You are reading this on the first of September, the first fall month. August, the last full month of summer, was escorted out last Saturday (the 27th) by music all across South Boston, from our rapidly growing Waterfront to Castle Island. It was a lively, rocking, jam-packed, multi-cultural afternoon. Perhaps the epicenter of all the music was the Waterfront’s green jewel, a.k.a. Maritime Park. The flagship event: the 2016 Boston Jazz Festival. The musical stage was set on the northern edge of the grassy open space bordering Seaport Boulevard/Northern Avenue, toward the Fish Pier. You might recall Bradley Bartlett-Roche from other venues. He was the youngest professional, at the age of 11, Music Ends the Summer ever to perform solo at Faneuil Hall. Perhaps you caught one of his sets at the Hard Rock Café. He plays the piano, tenor sax, guitar, harmonica, and does his own vocals. He has cut a CD entitled “Bermuda Love”. Bradley plays much classic jazz – swing, ragtime, etc. Look for his shades and white Trilby. Emy Tsung sang Latin jazz vocals in her tuning fork voice at Saturday’s Boston Jazz Festival – always hitting her notes precisely, while maintaining a relaxed, improvisational delivery. “Girl from Ipanema” was especially pleasing. She has a debut album to her credit – “Sonho”, Portugese/Brazilian for “Dream”; Emy is working on her second album right now. The 2016 Boston Jazz Festival was emceed by Bonny Johnson, a jazz aficionado at the NPR jazz and folk station WICN (FM 90.5) in Worcester, also known to residents as “Woo-Town”. She introduced a total of six performances. Then it was on to The Lawn on D, where the Blue Point Brewing Company’s afternoon fest was taking place. The DJ spun some dance music, but most of the crowd played games, or sat on the trademark circular swings. Maybe it was just too hot. Did you know that these swings are now famous nationwide, and have become a favorite stop by Boston’s many bus and trolley tours. Then was out to Castle Island for WUMB’s “Concert on the Ramparts” (yes, South Boston Online made them all), passing “Anthem of the Seas”, the gigantic cruise ship docked at the Black Falcon Pier. This concert was the last of the summer. Like the previous three events, WUMB (FM 91.9), UMass Boston’s broadcasting arm, arranged two groups – one each from UMass Boston and Berklee. “BINKY” opened – it’s a South Shore psychedelic rock trio, perhaps surprisingly with both folk and blues roots. Both BINKY and the crowd sought the shade for the concert. Despite the breeze, it was hot. The Berklee artists followed – Naty Hernandez sang numerous Latin songs in the South American jazz genre. She was accompanied by Flavio Lira on the bass guitar (six strings) and Andres Gonzalez on percussion in the form of a chair drum). Hernandez was a real crowdpleaser. We hear that WUMB will continue its August concert series next year.
