Dr. Kenneth Alleyne, 46, and his wife, Dr. Shaun Biggers-Alleyne, love jazz. They also love Martha’s Vineyard. So they began brainstorming a way to combine these seemingly disparate passions. The result was Jazz on the Vineyard, a daylong jazz festival now in its second year, which will be held tomorrow, August 18, at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs.
Jazz Great Plays the Tabernacle
Wynton Marsalis is, well, Wynton Marsalis, one of the premier jazz trumpeters of our time. Mr. Marsalis is also a composer, teacher, music educator and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York city. He has been awarded nine Grammys and one of his jazz recordings won the Pulitzer Prize for music.
A few weeks ago, while sitting on a porch here on the Vineyard, Jessica Ashley leaned back, closed her eyes and began to sing. Or rather, she belted out a few lines, totally absorbed in the music. Afterwards she opened her eyes and asked, “Do you know that one? My sister and I used to sing that one together.”
Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar got his start playing in bands such as the Kingbees and the Flying Machine. There was another skinny, long-haired fellow in Flying Machine named James Taylor who, at the time, was like Danny — just another Vineyard summer dink with a guitar and a melodic voice. Kootch and JT, the early incarnation of the Chilmark Potluck Jam.
The Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven is about to rock. True, the center has been rocking intellectually, spiritually and culturally all summer long with their varied programming, but next weekend they will literally rock. The lineup includes Joshua Nelson and his Kosher Gospel Singers with special guest, Lisa Gutkin.
The Pit Stop is located inside an inconspicuous garage across the street from Tony’s Market in Oak Bluffs and is hard to find even when you’re looking right at it. A small marquee out front advertises the night’s musical entertainment and a white hand-painted sign directs visitors around an old trailer to the entrance at the back of the building.