St. Joseph has rhythm with jazz celebrations
By Kendra Simpson
St. Joseph has a rich history with Jazz music and legends and its celebrating those legends with multiple jazz centered events this week.
For over two decades, the Jazz Society has hosted Hawkfest in honor of Coleman Hawkins, the renowned jazz musician.
It was on 2nd Street in St. Joseph where Hawkins first heard and fell in love with the genre while jazz bands played their music all night long.
From there, he went on to become a master saxophone player and performed with the likes of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and more.
Hawkfest founder, Alonzo Weston, said he and friends created the jazz festival to celebrate the life and talents of Coleman Hawkins while introducing St. Joseph residents to the art that is jazz music.
“He’s considered the father of the modern jazz saxophone,” Weston said. “Before him … it was never a featured instrument like it was when Coleman Hawkins took it over.”
For nearly 25 years, Hawkfest has featured local jazz artists and groups in the musician’s name sake park. Even though the initial Hawkfest was rained out, the founders have struggled and pushed for the festival to continue all this time.
But Hawkfest is just the beginning of the jazz celebrations in town.
On June 12, the Rolling Hills Library will host the presentation “Jazz Master Crouch” with guest speakers Glenn Mott and Hans Bremer.
Stanley Crouch was described as a “towering stylist, fearless columnist and without question, one of the finest jazz critics of all time.” St. Joseph native Glenn Mott served as an editor for Crouch and assisted in publishing his acclaimed collection of writings, “Victory is Assured”.
At the talk, Mott and Bremer will discuss Crouch’s writing and contributions to the jazz world. Attendees can also purchase the book “Victory is Assured” at the event.
“When most people think of jazz they think of just be-bop, you know, and avant garde jazz,” Weston said. “But we’re saying that there are different types of jazz. Smooth jazz, there’s Latin jazz, there’s soul jazz.”
Hawkfest will take place on Friday from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 2:30 to 9 p.m. at Coleman Hawkins Park. For a complete lineup of performers, visit the events website at https://www.colemanhawkins.org/. The Jazz Master Crouch Talk will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Rolling Hills Library on the top level. Both events will be free to the public.
