Kind Of Blue: Summer Jazz Concerts Will Have To Wait Another Year

BRANFORD, CT — To paraphrase Quincy Jones, it's everybody's blues. The Branford Summer Jazz Concert Series will have to wait another year as the "risk is simply not a chance worth taking," the committee noted in a letter to the community.

"With devastation and heartbreak," the Branford Parks & Recreation Summer Jazz Concert Series on the Green committee wrote that the 2021 season has been postponed to 2022.

"The health and safety of the community, artists, concert goers and volunteers has been in the forefront with the utmost importance in this decision," the letter from director Alex Palluzzi, Jr. and assistant director Dale B. Izzo reads.

Based on state and local guidance on public gatherings, the committee determined that, "...We risk too much in having a gathering of our size, not only for the concert goers, but also the artists that would be traveling from near and far to provide us with their music."

"During this unique and challenging time of COVID-19, this pandemic has impacted all of us both professionally and personally. It has changed the world in which we live in. Our community has come together to support each other, as we all need a distraction from this unpredictable coronavirus," they wrote, but said that while the hope was to "host Jazz 2021 on the town green in a safe, enjoyable manner, it is clear that the risk is simply not a chance worth taking."

For more than 10 years, thousands flocked to the Town Green on summer Thursday nights.

"Sitting on the picturesque town green with toes tapping, enjoying a picnic dinner, good company and listening to jazz music from top artists from around the country has been a customary trademark for shoreline audiences and arts enthusiasts," Palluzzi and Izzo wrote. "As heartbreaking and devastating it is to announce these words to our jazz supporters, artists and sponsors, it is balanced with a renewed sense of optimism that the Branford Summer Jazz Concert Series will bounce back greater and as energetic as ever in 2022. Our artists are excited to know that they will be a part of next year’s lineup."

Visit the Branford Jazz website to learn more about the artists.