Music
On Monday John Lee stood in the Tabernacle, excitedly talking about the second annual Martha’s Vineyard Jazz Festival. It was the same place he first came up with the idea. He pointed to the front few rows. “I sat in these pews with my daughter and visualized having a festival,” he said.
At the time there was nothing on stage. He was simply sitting and dreaming.
Somewhere along the way — perhaps to the playground — former opera singer Dan Cohen changed his name to Danna Banana and began using his vocals to entertain children and adults with tunes like Jungle Gym, Dugak, and Don’t Touch the Glasses. He refers to his music as, “music for kids that parents can stand.”
Mr. Banana has produced four albums, including Bananappeal, which won the grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting contest.
The Pit Stop is launching a fundraiser to add a café and reading room to the popular music destination. The moniker “destination” is not meant to confuse or be vague. It’s just that the Pit Stop is hard to categorize.
Folksinger Greg Brown got his first professional gig in the 1960s at the age of 18 and later became a record producer. He will be performing at Union Chapel.
The Vineyard is not the tiny, sunny Island that birthed the smooth and rhythmic sounds of reggae music, but it will be the one to host some of the genre’s legends on August 14.
The Wailers, most famous for their work with Bob Marley, are performing at The Lampost in Oak Bluffs at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $32 in advance and $40 the day of the show.
Special guests include Junior Toots, Mike Martin y Los Rootsticks and Selectah Niko of One Drop Sound System. The show is presented by Nectar’s Presents and Rolling Rock.
Arnold McCuller has sang with Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett — the list goes on and on. But mostly the list begins and ends with James Taylor.