The West Hartford celebration of International Jazz Day – the only live celebration in Connecticut – will take place at the University of Saint Joseph, and also marks National Poetry Month.

Submitted

This April 30, West Hartford is participating in the 15th annual International Jazz Day, declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2011 “to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe.”

Events will take place in 190 countries and all 50 states, with Chicago as this year’s global host city. The West Hartford event will be hosted by the University of Saint Joseph’s Hoffman Auditorium with a can’t-miss hometown release show for Now in Time, the third album by world-renowned Hartford jazz legend Nat Reeves.

Long regarded as the go-to bassist for a veritable who’s-who of jazz, including Kenny Garrett, Pharoah Sanders, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Stitt, Reeves cultivated generations of artists at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School and the Artists Collective. This concert offers a rare opportunity to hear a master of the low frequencies on both bass and cello, and to experience his original compositions in the hard-bop tradition as the leader of an all-star sextet.

The evening will also feature Reeves in a spoken-word duo with special guest Kate Rushin, award-winning poet-in-residence at Connecticut College. Reeves’s bass is a bridge from the golden age of jazz to the future of the art form. His irrepressible sense of swing conjures a time when giants walked the earth – of course, he is also one of them.

“International Jazz Day celebrates America’s greatest cultural gift to the world, an inclusive art form that exemplifies creativity, democracy in action, and the power of the human spirit to overcome obstacles,” said Aidan Levy, an assistant professor of English at USJ and jazz historian, who is organizing the concert. “Nat Reeves has been a global jazz ambassador for decades. He is a pillar of the Hartford jazz community, and Hartford is one of America’s great jazz cities.”

The Nat Reeves Sextet will consist of Reeves, bass and cello; Eric Alexander, tenor saxophone; John Hasselback III, trumpet; Steve Davis, trombone; Caelan Cardello, piano; Chris Beck, drums.

The concert will take place on April 30 at 7 p.m. at the University of Saint Joseph’s Hoffman Auditorium, located at 1678 Asylum Avenue in West Hartford. Parking will be free on site. Tickets are $25 and are available for purchase online here.

About Nat Reeves

For over 40 years, Nat Reeves has been one of the top bassists in jazz. Early in his career, he performed with Jackie McLean, Benny Golson, Donald Byrd, Art Taylor, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Kirkland, Walter Davis Jr., Walter Bishop Jr., Larry Willis, and Kenny Drew. He became a longtime member of alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s group in 1994, and more recently has worked and recorded with tenor saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, George Coleman, and Eric Alexander; trombonist Steve Davis; pianists Harold Mabern, George Cables, David Hazeltine, and Anthony Wonsey; and drummer Joe Farnsworth, among many others. He has released three albums as a leader: State of Emergency, Blue Ridge, and most recently, Now in Time.

Reeves was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. When he was 22 and living in Richmond, Virginia, he joined a band led by trumpeter Tom Mitchell and guitarist Randy Johnston. Johnny Coles, trumpeter for Ray Charles who frequently sat in with the band, convinced Reeves to switch to acoustic bass. Without taking a lesson, Reeves taught himself the new instrument and quickly developed his own individual voice. In 1979, he moved to New York City, where he performed with Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller, Tony Reedus, and James Williams. He first toured with Sonny Stitt in 1982 during what would be the great saxophonist’s last tour. That year he met Jackie McLean, who became his mentor, performing with him intermittently from 1987 to 2004.

Reeves began teaching at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford (now the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz) and the Artists Collective (an arts organization founded by Jackie and Dollie McLean). After teaching part-time for years, Reeves began teaching full-time at Hartt in 2001. He retired from the university in 2021, but continues to teach privately and hold master classes. Committed to carrying on Jackie McLean’s legacy, Reeves looks forward to leading more recordings in the future and, in addition to playing with many of his favorite musicians, working more often as a leader.

According to the Hartford Courant, Reeves is “noted for his artful articulation, time, tone, taste, and irrepressible sense of swing and fluid invention.”

This concert is generously supported by the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation.

For any questions, please contact Aidan Levy at [email protected].

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.