arts & entertainment
The Jamaica Downtown Jazz Festival will celebrate the rich jazz heritage of Southeast Queens with a weekend of free musical performances.
By Maya Kaufman, Patch Staff
JAMAICA, QUEENS — The Jamaica Downtown Jazz Festival will celebrate the rich jazz heritage of Southeast Queens with a weekend of free musical performances and a special tribute to renowned percussionist Milford Graves.
The festival kicks off Friday with a screening of the award-winning documentary “” and a by celebrated musicians Tyshawn Sorey and Jason Moran that will pay tribute to Graves.
Graves grew up in public housing in South Jamaica. His office and studio are in a basement space in Jamaica where his grandparents once had a .
Graves himself will hit the stage at Jamaica Performing Arts Center on Saturday night for a performance with Don Byron and the Alchemy Sound Project, a collective of composer-performers. for the headlining event cost $30.
Another festival highlight includes a screening Saturday of never-before-seen that captures Aretha Franklin recording her 1972 live album “The Amazing Grace.”
Camille Thurman, Napoleon Ravels-Bey, Morgan Guerin and Keith Jordon — who also teaches music at Francis Lewis High School in Queens — are among the artists giving free performances during the festival.
The jazz festival coincides with the opening of an exhibition at Jamaica Arts Center called “Volumes: Milford Graves,” which documents the research that informs Graves’ music.
to see the full schedule of performances and events.