[SPEAKER_01]: The founder will be coming to the mic to talk with you a little bit about the festival itself. But I just wanted to tell you a little bit about the West Medford Community Center for those of you that have never been here before. In the city of Medford, the African American community goes back to the late 1800s, and when that community began, there were only three streets where the African Americans who settled here could live. One was Arlington, the street that you're on now, the next street over Lincoln Street and then the street over behind that was Jerome Street. And because of redlining and because of unspoken or unwritten covenants from the city fathers, those were the only places where property would be available to people of color. So this became the heart of the black community in Medford. and became one of the nicest places in Massachusetts for people of color to live. And it was spoken about across the nation, this community, West Medford. Those of us who have lived here for a very long time, as I have, I was born and raised here, we actually call it The Ville. We get in trouble with the people from Somerville sometimes, because they say, why you call it, it doesn't have anything to do with West, well, you know. Anyways, we call it The Village. Short, essentially, for The Village. But Jonathan and I, and we'll actually be playing tomorrow as the Ally Project with Greg Toro and Gordon Engelgau, We got together at the intersection of jazz and social justice. And it just so happens that that intersection is here in West Medford. So the community center that you're in now is 90 years old, not this building itself. But the idea, it started in 1934 with the West Medford Men's Club. And once the women got involved, they had to change that. So then it became the West Medford Community Club, and it was actually chartered and a building was brought here in 1945. I'm gonna step away for just a second. I'll try to stay just as loud. But this little army barracks right here, this depiction, that's the old Quonset hut that was brought here on a truck from East Boston and built on the site. And that was the first building. This replaced that building about 20 years ago and has always been the place where you know, where folks from the neighborhood go to do just about anything, everything. When I was a kid we used to come here, Boy Scouts, basketball, making models, learning how to cook, parties on Friday nights. All things happened here at the community center. On the top row, there are 28 pictures. That's called the West Medford Elder Photo Project. Many of those folks have passed away, but several of them are still here with us. 16 and 17 is my uncle, Bill and Rachel Tanner. They're still with us, fortunately. Number four is my dad, so if you pass by and you see a guy that looks like me, only an older version, you know, that's who he is. And we love the place, as you can see along the lower part of the wall, that's the West Medford Elder, excuse me, Afro-American Remembrance Project, and that really tells a contemporary history of West Medford. So if you have a chance, just take a quick scan and see what you're looking at. But you're in for a treat tonight. And Jonathan's going to come and tell you a little bit more about that. And we certainly hope that you'll come back Saturday and Sunday because we think that the festival is going to be, as the kids like to say, off the chains this year. So hopefully you'll be back to take another look. A couple different things. Please turn your cell phones on silent or off. And there are mics, pickup mics scattered around, so if you can kind of guard against ambient noise, we don't necessarily want everything that's said to go into the recording. I just do want to thank Jonathan Fagan for partnering with the West Medford Community Center to bring the festival here. We've been here for six years now, Five, six years now? Yeah, five years now. And it's getting bigger and better every year. So we're really, really thrilled to have you here with us. But Jonathan's going to come and talk a little bit more about who's playing tonight. And then I'll come back and do the same.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right. Thanks so much, Terry. You beat me to the punch on, oh. We can hear you. You can hear me. That's what counts. Yeah, Terry beat me to the punch on a lot of the things about this place and the history of this festival. But I just wanted to take a few minutes and give some thank yous to the people that have helped put this together. For those of you I haven't met, my name is Jonathan Fagan. I'm a pianist and composer. I'll go into that mode tomorrow, playing with Terry in the Ally Project. But yeah, it's hard to believe that we've been doing this. I've been the primary producer of this, my partner Shayla for the last five years or so, started in 2020 as a virtual festival. It wasn't a great year for live music, as you remember. Over at Bop Stop Studios in West Medford, or no, not West Medford, just near Medford Square. And it's amazing that it's grown into the live event that it is today. This is the second year that we're doing what we call a student night, just where adults that are getting back into playing get to share their talents with each other. So thank you very much to Morningside Music Studio, and especially to Peter for organizing that piece of it. There's actually not one, but two groups. Well, I'd say one and a half, because some of the pieces will change and some of them will stay the same. And to Anita, who's really taken off in a big way through this jam session circuit and put together a stellar group for the second half of this. So, looking forward to hearing you and thanks so much for all your time and sharing your talents. I do want to thank a couple of people that have helped this year. I feel like this has been a team effort more than any time in the past. First, we have a couple new people, and I know that one of them couldn't make it tonight. Lauren