The 9th Annual Queen City Jazz Festival is being held this Saturday, July 26, from 12pm until 8pm. The festival is presented by The Historic Colored Musicians Club and will feature a stage located near Broadway and Michigan as well as performances inside the club this year.
Every member of the Historic Colored Musician Club is undoubtedly hard at work to put on a great festival with some of the best jazz in the Queen City. Spearheaded by Walter Kemp, Jr. and a festival committee, the line up includes the jazz talents and performances of pianist Michael McNeil, bassist Sabu Adeyola, the George Caldwell Quintet, the grooving fusion band of Gruvology, bassist Zuri Appleby, long time club member and saxophonist Carol McLaughlin, trumpeter Rick Holland, and the always entertaining Eric Crittendon’s Critt’s Juke Joint – plus more.
The festival is a celebration of jazz history in the Queen City and supports the continued development of the Historic Colored Musicians Club as a museum as well as a jazz artists destination. Led by the President of the Historic Colored Musicians Club, George Scott, the club has made tremendous strides in the past few years in renovations as well as the establishment of a museum.
The club was established 75 years ago. In the hey day of jazz, many greats such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Blakey, and many more made the Colored Musicians Club a mandatory stop when traveling through or performing in Buffalo. A mission of the club is to keep the legacy of this history alive as well as to continue to foster the development of young jazz artists. In addition, the club provides a place for jazz artists in general to perform in several of the associated big bands, which have open rehearsals throughout the week.
The Historic Colored Musicians Club Documentary
What follows are two parts of a documentary provided by Van Taylor Productions. Part 2 includes rare footage of Al Tinney performing on piano as well as talking:
Saturday July 26 On The Streets And In The Club
Saturday July 26 will be greeted with sunny skies and for one eight hour period on the corner of Broadway and Michigan, jazz will reign and fill the air non-stop. A chance for you to to celebrate fabulous history and support jazz in the Queen City.
Keep Jazz Alive In WNY!
