Many thanks to everyone for a wonderful 2017 season! Looking forward to 2018!
Category Archives: News
MusicKidz moves to 4pm!
Our next MusicKidz with Dara VanRemoortel will take place on Monday Nov 6th from 4pm to 5pm @ the Community Room at 135 Lafayette Street in Salem.
2017 Festival Volunteer Signups are open!
We need YOUR HELP to put on the funkiest little festival on the North Shore! See our Volunteering page for more details!
Salem Jazz and Soul Festival, City of Salem, to host 8th annual Jazz Appreciation Day free concert
The Salem Jazz and Soul Festival will produce its 8th-annual City of Salem Jazz Appreciation Day concert in early April in downtown Salem.
Kicking off Jazz Appreciation Month in April, this event is coordinated in partnership between the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival and the City of Salem. Salem Five, a major festival sponsor, has donated the venue for the concert, which is free to the public.
The free show will take place in the Salem Five Community Room on the Essex Street Walking Mall, on Saturday, April 8, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Performing this year will be the North Shore Jazz Project (NSJP) All Stars, a big band made up of the North Shore’s premier high school-aged jazz musicians, directed by professional saxophonist Mike Tucker.
“The NSJP All Stars play our main festival each year, and the crowds are impressed by their talent. We want them to be featured at Jazz Appreciation Day,” said Ian Cannon the festival’s board president. “Having these young musicians on stage is at the core of what the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival is about – providing students with an opportunity to perform at no cost to the public.”
This show will open the festival’s eleventh season of producing free concerts and supporting music-education causes throughout the North Shore.
In the coming months, the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival (SJSF), a volunteer-run nonprofit, will put on:
- The SJSF/Berklee Summer Series at Derby Square, Salem, with Berklee College of Music student bands, on May 13, June 10, July 8, and Aug. 12.
- The Salem Jazz and Soul Festival, a two-day, outdoor music festival at the Salem Willows, with 10 bands, a music-education tent, kids tent, 21-plus beer garden and artisans selling hand-made goods, Aug. 19-20.
Please visit www.salemjazzsoul.org for more information.
SJSF 2017 Season Dedicated to Jenny Reardon
Today we ‘Celebrated the Life’ of our dear friend Jenny Reardon. She was our confidant, sister, mother, wife, ‘Keeper of Secrets’ and ‘Creator of Comfort and Joy’ for the thousands who passed through the doors of her public living room … affectionately referred to as ‘The Pig’. Formerly referred to as ‘In A Pig’s Eye’, the corner restaurant and watering hole in Salem, of which she and her husband Jonathan owned for decades.
Harmony Grove Cemetery’s tiny chapel was packed with Jenny’s friends and family this morning, so much so that hundreds of people packed the pews and aisles, shoulder-to-shoulder, to honor her. More people stood outside in the cold as snow began to come down, the start of what would eventually turn into a New England blizzard. The service was full of stories, song — and a little worship — and Jenny’s son Eric bravely accompanied Helen Watson-Felt and Sarah Seminski for some of Jenny’s favorite songs. The morning was capped off with renditions of “Amazing Grace” and “When the Saints go Marching in,” with festival co-founder and saxophonist Henley Douglas Jr. leading everyone out of the chapel.
Jenny leaves a hole we can’t imagine could ever be filled, yet simultaneously leaves an indelible mark on all things music in Salem. Heck the entire North Shore… but more precisely… well beyond. In addition to her many charitable contributions and volunteer work throughout the years, Jenny and her husband were founding members of the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival, now approaching its 11th season.
And it is this mark on the local music scene left by our dear friend that we announce that the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival’s board of directors has voted to dedicate the 2017 season to the memory of Jennifer Reardon. Additionally, we have permanently renamed our title sponsor to the “Jennifer Reardon Title Sponsorship” and will have a New Orleans-style second line in her honor at the Willows this summer.
We love you Jenny… and we thank you!
Click here to read more about Jenny’s incredible journey. And don’t forget to save the date for this year’s main festival August 19th and 20th. Let’s continue celebrating Jenny’s life and all the great things still happening in her name.
North Shore Jazz Project All Stars Alumni Nominated for Best New Artist!
A former member of the North Shore Jazz Project All Stars is in the running to win an award as one of New England’s Emerging Artists along with his band mates in Makutu.
August 28, 2016 – Salem, MA – Bassist Ryder Hambley of Rowley, 22, a member of the NSJP All Stars while a student at Ipswich High School, recently graduated from Berklee College of Music. His band, Makutu, is up for the award from “The Deli,” an online magazine focusing on the music scene in major cities known for music.
The contest is open until Aug. 31 and votes can be cast at http://newengland.thedelimagazine.com/snacks. Makutu bills itself as a band that plays “Ambient Gloom/Spooky Indie Rock.” Its Band Camp page is https://makutuband.bandcamp.com/releases.
