Report To The Community 2021

into the
swing
of things
The star-studded 2021 TD James Moody Jazz
Festival welcomed (clockwise from top left):
Chaka Khan, Lew Tabackin performing as part
of Celebrating George Wein, Chris Botti, Dianne
Reeves and the Maria Schneider Orchestra.
TD James Moody Jazz Festival
celebrates its 10th anniversary
with a joyous reunion of jazz greats
Over 13,000 fans
attended the TD James
Moody Jazz Festival
“There’s no experience like the
live music experience,” said
Christian McBride, in the run-up
to the 10th annual TD James
Moody Jazz Festival, which
filled NJPAC’s campus with scat,
swing and more throughout the
month of November. “You can
go to YouTube, you can watch
television, whatever, but there’s
nothing like watching musicians
create. You’ll never hear the
same performance twice.
You might hear the same
melody, but you will never
hear the same performance.”
It was a giddy return to
the tradition of celebrating
“America’s classical music”
at the Arts Center, which
had to skip the festival as
a live event in 2020.
And so many of NJPAC’s
best friends came back to
its stages for the occasion.
Performances ranged from
American standards, to
crossover pop hits, to the
artistry of MacArthur “Genius”
grant winner Maria Schneider,
whose GRAMMY®-winning
latest album, Data Lords,
explores the cost of our modern
infatuation with technology.
The inimitable 10-time
GRAMMY® winner Chaka
Khan, whose career spans
both chart-topping pop hits
and collaborations with jazz
greats like Herbie Hancock,
kicked off the festival, opening
the event with a hit-filled set
in Prudential Hall. Khan had
the audience on its feet for
much of the night, frequently
holding her microphone out to
the crowd so they could sing
along to “I’m Every Woman”
and “Tell Me Something Good.”
The following weekend, trumpeter
Chris Botti returned to NJPAC, his
silky-smooth horn mesmerizing
audiences in Prudential Hall,
even as he walked off the
stage and into the audience
to play right in front of them.
And beloved vocalist and NEA
Jazz Master Dianne Reeves
made two return appearances
as well, dueting with Christian
McBride at the Sarah Vaughan
International Jazz Vocal
Competition and sharing the
stage with the all-star, all-female
troupe Artemis, which boasts
pianist Renee Rosnes, clarinetist
and soprano sax player
Anat Cohen, trumpeter Ingrid
Jensen, tenor sax player Nicole
Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda
and drummer Allison Miller.
The Arts Center’s Chase Room
became an intimate jazz
club for the month, hosting
Broadway actress and singer
Lillias White performing a
tribute to Newark’s own Sarah
Vaughan, and the Django
Festival Allstars, with their
salute to Gypsy jazz guitarist
Django Reinhardt’s music.
In the Victoria Theater, the
festival pushed genre boundaries
by welcoming back the
Jersey City-based Nimbus
Dance Company, which has
choreographed works to jazz
music as part of the festival before.
This time, the group appeared
with tango virtuoso Pedro Giraudo
and his Tango Quartet to debut
a new collaboration, Raucous
Caucus Tango, performed in front
of a flickering video installation.
Christian McBride played his
masterwork, The Movement
Revisited, a tribute to the
heroes of the Civil Rights
Movement, at a celebratory
performance with the early hip
hop group The Last Poets.
But perhaps the festival’s most
poignant night was its closing
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