Festival Review & Photos By: Mia Howard This past June the award winning Syracuse Jazz Festival returned to Syracuse after a five year hiatus. The return of the festival in the beautiful Clinton Square and other venues around the Syracuse area, marked its thirtysixth year and Smooth Jazz Magazine was there to help the city celebrate the return. Before going any further in this article I have to give a shout out to the festival’s founder and organizer Frank Malfitano. Frank was a gracious host. He and his staff rolled out the red carpet for Smooth Jazz Magazine. I am so glad I was the representative for the publication, because Frank and his entire staff showed me unprecedented hospitality. I even shared the dance floor with Frank during the Average White Band set. The free award winning festival was brought back in collaboration with Amazon and New York State elected officials on the local and state level; including Senator Chuck Schumer and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh. The free festival ran for three nights June 23-25, 2022 and featured performances by International and National Artists on the main stage in downtown Syracuse at Clinton Square. The festival also featured twenty performances by twenty of Syracuse’s finest jazz groups who performed in local venues around the Syracuse area. The Thirty-sixth edition of the Syracuse Jazz Festival had amazing performances. I will highlight a few of my favorite moments from artists who performed on the main stage June 24-25. 78| SmoothJazz Magazine
Let the music take you… Jul/Aug
