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City jazz12/17/2023 ![]() (Best not to challenge him on the latter: “Don’t call me a New Yorker,” he insists. No, not because he’s ready to call it quits or because he now lives in Manhattan. Stuart tells Philly Mag this might actually be the final year for the Center City Jazz Fest. “Every time I’m about to hire an out-of-town musician, I remember all the great musicians we have right in Philly,” Stuart says. They’re all performers with strong Philly ties, which is the case with most folks involved in the festival. But early signers-on included bass-thumping Roots pal Anthony Tidd, powerhouse percussionist Chris Beck, and veteran vocalist Jeannie Brooks. Stuart tends not to finalize the lineup until closer to the date, as this festival is more about showing up and discovering than attending because one big name is in town. All are within walking distance of each other, and one $20 pass gets you into whatever you want to see all day long - a real bargain in these times of ticket-gouging and overpriced fees. Now, just as venues have emerged from the pandemic, Stuart is ready to do the same with the festival, which returns on April 22nd to Chris’ Jazz Cafe, Time, Franky Bradley’s, Fergie’s, and a fifth venue that hadn’t been confirmed as of press time. But while the fest and the world were on pause, Stuart grabbed a master’s from Columbia University in nonprofit management - particularly handy given that he runs the festival as a nonprofit. “I was in the middle of planning the ninth annual festival for April 2020,” Stuart says, “when … ” Well, you know the rest. But one thing it didn’t, couldn’t survive: the pandemic. It also survived the birth of their son, now six. The Center City Jazz Festival survived Stuart tying the knot with a globe-trotting department chair at Mount Sinai. Philadelphia jazz musicians weren’t getting enough love, enough opportunities to spotlight their work, which is important work.” “It really took on a life of its own,” says Stuart, 39. Philly was clearly hungry for what he had to offer. But that first fest sold out, and reviews were ecstatic. ![]() When Stuart was planning his inaugural event, he had no real intention of mounting another one. And the Center City Jazz Festival was born, with dozens of artists performing at several venues in, obviously, Center City, for the all-day fest. ![]() The Temple grad didn’t spend months on end trying to figure it out. So why shouldn’t Philly have a credible jazz fest? After all, Philadelphia has a storied legacy in the musical genre. The jazz trombonist, who has blown his horn with everybody from Aretha Franklin to Seal to the Roots (and, full disclosure, with me in my own band), wanted to start a major jazz festival in Philadelphia. Ernest Stuart (left) and Anthony Tidd at the 2015 Center City Jazz Festival / Photograph by Peter Troshakīack in 2012, Ernest Stuart had an idea - “a bit of a project,” as he calls it. ![]()
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