After the pandemic thwarted a much-needed town square gathering last spring, it’s a great pleasure and relief to many local music fans to find that Murfreesboro’s (mostly) annual JazzFest returns to our historic Public Square on Saturday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The Bryan Cumming Swing Quartet, Alison Brazil with Yamil Conga and Nashville’s own ’30s and ’40s-style big band Music City Swing plan to play into a beautifully warm, harmonious and dry evening (rainstorms dampened the festival in ’19 and ’18).
Beginning the full day at 10 a.m., before Rutherford school jazz bands begin taking the stage, the free, family-friendly festivities begin with an interactive kids music workshop, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll,” presented by the Discovery Center staff for preschool and elementary ages at the Courthouse Stage. Following right afterwards, about a block away from the Square near the corner of Church and College, Afro-Cuban drummer Yamil Conga (who will perform with Alison Brazil later in the evening) will host a free interactive jazz clinic including a lecture, Q&A and Afro-Cuban drumming demonstration. From 11 a.m. to noon, students and curious cats alike can have “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact and perform with a professional jazz artist,” at Murfreesboro’s Center for the Arts, 110 W. College St.
“There is an educational component as well as . . . entertainment offered at this year’s JazzFest,” said Sarah Callender, executive director of JazzFest organizer Main Street Murfreesboro, expressing excitement about the two pre-concert music workshops.
Although JazzFest events in recent years have involved a Friday and Saturday on the Square, “Main Street is excited to host a smaller version of the annual JazzFest event this year, focusing on our student jazz bands who haven’t been able to perform in over a year,” Callender told WGNS radio. “We are thrilled to have [so far, six] student bands and three professional local bands performing.”
With over a dozen food trucks and vendors, free downtown parking at the Maple Street and Vine Street garages, free-range Square access, “and a great Kids’ Alley with interactive booths for kids to enjoy,” according to Callender, JazzFest should be in full swing by noon.
Rutherford County school jazz bands planning to take the stage include:
12 p.m. – Middle Tennessee Christian School
12:30 p.m. – St. Rose Middle School
1 p.m. – Blackman High School
1:40 p.m. – Oakland Middle School
2:20 p.m. – Rockvale High School
3 p.m. – MTSU Ensemble One
Taking the stage at 4 p.m., kicking off the concluding trio of professional acts, The Bryan Cumming Swing Quartet will make its first appearance at the Murfreesboro JazzFest.
Nashville vocalist/guitarist/saxophonist Bryan Cumming began his swing quartet in 2014 as a solo project outside of his role as lead guitarist for Nashville’s long-running Beatles tribute band The WannaBeatles. Alongside Murfreesboro’s own Kelli Cox on the piano, John Vogt on bass and Adam Mormolstein on drums, The Bryan Cumming Swing Quartet’s jovial sounds will swing the festival into dusk with their renditions of such classics as Ella Fitzgerald’s “Blue Skies,” or Nat King Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” as well as originals from the quartet’s 2017 release Come out Swinging. Two wonderfully titled newer singles, “Bellwether Serenade” and “I’ll Leave the Moon on For You,” are welcome, too, harking back to the sounds of the classic artists who have inspired Cumming and his bandmates. (See here for more on Cumming and his unusual ’Boro connection.)
From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., vocalist/violinist/singer-songwriter, educator from the Nashville Music Academy and “The Queen of Louisiana Latin Soul” Alison Brazil performs her soulful blues-and-folk-inspired, pop-flavored Latin grooves, cultivated through years spent teaching and performing in all of the Americas. It’s a sound referred to as the “Stick to Ya Type of Hot” jazz, with Brazil accompanied by drummer Yamil Conga.
Conga is a versatile Puerto Rican-rooted musician known for dynamic drumming on congas and timbales. Conga is also proficient in several other genres and has toured and sat in with Joseph Wooten, Kevin Mac, DJ Maj, Lalo Davila (director of percussion studies at MTSU), Nashville Latin Allstars, The Roots of Rhythm and Alison Brazil. Conga will show you he’s a madman on timbales.
Find a video for Brazil and Conga’s newest single “This Love,” joined by The Roots of Rhythm, on Brazil’s Facebook page. Conga is on cajón on that one.
Finally, Music City Swing will take JazzFest home. Music City Swing, led by band leader Karl Wingruber, is Nashville’s 15-member (plus or minus at any given time), Cab Calloway-heavy sound that brings the brass, strings, woodwinds, backup harmonies and big rhythm up a few levels from behind rows of white-fronted stage-band music stands adorned with the Music City Swing logo.
For more information, videos, streaming content, contact details, and more on 2021 headliners, visit facebook.com/bryancummingmusic, alisonbrazil.com, yamilconga.com and musiccityswing.com.
“Main Street is asking the public, while at JazzFest, to distance themselves six feet from others who don’t live in your household,” Callender adds. “Please bring your own chairs and sit in groups with those who you came with, allowing space from others sitting near you.”
