About
This summer The Scranton Jazz Festival will celebrate its 8th year at the historic Radison Lackawanna Station Hotel and various downtown Scranton venues.
Attracting international, national, and regional jazz/blues and world beat artists, the SJF has proven its true potential to become a long-term musical event.
Only with your support, does the festival continue to have the opportunity for an enormous impact on the cultural and eco- nomic development of our region. Fostering America’s original art form, jazz, Scranton has a rich history, dating back to the 1930’s when two jazz legends, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey, performed regularly with the Scranton Sirens Jazz Band. Our area is also credited with hosting the first known recorded jazz festival, “The Cavalcade of Dixieland Jazz”, in 1951.
Since its premiere in 2005 the festival has drawn audiences from the entire Mid-Atlantic region, resulting in tremendous notoriety and exposure to the international jazz world.
The SJF can help revive our region as a cultural epicenter, spreading the arts throughout the northeast, no different than such
festivals as Newport, Rhode Island; Saratoga Springs, Florida; and Monterey, California. With your generosity, to support this program, we will be able to significantly enrich our community and region. Your donation will help us to defer costs for production, artists fees, advertising, and promotional expenses. In addition, your contribution will enable us to receive matching funds, provided by local and state funding organizations.
Together, as a united team, we can make artistic magic happen for Scranton. How incredible would it be to see this festival, in time, be considered a major summer destination place for the jazz/blues and world beat community? Only with your help will that magic happen.
Thank you for your time and interest in the Scranton Jazz Festival.
History of the Jazz Festival
Established in 2004, The Scranton Jazz Festival has become a permanent fixture on the northeastern Pennsylvania arts and culture scene. Attracting international,national and regional jazz/blues and world beat artists, this festival has accelerated itself into the fastest growing arts event in the region. Presented during the first full weekend of August, this festival brings downtown Scranton alive with more than 100 musicians, artisans, staff,and volunteers for three days of non stop entertainment. Scranton has a rich history, dating back to the 1930′s when two jazz legends, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey performed regularly with the Scranton Sirens Jazz Band. Since its premiere this festival has drawn audiences from the entire Mid-Atlantic region resulting in tremendous notoriety and exposure to the international jazz world.Our Venue
The historic Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Downtown Scranton provides the Annual Jazz Festival with newly remodeled Hotel rooms, a covered outdoor amphi-theater, indoor facilities for the late night jazz crowd, as well as the finest food and drink. This beatiful historic building and amphi-theater provides the ideal location for a world class event.Education
The Scranton Jazz Festival is proud to present its student jazz educational component. Focusing on the small jazz combo, some of the world class artists performing at the SJF will educate these selected students in the skills necessary to perform jazz, blues, and world beat music. This is the future of America’s classical music, and The Scranton Jazz Festival is proud to pass this great tradition onto the next generation. Students attend the Jazz Institute at Keystone College and will be selected from Lackawanna/Luzerne County, as well as the surrounding region.Our Committee
Our committee is made up of the following members: Executive Committee- Bob Shlesinger
- Doug Smith
- Laurie Cadden
- Marko Marcinko
- Larry Pugliese
- Charles Havira
- Sarah Eynon
- Sandy Opshinsky
- Myer Moskovitz
- Matt Artz