Firefly isn’t the only music festival in Delaware this week.
The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival returns to Wilmington, celebrating 25 years of attracting top talent to Delaware’s largest city for the annual jazz showcase. Wilmington’s Director of Communications and Cultural Affairs Ken Briscoe says the event, which opens Wednesday night and runs through Saturday, honoring the memory of a legendary Wilmington resident
[caption id="attachment_27314" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The stage at Rodney Square is set to welcome top jazz acts to Wilmington for the 25th annual Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. (Click to enlarge)"]
“It’s a festival that celebrates the life and successes and accomplishments of Clifford Brown, who was a renowned jazz artist. He was a trumpeter and he was born, raised, and he actually resided in Wilmington,” said Briscoe, who notes that before his death in a 1965 auto accident, Brown was considered among the premier jazz trumpeters of his time, along with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.
Briscoe adds that this year they’ve put together a talented lineup worthy of Clifford Brown and the festival’s 25th anniversary.
“Thursday we have Jessy J from Chicago. She’s an awesome saxophonist. And then our Friday night headliner is BWB which would be Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum, and Norman Brown," said Briscoe. "On Saturday, we have Peditro Martinez, which is an up and coming Cuban jazz artist, as well as Lalah Hathaway which will be closing out our show on Saturday night.”
The Clifford Brown Festival is free and takes place on Wilmington’s Rodney Square. Weeknight shows begin at 6. Saturday’s offers a full day of music starting at 2pm. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets.
The complete lineup and schedule is online at the Clifford Brown Jazz festival website.
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
