Jazz in the Streets: Scranton Jazz Festival Celebrates 20th Year

For three days at the start of August, the city of Scranton will come to life with the sound of jazz once more.

The 20th annual Scranton Jazz Festival will take place all over downtown Scranton from Friday through Sunday, Aug. 1-3, filling the streets with jazz, blues and world music.

The event will occur at over 20 live venues with over 80 talented musicians, local and international, taking part in the musical festivities.

"A lot of these shows are free to the public," said Marko Marcinko, one of the founders and artistic director of the festival since its inception. "It's kind of our weekend version of New Orleans."

The festival was first conceived in 2004, as city Mayor Chris Doherty wished to have a new music festival that the people would enjoy in the wake of the summer music festival that was lost after the previous mayor left office. This is where the opportunity for the unique festival presented itself.

The jazz festival started small, just taking place under a tent in Nay Aug Park, and has only expanded more and more since then.

"The direction that it has been going for the past 20 years has been the right direction," said Marcinko, an Archbald native. "In the next 10 years or so, we hope to grow it even more."

For the event's 20th anniversary, Marcinko and the rest of the Scranton Jazz faculty want to celebrate by bringing back a multitude of artists that have performed in years past, as well as some acts they have never had before.

The returning acts include French singer Ilona Knopfler; Carl Fischer, trumpet player of Billy Joel fame and his Organic Groove Ensemble; acoustic bassist Mary Ann McSweeney, and many more.

The Scranton Jazz Festival also hosts the PA Jazz Institute every year. At the institute, local students practice and rehearse under world-class jazz musicians, honing their jazz improvisation, music theory and technique, and then showing off what they have learned at live performances.

This year, the PA Jazz Institute will be playing at the Scranton Art Haus on Aug. 1 at 6 p.m.

However, the act that the Scranton Jazz Festival is the most excited to hold is Saturday night's headliner: the world-renowned funk and R&B band Tower of Power.

"Just having Tower of Power as a headliner is such a huge accomplishment," Marcinko said.

Tower of Power will perform a ticketed show live at the Scranton Cultural Center on Aug. 2. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.

The final day of the festival on Aug. 3 always caps off with a live performance of the Scranton Jazz Festival Big Band. The Emmy-nominated ensemble consists of Marcinko and the Scranton Jazz faculty, as well as many special guests that have already performed at the festival, including Knopfler, Fischer and McSweeney.

The doors open at 5 p.m. for the ticketed performance at 6 p.m., which will also be opened by the PA Jazz Institute Student Ensemble.

Paul Lyon of Moscow, guitarist and bandleader for the Merchants of Groove, has been making music with his band since 1989. He remarked that the turnout for this festival is like no ordinary gig.

"The people that come out to see us are real music fans," said Lyon. "They're here because they love jazz and blues music."

The Merchants of Groove will perform at this year's festival on Aug. 1 at Voodoo Brewing from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Though the Scranton Jazz Festival is a place for musical colleagues to get together and bond over their love of jazz and blues, it is also an opportunity for cultural education and to introduce new music and ideas to Northeast Pennsylvania.

"It's just as important to educate as it is to entertain," Marcinko said.

The Scranton Jazz Festival hopes to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a jazzy "bang" that will excite, entertain and enrich all who walk through the city and take in its music.

For a full schedule of musicians and venues, ticket information for the headlining events and additional information, visit the Scranton Jazz Festival's website at scrantonjazzfestival.org.

If you go: The 20th annual Scranton Jazz Festival will be held from Friday through Sunday, Aug. 1-3, at various venues in downtown Scranton.