The Germantown Jazz Festival: A rousing free event

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Khadijah Renee Morgan at the February 18 concert at the Northwest Regional Library.
Photo: Constance Garcia-Barrio

By Constance Garcia-Barrio

Just as a scrumptious hors d’oeuvre previews the feast to come, the Josh Lee Trio’s February 18 concert at the Northwest Regional Library provided listeners with a tantalizing taste of the upcoming Germantown Jazz Festival. Slated for April 25 to 27, this free event, set to take place in Vernon Park, located at 5800 Germantown Avenue, will feature consummate musicians like those the library audience enjoyed.

The trio’s performance was one of several events to help raise funds and awareness of the festival. Josh Lee, a baritone saxophonist, drummer Ben Singer, and bass player Sam Harris wowed the audience with their improvisation and charisma.

“I’m really happy we’re doing the festival,” said Lee, a Grammy Award winner who played with Count Basie’s orchestra. “It’s going to be big,” he said.

Lee, a native Philadelphian, has performed for audiences around the world. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in jazz performance and teaches at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music.

Several nonprofits have joined forces for the April event. One of them is the Community Education and Action Project, Inc., which seeks to provide low-cost holistic healthcare for marginalized Philadelphians, according to founder and CEO Khadijah Renee Morgan. Morgan, a jazz vocalist, has been recorded live at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and will sing at the festival.

“I was 14 when I heard a Wes Montgomery record,” Morgan said, speaking of the Indianapolis-born jazz guitarist who first drew her attention to the genre. “I fell in love with jazz. I listened to Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, and I emulated Sarah Vaughan.”

Originally from Delaware County, Morgan gained experience in Philly clubs.

“In jam sessions, they allow you to come up to the mike and sing,” Morgan said. “They call it ‘cutting your teeth.’”

Morgan developed courage and confidence through such performances.

“You learn to take a composition and make it your own, to recreate it in a different way,” she said.

Jazz encourages inventiveness, Morgan added. She cites the example of Thelonious Monk, a jazz pianist and prolific composer whose improvisational style set him apart.

“He didn’t care whether you liked it or not,” Morgan said. “He just played, and people grew used to it.”

Monk is credited with influencing bebop and birthing a whole new flavor of jazz.

“I felt that Germantown deserved to have its own major event,” Morgan added.

Besides being a songstress, she is a reiki master whose approach to energy healing often includes music.

Artcinia, a nonprofit that began in 2021, and aimed to connect “artists and audiences in places close to home,” per its website, is lending a hand with the festival.

“We thought it was a good idea,” said Jake Kelberman, Artcinia’s artistic co-director and director of operations.

Artcinia brings music of all kinds to unexpected spaces, from houses of worship to sidewalks, explained Kelberman, a jazz guitarist, composer and educator. Artcinia stands on the conviction that making affordable high-quality performances available to communities enriches the lives of its residents.

Germantown native Amirah Cutts, Ph.D., has lent her organizing savvy to the festival.

Josh Lee

“I attended Lingelbach Elementary School and later taught mathematics there,” said Cutts, who has a doctorate in education and educational leadership.

Also a musician, Cutts holds graduate certifications in special education and nonprofit arts administration.

Cutts’ years of playing the violin may have sharpened her enthusiasm for the festival.

“This is a special opportunity for Germantown,” Cutts said, who spends most of her time teaching students and coaching teachers to achieve stellar educational results.

Festival organizers see a bouquet of possibilities in the event. Morgan mentioned that COVID-19 wreaked havoc on many Northwest Philadelphia businesses, including jazz clubs. The festival could lead to a resurgence of such venues, she said.

On a similar note, Kelberman believes that the festival could make Philadelphians more aware of Germantown’s jazz legacy. Rufus Harley, from North Philly by way of North Carolina, became the first jazz musician to adopt the bagpipe as his chief instrument. Seeing the Black Watch, a Scottish Royal Highland regiment, play in John F. Kennedy’s funeral procession in November 1963 inspired him.

“…Every musician in Philadelphia thought I was crazy,” Harley said in an interview, but over time, he earned a respected place in jazz. He lived most of his life in Germantown.

Germantown’s Sun Ra Arkestra, which played in Philadelphia nightclubs, came to prominence in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Bandleader, composer, and pianist Sun Ra claimed to be an alien from Jupiter. Sun Ra’s jazz band became one of the first to use electronic instruments. The house on Morton Street where he lived was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2022.

Kelberman also emphasized that jazz draws on many cultures and has the power to bring together people of different backgrounds for celebration, an always-timely dimension of the music.

The festival’s partnership with the Settlement Music School, one of whose six branches in Greater Philadelphia is on Germantown Avenue, will expose more budding performers to this musical tradition.

Philadelphians who attend the festival can feast their eyes as well as their ears. Germantown’s October Gallery, which recently celebrated 40 years of featuring African American artists, will have a large pavilion with juried art at the festival.

The next festival fundraiser will take place March 26, 7 p.m., at the Attic Brewing Company, located at 137 Berkley St. in Germantown. It will feature Andre Wagner and Company and will include a raffle, food, and fun. It is free and donations are appreciated. All funds raised will go toward securing top-tier performers, production costs, and community and engagement activities. Visit:www.germantownjazzfestival.com for details.

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