Northampton came alive with the sounds of saxophones, scat singing, and Afro-Cuban rhythms during the annual Northampton Jazz Festival, which kicked off Sept. 26 with the crowd-favorite “Jazz Strut” and wrapped up with a grand finale by New York Voices at the Academy of Music. From late-night jam sessions to Grammy-winning performances, the festival offered a weekend of free music, community spirit, and plenty of dancing in the streets.
The festival also saw Zaccai Curtis, a Grammy winning Latin jazz producer and recording artist, perform at the Unitarian Society on Sept. 27.
The second day of the jazz festival featured free performances by local and national jazz artists.
The last free performance of the day before the headliner, New York Voices, was Ed Fast and Congabop. The afro-Cuban inspired band played at Pulaski Park from 5:15-6:30, drawing a sizable crowd. Attendees were seen dancing along to the band’s steady music and clapping to the beat. Congabop opened with their song “Straight Shot,” and brought on vocalist Gina Dimarco a few songs into their set.
“It’s a great festival, incredibly organized, well run,” front man Ed Fast said. “[It was] a great turnout today, and of course it doesn’t hurt that we had fantastic weather.”
One attendee was none other than UMass Amherst Professor of Chemical Engineering, Henning Winter. Professor Winter, prior to the start of the Congabop show, shared that he had seen a performance by Tone Forest earlier in the day and called their show “beautiful and very relaxing.”
Not only was there UMass spirit in the crowd, but there was UMass spirit behind the scenes as well. Northampton Jazz Festival is coordinated by a UMass Amherst alum, Kathy Service. Service graduated UMass with a Masters in Nursing, and has been organizing the jazz festival for almost a decade. Service works as a nurse practitioner, and volunteers for many organizations, which has helped her gain connections for the Northampton Jazz festival.
“Over the years, we’ve developed different ways of saving names and email addresses, and I send things out to the volunteer lists that we have saying ‘save the date if you’re interested,’ etc.,” Service said. “We’re really fortunate because we have a good jazz community.”
To end the weekend, the New York Vocalists performed the grand finale event at the Academy of Music. Before the group came on stage, Ruth Griggs, Executive Director of the Northampton Jazz Festival, was recognized as a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association. Griggs thanked local media, donors, volunteers, and the JJA presenters that honored her with the award.
“The volunteers are crucial to this weekend and I cannot thank them enough,” Griggs said.
New York Vocalists, composed of Kim Nazarian, Peter Eldridge, Lauren Kinhan, and Darmon Meader, had a set mixed with scat singing, jazz standards, originals, and Brazilian tunes. The group has been together for 37 years, and over that period of time, Nazarian’s son was able to grow up and travel with the band as their bassist. He was seen performing at the grand finale event alongside the rest of the band.
The group performed a number of pieces, including “I Get Along Without You Very Well” by Chet Baker and “The World Keeps You Waiting,” a New York Voices original. At the end of the show, they announced their upcoming shows in Boston and New York.
The Northampton Jazz Festival has a Spotify account, where they uploaded the playlist “Northampton Jazz Festival 2025 Lineup.” Visit NoHoJazzFest to check out some of last weekend’s tunes, and get ready for next year’s festival.
