Hanif on Media » Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival

At the 14th Annual Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival, the master musicians and jazzy kids did not disappoint

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:02:07 +0000

The jazz heads who never miss a beat were there. So were the students who came out to enjoy — and play — this classical American music. The Palm Beach Arts Paper just posted my feature on the 14th annual Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival.

Melton Mustafa on trumpet leads the master quartet featuring pianist Edward Simon, bassist Ed Howard and drummer Victor Lewis.

Dillard Performing Arts High School Jazz Band members (L-R): Markus Howell, Anthony Burrell, Patrick Bartley, Brandon Lubin and Russell Hall.

Take a look, and while there, take a look around the ArtsPaper. Thanks to some of my former Palm Beach Post colleagues, among others, there’s no finer South Florida arts information source.

Oh, and that jewel of a jazz festival at Florida Memorial University’s Lou Rawls Performing Arts Center? It’s always a warm and electic scene; hip jazz students sharing space with forever hip jazz veterans amidst eight-to-80s family members. This year, from the Dillard Performing Arts High School Jazz Band’s first tune, the audience again was aglow.

Credit the Miami Gardens university, and its accomplished yet unassuming director of jazz studies, Mustafa, for this long-running South Florida institution, that features pure jazz’s greatest names of today, and the future.

Anthony Burrell solos for the crowd and Dillard band Director Christopher Dorsey.

Dillard's Patrick Bartley on the solo.

The look of students who are serious about the music.

Florida Memorial University's Presidential Jazz...

...delighted the Lou Rawls Theatre crowd...

...performing the late Freddie Hubbard's 'Red Clay.'

Brothers Jesse Jones, Jr. and Mustafa...

...made the smiles fill the room.

Mustafa leads the quartet.

Charles Tolliver blowing his horn...

...and directing the big band that featured two Mustafa family artists.

Bassist Ed Howard (L) and pianist Edward Simon.

Brenda Rivers (L), a regular at the festival, and Yolanda English, back for her second year.

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Palm Beach ArtsPaper on Melton Mustafa Jazz Fest

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:21:03 +0000

“This pure jazz event is simultaneously a treasured South Florida institution and one of our area’s best-kept secrets — even as it draws attention from as far away as Russia….”

Melton Mustafa

I posted on this weekend’s 14th annual session of some of Florida’s finest aspiring jazz students, the music’s most legendary masters and their fans. Check my update in the classy Palm Beach ArtsPaper and its new beta site.

14th Annual Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival: Florida’s best for enjoying students — and reknown masters

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:07:37 +0000

meltonmustfa.com

This is what I call giving New Media a whole new swing: Day one, workshops during which students soak up skills from some of the greatest masters of jazz. The next evening, those high school and college jazz bands strut their stuff — capped by a swinging finale performed by the master musicians. Over the years those greats have ranged from Dr. Billy Taylor to Randy Brecker, from Patrice Rushen to the late Dr. Grover Washington, Jr.

I’ll be working on a feature piece for the Palm Beach ArtsPaper regarding the one South Florida musical event I try not to miss. For now, I highly recommend going to meltonmustafa.com for details on the singular pure jazz evening coming up again Feb. 13, at Florida Memorial College’s cozy Lou Rawls Auditorium in Miami Gardens. It’s produced by the internationally known trumpeter, arranger, composer, Florida Memorial director of jazz studies, gifted music educator, bandleader extraordinaire, and one of the most humble human beings you’ll ever meet, Melton Mustafa.