The Springfield Kiwanis Club hosted the first
Springfield Jazz & Blue Fest in Downtown Springfield just three years ago.
“We were looking for a new signature project and kind of latched onto the idea of maybe having fun with a music festival,” says Richard Carey, Kiwanis member and producer for the event. “We looked at it closely and decided on the genres of jazz and blues. We started in 2022, and it just took off on us.”
Since then, the event has grown in numerous ways, like adding a second stage and a second day. Carey estimates it brought in 12,000 people last year.
The free, family-friendly festival features food trucks, vendors, and activities, as both Grammy-winning artists and local musicians alike grace the stages at Mother Stewarts Brewery and the Johnny Lytle Stage set up at the National Road Commons throughout the weekend.
After the final acts finish their sets, the place to be is the Late Night Jam event at the State Theatre. In the spirit of jazz and blues music, musicians pop in and play.
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Late Night Jam at the State Theatre“You never know who’s going to come in, what they’re going to play, how it’s going to be,” he explains. “That starts as the big acts are ending on Friday and Saturday night. It’s a comfortable atmosphere. It has the right vibe for this kind of music festival.”
Ahead of the Springfield Jazz & Blue Fest’s return on August 8 and 9, Hub Springfield sat down with Producer Richard Carey to learn more about the growing event.
1. What can you tell us about the lineup at this year’s Jazz & Blues Fest?
RC: Most of the time, Todd Stoll, the festival's artistic director, finds his bands on his own, but occasionally I'll send some recommendations his way and he follows up on that. It's turned out to be a great team effort.
Whenever I travel, I'll try and pop into a blues tavern or a jazz bar and see the local flavor from around the country. And actually, the lady closing out Saturday evening at Mother Stewart's is a tremendous blues artist that we discovered in Chicago at one of their big blues venues up there. She's actually from Mississippi, so she sings kind of a Delta Blues style, Nora Jean Wallace, and she's just bigger than life.
We have another band that is playing on Friday evening that I happened upon the Eastern Mall in Columbus, where I was attending a conference, and it's a band called Shaun Booker-Dammit Band. I did some homework on them, and Shaun's traveled all over the world singing, so she's bringing her band in on Friday night.
On Saturday evening, we have Cécile McLorin Salvant, who has won three Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album. She's amazing. We have another Grammy Award nominee coming in on Friday evening, Jeff Hamilton, who is a renowned jazz drummer, and he's coming in with his trio. Then, just some great musicians from
Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York, which is a Wynton Marsalis nonprofit to promote jazz. There’s a trumpet player by the name of Terell Stafford, who's coming in on Friday night. He's playing with the Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra, which is one of the best jazz orchestras east of the Mississippi, so we're excited to have a lot of great jazz and some tremendous blues artists coming in.
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Performers on stage at the Springfield Jazz & Blues Fest2. Is there anything exciting at this year’s festival you’d like people to know about?
RC: One of the things that we're really excited about is that we have an extended golf cart, so people can ride continuously. Even though it's an easy enough walk to cross the street and go from Mother Stewart's Brewery Stage to the Johnny Lytle Commons Park Stage, we're going to have a golf cart to assist those people who may need a little extra assistance to go back and forth between the two stages. We started that last year. We're perfecting it this year. I think it's going to make it a lot more convenient for people.
This year, we're also excited to offer a children's zone. This is going to showcase face painting and balloon animals. It’s another fun part, for specifically two hours each day. It's going to be 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
3. What makes Springfield a great place to host a jazz and blues festival?
RC: Springfield has a unique history. It was one of the big manufacturing cities in the world a long time ago. And like so many cities, particularly here in the Rust Belt, the manufacturing moved out and the city had to kind of redefine itself and rediscover itself. We've been doing that here in Springfield over the years. Particularly in the last 30 years, there's been a lot of transformation in Springfield, but a lot of the character of the old buildings remains.
And I think when they developed an old metallic casket company into Mother Stewart's Brewery, that kind of just set the stage for an iconic old manufacturing feel. The downtown area of Springfield just lends itself to a kind of jazz and blues feel and a vibe. Another city might be looking more at rock and roll. Another city might be more inclined to have a country music or bluegrass feel, but in Springfield, it just seems to be the right city for jazz and blues.
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Crowds fills National Commons to see Jazz & Blues performances.
To see the full lineup or to learn more about Springfield Jazz & Blues Fest,
visit their website.