Musician Justin Poindexter remembers last year’s crowd at the Jazz at The Circuit event, a series named for the event space where it’s performed at downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Destination Sistrunk Cultural Center.
“Man, the audience was just on fire,” says Poindexter, the guitarist for Jazz at Lincoln Center, coming to Destination Sistrunk for a free show on Thursday, April 17, “Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents: The Music of Louis Armstrong and New Orleans.”
(Photo by Taylor Brown, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)
The show is one of several events throughout the county during Jazz Appreciation Month — fittingly called “JAM” — which is celebrated each April since it was established in 2001 by The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
“We started this series we call Jazz at The Circuit a couple of years ago,” says Phillip Dunlap, the director of the Broward Cultural Division. “All through April, organizations are encouraged to celebrate jazz music as an American art form. So we’re doing this concert featuring a group from Jazz at Lincoln Center, which is a partnership that I’ve sort of cultivated over decades of working in the arts.”
Jazz at The Circuit, presented by the Broward Cultural Division, was born out of what Dunlap said he observed when he arrived in South Florida six years ago.
(Photo courtesy of Phillip Dunlap)
(Photo by Taylor Brown, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)
He’d come from St. Louis, where he was a working jazz pianist with the added bona fides of a master’s degree in jazz piano and an adjunct professorship in jazz history. He was also the director for the non-profit organization, Jazz St. Louis.
“That arts non-profit’s purpose was the presentation and preservation of jazz, so it’s a passion of mine as an art form,” says Dunlap. “We had a 200-seat jazz club. I love going out and sitting in a little club that might have 50 to 100 seats, where the musicians are right in front of you on a stage that’s 20 feet away, and hearing some great music.”
In Broward, Dunlap looked to recreate that intimate jazz club experience — “maybe somewhat selfishly,” he says, “because I was missing it. It’s a gap in our cultural offerings here, I think.”
“This year’s show will take a deep dive into the Crescent City,” says Dunlap. Classic songs by Armstrong, the legendary trumpeter and vocalist, will be highlighted in a soulful, swinging set list of jubilant New Orleans grooves, down-home blues and spirituals.
Last March, the concert titled, “Songs of Hope and Change” showcased iconic music by Nina Simone, the Staple Singers and Cannonball Adderley.
“It was a super great community night. It’s an incredible feeling when you know you’re doing something in a community that feels good and feels right and productive,” says Poindexter, who is based in New York.
The nine-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center group features three South Florida musicians: trombonist Waldron Dunkley, assistant professor of jazz studies at Broward College; keyboardist Jim Gaisor, associate professor of jazz and instrumental studies at the New World School of the Arts in Miami; and Miami drummer Harvel Nakundi. Other performers include New York-based C. Anthony Bryant, vocals, Rob Adkins, bass and Jake Blasini, emcee; Chicago’s Pharez Whitted, trumpet, along with Aurora Nealand, reed instruments, saxophone, from New Orleans.
For the group, the Fort Lauderdale concert will top off two days of school residencies at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, part of a Jazz at Lincoln Center program called “Let Freedom Swing” that presents over 250 performances a year in 10 cities.
“While they’re in South Florida, we can provide them a performing opportunity in our little jazz club that seats about 100 people,” says Dunlap, who sat in on piano for a tune with the group last year. “And it’s free and open to the public. It’s good music, and it’s just good vibes.”
Poindexter says it serves, too, as a bit of rehearsal for the group.
“This is for me the ideal situation,” says Poindexter, who also plays tenor banjo. “Doing the school shows, we get a band nice and tight and get really comfortable, and then we go blow it out at the club — and that’s what we’re going to do in Fort Lauderdale. And it feels great, largely because the musicians that we’re working with from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area are just so killer. I mean, these guys are really great musicians, and they bring a great energy to the group.”
The group started its residency in South Florida last year, says Poindexter, who is also director of education for school and community programs for the Jazz at Lincoln Center organization.
“There’ll be kids from local schools that will come in and see the show,” says Poindexter. “It really just shows them the history of jazz music. This year, we’re focusing on Louis Armstrong, starting with his life in New Orleans and then going through the different phases of his career. For most of the kids, this will be their first time ever hearing jazz. So I feel like it’s my personal responsibility to make it as engaging, as joyous, and as amazing as possible so that we can get some lifelong fans.”