Garcia has been doing a lot of our social media this year, so anything you see on Facebook and Instagram, I live under a rock. I don't know anything about that. If you see anything there, big shout out to Lauren for her help. Also to our newest intern, who's a new master's student at Berklee College of Music, and that's Reese Pike. You're gonna hear her in a little while. Wonderful player, and has just been really saving me in a variety of ways already, so thank you to Reese. Also to my partner, Shayla. She's done just about everything, you know, as far A huge thank you for all your help with both promotion and day of management. She'll be here the whole weekend helping out with various things. And last of all, to Terry Carter, who has really made this community center the home of the Medford Jazz Festival. I've been reflecting, especially over the past couple weeks, it's more than a festival now, it's really the story of this community, which is what it's all about. It's a cultural celebration of all of the things that have happened here, the people that still live around here and attend, and has just become so meaningful on a variety of levels. So thank you so much to Terry. Last, the people that are working sound and cameras add a lot to the whole production value. We've got Jim over there, back with Medford Community Media. And Bruce, who's jumped right in. And to Avi Fagan, who happens to be my dad, who's running the set. I say that this is one of the few times he comes out of retirement, so we really appreciate that. And I think, Terry, you said everything I was going to say about the community center itself. The last thing I'll say is that we get a lot of support by generous sponsors. So all these organizations have either given money or discounts on things that we've needed. First, the West Medford Community Center for the Space. The Arts Alive Medford Foundation, Morningside Music Studio, obviously, for the musicians that they've sent our way. Medford Arts Council. This year we actually have a food vendor for the Saturday and the Sunday of the festival in the Danish Pastry House. And we may or may not have sampled a couple things the other day. It's pretty delicious. Come back. You will enjoy it immensely. For, to Triangle Manor, which is a local t-shirt company that printed our banner and our t-shirts. They look great, we just unpacked them a couple hours ago. To Berkeley's Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice, which is run by a famous drummer, Terry Lynn Carrington. She's been sending some young alumni over here every year, past couple years. They always do a fantastic job. To all of our Patreon members, which is, it's Patreon for those of you who don't know, I didn't know. I'm a total, well, I live under a rock, as I said. Patreon is a crowdfunding platform, but it runs as a subscription, so a few dollars every month. We all have too many subscriptions, what's one more? But actually, it really helps, because that allows us to run jam sessions throughout the year, to hire musicians to play as part of the house band, and give students and professionals opportunities to interact with each other. A lot of those happen right here at the community center. We've also started having some over at Arts Collaborative Medford and other venues around the city. So if you're especially inspired by what we do, please consider signing up for that Patreon list. It's added a lot to what we're able to accomplish. And of course, there's also conveniently placed donation links. with Venmo QR codes and we have cash boxes. Events like this are, you know, we love to keep them free and open to the public, but free events are not actually free. So we can always use some more crowd support. Last, to Medford Community Media for the awesome video that you guys do. To EXP Realty and Alan L. Pierce to Staples for printing our programs. And lastly, to the Winchester Community Music School. I'll talk a little bit in between groups about some of the music schools that are around this area that have supported us, and I'm hoping that we can support them by sending some students your way. So with that, I'll turn it over to Morningside. There's so much I could say about Morningside. It was one of the first places that I taught when I got back to this area, but there's so many dedicated adult students that have really inspired us to kind of keep providing opportunities to play. And I'm really looking forward to hearing what they have. They have not one again, but two groups. They're going to switch out rhythm sections in the middle. And actually, you'll get to hear Debbie Lane on vocals with both. So with that, this is The Morningside Jazz All-Stars. Thank you, Jonathan.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Terry.
[SPEAKER_06]: One, two, one.
[SPEAKER_04]: In this last couple of summers, we shouldn't take a clear day for granted, so we wanted to start off on a clear day. So tonight we're playing a mix of standards and what I call 21st century tunes by newer folks, and vocals, vocal tunes with Debbie Lang, who'll be up in a minute. This is a tune called Biro Kirosai by the late Jim Rotondi, great trumpet player.
[SPEAKER_06]: Bye!
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Jiro Kurosai by Jim Rattani. I'm going to keep up the pace with a Frank Foster tune called Simone. We have such fun rehearsing above the Regent Theater on various nights of the week. It's nice to come together, get out, walk across the river, and here we are. We don't have far to go. But we do have farther to go musically, and I want to introduce Mike Chamness on the drums. Mr. Mark Pfaff on the bass. Philip Lawal on keys. And Mike Sack on tenor. My trusted partner. The wisdom. And at this time, we have a special shift in course as we invite the wonderful Debbie Lane to come up.
[SPEAKER_05]: And I actually want to introduce Peter Orn, who's been an amazing leader for this whole experience. So this song is by the wonderful Antonio Carlos Jobim.
