11th Annual Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Thousands of music lovers crowded a few Boston city blocks to enjoy jazz, Latin, blues, and more at the 11th annual Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival. 

The event organizer,  Berklee College of Music, was founded by Lawrence Berk, an engineer trained at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and veteran arranger with the CBS and NBC radio orchestras, who wanted to teach contemporary music and provide practical career preparation for the working musician. His idea caught fire, and the small teaching studio grew into a sizable school, then college, in just over two decades.  Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through the study and practice of contemporary music. For more than half a century, the college has evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business.

Part of the Pablo Ablanedo Octet. (An audio snippet is at the end of this post).

Rajdulari and most of her band. (Audio snippets are at the end of this post).

 

The audience gathered on Columbus Avenue which was closed to traffic for the event.

It was a diverse audience including this large man with green external testicles.

And this potential candidate for the Village People.

There was even an all-silver dude.

This guy wins my coolest shirt award.

And of course other species were in attendance to rock out - or at least pee on the curbs.

Although this group, the Chief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna Folkloric Ballet of New York, performed for only a few minutes, their exuberance and joy really connected with the crowd. Accompanied only by a driving drum beat, their swirling and energetic movement was mesmerizing.....

Following are brief samples of music.....

There were nearly  twenty acts on the three stages over the course of this event.  I barely scratched the surface in telling the full story - but hopefully you get the idea.