A yearly event showcasing poetry readings and jazz performances is back in Mobile. The annual Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival kicks off on July 25 and runs through July 28. The experience is billed as a celebration of the rich history of jazz and art in the Port City and is meant to promote different types of jazz styles like Southern swing, Latin and bebop.
“The Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival has been around for 26 years,” said Jamie Gross English, assistant director of the festival. “The first year was in 1998, and it was strictly developed to revive jazz music on the Gulf Coast and to keep jazz music alive for future generations.”
The event kicks off on July 25 with an Evening of Poetry. This part of the festival is hosted by Huggy Bear Da Poet and takes place at the Central Presbyterian Church at 6 p.m. The event will be open mic, and everyone from children to adults are welcome to come and share their work. Admission is $10.
On July 26, the festival will host a Jazz Gala with performances from the Andrew Ayers Trio along with participants from the Marcus Johnson Summer Camp. These students took part in a 10-day jazz camp leading up to the start of the festival.
“The Marcus Johnson Summer Jazz Camp is a two-week camp where students learn improvisation,” said Gross English. “They learn to read standard notation music. They learn presentation style, and [that’s] led by Hosea London. We have quite a number of students that return each year. They go off to college, and then they even come back and work with us as clinicians in the camp.”
The Jazz Gala will have the presentation of the Hosea London Jazz Music Education Award, an award named after the director of the Marcus Johnson Summer Camp.
“We have developed this award to celebrate music educators in our area and to thank them so much for imparting and sharing their knowledge and love for music with the youth of the Gulf Coast. We present those awards to highlight these people and to encourage them to continue to dedicate their time and their talents to the youth through music,” Gross English explained.
This year’s recipients of the Hosea London Jazz Music Education Award include Theodore Keeby and Shane Philen. The Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival’s Jazz Gala will take place on July 26 at 7 p.m. at 1717 Dauphin Street in Mobile. Admission is $35.
The third day of the festival will be dedicated to special performances from well-known jazz musicians such as Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra and Gino Rosaria. The event is on July 27 at 6 p.m. at the Saenger Theater. Tickets can be purchased on the Mobile Civic Center website.
The Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival will conclude with a free event on July 28, featuring performances from the Excelsior Band, The Jukebox Brass Band and the Bay Carnival Mari Grass Entertainment Band.
The Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival was founded in the belief that “ethnic” means everybody and “heritage” is not some fixed point in the past. The organization seeks to present jazz through a declaration of its evolution at every turn. More information on the festival can be found here.