Hambley, a 2012 graduate of Ipswich High, was also a member of the North Shore Youth Symphony Orchestra. He won the 
Louis Armstrong award while in high school and was named Most Valuable Player at the Northeast District Festival for the Massachusetts Association for Jazz Education.
Additionally, he has shared the stage with Danilo Perez at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, with the All Stars, and has played the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival multiple times under the tutelage of NSJP All Stars director Mike Tucker.
His parents employed the state’s School Choice Program to get him into Ipswich High so he could study under the direction of Gerald Dolan, now the director of fine arts for Ipswich Public Schools.
The Salem Jazz and Soul Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that produces free concerts for the public and raises money to support music education programs. Learn more at SalemJazzSoul.org
2016 Salem Jazz and Soul Festival August 20 & 21 | 11a -7p | Rain or Shine
The LINEUP, SCHEDULE, FAQs, PARKING etc. for the 10th annual Salem Jazz and Soul Festival. All the info you need FOUND HERE.
RickExpress closes SJSF/Berklee Summer Series before Salem Jazz and Soul Festival
RickExpress a Berklee College of Music student, will play the last SJSF/Berklee Summer Series concert of 2016 with his band in Derby Square, Salem, on Saturday, Aug. 13.
The free show will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. and will feature an educational interview about music and the Berklee experience. Rain location is Koto Japanese Grill. 90 Washington St., Salem.
In a Pig’s Eye restaurant will sponsor the performance, which marks the festival’s last show before the main festival, Aug. 20-21.
RickExpress (Ricky McKinney) is a singer, songwriter/composer and pianist. The youngest of his siblings and the only boy, RickExpress’ talent was discovered at an early age and harnessed thereafter. He began singing gospel music at church when he was just 2 and by 6, he had written his first song. With his unique style and eccentric flavor, he has gained the likes of music lovers across the board, ranging from his peers to older generations. They find his music soothing, healing and timeless. While he lends himself to the Neo-Soul genre, he describes his sound as “soulful, moving and ahead of the times”. He incudes inspirations from funk and rhythm and blues. Ricky has stated that many of the messages in his songs come from his time in Sanford, a small town in North Carolina and also deal with modern themes such as social action.
RickExpress has worked with many artist including Valerie Simpson, Sam Smith, Ledisi, Talib Kweli, Sinbad, Sheila E., Lady Gaga, Robert Glasper, Snarky Puppy and more. Ricky continues to study music and perfect his genius as a newly minted graduate from the Berklee College of Music.
The 10th-annual Salem Jazz and Soul Festival will follow during the weekend of Aug. 20-21, featuring 10 bands, a MusicKidz tent, music-education tent, artisan fair and 21-plus beer pavilion. The two-day concert is free.
The festival is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that produces free concerts and raises money for music education causes on the North Shore. Check salemjazzsoul.org for more information. Photos provided upon request.
Watch RickExpress perform his original “Ex Man” live at the Berklee Performance Center.
Published on Jul 13, 2016 | Source: Berklee College of Music
Official Program and Cubes for 2016 Festival Available for Download
DOWNLOAD the official program and festival guide for the 2016 Salem Jazz and Soul Festival AUGUST 20 & 21.
10th annual Salem Jazz and Soul Festival takes place at Salem Willows, Aug. 20-21
The nonprofit Salem Jazz and Soul Festival will cap its 10th season with a two-day music festival at the Salem Willows, Aug. 20-21.
August 2, 2016 – Salem, MA – The free festival will feature 10 bands, a MusicKidz tent, Salem Five Community Foundation Music-Education Tent, artisan fair and 21-plus Notch Brewing beer pavilion.
“We’re extremely excited to have made it this far as a volunteer-run nonprofit,” said Larry Claflin Jr., the festival’s co-founder and executive director. “Without the city’s help and that of our generous sponsors and growing number of patrons, this would not have been possible. This is truly a community effort.”
The festival will offer all styles of music over two days: Big band jazz, Latin, funk, soul, blues, zydeco and more. Bands hail from the North Shore, Boston, New York and Louisiana.
Organizers rarely repeat groups but made two exceptions this year: Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, who were such a hit at the 2015 festival; and Jen Kearney, who performed at the first Salem Jazz and Soul Festival, in 2007.
Saturday’s line-up consists of Salem High School Jazz Band; What Time is it, Mr. Fox; Austin Torpedoes; Brian Thomas / Alex Lee Clark Big Band; and The Nth Power, a powerful soul band from New York, led by drummer Nikki Glaspie, who has toured with Maceo Parker and Beyoncé.
Sunday will feature the North Shore Jazz Project All Stars; Edmar Colón; Jen Kearney; Tim Gearan and Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers.
Parking is limited at the Salem Willows and attendance is expected to be at an all-time high this year, so festival organizers and the city ask that attendees walk or bike to the festival, or park free at Shetland Park and take an inexpensive trolley to the festival.
The festival is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that produces free concerts and raises money for music education causes on the North Shore. Check salemjazzsoul.org for more information. Photos provided upon request.
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