Montclair Jazz Fest: 2024 Sizzle!
Highlights of the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL 15th Anniversary Downtown Jamboree on Saturday, September 14, 2024, which set a new attendance record, drawing over 25,000 music fans to Montclair, New Jersey’s downtown corridor. Produced by acclaimed jazz education and performance organization JAZZ HOUSE KiDS, Festival headliners included Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton, Kenny Garrett Sounds from the Ancestors, Steve Turre Sextet, Jerome Jennings & ill Philosophy, Brianna Thomas, Edmar Castañeda and Christian McBride, the festival’s music director and curator, with his band Inside Straight. JAZZ HOUSE KiDS founder, festival producer and vocalist Melissa Walker closed the uptown stage with the JAZZ HOUSE Collective.
Curated by festival music director, 9-time GRAMMY Award-winning bassist, @ChristianMcBrideTV with stage hosts, comedian Alonzo Boden and SiriusXM Jazz on-air personality Andromeda Turre, the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL is the most popular jazz festival in the greater NYC area that’s free to the public. The 2024 Downtown Jamboree welcomed music fans along nearly half a mile of downtown Montclair’s Bloomfield Avenue commercial corridor, closed to vehicular traffic with hundreds of retailers and restaurant storefronts. This year’s event was jam-packed with talent on multiple stages, 170+ food & artisan vendors in the Rao’s Homemade Marketplace, and the Verizon Family Jazz Discovery Zone in the Wellmont Arts Plaza. After eight hours of live music on two stages, the Festival transformed into a giant 15th Anniversary Celebration Block Party as DJ Brother Mister (AKA Christian McBride) and special guest, New Jersey’s own DJ Prince Hakim took over the Downtown Jamboree stage for a dynamic funk & soul dance party. For more information visit www.montclairjazzfestival.org.