Continuing a seven-year tradition, the Central Jersey Jazz Festival began its three-day, three-county event in Hunterdon County on Friday, September 18, 2015. People lined Flemington’s Main Street and crowded in front of the historic courthouse to hear some phenomenal jazz performances, grab a bite to eat and to enjoy a night on the town.
The first day of the Central Jersey Jazz Festival, sponsored by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, saw perfect weather; making it easy for friends, couples, and families to enjoy the music, food, and art. The town welcomed Sarah Partridge, Mona’s Hot Four, Chuck Lambert, and Bria Skonberg to a suitable makeshift concert stage; set up on the steps of the courthouse. Each set in the festival’s four-hour timespan delighted the crowd with incredible jazz tunes of the present and past.
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Sarah Partridge and her band got the evening started with some exceptional original modern jazz tracks. Mona’s Hot Four, named after a dive bar in the East Village of Manhattan, followed, playing outstanding tunes that were reminiscent of arrangements famous during the Roaring Twenties. Chuck Lambert and his crew then brought some fiery jazz & blues songs to Main Street, lighting up the front of the courthouse as the sun was lost behind the horizon. Bria Skonberg and her equally dexterous bandmates concluded the eventful night with their own powerful melodies and style.
This isn’t just another event parents drag their children to. Kids enjoy being here, basking in the music while munching goodies from food trucks and local restaurants. Kids dance in the street while parents are right behind them, doing the same.
The festival provides an opportunity for visitors to abandon the stress and monotony of work and disengage for a time; as well as soak in the energetic, satiating beats and melodies of local jazz.
The Central Jersey Jazz Festival moves on from Flemington to Monument Square in New Brunswick and then onto Downtown Somerville on the third day.
All Photos: © Patrick Lombardi / Best of NJ