For more than 20 years, Mobile’s Gulf Coast Ethnic & Heritage Jazz Festival has kept the music going through the hottest part of the summer season. This year it keeps the bar high, with a member of New Orleans’ legendary Marsalis family headlining its centerpiece concert.
Rather than the usual festival format, the Ethnic & Heritage fest consists of a series of separately ticketed, freestanding events. Think of it as a rowdy second-line parade of a festival, stretched across four days.
It’s an ala carte festival, with an assortment of entry points depending on one’s interests. The various events also have a range of ticket prices, starting with free. Here’s what you need to know:
It opens with poetry
The Gulf Coast Ethnic & Heritage Jazz Festival’s traditional opener is its “Evening of Poetry,” a lively celebration of spoken-word artistry. This the Evening of Poetry starts at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 25, at Central Presbyterian Church, 1260 Dauphin St. It’ll be hosted by Huggy Bear Da Poet. Winners of the festival’s annual poetry contest will be announced. Admission is $10.
Excelsior Band leader Hosea London leads a session of the Marcus Johnson Summer Jazz Camp, a part of Mobile's Gulf Coast Ethnic & Heritage Jazz Fest.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
There’s a gala
The festival will kick into high gear Friday, July 26, with a Jazz Gala that starts at 7 p.m. at the Via Center, 1717 Dauphin St. The occasion promises to be quite festive, a performance by the Marcus Johnson Summer Jazz Camp Orchestra, consisting of students who studied jazz ensemble playing and improvisation at the festival’s annual camp. Andrew Ayers & Friends also will perform. The event also features the annual presentation of the Hosea London Jazz Music & Education Award. This year’s recipients are Theodore Keeby and Shane Philen. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased in advance through the festival website.
Delfeayo Marsalis hits the Saenger
The festival’s centerpiece Jazz in the City concert takes place Saturday, July 27, at the Mobile Saenger Theatre. The 6 p.m. show features Gino Rosario and will be headlined by Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra. Marsalis, a trombonist, composer and producer, is a son of Ellis Marsalis Jr. He founded the Uptown Music Theatre, a non-profit organization that supports musical theatre training for youth, and has written more than a dozen musicals for it. He describes his Uptown Jazz Orchestra as “a highly entertaining ensemble that focuses on maintaining important jazz traditions such as riff playing, New Orleans polyphony and spontaneous arrangements.” The show starts at 6 p.m.; tickets start at $29.50 plus fees and are available at Ticketmaster outlets including the Saenger box office.
It all comes home to the Elks Lodge
In keeping with tradition, the last event on the festival schedule takes place at the historic Elks Lodge at 301 State St. Festivities start with a second line at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 28, featuring dancers from Bay Carnival and the Jukebox Brass Band. The event celebrates The Excelsior Band with a brass performance and commemoration at 5 p.m. Admission is free.
“We would like people to know that we are commemorating the Elks Lodge on State Street because we feel as though it would make a perfect Music Hall of Fame museum in the city of Mobile,” said festival founder Creola Ruffin. “That’s where we’re coming from with that. We do a lot for sports and we do a lot for maritime, but we have a rich musical culture. And it’s time to put that in a museum stage.”
“You know, we have Jimmy Buffett, we have Lil Greenwood, we have so many people,” she said. “And New Orleans is honoring Jimmy Buffett. But what are we doing?”
DJ Carmen Brown of WDLT-FM 98.3 works during her "Smooth Operator" jazz program Sunday morning, May 18, 2003, in Mobile, Ala. (Mobile Register, Mike Kittrell)Mike Kittrell/Press-Register
The festival’s Hall of Fame is growing
With this year’s festival, the Gulf Coast Ethnic & Heritage Jazz Festival will be inducting three people who’ve had a profound impact on Port City culture. One is an instrumentalist and educator: Saxophonist Theodore Arthur Jr., whose career highlights extend from the ‘70s funk of the Solid Gold Revue and its great “lost” album “Love’s Traffic” to marching with the Excelsior Band, from the E.B. Coleman Orchestra to small-group R&B to solo work. The other two are broadcast legends who died in recent years after championing jazz in local radio for decades: Carmen Brown and “Catt” Sirten.