Tish Adams
The Provincetown Jazz Festival is poised and readied to celebrate its 20th anniversary this August. This means celebrating 20 years of amazing performances featuring local artists, as well as 20 years of raising funds for local organizations. What Bart Weisman had in mind when he founded Provincetown Jazz Festival was a twofold intention: provide incredible jazz performances and give back to the community.
Weisman was inspired to establish the festival when he moved to Cape Cod from Washington, D.C. and discovered there were no jazz festivals in operation on the Cape. He felt that he needed to remedy that and make jazz music more accessible to the community. Reflecting on the past 20 years of running the festival Weisman says, “I have to thank all the fabulous musicians who have come to Cape Cod to perform, all of the sponsors we’ve had throughout the years who have been very supportive, and the venues who just want to keep jazz alive and presented at the top level.”
Donating funds raised by the festival to local organizations is just as important to Weisman as the performances themselves. He views the festival as a way to give back to the community that supports his passion. A portion of the proceeds raised from the festival are donated to various nonprofits on Cape Cod, including Jazz in the Schools.
Bringing jazz to the schools is an endeavor Weisman is passionate about. He says, “For the last 10 years, the Provincetown Jazz Festival has funded the Jazz in the Schools program. We perform usually 20 to 30 concerts a year— we perform at elementary schools and middle schools around Cape Cod.” By providing young people with access to jazz music, he hopes to inspire the next generation of fans and performers in this unique genre of musical expression. He says, “I really think the most rewarding part is presenting top local jazz on Cape Cod and keeping jazz alive for the future—it’s nice to have the young talent, the middle-aged talent and the older age talent work together and make it happen.”
The festival attracts performers to the Cape to participate in performances and creates a network of performers who share a love of jazz. One of the ways Bart Weisman recruits performers for the festival is by hosting Jazz Jam Cape Cod which started in the second year of the festival. Once a month, year-round, Jazz Jam Cape Cod is an opportunity for local musicians of ranging skill level, to get together and connect through music. He recalls one time, Joe Muranyi, who was the last clarinetist with Louis Armstrong, came to Jazz Jam Cape Cod. Muranyi then went on to perform at the festival that year because of the connection he made with Weisman. Weisman describes this instance as one of the many ways Jazz Jam Cape Cod supports the festival.
One festival performer, Cassandre McKinley says, “That’s the most special thing about performing jazz music, is that you can bring together people who’ve never worked together, and they’ll still create something unique, because everyone is just in the moment, listening to each other and communicating through the music. You don’t miss a beat. It’s really cool.”
In the beginning, the festival was just one concert at the Provincetown Town Hall, and from there it quickly grew. Weisman began experimenting with different venues, showtimes, and performers, and the festival began to evolve within Provincetown. A few years ago, he realized that other parts of the Cape would be welcoming and excited to host festival performances, so he began to branch out. Now the festival includes Yarmouth and Cotuit, alongside its home of Provincetown.
Cassandre McKinley
Weisman is creating a community here on Cape Cod by forging connections through jazz music, and for Cassandre McKinley, that connection makes performing in this festival so special. “What I like about this particular festival is the group of performers that support me, Bart and the rest of the guys. They’re local, so they have this really great connection and roots in the area that they present music,” McKinley shares. When asked about the bonds this forges, she adds, “You know, we’re all from here, so I think there’s a thread. It might be unspoken, but there’s a thread there where we all sort of feel like family. That means a lot to me to be able to work with local musicians.”
McKinley is set to perform in this year’s festival, however this is not her first time working with Weisman and performing for this audience. She says she loves returning to the festival, describing it as a “homecoming.” McKinley is a seasoned professional with experience performing for crowds in venues across the country, and audiences attending her performance can expect a range of music including pieces from the Great American Songbook, Marvin Gaye, and Radiohead. She says, “I like music to be evocative, and I love even for myself, when I go to see a concert and I leave deep in thought and feeling, I’m always hoping that’s what other people will do—hoping they’ll come out of my performance feeling something—it might be relaxed and it might be introspective.”
According to McKinley, Provincetown fosters the creative expression of artists and welcomes the festival with open arms, saying, “That’s the thing about Provincetown, is that you can just be yourself. You don’t have to pretend to be anybody else, and you get to do it in a place that’s not just a beautiful vacation place, but all year round. It’s an amazing community of people that support each other, that love each other, that honor each other. That’s what I think is the most special thing about Provincetown.”
The Provincetown Jazz Festival is scheduled to start in August and will be held in three towns: kicking off in South Yarmouth at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod on August 5th, then swaying over to Cotuit to be held at the Cotuit Center for the Arts on August 12th, and lastly, bouncing into Provincetown at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum on August 13th.