"Jazz is hard to define sometimes," said Jack Kitchen, president and CEO of OARC, the nonprofit West Oak Lane community development corporation that produces the festival. "Some people look at War as jazz and other people talk about the Benny Golsons as true jazz, so it's a pretty wide spectrum of artists.
"We really wanted to do jazz from the very first year, but I think you have to build that base of success. The core of the festival has always been the emphasis on jazz and a large proponent of the Philadelphia musicians who perform are true jazz artists, but it is pure jazz this year."
In its seventh year, the West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival will feature a decidedly all-jazz lineup. That's not to imply that the star power will be diminished.
The packed schedule includes singer Al Jarreau with the George Duke Trio; saxophonist David Sanborn swinging the blues with Philly native Joey DeFrancesco; World Saxophone Quartet co-founder Oliver Lake with his organ quartet; and rising star bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
Warren Oree, artistic director of Lifeline Music Coalition, the festival's music directors, said that the event can now draw crowds on name alone, granting the freedom to stock the roster with jazz musicians who may not have the popular appeal of the funk nostalgia acts. And having fewer people thronging the neighborhood, he suggested, may not be such a bad thing.
