Organizing any music festival can be a logistical challenge, but in one respect putting together the first James Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival was a breeze. “We wanted to think about musicians who had a connection with Moody,” says Grammy-winning bassist/composer and festival artistic adviser Christian McBride. No problem there. “Any jazz musician who’s been out on the road and played somewhere has some connection to Moody.”
Recognizing the contributions of the late saxophonist and flutist, who was born in Savannah, Georgia, but raised in Newark, is just part of the mission for the festival, which runs October 15 to 21 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, and at other venues in partnership with radio station WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM. Featured artists will include George Benson, David Sanborn and the Manhattan Transfer.
Over a long career, Moody collaborated with Milt Jackson, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington and Bobby Timmons and many other stars. He performed with the Las Vegas Hilton Orchestra, backing artists such as Elvis Presley, Bill Cosby and Liberace. A gifted improviser, Moody also was an irrepressible performer, known for bursting into song and telling jokes from the bandstand.
“James Moody was such a wonderful, spirited man,” says McBride. “He was a wonderful showman as well as one of the jazz musicians who was playing art of the highest fashion.” Moody, who had pancreatic cancer, died in 2010 at the age of 85 near his home in San Diego.
The Newark jazz scene has quieted since the heyday of Moody and contemporaries like Wayne Shorter, Woody Shaw and Art Blakey, who also played the Newark circuit. “People have been lamenting [the scene’s] demise for half a century now,” says McBride, “but the music never died, and it won’t. There are too many talented musicians out there.”
The festival will include the Friday evening concert, “For Love of Moody: A Jazz Celebration,” featuring some of Moody’s favorite musicians. On Saturday, the “Miles Davis and Gil Evans: Still Ahead” tribute will showcase tuba master Howard Johnson, who recorded with Davis and Evans; a jazz orchestra led by Vince Mendoza; and McBride’s own big band.
Also Saturday, the festival will host the debut of the jazz musical Magic Tree House: A Night in New Orleans. The show is based on a story in the children’s book series by Mary Pope Osborne, a Connecticut author who donated a set of her books to each fourth grader in Newark to encourage reading among local elementary school children. The show will also be performed in the schools.
In the festival, which is sponsored by TD Bank, the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition will pay tribute to the legendary singer (posthumously inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame this year). Finalists will perform at a Sunday afternoon concert.
In another form of outreach, the festival will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Jazz House Kids, a grassroots organization that produces musical and cultural programs for students in school districts—such as Newark—where arts education funds are scarce. The Wednesday evening concert will honor Harry Belafonte, Wayne Shorter and businessman John J. Cali, and will feature saxophonist Maceo Parker, trombonist Fred Wesley, keyboardist George Duke and singer Angelique Kidjo. Also on the bill: McBride’s big band, featuring his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker, executive director of Jazz House Kids. McBride, a resident of Montclair, says exposing students to different kinds of music not only expands their knowledge, but might also mean a brighter future for jazz. “It’s all about planting seeds,” he says.
Lesser-known musicians will perform at smaller venues around the city. “You build from the ground up,” says McBride. “It can’t always be just about the mega superstars.”
A portion of festival proceeds will go to the Community Foundation of New Jersey’s James Moody Jazz Scholarship for Newark Youth Fund and to a vocal scholarship at Sarah Vaughan’s Newark alma mater, Arts High School.