This year, the group’s role as jazz ambassadors is being given a little boost from Satchmo, as Armstrong was known.
“What I really love about this program,” says Poindexter, “is we get great jazz musicians from different scenes and bring them together around something that everyone can really get together on, which is New Orleans music and music of Louis Armstrong. We find that it’s great music for anybody, but especially for getting people in the door with jazz.”
Armstrong’s infectious smile and raspy voice endeared him to fans around the world and only served to amplify his historic musical legacy.
“It’s hard to find someone that doesn’t like that music, you know? If you don’t like Louis Armstrong and New Orlean-style brass bands, you know, you might need to get your temperature checked,” says Poindexter.
(Photo by Taylor Brown, courtesy of the Adrienne Arsht Center)
MORE APRIL JAZZ EVENTS IN BROWARD
April’s Jazz Appreciation Month brings a spectrum of other jazz events to Broward, including:
First Friday Jazz Jams
7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 4, ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise, Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; free. Held by the Gold Coast Jazz Society on the first Friday of the month through June, the sessions give student musicians the chance to jam with a professional jazz combo. Open to the public, the sessions are regularly moderated by veteran South Florida musician and educator Nicole Yarling.
Info: goldcoastjazz.org
Davie Jazz Festival
6 to 10 p.m., Saturday, April 5, Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, 4201 SW 65th Way, Davie; tickets, $35 GA/$65 VIP in advance online, $45/$75 day of event.
The event features the double bass duo, Phylicia Rae and Jacob Webb; soulful vocalist Leesa Richards; renowned flutist Althea Rene; saxophone artist Joel Dennis; and the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida singing “Broadway Blockbusters.”
Info: daviejazzfestival.com
“Jazz & Brazilian Music”
Lecture by Nicole Yarling, 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 9, NSU LLI/Alvin Sherman Library, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; free, registration required, Yarling will discuss the origin of samba and how pared-down versions of samba, bossa nova and New Wave became popular in Brazil and the United States — as well as the movie that helped to bring Brazilian music to the world, “Black Orpheus.” Info: 954-262-8472 or libguides.nova.edu/lli/Calendar
A Taste of Jazz @ Bailey Contemporary Arts
7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, April 10, 41 NE First St., Pompano Beach; tickets required, $25 adults, $20 Pompano residents. Every second Thursday of the month, this event blends the rich history of jazz with live performances and delightful wine tastings. The evening begins with a half-hour of wine tasting followed by an hour of live music. Space is limited. Reservations on Eventbrite are encouraged. Info: pompanobeacharts.org/events/a-taste-of-jazz-in-person
Gold Coast Jazz Society Jeanette M. Russell Jazz Scholarship Competition
9 a.m., Saturday, April 12, ArtServe, 1350 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; free.
Open to the public, this event features live audition performances by finalists for the scholarship, which is annually granted to vocal and instrumental music students from Florida who wish to pursue an education in music with an emphasis in jazz studies. Backed by professional musicians, students audition before a panel of judges. Info: goldcoastjazz.org
Tony DeSare Trio, “Sinatra & Beyond”
7:45 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, Broward Center/Amaturo Theater, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale; tickets, $65. A favorite of the The Gold Coast Jazz Society, DeSare comes with the credentials of “Rising Star Male Vocalist,” as named by Downbeat magazine. With a style that is at once romantic and swinging, DeSare is an award-winning composer whose performances also celebrate the Great American Songbook. Info: goldcoastjazz.org / browardcenter.org
“Nat King Cole: An American Treasure”
Lecture by Chuck Bergeron, 2 p.m., Friday, April 18, The Pavilion at John Knox Village, 820 Lakeside Circle, Pompano Beach; tickets, $10 for non-residents. This is one in an eclectic annual series of lectures by the esteemed South Florida jazz personality for the Knox Lifelong Learners Program. “Nat Cole really was an American treasure,” says Bergeron, a musician, bandleader and professor at UM’s Frost School of Music. “His music served as the bridge between jazz and popular music in the years immediately after WWII, and his influence can be seen and heard in singers from Frank Sinatra to Diana Krall.”
Info: thepavilionatjkv.com
If You Go
WHAT: Jazz at Lincoln Center at The Circuit
WHEN: 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 17
COST: Free
WHERE: The Circuit @ Destination Sistrunk Cultural Center, 1033 NW Sixth St, Fort Lauderdale
INFORMATION: RSVP here
