Music Moves Presents the Fayetteville Jazz Festival

Music Moves presents the third annual Fayetteville Jazz Festival on April 23, 24 and 25. The University of Arkansas Community Music School, Institute for Creative Music, and Fayetteville Public Library will host festival events throughout the weekend.

Featured guest artists include saxophonist Alexa Tarantino (Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Cecile McLorin Salvant Quintet, Sherrie Maricle & the DIVA Jazz Orchestra), trumpet player Rodney Block (Kirk Whalum, Ellis Marsalis, Doug E. Fresh), vocalist Carmen Bruner and organist Jeremy Thomas (Joey Defrancesco, Arturo Sandoval, David Sanborn), with pianist Reggie James, drummer Anthony Ball, guitarist Jake Hertzog, vocalist Lauren Nicole Clare, bassist Kyth Trantham, drummer Chris Teal, moderator Jeffery Murdock (U of A), musicologist Kimberly Hannon Teal (U of A), music theorist Joon Park, and the U of A Jazz Orchestra, directed by Rick Salonen. This event features performances, a panel discussion, school performance clinics and workshops on jazz history, theory and improvisation. All festival events are free to the public and will be held with a combination of outdoor performances at Prairie Street Live and live streaming events from Fayetteville Public Library.

Music Moves promotes the extraordinary contribution of African Americans to music of all genres, including jazz, and this will be their first year of collaboration with the festival. Music Moves is committed to educating and engaging the community by making high-quality performances of Black music and educational materials accessible to everyone. The organization has partnered with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, Walton Arts Center, Crystal Bridges, Northwest Arkansas Council, the U of A and other NWA organizations to bring live performances to the Northwest Arkansas community and to make programming available to a broader audience online. You can find more information at the Music Moves website and Facebook page.

Regional college, high school, middle school and junior high school jazz bands are invited to participate in performance clinics with Alexa Tarantino and other world-renowned jazz musicians. The performance clinics will take place remotely in the two weeks leading up to the festival through live-streaming workshops during the school day. School groups can register for a 30-minute live feedback session based on their 20-minute pre-recorded performance at https://forms.gle/HxvSicUc5ajGuTJn9 for $100 per group. The Institute for Creative Music (a registered 501c3 non-profit) will award several scholarships to the 2021 IfCM Jazz and Creative Music Camp to high-performing students who participate in the school performance clinics.

All events shall require social distancing and face covering and will comply with all applicable COVID-19 directives of the ADH, state of Arkansas and U of A. Visit health.uark.edu/coronavirus/returning-to-campus for more information.