Charlie Parker Jazz Festival honors legendary Bird with Strings sessions
Friday, August 24, Marcus Garvey Park, free, 7:00 – 9:00
Saturday, August 25, Marcus Garvey Park, free, 3:00 – 7:00
Sunday, August 26, Tompkins Square Park, free, 3:00 – 7:00
www.cityparksfoundation.org
Always one of the highlights of the summer, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival also comes near the end of the season, signaling that Labor Day is not far off. For its twentieth anniversary, the festival, which honors the legendary saxman who was born in Kansas City and made a name for himself here in New York City, has put together several exciting free programs taking place this weekend. On Friday night in Marcus Garvey Park, Bird with Strings teams the Revive Music Group with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson for specially commissioned compositions that reimagine Bird’s 1949 and 1950 sessions that featured a classical string section. The evening will begin with a spoken-word performance of “On the Wings of Yardbird” by Daniel Carlton, set to such Bird classics as “Ornithology.” On Saturday from 3:00 to 7:00 also in Marcus Garvey Park, poets Edwin Torres and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs will honor Parker’s legacy, followed by musical performances by Jamire Williams and ERIMAJ, Derrick Hodge, Rene Marie’s Experiment in Truth, and the amazing Roy Haynes. On Sunday, the festivities move downtown to Tompkins Square Park, with spoken-word artists Jon Sands, Sheila Maldonado, and Nikhil Melnechuk and live performances by Gregory Porter, Patience Higgins’s Sugar Hill Quartet, Andy Milne & Dapp Theory, and Sullivan Fortner.