This weekend you can save your soul - and your jazz, too - when local legends come together for a concert to raise money for this summer's Jazz and Soul Festival in Salem, Mass.
Local musicians and their fans put together both Saturday night's concert and the free summer festival, set for Aug. 18, to show off the talent of North of Boston musicians.
"We are all about enjoying the music scene in Salem, and the performers in the area," said North Andover native Matt Caruso, the festival's director of community affairs. "We want to create something that packaged all of the great Salem performers and put it together in a festival that will highlight the music scene and the performers."
This weekend's show features the Boston Horns, Beverly resident Barrence Whitfield (formerly of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages), Los Sugar Kings, Catfish Lucy and 17-year-old guitar wunderkind Eric Reardon of Salem, Mass.
"For me personally I feel like it's really important to create an opportunity for people to come out and experience live music," said Henley Douglas Jr. of Salem, one of the festival's organizers and a saxophone player with the Boston Horns. "There is so much around here; there is a lot of talent. We have many world-renowned musicians. I do believe jazz and soul are some of our national treasures."
Douglas found that finding bands for both the fundraiser and the festival, was easy in the music climate North of Boston.
"There are so many talented musicians (here), we've had to turn a lot away," he said. "Everybody wants to participate."
In addition to the performances, Saturday's concert includes silent and live auctions, offering everything from bartending services to a day of indoor rock-climbing.
Caruso said the group has no magic figure in mind when it comes to how much money it wants to raise on Saturday or how much it needs to put on the festival. However, he said, the 12-person organizing committee wants to raise as much as possible to offset the costs of holding the free festival, which include paying the musicians, security and sound equipment.
"It's really our first event. We started really planning in January," said Caruso. "For us to be able to put the event on outdoors, we need to have events like this and sponsorships."
Local musicians and their fans put together both Saturday night's concert and the free summer festival, set for Aug. 18, to show off the talent of North of Boston musicians.
"We are all about enjoying the music scene in Salem, and the performers in the area," said North Andover native Matt Caruso, the festival's director of community affairs. "We want to create something that packaged all of the great Salem performers and put it together in a festival that will highlight the music scene and the performers."
This weekend's show features the Boston Horns, Beverly resident Barrence Whitfield (formerly of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages), Los Sugar Kings, Catfish Lucy and 17-year-old guitar wunderkind Eric Reardon of Salem, Mass.
"For me personally I feel like it's really important to create an opportunity for people to come out and experience live music," said Henley Douglas Jr. of Salem, one of the festival's organizers and a saxophone player with the Boston Horns. "There is so much around here; there is a lot of talent. We have many world-renowned musicians. I do believe jazz and soul are some of our national treasures."
Douglas found that finding bands for both the fundraiser and the festival, was easy in the music climate North of Boston.
"There are so many talented musicians (here), we've had to turn a lot away," he said. "Everybody wants to participate."
In addition to the performances, Saturday's concert includes silent and live auctions, offering everything from bartending services to a day of indoor rock-climbing.
Caruso said the group has no magic figure in mind when it comes to how much money it wants to raise on Saturday or how much it needs to put on the festival. However, he said, the 12-person organizing committee wants to raise as much as possible to offset the costs of holding the free festival, which include paying the musicians, security and sound equipment.
"It's really our first event. We started really planning in January," said Caruso. "For us to be able to put the event on outdoors, we need to have events like this and sponsorships."
To garner interest for the festival, the committee will offer free concerts on the second Saturday of May, June and July, leading up to the festival in August. The concerts will be held at Derby Square on Front Street in Salem. There will also be a July 27 concert at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem featuring Paquito D'Rivera, a nine-time Grammy winner from Cuba and the 16-piece Boston Horns Big Band.
While the immediate goal is to hold the first festival, and develop it into an annual Salem event, Caruso said the group also has plans to use proceeds to fund local music education programs.
Festival committee member Jennifer Reardon, owner of In A Pig Eye's in Salem, thinks this will be an asset to the community.
"My vision is that 10 years from now, this will be a well-known event," said Reardon, who is also the mother of performer Eric Reardon. "In the last five years, Salem is really becoming a destination spot for music and it's bringing sort of a Boston music atmosphere north toward Salem. It's just exciting to see the influx of music."
On sampling of what's on the auction block
* Rock climbing day passes donated by Metro Rock of Newburyport, $100
* FXT Trail Bicycle, donated by Dan Shuman of Salem Cycles, $450
* Samuel Adams Utopias (a rare beer valued at $150) and year's worth of beer (one case per month, valued at $300), donated by the Boston Beer Co.
If you go
* What: Fundraiser for Salem Jazz and Soul Festival
* When: Saturday, April 21, doors open at 7 p.m.
* Where: Knights of Columbus Hall, 94 Washington St., Salem, Mass.
* How: Admission is $10 at the door, or in advance at In A Pigs Eye at 148 Derby St., in Salem or Front Street Coffeehouse, 20 Front St. in Salem. Food is included, and a cash bar will be offered. For more, visit www.salemjazzsoul.com.
