A Message From the Artistic Director of the Lewiston Jazz Festival: The Joy of Discovery

There are moments during the annual Lewiston Jazz Festival when you can stand back for just a few seconds and take in what is happening around you. This weekend, I had several of those moments.

I saw a sea of people filling the Village of Lewiston. I watched people moving from stage to stage, stopping when something caught their ear, gathering with friends, enjoying the food, and discovering just how much extraordinary music was happening around them.

And I kept coming back to one thought:

This is what discovery looks like.

Discovery was one of the themes I hoped would define this year’s Lewiston Jazz Festival. Not simply discovering an artist you hadn’t heard before, but discovering the charm of the village, the remarkable depth of talent across our region, and what can happen when thousands of people come together around music.

We certainly experienced that this weekend.

One of the great joys for me as Artistic Director was watching audiences discover and so warmly receive artists like Paul Marinaro, Bria Skonberg, Laura Dubin, Gabrielle Stravelli, Dominic Missana, Elena Izquierdo, the Gregory Street Vagabonds, Ann Mitchell, The Beard and the Bird, Back Room Jazz Band, Masti World Ensemble, Paul Todaro, Dave Hil, Susan Lewis-Friedman, Vanessa Vacanti, and Richard LaRouech and the Temple University Parliament Sextet.

Some came from outside our region. Others came from Buffalo, Lewiston, Rochester, and communities in between. What they shared was the ability to make people stop, listen, and want to hear more.

That’s one of the things I believe a festival should do.

A great festival shouldn’t simply give us more of what we already know. It should introduce us to something we didn’t know we were going to love.

And discovery has long been part of the Lewiston Jazz Festival tradition. Over the years, Lewiston audiences had the opportunity to experience artists such as Kurt Elling, Emmet Cohen, and Veronica Swift before they became the more widely recognized names in jazz they are today. There’s something special about being able to say, “I remember when I first heard them in Lewiston.”

There were homecomings, too, which made the weekend especially meaningful. And we welcomed back familiar faces and festival favorites, including Cheryl Ferris, Wendell Rivera, UB Dance, and the Matt’s Music Vocal Performance Team, whose annual appearance has become a cherished part of the festival and a wonderful opportunity for young performers to experience a festival stage and audience.

And what a way to begin the weekend—with the Ladies First Jazz Big Band filling the Main Stage with the sound and spirit of an ensemble that has been part of our region’s musical community for more than 20 years.

But what I’ll remember most isn’t any single performance.

I’ll remember the people.

I’ll remember looking down Center Street and seeing it filled with people enjoying themselves. I’ll remember audiences warmly responding to musicians they may have been hearing for the first time. I’ll remember friends running into friends, people lingering rather than rushing home, and that, for two days, the village truly had become a Jazz Village.

There is a phrase we use often at JazzBuffalo: Jazz Is Joy.

This weekend, you could see it.

You could see it in the faces of the musicians. You could see it in audiences gathered around the stages. You could see it in people dancing, laughing, listening, wandering, and simply enjoying being in the company of others.

For me, that’s ultimately what this music—and a festival like this—is capable of creating. Yes, we come to hear great jazz. But somewhere along the way, music creates a shared experience for people who might otherwise never have shared a moment together.

And that enriches our entire community.

So, as Artistic Director, my overwhelming feeling the morning after this year’s festival is simply gratitude.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you for supporting live music.

Thank you for welcoming artists you may not have known before.

Thank you for wandering from stage to stage with an open mind and an open ear.

And thank you for believing, as we do, that discovering new talent and giving artists an opportunity to be heard makes our musical community stronger.

To all of the musicians who gave us so much this weekend, to everyone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make these two days possible, to the businesses and community that welcomed thousands of people into the village, and to every person who joined us—thank you.

You helped make the transformation to a Jazz Village come alive.

And perhaps the best thing we can carry forward from this weekend is the spirit of discovery itself.

Keep listening. Keep discovering. Keep supporting the artists who enrich our community.

Because this weekend in Lewiston, Jazz Is Joy wasn’t simply something we said. It was something we experienced together.

— Tony Zambito
Artistic Director
Lewiston Jazz Festival