JAZZIZ Magazine was recently on the scene of the 2019 Caramoor Jazz Festival in Katonah, New York, an event that brings together phenomenal international jazz talent with lush gardens, historic venues and fine dining on 90 acres of idyllic grounds and courtyards — all just 45 miles from midtown Manhattan. The festival was celebrating its fifth year in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the programming reflected the very best of that organization’s fine musicianship, with free performances by drummer Willie Jones III, trumpeter Marquis Hill, vocalist Brianna Thomas, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and festival favorite, Etienne Charles, among many others.
The event, which took place July 20, closed with a packed concert by 82-year-old pianist Eddie Palmieri, and the salsa king brought a few extra degrees of heat to the day’s balmy proceedings (temperatures peaked near 97 degrees). Our travelogue brings you along to experience the festival’s sights and sounds.