Southampton Arts Center [SAC – southamptonartscenter.org] is proud to renew our collaboration with Hamptons JazzFest in 2024

February 1, 2024: Southampton, NY

A special performance by the renowned Azar Lawrence Quintet will start the 2024 Hampton JazzFest series at Southampton Art Center.  In line with our mission statement of building community through the arts, we will once again open the doors early to have a community social hour before the concert and will offer complementary beverages with the price of admission.  Stadium and Cabaret seating enhance the mood and allow for spontaneous dancing should you feel so inclined.

SAC is excited to celebrate Black History Month and welcome Azar Lawrence to our stage. Azar is a spiritual and musical disciple of Coltrane with a healthy mix of soul, funk, and music within beyond category.  Azar is a well-respected musician who has recorded and written for luminaries such as Freddie Hubbard, Busta Rhymes, Roberta Flack, and Phyllis Hyman. His sensational collaborations of the period included writing and performing on Earth Wind & Fire’s highly acclaimed platinum album, Powerlight, 
and on Marvin Gaye’s Grammy award-winning Hear My Dear.  Azar’s band, The Azar Lawrence Experience (TALE), appears with as many as eight musicians who sizzle to the sounds of Azar’s powerful original compositions and a Coltrane standard here and there.  In 2019, Concord’s vinyl reissue of Azar’s stunning 1976 album, Summer Solstice, was timed perfectly as it helped us survive the global pandemic.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Hamptons JazzFest and to be able to open the 2024 Jazz season at Southampton Art Center with such a fabulous performer,” notes Christina Strassfield, Executive Director of Southampton Arts Center.

The next performance in the series will be on March 1st with Music in Film - featuring Richard Baratta Gotham City Latin/Jazz Quintet.

After more than three decades as a Hollywood film producer, drummer Richard Baratta seemed ideally placed to bring together the worlds of film and jazz, releasing two albums focusing on songs from the movies. The first of these, Music in Film: The Reel Deal (Savant Records, 2020) gained a Grammy nomination for pianist Bill O'Connell's arrangement of the Euphemia Allen composition, "Chopsticks." Baratta followed this up with Music in Film: The Sequel. His third album, Off the Charts, changes focus completely; the film tunes are discarded as he targets compositions by some of the well-known jazz composers and performers of the '60s and '70s. To his credit, he has curated an inspired set-list of some of the lesser known and seldom played tracks from the period. He also covers the styles from this time, ranging from straight-ahead to funk to Latin.

“We at Hamptons JazzFest are delighted to be working with our friends at the Southampton Arts Center to once again be bringing an excellent live Jazz experience to the East End.” Claes Brondal, Executive Director, and Co-Founder of Hamptons JazzFest states. "Azar Lawrence is a Grammy award winning legendary saxophone player, who has played with the likes of McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind and Fire, Frank Zappa, and Busta Rhymes.  This promises to be a great evening of live music.“

Tickets are $25 Members/$30 non-members.

Tickets are available online at southamptonartscenter.org/live or by calling 631 283-0967.

General Operating Support is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. 

ABOUT SOUTHAMPTON ARTS CENTER

Southampton Arts Center is committed to community building through the arts. We present and produce inspiring, inclusive, socially, and regionally relevant programs across all disciplines – welcoming, connecting, and collaborating with the diverse members of New York’s East End community and beyond.
SAC is a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization. 
For more information about Southampton Arts Center, located at 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton, New York 11968, visit southamptonartscenter.org or call 631.283.0967.
Follow SAC on Facebook and Instagram @southamptonartscenter

For press inquiries, photography, press passes, and interviews, please email mryan@southamptoncenter.org or cbrondal@gmail.com

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