The BeanTown Jazz Festival is a free event held in Boston's South End each year in late September. The festival includes live music, vendors, and family activities.
History
When Bob's Southern Bistro proprietor Darryl Settles produced the South End's first jazz festival he expected a few thousand people might come, but the one-day festival had a surprise turnout of nearly 10,000 attendees. Since then, the now annual BeanTown Jazz Festival has grown in duration and attendance. In 2006 more than 50,000 people attended the now three-day festival, which included jazz performances on three stages, as well as food and craft vendors and a children’s area.
2007 BeanTown Jazz Festival
The 7th Annual BeanTown Jazz Festival runs from Thursday, September 27 to Saturday, September 29 and will feature more than 30 jazz, Latin, blues, and groove acts performing at Symphony Hall, Scullers Jazz Club, the Beehive, and outdoor stages along Columbus Avenue. This is Berklee College of Music's second year producing the festival.The 2007 BeanTown Jazz Festival will include a Thursday pre-festival warm-up, a Friday night all-star benefit concert: "A Celebration of Jazz and Joyce," and the all-day free outdoor festival on Saturday.
Thursday's free pre-festival jazz lounge, sponsored by Yale Appliance and Lighting, starts at 9 pm at The Beehive in the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama building at 541 Tremont Street, Boston.
To see a complete schedule of BeanTown Jazz Fest events visit beantownjazz.org.
Opening Night Concert
The much anticipated "A Celebration of Jazz and Joyce," the September 28 opening night concert directed by Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein, will establish the Joyce Alexander Wein Scholarship Fund in memory of his late wife. The lineup includes Herbie Hancock, Roy Haynes, Branford Marsalis, Jon Faddis, Joe Lovano, Lizz Wright, Geri Allen, Regina Carter, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Lew Tabackin, Kenny Werner, Howard Alden, Jimmy Cobb, and Ray Drummond.
Friday, Sept 28, 7:30 pm
$40 - $100
Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston
Purchase tickets at bso.org, at the Symphony Hall box office, or at (888) 266-1200.
Free Jazz Festival
On Saturday, September 29, the free BeanTown Jazz Festival will take place from noon to 6 pm on three stages over six blocks on Columbus Avenue, starting at Mass Ave. The festival will feature performances by the Mike Stern Band, Blues After Dark, Bobby Hutcherson, the Charles Tolliver Big Band, Entrain, the Greg Hopkins Jazz Orchestra, Claudia Acuna, the Berklee Rainbow Band, and Conrad Herwig and Brian Lynch.
In addition to musical acts, the BeanTown Jazz Festival will have a beer and wine garden for adults, and the Target-sponsored Family Park featuring children's activities such as photos, face painting, temporary tattoos, and an instrument petting zoo. More than 50 vendor booths will also be on hand to sell products and food.
See a full schedule of BeanTown Jazz Fest events at beantownjazz.org.
