Atlanta Jazz Fest moves to Labor Day weekend

The Atlanta Jazz Festival, a perennial staple of Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta through venue changes and budget shortfalls, is shifting the festivities to Labor Day weekend in Piedmont Park.

Canceled in 2020 and delayed this year due to the pandemic, organizers have been working toward the new holiday weekend dates, re-booking the vast majority of the acts originally scheduled to perform. After the Labor Day festivities, planning will begin in earnest for the return of the 44th anniversary of the festival to Memorial Day weekend.

The free-entry jazz festival begins Sept. 5 with Jazzmeia Horn, Ron Carter, Patti Austin and others sharing the main stage. Monday headliners include Theo Croker, Sean Jones and Archie Shepp. Across both days, musicians like Miguel Zenon, Alexey Martil, Brenda Nicole Moorer and Irreversible Entanglements share a secondary stage. Educational sessions with many of the artists will be held throughout the weekend. These “Jazz 101” events include conversations with Shepp and Carter, “The Four Elements of Focus” with Horn and a children’s African percussion workshop led by trumpeter Russell Gunn.

Organizers are preparing for far fewer fans than the 100,000 they say show up on a typical jazz festival weekend. Many of those festival-goers may stay away due to pandemic concerns or they may shift to watching the concerts at home. All performances on the main stage will be livestreamed for free through a partnership with Qwest TV.

“We’re giving people an option,” said Camille Russell Love, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. “With COVID, it became evident that this would be a great opportunity for us to learn how to do livestreaming and develop a relationship with someone who has a global reach.”

Credit: AP

Since the festival is completely outdoors, Russell Love can’t mandate attendees wear masks, but face coverings and social distancing will be strongly encouraged during the event. Some of the educational sessions will be held indoors, and masks will be required for entry in line with the mayor’s mask mandate of July 28.

In recent weeks, jazz festivals in Detroit and New Orleans have canceled 2021 events. While this concerns Russell Love, she points to the fact that the Atlanta festival is completely outside in Piedmont Park, where attendees can likely distance from each other while listening to the music. Another concern is the recent uptick in crime in and around the venue.

“We are aware of the increased concern around crime and security in the park,” she said. “We will have a robust security plan in place.”

Local singer Brenda Nicole Moorer sees the festival as a chance to finally perform the music from her newest release, “Marrow,” for an in-person audience. During the pandemic, without a live performance outlet, she’s been spending a lot of time with family and her newborn. Much of the rest of her time was devoted to recording in her home studio and holding virtual performances from her living room. It’s been quite a change of pace from 2019, when she booked 130 shows and felt like she was running around nonstop.

Credit: AP

While audience pandemic precautions are, for the most part, simply guidelines, Nicole Moorer said regulations are a little more set in stone for the performers. All of the band members have to remain masked while backstage, and there won’t be a lot of backstage mingling, as there usually is at festivals. She hopes audience members wear masks and keep things safe “so at the end of this, we don’t walk away in a worse position.”

It’s important for her that the festival has a good showing during the pandemic because the event is part of the fabric of the community, she said.

Credit: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

“I think it’s one of the most important things we have here. Sadly, we don’t have a dedicated jazz venue anymore,” she said. “The jazz festival is where our jazz musicians get to come out and celebrate each other every year.”

While it took a lot of flexibility to create a festival this year, Russell Love can’t help looking forward to the next event. Instead of having a whole year to plan the next festival, organizers will be working on a significantly compressed timeline.

“We’re going to have to do this festival next May. What we need is for the corporate community to step up and support this festival,” she said. “We’re getting through this festival, but the next festival will be a financial challenge.”

Must see

Ron Carter, Sunday at 7 p.m., Meadow Stage

The Atlanta Jazz Festival strives to book at least one jazz giant for each festival, and this time around, organizers will present one each night. On opening night, bassist Ron Carter takes the main stage, opening for singer Patti Austin. The octogenarian bassist made his name with the Miles Davis Quintet in the 1960s, performing alongside Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

Miguel Zenon, Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Oak Hill Stage

After catching most of Carter’s set, run over to the second stage to see Miguel Zenon. A veteran of the festival, the alto saxophonist released a live recording of Ornette Coleman tunes in March. Leave Zenon’s set a little early to get a good spot for Austin on the main stage at 9.

Irreversible Entanglements, Monday at 5:30 p.m., Oak Hill Stage

Fronted by spoken word poet Moor Mother, the experimental jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements is gearing up to release its third studio album, “Open the Gates,” on Nov. 12. The band’s festival appearance will likely lean heavily on the cerebral, experimental music from the upcoming disc.

Archie Shepp, Monday at 9 p.m., Meadow Stage

At 84, Archie Shepp’s tenor saxophone sound is still full of the pugnacity that made early records like “Four for Trane” and “Fire Music” important volumes in the history of avant-garde leaning jazz. Recently, Shepp released “Ocean Bridges” with Raw Poetic and Damu the Fudgemunk, and “Let My People Go” with Jason Moran.