[SPEAKER_08]: One, two, one, two, three. ♪ Da ba da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da
[SPEAKER_05]: My heart's a flower I need your love, alright Will I wither and fade or bloom to the sky?
[SPEAKER_08]: Agua de bebe, agua de bebe camarada. Agua de bebe, agua de bebe camarada. The rain can fall on distant deserts. The rain can fall upon the sea. The rain can fall upon the flower.
[SPEAKER_05]: Since the rain has to fall, let it fall on me.
[SPEAKER_08]: Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe camara. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe camara. deserts. The rain can fall upon the sea. The rain can fall Since the rain has to fall, let it fall on me. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe. Agua de bebe.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this next song is by the wonderful Toots Deelmans who played a wonderful harmonica and really a wonderful jazz waltz. I say wonderful because it is. Poor little set, little blue blueset Don't you cry, don't you fret You can bet one lucky day you'll waken And your blues will be forsaken One lucky day lovely love will come your way has this love in your heart to share dear bluesette, don't despair some blue boy is only just like you to find someone to be true to two loving arms he can nestle in and stay
[SPEAKER_08]: Get set, bluesettes, true love is coming.
[SPEAKER_05]: Your troubled heart soon will be humming.
[SPEAKER_08]: Da da da da, da da da da, da da da da, da da da da da, do do do do. Pretty little blues, eh? Must it be a mourner? Have you heard the news yet?
[SPEAKER_05]: Love is round the corner Love's wrapped in rainbows and tied with pink ribbon To make your next springtime, your girl's wedding ring Time is to dry your eyes, don't you cry, don't you fret Goodie good times are coming, blues, eh?
[SPEAKER_08]: Poor little sad little blue bluesette Don't you cry, don't you fret, you can bet One lucky day you'll waken and your blues will be forsaken One lucky day lovely love will come your way Thank you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Imagineer at Buckingham Castle or whatever it is. We're going to change the guard. The changing of the guard as we thank Mike on drums, Mark on bass, Phillip on keys and welcome up. Jude on drums, Dan on bass, and Reese on keys to finish up our second half. and I'm gonna give it back to Debbie.
[SPEAKER_05]: This song is, there's a wonderful songwriting team of Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke and they wrote this song called Imagination. imagine if you will well we've received a couple of our Let's hear it for the quick change artists here.
[SPEAKER_08]: Imagination is funny It makes a cloudy day sunny Makes a bee think of honey Just as I think of you Imagination is crazy Your whole perspective gets hazy Starts you asking a daisy What to do, what to do Have you ever felt a gentle touch And then a kiss, and then, and then Tell me your imagination again Oh well, imagination is silly You go around willy nilly For example, I go around And yet I can't imagine that you want me too have you ever felt a gentle touch and then a kiss and then and then find it's only your imagination again oh well, imagination is silly You go around willy-nilly Or except I go around And yet I can't imagine that you want me. Can't imagine that you want me. Can't imagine that you want me too.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_05]: So this next song is a jazz classic by, I just put a little side note that my family is here and their last name is Golson, not related to Benny Golson who wrote this song. As far as I know. Check it out. Are you related?
[SPEAKER_06]: And this song's called Whisper Not.
[SPEAKER_08]: sweet words in my ear not a whisper of despair but love's own prayer sing on until you bring back the thrill Of a sentimental tune That died too soon Our harmony was lost But you forgave I forgot Whisper not of quarrels past You know we've had our last So now Love will whisper on eternally
[SPEAKER_05]: We'd miss her when they said it wouldn't last. Dissident voices made us break up, but you know we still can make up.
[SPEAKER_08]: Forget them all, and answer Cupid's call. Is this a dream? Was this a trouble or an echo of the past? It will take to lose my gloom It's just a whisper, not a rumor But of your love for me That's how it's got to be Our harmony was lost But you forgave I forgot Whisper not of woe's bad You know we've had a laugh constantly love will whisper on eternally
[SPEAKER_04]: We're going to continue with a few more instrumentals to bring us up to about 715 or so. Song for Bilbao by Pat Metheny with Jude Teixeira kicking us off. Got a couple more quick tunes for you and then we'll say goodnight.
[SPEAKER_06]: do do Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_03]: Ms. Reese Pike on the keys. Dan Sullivan on the bass. Jude Texier on the drums.
