30 p.m.

Art From Da Hart with Betty – time TBD

SUNDAY JULY 17

Matt Marshak – 2:30 p.m.

Firey String Sistas – 4:30 p.m.

Marquis Hill: New Gospel Revisited (100%) – 6:30 p.m.

The Manhattan Transfer – 8:30 p.m.

Art From Da Hart with Klassy Katz – time TBD

The Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz will feature items from 50 artists and artisans selling handcrafted jewelry, apparel, gifts and beauty products. Area health and social service providers will also be present at the festival. An array of 20 food vendors, including mobile food trucks, reflecting the diversity of the greater Hartford area, will offer freshly prepared food and beverages throughout the festival, including plant-based cuisine as well as comfort, barbecue, Caribbean and other food categories.

About Chris Crenshaw

A graduate of Thomson High School, Valdosta State University and the Juilliard School, Christopher Crenshaw began playing the piano at age three and the trombone at age eleven. He grew up playing the keyboard with his father Casper in the Thomson, Georgia Gospel Quartet on Echoes of joy. He was with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis since 2006 and founded The Horns of Georgia in 2011. He transcribed the music and wrote the arrangements for two Tony Award-nominated musicals, After Midnight and Shuffle Along…. He appears on numerous albums, including Ballads All Night by Marcus Printup, Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton Play the Blues, In the Blue Light by Paul Simon, The Presidential Suite by Ted Nash and The Abyssinian Mass. Crenshaw has two albums: TheGeorgia Horns Live at Dizzy’s Club with Marcus Printup, Thomson native Stantawn Kendrick, Kenny Banks, Jr., Kevin Smith and Brandon McCrae, and “The 1950s: A Prism” by Christopher Crenshaw with the JLCO with Stantawn Kendrick.

About the Greater Hartford Jazz Festival

Now in its 31st year, the Greater Festival of Jazz, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization, brings together the biggest names in jazz for its annual free three-day series of performances at Bushnell Park in downtown city ​​of Hartford, CT the third week of July.

Originally conceived by famed jazz bassist and Hartford music teacher Paul Brown in 1991, the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz attracts over 70,000 attendees from across the country, fulfilling Brown’s dream of a jazz event world class in Hartford. Now in its 31st year, this free festival is supported by small and medium-sized charitable donations and donations from foundations, businesses and corporations, as well as grants from the City of Hartford and the State of Connecticut. . The Festival is also generously supported by contributions from local jazz enthusiasts.

More than 100 volunteers donate their time to work at the Festival, a true testament to the popularity the Festival has grown to since its inception over 30 years ago. The Festival is accustomed to showcasing traditional, avant-garde, traditional and contemporary national and international jazz artists, budding local and regional artists and some truly wonderful young musicians from area schools and jazz programs. remarkable. For the duration of the Festival, the history of music was literally written on stage, perfectly matched to the intensity and appreciation of its audience. For more information, visit https://www.hartfordjazz.org/.

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