Jazz trumpeter Derrick Gardner plays the trumpet Friday evening in Lansing’s Old Town for the 2010 Lansing JazzFest with his band, The Jazz Prophets. Gardner and his band have been performing together for over 20 years.
For jazz musician and Okemos resident Neil Gordon, Lansing JazzFest 2010 was not only about jazz music, but also the feeling of a community coming together.
“With the big beer tent area, it feels like a huge block party,” Gordon said. “It’s the biggest block party in town.”
The annual festival, which is now in its 16th year, happened Friday and Saturday in Lansing’s Old Town. The event is one of many festivals thrown in Old Town to celebrate a variety of different musical genres, with this one focused on bringing jazz to the Lansing area and its residents.
Gordon performed with his jazz trio Friday night as one of more than 20 acts featured at the JazzFest.
“It’s good exposure for people who haven’t seen jazz before,” Lansing resident Stan Budzynski said. “Especially for young kids … an all-ages, free festival gets a lot of people out for something like that.”
Terry Terry, owner of Message Makers Multimedia, 1217 Turner St., in Lansing, and JazzFest founder, said unlike past JazzFests, this year’s event went off with great weather and no rain, which added to the success of the 2010 festival.
In addition to the standard amenities offered during the festival, Terry said the event’s organizers try to incorporate new features each year.
This year, one new service the JazzFest had was alternate ways of arriving at the site.
“This year, we have a riverboat tour,” said LaToya English, promotions director for JazzFest 2010 and communication senior at MSU. “If you park at City Market, there’s a free shuttle, but for a dollar, you can cruise up the river to the JazzFest.”
On top of offering new services each year, Terry said a unique aspect of the festival is what performers are asked to do in preparation.
“(We) ask every musical group to play an original tune or arrangement, so when you come to JazzFest … you’re always going to hear lots of new, original music that these bands have never played for anybody else before,” Terry said. “So you’re the first to hear that.”
Terry said the music and camaraderie within the community are just a few positives of the event.
The boost the festival brings to the city and its economy is vital to the success of the event.
“The festivals bring so many people to (Lansing) and they come back and discover the great city we’ve got, the vibrancy of it, and they come back,” Terry said. “By coming back, they’re patronizing the businesses here and sustaining the jobs. People can live downtown and work downtown and that’s a critical thing we offer.”
In addition to boosting local businesses, Terry said the overall exposure festivals such as JazzFest bring to the Lansing art scene is just as important.
“(It brings) exposure to the arts and the great artists we have to the community and this region,” Terry said. “We really work hard to make sure we have a showcase for all the great talents that we have here, so it’s good for not just Old Town, but the whole region.”
Although the festival is a great experience for the city, English said what stood out to her was the positive feelings and good time the festival offers to community members.
“There were so many people down here. The music was great, people were dancing and you hear laughter,” English said. “It’s just a really good time and a great atmosphere.”
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