[SPEAKER_04]: Mr. Mike Zach, Professor Mike Zach on the keys. And I'm Peter Oren on the horn. Thank you so much. And Debbie Lane, take a bow. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: All hearts and minds clear? That's a little something we say in the church.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love, in West Medford, and probably where you're from as well, I don't mean to single us out, but in West Medford, we really love homecomings, okay? We love reunions, we love backyard barbecues, we love all of that kind of stuff that gets the family together. And Anita Wood is a homegirl, as we like to say. If I was with my homies, I would say, she my home girl, like that. But anyways, so she's got this very cool collective that she's been jamming with for a little while now, trying to get that sound down that they like, jazz standards, often with a twist of passion. And the band consists of Anita A.J. Wood on vocals. The man, Steve Linscott on alto sax. All right, and then they got the baby of the group back here, Carolyn Sue Howard, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, and as you can tell, they robbed the cradle to get her. All right, it's Kyle Helmer on guitar. All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a tall man. All right. All right. It's Rose Villani on bass. All right. And last, but certainly not least, with the nice traps back here, it's Larry Presti on drums. All right. We're getting ready to do something special tonight. I just want to point out a couple of things. Donation box on the table for The Jazz Festival itself, the donation jar on the back table for the West Medford Community Center. So if you're feeling so disposed, hook a brother, hook a sister up, as we like to say. And we're going to get going, OK? So hopefully your phones are still on silent or vibrate. And enjoy the music right now of AJ and the Groove.
[SPEAKER_08]: the sun and west of the moon we'll build a dream house of love dear close to the sun in the day near to the moon at night We're living a lovely way, dear Living on love in a pale moonlight Just you and I, forever and a day Love will not die, we'll keep it that way Up among the stars we'll find a harmony in life to a lovely tune East of the sun, west of the moon dear East of the sun and west of the moon
[SPEAKER_08]: in the west of the moon. We'll build a dream house of love dear, close to the sun in the day, near to the moon at night. We'll live in a lovely way dear, living on love and a pale moonlight. Yes, you and I, forever and a day. Love will not die, we'll keep it that way Up among the stars we'll find a harmony, a light to our lovely day East of the sun, west of the moon East to the sun and west of the moon East to the sun and west of the moon East to the sun and west of the moon
[SPEAKER_07]: Good evening, we'd like to thank Terry, we'd like to thank Jonathan for being our wonderful host this evening. We are AJ and the Groove, jazz with an occasional twist. We hope you like what we've done with the next one.
[SPEAKER_06]: Drummers are so needy. You're so slow.
[SPEAKER_08]: Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, blue fly over the rainbow, why, you know, why can't I? that I heard of once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow, why oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh why can't I?
[SPEAKER_07]: After that adventure, we're going to slow it down a little bit.
[SPEAKER_06]: I want a Sunday kind of love A love to last past
[SPEAKER_08]: I'd like to know it's more than love at first sight I want a Sunday kind of love seem to find somebody to care I'm on a lonely road that leads me nowhere I want a Sunday kind of love I do my Sunday dreamin' And all my Sunday schemin' Every minute, every hour, every day I'm hopin' to discover A certain kind of lover Who will show me My arms need someone to enfold To keep me warm when my days are cold A love for all my life to have and to hold I want a Sunday kind of love
[SPEAKER_06]: do
[SPEAKER_08]: I do my Sunday dreaming and all my Sunday scheming, every minute, every hour, every day. I am hoping to discover a certain kind of life. need someone to enfold to keep me warm when my days are cold a love for all my life to have in two bold I want a Sunday kind I want a Sunday kind of love I want a Sunday kind of love I want a Sunday kind of love
[SPEAKER_07]: Here comes a twist.
[SPEAKER_08]: And I see your face, mellow as the month of May. Oh, darling, I can't stand it when you look at me that way. I feel the earth move under my feet. I feel the sky tumbling down. Ooh, darling, when you near me and you tenderly call my name, I know that my emotions are something I just can't tame. I feel the earth move under my feet. I feel the sky tumbling down. I feel my heart start to tremble whenever you're around. Ooh, baby, when I see your face, mellow as a mother may. Oh, darling, I can't stand it when you look at me.
[SPEAKER_07]: next up we have an instrumental original by our very own Steve Linscott titled I'm Glad You're Here
[SPEAKER_08]: I remember you, you're the one who made my dreams come true a few kisses ago I remember you You're the one who said I love you too I do, didn't you know? I remember, too, a distant bell And stars that fell Like rain out of the blue when my life is through and the angels ask me to Remember you.
[SPEAKER_06]: do do
[SPEAKER_08]: You're the one who made my dreams come true A few kisses ago I remember you You're the one who said I love you too Remembering to a distant bell And stars that fell Like rain out of the blue When my life is through And the angels ask me to recall The thrill of it all Then I will tell them I've been there Thank you, thank you, thank you. And under the sun, where the meads are made. You follow wherever I go In the roaring traffic boom In the silence of my lonely room I think of you Night and day Night and day And its torment won't be through till you let me spend my life.
