music
In the Tranes’ Name THE 2020 HUDSON JAZZ FESTIVAL November 13–December 20 Hudsonhall.org.
Clockwise from top: Marcus Strickland, Orrin Evans, Camille Thurman, Brandee Younger, JD Allen There’s music that’s stylistically transcendental, that cuts across genre boundaries and appeals to all kinds of listeners. And there’s also music that’s itself transcendental, that puts forth a profound, mystical feeling, inspiring listeners to look both skyward and inward as they contemplate their place in the universe. Very rarely has there been music that does both of these things. But the music Alice and John Coltrane made, individually and together, certainly does. It attracts not only jazz fans, but also those denizens of the classical, R&B, psychedelic, hip-hop, experimental, and world-music realms who are open to searching, soulful sounds. It was the shared sonic quality and farreaching allure of the Coltranes’ music that Cat Henry, the curator of the 2020 Hudson Jazz Festival, had in mind while she was assembling the event, which will run from November 13 through December 20 virtually and at Hudson Hall. “Their music has a real healing aspect to it,” Henry says. “Like [John Coltrane’s 1963 album] A Love Supreme, which deals with grieving and recovery. That’s something that’s we really need right now. With the 60 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 11/20
festival, I didn’t want it to just be a tribute series. Even though the festival programming does reflect on John and Alice’s legacy, it also connects with that healing force of their music and how it relates to people living through difficult times. And to the struggle for racial justice that was going on when they were alive and is still going on now.” The six-week festival, designed to pick up Hudson’s cultural-economic baton from the summer Shared Streets mercantile program enacted by the city in response to COVID-19, will bring some of the contemporary jazz scene’s standout musicians to Hudson Hall for live-streamed concerts. It all begins on November 13 with the opening of “Art & Soul,” a festival-long group art show managed by local artist Reginald Morrison and featuring living room-like, health protocol-mindful “pods” in which attendees can relax and listen to handpicked playlists. The run of live-streamed performances kicks off with harpist Brandee Young and her trio (November 14), followed by the Marcus Strickland Quartet (November 21), the Orrin Evans Trio (November 28), the JD Allen Trio (December 4),
and the Camille Thurman with the Darrell Green Trio (December 12). Also planned are free talks by Grammy winner Ashley Kahn, the author of the John Coltrane biography A Love Supreme, the Impulse! Records history The House That Trane Built, and other books; noted musicologist Kwame Coleman; and others. “The Coltranes were deeply spiritual people, and their lives were a shared expression of their music,” offers Henry, who served as vice president of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s concerts and touring wing from 2014 to 2020. “They were about peace, togetherness, and harmony, which is what we want to bring to Hudson with this festival.” The Hudson Jazz Festival will take place from November 13 through December 20 at Hudson Hall in Hudson. Livestreamed concerts will air November 13 through December 12 at 7pm (tickets are $20 or pay what you can for each concert; a package pass for all five concerts is $75). The “Art & Soul” exhibit is free on Fridays through Sundays from 1 to 5pm, with timedentry admittance (online reservations are required). —Peter Aaron
