Jazz House Kids Set the Stage For the 16th Annual Montclair Jazz Festival With A Stellar Downtown Jamboree Lineup
The Montclair Jazz Festival brings families and communities together for a highly anticipated and exhilarating event featuring world-class jazz performances. Now in its 16th season, this annual gathering has grown to be the largest free jazz festival in the region, showcasing a stellar lineup that includes internationally acclaimed jazz icons as well as rising stars. Produced by Jazz House Kids, the nationally-recognized jazz education and performance organization, the festival runs this year from July 30th through September 13th, drawing over 25,000 attendees to its Downtown Jamboree and Block Party.
Jazz enthusiasts can enjoy eight hours of live music on Saturday, September 13, from 12 PM to 8 PM, at a new site on the eight-acre historic Lackawanna Station. Festivities will kick off with the Gotham Kings, a New Orleans-styled second line band led by trumpeter and two-time GRAMMY winner Alphonso Horne, marching down Bloomfield Avenue to Lackawanna Station.
This year’s headliners performing on the main stage sponsored by Signature Cruise Experiences include acclaimed saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and Phoenix, presenting a blend of jazz, R&B and funk; Jazzmeia Horn, the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition winner and considered one of the brightest voices in contemporary jazz; and Christian McBride’s Ursa Major, the nine-time GRAMMY Award-winning bassist’s multi-generational quintet. McBride also serves as Jazz House Kids’ artistic director. The Jazz House Collective, the organization’s powerhouse ensemble of top-tier teaching artists and alumni, will celebrate the music of this year’s Legacy Artist, James Moody, who was not only a renowned saxophonist, flutist, composer, and international jazz icon, but also New Jersey’s own native son.
Newly added to the Downtown Jamboree lineup is Luisito Quintero, the GRAMMY-winning master percussionist from Venezuela, who is expected to bring the crowd to its feet with his electrifying Afro-Latin rhythms and musicality.
Back by popular demand is a giant Block Party, with DJ Brother Mister (aka Christian McBride) and DJ Prince Hakim taking over the Signature Cruise Main Stage for a dynamic funk and soul dance party at 8 PM following eight hours of live jazz.
“This year’s Montclair Jazz Fest lineup is a thrilling showcase of jazz’s boundless creativity,” McBride told NPR’s Morning Edition during an interview. “World-class artists and up-and-coming musicians bring their bold voices and magic to the stage, reflecting the heartbeat of this culturally-rich community full of fans that have supported this festival for more than 15 years. It’s not just a celebration of world-class talent but of the joyful, unifying spirit of jazz that continues to bring us all together,” he added.
From its humble beginnings in 2010 as a free concert in Nishuane Park, with students and faculty of Jazz House Kids, the Montclair Jazz Festival reportedly generates over $1.5 million in revenue for local businesses and artists. It remains free and open to the public thanks to the strength of public and private partnerships.
Jazz House Kids founder and president Melissa Walker formed the festival to provide access to aspiring young musicians. The GRAMMY Award-winning jazz vocalist fondly recounts how the impetus for the organization was an invitation that she received in 2002 from the Newark Public Radio Station WBGO Jazz 88 to perform at a concert for young people. Shen was then asked to conduct a workshop for Newark Public School students and their parents to introduce them to jazz music.
“I began to think about what I found so impactful about this music and what drew me to it,” she says. So, “I decided to build a jazz house.” She had the audience strap on imaginary toolbelts and together they built a jazz house, layering melody and harmony, instrument by instrument.
That interactive experience led to Walker and a group of her jazz musician friends appearing at different Newark Public Schools. Then, when she started dating McBride, she told him, “Oh, by the way, I started this program called Jazz House Kids; it'd be great if you know we can put some focus on that later in the future.”
Married now 19 years, the husband-and-wife team has grown the nonprofit to serve more than 58,000 students through music lessons and over 200 free instruments as well as guest instruction from such jazz greats as Wynton Marsalis and Pat Metheny. Students in grades K-12 are exposed year-round to musical, educational, and cultural programs. While Jazz House Kids is a major training ground for young people interested in jazz performance, Walker notes that students are also gaining skills to become leaders in their communities and global citizens.
Walker grew up in a musical family, the youngest of three girls, where everyone was expected to learn to play an instrument. She chose the bassoon. She began singing as a young girl with R&B and soul music as the soundtrack for her household. The magical moment happened after coming across a Billie Holiday songbook. “It was like nothing else that I had really ever heard. I began to discover her voice and the searing emotion that she could convey,” Walkers recalls. From there, she started listening to other jazz vocalists like Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughn, falling in “love with their emotion, power, and sass. The music really captured my attention, and it's been a journey I've been on ever since.”
Jazz House Kids is an extension of Walker’s adoration for the genre. Her nonprofit produces 150-plus free public concerts per year, including its signature event, the Montclair Jazz Festival. Teaming up with BDP Holdings, the developer who is transforming Lackawanna Plaza, this year’s festival will be filled with art, food and shops by local entrepreneurs inside Lackawanna Station. “There will be vendors, jazz bars, and food courts for people to enjoy in between acts. It’s going to be really lively with great music, great food, and great artisans. Our festival motto is hear live music, see live music, and be live music,” adds Walker.
Over 150 artisan and food vendors are at the Rao's Homemade Marketplace, with specialty jazz cocktails made from Allied Beverage brands, the official 2025 Montclair Jazz Brew from Montclair Brewery at jazz bars, and a Family Jazz Discovery Zone, featuring interactive exhibits and performances by Jazz House Kids teaching artists and alumni, in collaboration with community partners Montclair Art Museum, Montclair Public Library, and Montclair YMCA.
Despite challenging times and ongoing uncertainty in arts funding, Jazz House Kids remains steadfast in its mission to present world-class jazz, attract fans from far and wide, and keep the Montclair Jazz Festival free and open to all in celebration of the rich multicultural heritage of America.
“Jazz House is about building community,” says Walker. “We want people to come together harmoniously and from all different backgrounds but coming together as one family.”
To learn more, visit the website www.montclairjazzfestival.org.