[SPEAKER_08]: That this longing for you follows wherever I go. In the roaring traffic's boom, in the silence As in, oh, such a hungry, yearning, burning inside of me. And this torment won't be through till you let me spend the night with you. Night and day. Night and day.
[SPEAKER_07]: That was one of my favorites to sing first. He just heard two of my favorites, I Remember You and Night and Day. Next up is a less played song from Freddie Hubbard's album Open Sesame. It was new to me, it was new to most of us, but Carl transcribed it and we can't get it out of our heads and you won't either. Gypsy Blue.
[SPEAKER_06]: do do
[SPEAKER_07]: Now when you're humming that in your sleep tonight, you can all thank Carl. Because that's how I go to bed every time after rehearsal. This next one was actually inspired by a friend here in the audience, David, I had never heard it before.
[SPEAKER_08]: You stepped out of a dream You are too wonderful to be what you seem Could there be eyes like yours? Could there be lips like yours? Could there be smiles like yours? Honest and true You stepped out of a cloud I want to take you away, away from the crowd And have you all to myself You stepped out of a dream You are too wonderful to be what you seem Could there be eyes like yours? Could there be lips like yours? Could there be smiles like yours? Honest and true You stepped out of a cloud I want to take you away, away from the crowd And have you all to myself, alone and apart Out of a dream, safe into my heart Safe in my heart. Safe in my heart. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh no, we only have one more. All right, once again, we'd like to thank Terry. We'd like to thank Jonathan for having us here at the Medford Jazz Festival. Give him a big round of applause for Jonathan and his partner who are doing all of this hard work. It's just the beginning of an amazing weekend of music. I'd like to introduce the band again. Steve Link Scott on alto sax. Carl Helmer on guitar. Rose Hilly on bass. Sue Howard on piano. I'm Larry Pestiandro. I'm Anita Wood. And together we are AJ and the Groove. If you like what you heard this evening, you can find us on Facebook. And we have a mailing list back there next to Jonathan if you want to find out more. But we have one more tonight.
[SPEAKER_06]: Am I supposed to do that?
[SPEAKER_07]: That's why I hired a drummer. I'll give you the cookies later.
[SPEAKER_08]: ¿Quién será la que me quiera vivir? ¿Quién será? ¿Quién será? ¿Quién será la que vive su amor? ¿Quién será? ¿Quién será? Yo no sé si la podré encontrar Yo no sé Other dancers may be on the floor here, but my eyes will see only you. Only you have the magic technique when we sway high going. I can hear the sounds of violins long before. Swing me through, swing me down make me sway like a lazy ocean off the shore hold me close, sway me more like a flower bending in a breeze bend with me, sway with me when we dance you have a way with me Other dancers may be on the floor But my eyes will see only you I can hear the sounds of violins Long before it begins Make me feel as only you know how Sway me now Make me thrill as only you know how Sway me smooth, sway me now Make me thrill as only you know how Sway me smooth, sway me now Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow, thank you so much to AJ and The Groove, Anita, for putting all of this together. It's a wonderful start to the weekend. I'm so glad that I ended up running into you a bunch last year and that you could make this happen. So seriously, it's a fantastic way to just... just start a whole celebration. And also remember that there's so many different ways that you can make music with other people. I remember, I think you were just starting to kind of come in on the jam session circuit when I ran into you over in Winchester. And just to see how much you've kind of developed in that time is really incredible. So thank you. Thank you also to Morningside Music Studio for putting together two great bands before this. In addition to an area rich with talent, I really feel lucky that there are so many great community music school programs around here. Morningside being one of them. Dan Fox, who's out of town at the moment, I mean he's a busy guy, what can he do? But he's put together some really amazing ensembles and a lot of these students have been there for years and years and just keep getting better. So if you want more information about that, please check out the table in the back. Along with that, there are a couple flyers for the Winchester Community Music School, which has been really amazing in all of their offerings, and Medford Music Studio, which is run by a woman named Laura Brereton, right here in the city of Medford. Again, thank you to all of our production staff, Terry Carter, Shayla, Rhys, all of the folks at Medford Community Media, and please remember there are donation bins conveniently placed at the exits. And there are QR codes in the back of the programs. Stay tuned for more. Come back tomorrow for Recita de Samba with Bill Ward's project. It's going to be fantastic. and for the Ally Project featuring Terry Carter and I. All right, have a great evening. Thank you so much for being a wonderful audience.