Jazz has always been a cross-cultural idiom, fusing an African American aesthetic — full of call-and-response, blues and off-beat phrasing — with harmonic structures from European music and elsewhere. This year’s Litchfield Jazz Festival showcases more global 21st-century musical hybrids, with trumpet player, composer and bandleader Gabriel Alegria drawing on Afro-Peruvian traditions, which offer a whole different type of rhythmic calculus around which to frame the music; and saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa (pictured) blending Indian and Pakistani elements in a jazz context.
The two-day festival is an all-weather affair, with lawn seating, food and drink vendors, arts and craft stalls, and other attractions for the whole family. Also featured at the festival will be Ken Peplowski’s Benny Goodman tribute, the John Pizzarelli Quartet will play Sinatra and Jobim, the Joe Alterman Trio and others. Italian saxophonist Ada Rovatti will kick the festival off with her quartet. This is the festival’s 22nd year.
The Litchfield Jazz Festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 5 and 6, at the Goshen Fairgrounds, 116 Old Middle St., Goshen. Tickets are $37 and up. Visit litchfieldjazzfest.com for more info.
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