Litchfield Jazz Festival Ramps Up For Its 30th
Festival, camp, club and church shows exemplify Vita Muir’s dedication to growing jazz
Litchfield Performing Arts founder and executive director Vita Muir has created one of jazz’s most important resources in the Litchfield Jazz Festival and its associated camp (Photo courtesy Litchfield Performing Arts)
Were someone to ask me to name a legendary New England jazz festival promoter, two names would come immediately to mind.
George Wein, who in 1954 shepherded the creation of the granddaddy of American jazz festivals in Newport, RI, is one of them.
Vita Muir, founder and executive director of Litchfield Performing Arts, is the other. Vita turned a series of classical house concerts in Litchfield, CT into a legacy not only of groundbreaking performances at the namesake Litchfield Jazz Festival; the legacy also includes a jazz camp that has fostered musicians who command worldwide audiences, have Grammys on their shelves, and are already paying it forward mentoring the next generation of students, many of whom – full circle time here – spend summers in the Litchfield hills at the camp.
The festival celebrates a landmark this year – this year is its 30th iteration – so what better time to talk to Vita about where it’s been and what it has come to mean to the jazz community?
“I started a not-for-profit (Litchfield Performing Arts) in 1981 because I had a huge house on the main street in Litchfield,’ Vita told 8495Jazz. “I could put 100 people in the living room and I did.” She brought in top-shelf classical acts like The Tokyo String Quartet and The Shanghai String Quarter.
“It was never amateur hour. We had people here who were at Carnegie Hall the next week,” she said.
Over the years, however, the audience for classical music in the area began to dwindle, and Vita began looking for a sustainable vector. She found it in jazz.
“I found mentors at radio stations who could recommend new stuff to me,” Vita said. “And I went to other people’s festivals, I thought to see what to do – it turned out to see what not to do. It was just as valuable. I learned about what to do and who to hire and where to find them and got a grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.” And in 1996, the festival was born, at the White Memorial Conservation Center. The first camp followed the next year.
“That first festival was unbelievable,” she said. “I couldn’t afford it now on a bet. It was amazing. Diana Krall made her American festival debut there – nobody knew who she was. Ahmad Jamal played, J.J. Johnson played. Christian McBride was a kid, he was 22. Even the sidemen are now famous. So that was the first festival and we went on from there.”
“Going on from there” has brought some of the greatest talents music has gifted us to the Connecticut hills; Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, Randy Brecker, Dr. John – well, hell, look here and see for yourself.
With the jazz festival celebrating a landmark, she is sparing no effort in reminding folks how vital Litchfield has become to growing jazz performer rosters and audiences. Now held at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, CT, the three-day festival (July 25-27 this year) will be in part a celebration of Litchfield’s legacy.
Maybe no act better exemplifies the impact of Litchfield on global jazz than Emmet Cohen and his trio, who will perform at the Friday night opening gala (for the full line-up click here). Emmet was a camper at Litchfield from 2006-2008 and made his main stage debut at the festival in 2013. This year’s appearance will be his fifth at the festival.
It was a video series launched during the depths of the COVID pandemic, though, that turned Emmet into one of the most recognizable faces in jazz worldwide. His weekly “Live from Emmet’s Place” YouTube concerts have more than 200,000 subscribers. He mentors younger musicians such as Samara Joy (who has also appeared at the festival and also won a Grammy in 2023) and honors old lions like Herlin Riley. He has served as co-host of The Jazz Cruise with McBride.
Vita and her staff at Litchfield Performing Arts are not content to stand still. They’ve moved the festival several times and from outdoors to indoors; they streamed it for free during the COVID pandemic. They also co-promote shows in the Waterbury Palace Theater’s Poli Club. They inaugurated a jazz camp talent search last year, as well as a concert series at the historic Milton Congregational Church, in the hills just north of the village of Litchfield.
Those other ventures are a larger part of what Vita calls the patchwork quilt approach to making a living with jazz. It’s something the campers are taught from the get-go.
“What we teach the kids, and what is practiced by everybody out here is, you have to do it all. You teach, and it’s important that you teach, then you have a steady income stream and insurance. You teach private lessons, you do concert halls when you can get them, and you do spaghetti suppers.
“One kid came back to jazz camp and I asked him how’d the summer go, and he said ‘I didn’t have to play any weddings.’ I said ‘Don’t diss weddings. They pay extremely well and you are going to make your living putting things together this way.’
“We tell them, ‘Don’t do this unless you absolutely have to do this, and not anything else. And then you have to figure it out.’ And I’ve seen a lot of happy young people living the patchwork quilt life and making a success of it.”
A success that Litchfield Performing Arts and its programs have fostered in no small part.
Litchfield Jazz Camp alumnus Emmet Cohen will make his fifth festival appearance this year. Here he plays some classic Duke Ellington with his quintet at the livestreamed 2021 festival.
Out And About With 8495Jazz
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Social Bar & Kitchen, New London, CT
Cedric Mayfield and Friends, (New London Big Band Spotlight Series, jazz/fusion), Wed., Jan. 29, 6:30 pm. $9.85-$12.51.
New London Big Band director Sean Nelson is changing things up a bit for the NLBB’s signature shows at the Bank Street venue by featuring members of the band in smaller combos. Sean told 8495Jazz the series will allow NLBB members to get some featured performance time as well as let him spend more time with his family and also tend to his other duties with the U.S. Coast Guard band.
“So this was the alternative, a way to feature members of NLBB in their own groups,” he said. “We’re starting with January and February, and I plan to do the same over the summer as well. Seemed like a win-win to me!”
Wednesday’s show features woodwind specialist Cedric Mayfield, who is also a USCG Band member, and his combo.
8495Jazz Spur Of The Moment Gig TODAY
Atlantic Resort/Wyndham Hotel, Middletown, RI
Christine Fawson (trumpet, vocals, combo), today, 3 pm. Free.
Other Shows This Week
Yale University Ellington Jazz Series, New Haven, CT
Mali Obomsawin (bass, vocals, combo), Fri., Jan. 31, 7:30 pm. $26.
Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT
Baby Grand Jazz, Michelle Tucker Quintet and Strings, today, 3 pm. Free.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Jim Royle’s Caribbean Jazz Connection (percussion, combo) Thur., Jan. 30, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. $20.76, $15.76 student/veteran.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Haneef Nelson’s Birthday Bash (trumpet), Wed., Jan. 29, 7 pm. Free. Jam after first set.
Arch Street Tavern, Hartford, CT
Keenan Asbridge Sextet (trumpet, combo) w/Evan Wood Trio, Fri., Jan. 31, 9 pm. $12.79.
Jazz Forum Arts, Tarrytown, NY
Philip Harper Quintet (trumpet, combo), Fri, Jan. 31 and Sat., Feb. 1, 7 and 9:30 pm. $35.
Park City Music Hall, Bridgeport, CT
Marcos Torres Quintet/DJ Herman Olivera (salsa), today, 6 pm. $20.
Oz Noy and Andrew Synowiec (guitar, combo), Fri., Jan. 31, 8 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
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