Bebop, Brazilian and Latin styles headline Palm Beach International Jazz Fest on Sunday
WEST PALM BEACH — The swing, rhythm and blues of jazz will reverberate at the Kravis Center this Sunday for the sixth edition of the Palm Beach International Jazz Festival.
The festival will feature Grammy-winning musicians with a repertoire of songs from the Great American Songbook and jazz multi-genres including bebop, Brazilian and Latin jazz.
Vocalist Yvette Norwood-Tiger, who founded the festival in 2018, said the evening in West Palm Beach is a celebration of the "all-American genre" meant to highlight local renowned artists.
"South Florida is a treasure trove of jazz musicians, it's almost like a secret," said Norwood-Tiger, a Wellington resident. "It is a way to see and experience our great, local talent."
The event also is a joint celebration of UNESCO’s 2024 International Jazz Day, meant to highlight how the genre was a bridge between America's white and Black cultures.
Meet the jazz fest's founder: How a Wellington woman overcame shyness, illness to bring jazz to the world
Who will perform at the 2024 Palm Beach International Jazz Festival?
This year's festival will include Grammy winners Uruguayan violinist Federico Britos, Louisiana saxophonist Mickey Smith Jr., Cuban saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia, and Norwood.
Attendees also will see 13-year-old trumpeter William Smith, who is the recipient of the 2024 "The Future of Jazz Looks Bright Award." The student at King’s Academy near West Palm Beach has played the brass instrument since he was 5.
That's the same age Britos, a native of Montevideo, was when he picked up the violin.
He is known for his "never-ending skill to improvise and has shared the stage with artists such as Nat King Cole, Dexter Gordon and Alejandro Manzaneros. He has played in the orchestras in Venezuela, Peru, and Miami and has toured around Europe and the Americas.
Smith Jr. won the 2020 Grammy Educator Award, handed out at the ceremony by singer Alicia Keys. Smith, now a West Palm Beach resident, is the producer behind "Sax In The City Experience," a children's jazz program in Louisiana.
Lamoglia is an artist, composer, and arranger who has played with the late Celia Cruz, Arturo Sandoval and Ignacio Berroa and in festivals around the world. His performances blend his Afro-Cuban roots with Brazilian music and straight-ahead jazz.
Norwood-Tiger, named an Artist Innovation fellow by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, will perform songs from her most recent album, "Autumn Sun," a tribute to bebop jazz. The band she'll perform with includes a Venezuelan drummer, Jamaican keyboardist, and Cuban bass player.
Eric Trouillot, the manager of the South Florida quartet Eric & the Jazzers, will be the master of ceremonies that "keeps everything together," Norwood-Tiger said.
Meet Yvette Norwood-Tiger: Vocalist and Jazz festival founder
Norwwod-Tiger was 40 when she sang in public for the first time. She went on to perform at local jazz clubs, record CDs, and sing in venues across the U.S., Europe and Africa. But without an agent, she wouldn't get hired for jazz festivals.
At the age of 53, she set out to create her own.
In 2018, she organized the first Palm Beach International Jazz Festival at the Kravis Center. She contacted local artists, used her credit card to rent the theater’s 285-seat Rinker Playhouse and waited to sell enough tickets.
The daylong event featured performances by Avery Sommers, a recent appointee to The Society for Preservation of The Great American Songbook; the Cuban pianist Marlow Rosado; and the bandleader Tito Puente Jr.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to stop the festival. The Kravis allowed her to continue but the theater's seating was reduced by half and fewer groups were allowed to play. Still, Norwood-Tiger rented the venue every spring and last year, on its fifth anniversary, tickets sold out.
"It's a surreal, humbling feeling," Norwood-Tiger said. "We have so many artists, but they never get to perform on stage, so also it's like a gift for them."
Norwood-Tiger hopes that in coming years, it won't be just one day out of the year but rather monthly jazz jams.
Where can I get tickets for the Palm Beach International Jazz Festival?
Event: Palm Beach International Jazz Festival.
Day and Time: Sunday, April 28 starting at 6 p.m.
Location: Rinker Playhouse Theater at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets: Tickets start at $45 and can be bought at the Kravis Center website.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach International Jazz Festival is Sunday; how to get tickets
