UNION, NJ — Kean University invites the community to enjoy a free evening of music at the second Jazz & Roots Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 4 to 8 p.m.
The Jazz & Roots Music Festival, produced by Kean and internationally acclaimed bassist/producer Mike Griot, offers professional jazz, blues and reggae in a beautiful outdoor setting on The Lawn at Enlow Hall, on Kean’s East Campus, 215 North Ave. in Hillside. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets to settle in, and to bring picnics or enjoy the food trucks.
The Jazz & Roots headliner will be five-time Grammy Award–winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, who will take the stage early at the event.
“For the second year in a row, we are bringing Kean’s students, employees, alumni and neighbors together for a celebration of jazz and blues in a free, family event,” said Kean President Lamont O. Repollet, who launched the festival last year. “Kean has established itself as a cultural force in the region and we welcome all to join us at the Jazz & Roots Music Festival.”
Dr. Colleen Hawthorne, a nationally known wellness expert, physician and author, is a lead sponsor of the festival, which will include wellness programming for guests.
Griot is thrilled to bring this event back to Kean University.
“I am honored to deliver the vision of Dr. Lamont Repollet as Kean University enters the national music festival arena. After an amazing debut event in 2021, we have packed even more entertainment and resources into what will be a truly unforgettable live music experience,” Griot said.
The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 25, from 2 to 6 p.m.
The festival will include the following artists and groups, in order:
• Kean University Jazz Ensemble, which transcends cultural boundaries with its fresh take on contemporary gospel, pop and musical theater, as well as standard big band and contemporary jazz works.
• The preeminent jazz vocalist in the world, five-time Grammy Award winner Dianne Reeves, who won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Recording for three consecutive recordings — a first in any Grammy vocal category. Reeves has performed and recorded with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and appeared in and won a Grammy for the Academy Award–nominated George Clooney film “Good Night, and Good Luck.” She has received honorary doctorates from Berklee and Juilliard and, in 2018, she was designated a Jazz Master — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists.
• Blues People, which includes festival producer Griot on bass, along with bandmates Kelton Cooper on lead vocal/guitar, Victor Burks on vocals/keyboards and Gene Lake on drums, and musically explores the effects of the blues on American culture on many different levels. The band, which has been compared to The Meters, Luther Allison, and Earth, Wind & Fire, has recently released its much-anticipated 2022 debut single “The Skin I’m In.”
• Big Fun(k), Don Braden and Karl Latham’s jam band, which is described as a “synchronized rhythm machine.” Downbeat Magazine described the band as a “powerhouse quartet of old friends who seem hell-bent on having a ball.”
• Judah Tribe with Josh David, which expresses the struggle of the children of the African diaspora through soul and reggae music. Their music highlights life as a modern Ethiopian through the teachings and example of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
For more information, visit kean.edu/jazz-roots.
Photo Courtesy of Jerris Madison