The top of summer season inches nearer with every passing second, however there are nonetheless loads of free concert events and fascinating programming offered by Capital One Metropolis Parks Basis SummerStage to jam-pack into your schedule earlier than the season involves an in depth. Highlights embody Flo Honest, a well being and wellness truthful hosted by Harlem rapper Ferg; the thirty second annual Charlie Parker Jazz Pageant, that includes performances by jazz legends like Ron Carter and Gary Bartz; and Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues expertise, narrated by the Academy Award-winning actor.
“For me, it’s all the time about discovering the suitable artists who’re merely New York, and wherever doable, connecting them to communities and parks that resonate with them on a really human, and private stage” mentioned Erika Elliott, govt creative director of SummerStage for greater than 20 years, to the AmNews in a cellphone interview.The Metropolis Parks Basis has introduced music and artwork to New York Metropolis since 1989 by their annual SummerStage sequence, which presents connective pathways to tradition and neighborhood by a various array of programming. Thus far this 12 months, the stage has hosted legendary jazz fusion bassist Marcus Miller; activist and Afrobeats pioneer Femi Kuti; and up to date funk/jazz drummer Yussef Dayes, who carried out picks from his 2023 album “Black Classical Music,” every taking audiences on a journey into the storied creative historical past of New York and past — tracing Black up to date artwork again to its roots within the metropolis and on “the Continent.”
Flo Honest, on August 14 at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, will function yoga courses, sound baths, interactive artwork, and performances by Harlem rapper Ferg, who wished to carry wellness practices he realized on the street again to his neighborhood. The occasion is free, and followers can join wellness actions right here.
The subsequent day, August 15, famed jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington will take the stage in the identical park, performing a reimagination of Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite,” a landmark creative work of the Civil Rights Motion.
On the sixteenth, “Run It Again: The Artwork of the Pattern” will happen on the Harlem park, hosted by Soapbox Presents, which was based within the wake of the George Floyd murders and champions “Black and Brown expression.”August 16–17 are jam-packed with celebrations and festivals, so there are a number of alternatives to entry free music primarily based in your style or location. The Blacktronika Pageant, began by artist Charlie Dirk and that includes performances by home legend Phuture, will have a good time Afrofuturism and digital music at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield off 72nd Avenue. Famed DJ and NYC legend Funk Flex will have a good time his birthday on the Coney Island Amphitheater with a plethora of particular company, bringing hip-hop to the highlight within the metropolis the place it was born.
The Charlie Parker Jazz pageant, named after the famed style titan who revolutionized be-bop in Harlem in the course of the mid-Twentieth century, will return for its thirty second 12 months August 22–24. The occasion will probably be hosted at Marcus Garvey Park on the twenty second and twenty third, that includes headlining performances by Ron Carter, bassist of Miles Davis’s “Second Nice Quintet,” and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The third day will probably be held at Tompkins Sq. Park on the Decrease East Facet and options former Miles Davis saxophonist Gary Bartz.The subsequent week, on August 27, Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman will narrate a Symphonic Blues Expertise at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield, providing followers a singular method of partaking with cross-disciplinary artwork and certainly one of movie’s most beloved actors.
On August 31, IZA will carry Afro-Brazilian rhythms to the identical stage, closing out an unimaginable season of various programming.“Artwork is for everybody, and in New York, we’re so fortunate to have been the middle of so many necessary cultural actions,” Elliott advised the AmNews. “We reside in the perfect metropolis on the earth, I believe! And nothing says that higher than having the ability to stroll into your neighborhood park and see top-tier expertise performing free of charge … I believe it’s a extremely massive celebration of the variety and fantastic thing about our metropolis and its individuals.”For more information, go to cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage.
