Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
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In August 2007, the 15th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York City drew its largest crowds ever. Presented by City Parks Foundation, the free festival celebrates Parker, his musical legacy, and the neighborhoods of Harlem and the Lower East Side where Parker himself lived and worked. In the Spring of 2003, City Parks Foundation took over production of the festival when the original organizers announced that they could no longer sustain it.
The two-day festival is held each August in Historic Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park and the Lower East Side’s Tompkins Square Park. The festival assembles some of the finest musicians in the world who reflect on Parker's musical individuality and genius. Performers at the 2006 and 2007 Charlie Parker Jazz Festivals included legendary vocalist Abbey Lincoln, George Coleman, Sonny Fortune Quartet, Greg Osby, Dewey Redman, JoAnne Brackeen Quartet, Ray Mantilla, David Sanchez, Chico Hamilton, Marc Cary, Lezlie Harrison, and Maurice Brown.
The New York Times has said about the festival that “few jazz events in the city are as community-minded…[it’s] the jazz scene at its best…a concert for neighborhood audiences and the musicians.”
More information about the festival is available at City Parks Foundation's web site [1]
