Building on the success of this summer’s Virtual Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, which for the first time moved the nationally known event online and drew a digital audience of 40,000 people from 88 countries, Cityfest Inc., will be streaming live jazz concerts every month kicking off on Friday, October 30, 2020, with a Clifford Brown Birthday Bash.
Clifford Brown Year-Round will showcase jazz musicians from all over the world each month leading up to the 34th Annual Clifford Brown Jazz festival in June 2021–the largest FREE jazz festival on the East Coast. The kick-off event this month will take place at The Delaware Contemporary and feature six trumpet players who will perform and talk about Brown’s influence on their lives. A limited number of in-person tickets are available for this performance, but anyone can view the concert live online.
In November, the featured event will be an album release concert by The Whitney Project led by Jonathan Whitney and featuring works from his new album “Life’s Dimensions.” December’s event will celebrate the holidays with the Cartoon Christmas Trio and the Wilmington Children’s Chorus. The concerts will be hosted by two Wilmington arts venues: The Delaware Contemporary and Christina Cultural Arts Center. The concert series continues in 2021 with jazz musicians from Italy, a celebration of jazz vocalists, and an homage to the life of writer and political activist Alice Dunbar Nelson.
“In a time of separation and uncertainty we still have the ability to connect through music,” says Cultural Affairs Director Tina Betz in a statement, “The year-round concert series is a chance for people to gather in their homes and really get to experience not just the music but to connect with musicians through question and answer. It’s an incredible opportunity for all jazz-lovers and a boost for the local arts and music scene.”
All concerts begin at 7:00 p.m. and will have a small number of in-person tickets available. In-person tickets are $25 and virtual viewing tickets are $10. Tickets are available at cityfestwilm.com.