Above: St. Mark’s students and faculty at their 2019 jazz festival. The public is welcome to the free concert this weekend. (image cropped from smugmug)
This Sunday, St. Mark’s School is holding its annual jazz festival. The Cutler Jazz Festival
It is the first time since 2019 they’ve been able to welcome back the community for the free concert. And it looks like the event will follow the same format as three years ago, even featuring the same guest artists – BT ALC Big Band.
The school wrote that the 2019 festival began with performances of the school’s Jazz Ensemblers with St. Mark’s Jazz Director Stephen Fell and Assistant Jazz Director Tucker Antell. Then:
The BT/ALC Big Band took the stage. For nearly 10 years, the BT/ALC Big Band has made music that pushes the boundaries of conventional big band, sounding closer to Parliament or James Brown than a modern jazz orchestra. Leaders Brian Thomas and Alex Lee-Clark have assembled a crew whose background spans funk, jazz, salsa, classical music, and more, making the band a home for musicians to both celebrate their own unique voices as well as share a new sound. They did not disappoint the enthusiastic audience of jazz aficionados at St. Mark’s on Sunday night. At the close of the show, they jammed with the St. Mark’s musicians.
This year’s concert will take place this Sunday, April 10th at 6:30 pm in the Class of ’45 Hall in the Putnam Family Arts Center. (Masks are optional for those that are vaccinated.)
No registration is required to attend.
Parking for Sunday’s event is available in the SM Athletics Parking lot off Rt 85 (north of Taft Hall). Click here for a campus map.
You can check out pictures from the 2019 festival on the school’s smug mug site.
