After four decades, the Syracuse International Jazz Festival is doing what jazz has always done best: improvising.
The festival returns this week for its 40th anniversary with new venues, a reimagined format and an international lineup, while holding fast to one tradition that has defined it since the beginning—free admission.
For festival founder and director Frank Malfitano, reinvention has been essential to the event's longevity.
"Reinvention is really the key," he said. "If you stay in one spot in this town for too long, it becomes the same old, same old. People kind of tune you out. In order to make it engaging and entertaining and inviting and welcoming, you have to change the model."
That philosophy has carried the festival from a crowded nightclub in 1982, where organizers drew 1,500 people before the fire department shut the event down, to parks, public squares and now a new home at Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette.
The four-day celebration begins Thursday evening at Syracuse University's National Veterans Resource Center, where the U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note will perform a free concert. The appearance comes just days after Independence Day and during the nation's 250th anniversary celebration, with veterans receiving priority seating.
"We were able to get the U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note, a 22-piece big band," Malfitano said. "They're going to come in and slam it. It's going to be great."
The festival then moves outdoors Friday and Saturday to Beak & Skiff, where organizers are presenting three acts each night.
Friday's lineup includes London's Hejira, making its North American debut with a celebration of Joni Mitchell's music, followed by New Orleans funk group Dumpstaphunk performing the music of Sly and the Family Stone before legendary soul-funk band Tower of Power closes the evening.
Saturday shifts the focus toward Louisiana, opening with Nathan Williams Sr. and the Zydeco Cha-Chas before Swedish multi-instrumentalist Gunhild Carling joins Central New York musicians in a tribute to Louis Armstrong. The festival concludes Saturday night with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.
Malfitano says pairing internationally recognized performers with local musicians has become one of the festival's defining strengths.
"Pairing her with an elite Syracuse horn section is dream come true stuff," he said of Carling's performance. "We hope there's that interplay and interaction between the international and national artists we bring in and the resident artists who perform jazz here on a weekly basis. When that happens, it's magical because everybody rises to the occasion."
The festival has long served as a showcase for Central New York's jazz community while introducing audiences to artists from around the world. This year's lineup includes performers from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Louisiana, reflecting jazz's evolution into a global art form.
"I consider myself a presenter and a preservationist of American heritage music," Malfitano said. "I believe they all share a common root on the tree, and we have different branches—gospel, jazz, funk, blues and R&B."
Even as ticket prices for major concerts continue to climb nationwide, Malfitano has refused to abandon the festival's free admission policy. He credits decades of community support from sponsors, volunteers and audiences for making that possible.
"It's really a collective achievement," he said. "We've been very fortunate to have people who believe in this event and are willing to subsidize it year in and year out."
He believes nothing can replace experiencing music together in person.
"There's no substitute for seeing live music," Malfitano said. "We get together as a community and communally experience the music together live. That's what it's really all about."
The Syracuse International Jazz Festival concludes Sunday afternoon with its annual Gospel to Jazz service at Hendricks Chapel on the Syracuse University campus.
Dates and Lineups:
Thursday, July 9 at Syracuse University's National Veterans Resource Center:
5:00 PM - Doors open & light refreshments.
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM – USAF Airmen of Note performance start.
Friday, July 10 at Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards:
3:30pm - Mike Houston & Sam Wynn Trio
5:00pm - SU Student Jazz Combo ORANGE JUICE
6:00pm - Hejira (50th Anniversary Celebration of the Jazz of Joni Mitchell)
7:45pm - Dumpstaphunk
9:30pm - Tower of Power
10:30pm - Pocket Nod
Saturday, July 11 at Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards:
1:00pm - Drew Serafini Quartet
2:00pm - The Five Families Ensemble
3:00pm - The Tim Herron Quartet
4:00pm - Frank Grosso Organ Trio
5:30pm - Nathan Williams Sr & the Zydeco Cha Cha’s
7:00pm - Gunhild Carling and the Carling Family Band. Tribute to Louis Armstrong featuring the Syracuse Horns
9:00pm - Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
10:30pm - Los Blancos (late night party)
Sunday, July 12 at Syracuse University Quad & Hendrick’s Chapel:
12:00 – 2:30 PM - luncheon reception on the Quad
2:30 – 3:00 PM - transition to Hendricks Chapel
3:00 – 4:30 PM - Gospel Jazz Service, Hendricks Chapel
