Shining light on standout jazz talent for 10 years now, Brooklyn’s annual BRIC JazzFest celebrated its first decade this past weekend with a stellar musical lineup curated by Grammy-nominated harpist Brandee Younger. The event raised questions about the genre’s modern-day vitality. A panel discussion asked, “Why Intergenerational Collaboration and Radical Inclusion Are Essential Anchors for a Vibrant and Enduring Jazz Future,” while showcasing drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, saxophonist Gary Bartz, and many more. With 18 live performances spread across three nights, BRIC JazzFest championed America’s classical music with verve, proving that jazz inspires and entertains as much as ever.
Gen X showed up for JazzFest in abundance and for good reason. During the 1980s, jazz legend Miles Davis had heavy R&B radio rotation with covers of Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper. Pianist Herbie Hancock blended jazz with hip-hop on “Rockit,” and trumpet icon Dizzy Gillespie featured prominently on Stevie Wonder’s 1982 hit “Do I Do” and The Cosby Show. Those in the BRIC building aged 41 to 56 arguably grew up with jazz more intimately than Gen Z with today’s luminaries like Samara Joy, Robert Glasper or Kamasi Washington. And yet contemporary young lions deserve as much attention as hitmaking smooth jazzmen like George Benson, Herb Alpert and Grover Washington Jr. from back in the day.
To that end, the BRIC House—located in downtown Fort Greene, Brooklyn—split JazzFest performances between its open-air TD Gallery and a larger ballroom to accommodate all the program’s trios, quartets, quintets and solo performers.
Thursday night, as attendees settled in with popcorn and limited-edition bottles from City Winery, 29-year-old Indigenous bassist Mali Obomsawin took the gallery stage. Performing selections from her Sweet Tooth album debut alongside an all-female trio guitarist, drummer and saxophonist, Obomsawin also drew attention to Sugarcane, a new documentary investigating unmarked graves of Native children in Canada. At times, her free-jazz, meditative mood music sounded reminiscent of Meshell Ndegeocello circa Bitter.
Speaking of radio instrumental hits like “Rise” and “Mister Magic,” one way for jazz performers of the 2020s, such as Jon Batiste or Flying Lotus, amongst others, to make a bigger commercial imprint might be to master the art of moving butts. The hip-hop production techniques of drummer Kassa Overall took that route in the ballroom. In between his compositions, Overall took his band through a rousing extended version of the Soho house-music classic, “Hot Music.”
Harpist Brandee Younger, who curated BRIC Jazzfest’s A Decade of Discovery anniversary programming, commanded the ballroom stage with some covers of the late, great Alice Coltrane, including “Rama Rama” and “Turiya and Ramakrishna.” Curly-headed in a leather dress and ornate jewelry, Younger has been known to pluck the strings of a restored harp by Coltrane herself. But the Afrofuturistic-looking model she used Thursday night looked like something straight out of Wakanda. She also regaled the BRIC audience with unreleased music and her 2022 protest instrumental, “Unrest.”
With six bands taking both stages each evening, the BRIC JazzFest realized its mission to present an esoteric mixture of legends, innovators and newbies, giving Brooklyn and beyond an ample sample of jazz’s past, present and future.
