Montclair Jazz Festival 2024

 Montclair Jazz Festival 2024

Celebrating the Montclair Jazz Festival: A Community United by Music 

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible Melissa Walker for continuously enriching the Montclair community with the timeless beauty of jazz. The 2024 Montclair Jazz Festival felt like a family reunion—a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with people we haven't seen in years, brought together by our shared love for music. The Montclair Jazz House Kids organization orchestrated a brilliant collaboration of talented jazz musicians and DJs, creating an experience for true music lovers to savor.

This festival was more than just an event—it was a street block party where people from all walks of life came together, united by the rhythms that touch our souls. The music transcended boundaries of race and color; it wasn’t Black, white, red, yellow, or brown music. It was simply people’s music—positive, high-frequency sounds that speak the universal language of life. This year, the festival took over Montclair, with streets blocked off from Grove Street all the way to Park Avenue, filled with music lovers who made the day truly special.

I would like to extend my personal thanks, on behalf of my late son Deshon Johnson, also known as Sean Mason, to Melissa and the Jazz House Kids. In 2014, they generously donated their time and talent to perform at the Deshon Johnson College Foundation fundraiser at The Chill Club in Montclair. That kind act continues to mean the world to me, and it represents the true heart of the Montclair community—a family bound by kindness, generosity, and love for one another.

This year’s Downtown Jamboree was a celebration not just of music, but of the community itself. God blessed us with a beautiful day and night to enjoy the event. The streets of downtown Montclair were transformed, with Bloomfield Avenue closed from Grove Street to Midland Avenue, turning the town’s vibrant main business district into a haven for music lovers.

The free, eight-hour festival stretched over half a mile of Bloomfield Avenue, offering access to Montclair's amazing retailers and restaurants. The grand finale on Saturday, September 14, marked the 15th anniversary of the festival, with two live music stages featuring a star-studded lineup, including powerhouse vocalist Lisa Fischer and her band Grand Baton, dynamic drummer Jerome Jennings & ILL Philosophy, and the unique sounds of Colombian harpist Edmar Castañeda Quartet. Jazz icons like Steve Turre Sextet, vocalist Brianna Thomas, and the Montclair State University Jazz Ensemble also took the stage, directed by Oscar Perez. The Jazz House Collective paid tribute to the legendary Sarah Vaughan, with a special performance by Jazz House Kids’ founder Melissa Walker. Festival music director and nine-time Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride joined the lineup, performing with his renowned quintet, Inside Straight.

As the day turned to night, the Downtown Jamboree transformed into a massive 15th Anniversary Celebration Block Party, with DJ Brother Mister (aka Christian McBride) and DJ Prince Hakim turning the stage into the ultimate funk and soul dance party from 8 to 10 p.m.

A Festival Rooted in Community and Jazz History

The Montclair Jazz Festival has evolved tremendously since its early days. It began as a small, grassroots event organized by Jazz House Kids in Nishuane Park, where the first "stage" was nothing more than a patch of grass. Looking back at a 2010 interview with Jazz House Kids founders Melissa Walker and Christian McBride, they expressed how Montclair was the perfect place for their vision to take root.

“The audience of Montclair and the surrounding communities has been truly wonderful to Jazz House Kids. They supported what we’re doing and gave our kids a place to play. Montclair has really made a fertile home for us, and I can’t think of a better place to have started,” said Melissa Walker.

From that modest beginning, the festival has grown into the largest free jazz festival in the New York City area, a testament to Montclair’s unique spirit of community and love for music.

The 2024 Montclair Jazz Festival will be remembered not only for its incredible performances but for how it brought us all together once again—united by our shared love for jazz, our community, and the joy of life.