Kent School Named New Location For Litchfield Jazz Festival

KENT — The Litchfield Jazz Festival and Litchfield Jazz Camp have announced the move to a new home: Kent School.

With the overwhelming response in 2008, the camp embarked on a long-term association for 2009 and beyond with the prestigious boarding school counted among America’s Best (Forbes). With the Jazz Camp set to move, an invitation and warm welcome from the Kent Community quickly followed and “it was clear,” said Executive Director Vita West Muir, “this would be the year that Litchfield Jazz came to Kent, lock, stock and barrel. Kent’s gorgeous campus on the banks of the Housatonic provide the perfect backdrop for the festival as well as the camp.”

Litchfield Jazz Camp, led by music director Don Braden, will run for four one-week sessions July 5-31. The culmination of the camp is the nationally recognized Litchfield Jazz Festival, which will take place Friday, July 31, through Sunday, August 2. The Kent School campus is a minute from the center of Kent.

Known as the cultural heart of the Litchfield Hills, Kent boasts an array of art galleries, cafes and restaurants, shops, inns and more. Kent is located just ten miles from a Metro North train stop in Amenia, N.Y. (10-Mile River). The festival plans to have bus transportation available from the station and back, making it convenient for jazz lovers from the New York Metro area and Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam Counties to attend the festival.

The Litchfield Jazz Festival was named, for the second time, a Top 100 Event & Festival by the American Bus Association.  Diana Krall, who made her US festival debut on the first Litchfield Jazz Festival, called it “one of the best festivals.”

Litchfield has a reputation for introducing the next “big thing” while also presenting jazz giants.  JazzTimes named it “among the best of the best,” and The New York Times hailed it “a model jazz lineup.”

The weekend will kick off on July 31 with the Friends of the Festival Gala at Morrison Gallery in Kent, complete with hors d’oeuvres, micro-brews, premium wines and music by students of Litchfield Jazz Camp. The party will be followed by opening night performances at Kent School.

The festival will continue on August 1-2 with the gates opening at 11 am and music running from noon to 10 pm. The 2009 line-up will be announced this month or next.