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The Williams Center for the Arts will host the 19th annual Easton Jazz Festival 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, featuring saxophonist Kenny Garrett and his quartet.
Tickets cost $20 and can be reserved by calling the Easton Boys and Girls Club office at (610) 253-5846. Tickets also will be available in the Williams Center lobby the night of the performance. All proceeds will support operations of the Easton Boys and Girls Club.
Lafayette is a producing partner and host organization for the performance. Gladstone “Fluney” Hutchinson, dean of studies at Lafayette and board president of the Boys and Girls Club, notes that many Lafayette students interact with children in the club as volunteers through the College’s Landis Community Outreach Center. In addition, Delta Upsilon fraternity raises money for the Boys and Girls Club of Easton each spring through a carnival on the Quad that includes a balloon launch.
“We are very pleased to bring a jazz superstar to Easton for an event that supports the youth of our community,” says Hutchinson.
With multiple Grammy nominations and first place in the Jazz Times Readers’ Poll for alto sax to his credit, Garrett brings a muscular yet lyrical eloquence to everything he plays, from collaborating with the New Jersey Symphony on Adagio For Strings to mixing it up with hip-hop artist Guru on his Jazzmatazz projects; be it swinging with jazz giants Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw or rocking with Sting and Peter Gabriel.
Not since Julian “Cannonball” Adderley has there been an alto player in jazz wielding as much influence and inspiration on a generation of players. From America to Australia, Italy to Istanbul, Garrett’s sound and technique can be detected in the playing of those countries’ finest up-and-coming saxophonists.
On Standard of Language, his latest project, Garrett delivers some of his most galvanizing and forceful work to date, digging deeper into his composing while bringing a crackling vibrancy to his performances. This music is roll-up-your sleeves, in-your-face, hard bop blowing at its best, an energized set of rippling melodic songs.
The Los Angeles Times calls Garrett “one of the finest jazz saxophonists around,” while the Washington Post states, “Someone should post a storm warning prior to a Kenny Garrett concert.” According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Garrett ranks among his generation’s most talented players.” Notes Jazz Scene, “His music is different, edgier, more thought provoking that the usual jazz fareHe gives more.”