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There’s good news in the forecast for the 12,000 revelers expected at Nishuane Park this weekend for the 10th Annual Montclair Jazz Festival: Saturday will be sunny and pleasant with a high of 82. 

Headliners for the “no-tickets-required” event, which runs from noon to 9 p.m., include jazz legends Bettye Lavette, Christian McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, Mark Whitfield, Quincy Phillips and Eddie Palmieri. (A $10 donation is suggested.) Hosts are award-winning actor S. Epatha Merkerson and WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM’s Gary Walker. 

Front and center will also be the 150 JazzHouse Kids themselves, students at the award-winning Montclair educational nonprofit and producer of the event. Which is fitting, as the festival began ten years ago as a recital in the park for the parents of kids taking lessons through the program.

Saturday’s family-friendly event includes food, drink and craft vendors, including a beer garden, and a bike valet and parking shuttle. A second marquee stage area called the “Family Jazz Discovery Zone” will feature concerts, crafts and activities geared to kids and families. 

A full schedule of events on both stages is available here. 

Last year the festival, which has become one of the country’s premier celebrations of the genre, had to be canceled at the last minute due to heavy rains and flooding. The event had always been held rain or shine, so there was no backup venue. 

“It was a total wash-out,” said Melissa Walker, the founder and director of JazzHouse Kids, which produces the festival. “We said, ‘Never again.’ “

This year the Wellmont Theater is the backup venue, and the celebration has been spread out over the two weeks leading up to the festival, with events at restaurants and clubs all over town, including the Montclair Social Club, DLV Lounge and Montclair Brewery, featuring artists such as Matthew Whitaker, Eddie Palmero, the Oscar Perez Quintet, the Emmet Cohen Trio and Isaiah Thompson Trio.

Christian McBride, the six-time Emmy winning cellist, artistic director of the festival (and, incidentally, Walker’s husband) kicked off the events with a dance party where he DJ-ed old school soul and funk. 

Can’t make the event? Livestream it through Global Live Stream, or pop into Egan’s pub to watch and listen with a pint. Egan’s will also host a post-party from 9 p.m. to midnight Saturday, for a suggested donation of $10.  

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Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com

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