Living in the moment: Audiences find plenty to enjoy at Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

The 41st Burlington Discover Jazz Festival – the second since the event was cut in half from 10 to five days – inspired a great deal of scrutiny among music fans before and during the celebration that concluded June 9.

Social media scuttlebutt from local jazz veterans decried what they saw as a lack of representation of Vermont musicians. Leunig’s Bistro, normally a festival hotspot, hosted no music this year, making the Church Street Marketplace feel decidedly less festive. The cool underground venue FlynnSpace sat largely dormant. The two headliners at the Flynn, Grammy-winners Cecile McLorin Salvant and Robert Glasper, played stunning shows to half-full houses in the 1,411-seat performing arts center.

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly roiled the performing arts waters and continues to do so, explaining some of the sense that the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is not the perpetual-motion machine it once was. The weather over the five-day run, with intermittent and sudden bouts of rain, tempered crowds for some of the festival’s numerous free, outdoor shows.

Still, it’s important to live in the moment when it comes to music, and when it comes to life itself for that matter. Audiences had plenty of opportunities to enjoy what was in front of them for those five days.

Salvant delivered an astonishingly sublime performance, showing immense range with her voice and styles of music. Local jazz hero and instructor Dave Grippo extracted a tight set of music from his students at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington, even if some of the performers on the Church Street Marketplace were barely bigger than their saxophones.

Rising vocalist Tyreek McDole led nightly shows at Big Joe’s at the Vermont Comedy Club, with the cabaret-styled seating in the packed houses creating a sweet substitute for the much-missed FlynnSpace sets. The free shows at Waterfront Park peaked Saturday with magnetic performances by Afrobeat star Seun Kuti and Brooklyn dance band Underground System. The festival neared its close Sunday at City Hall Park with a powerful and poignant tribute to late Vermont saxophone legend Joe Moore that included local acts Myra Flynn, Dwight & Nicole and Pork Tornado featuring Jon Fishman of Phish on drums.

All of those shows and many more are highlighted in the photo gallery you’ll find here, reminding us of five days of music that didn’t come off entirely without a hitch but did brighten a lot of lives.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Burlington Discover Jazz Festival features tribute to Joe Moore