During Northfield’s inaugural jazz festival on Sunday afternoon, July 14, Way Park will be swinging to the sweet notes of three different groups, all led by Northfield resident jazz musicians.
The afternoon festival, which starts at 1 p.m. and stretches until 5 p.m., features pianist Laura Caviani, vibraphonist Dave Hagedorn and trombonist JC Sanford. Each set will be 60 minutes, with time added in for the musicians to set up their instruments.
The outdoor performances will move indoors with a jam session at Imminent Brewing, 519 Division St. S., hosted by Jack Schabert’s Blue Ox Trio from 6-9 p.m.
All the events are free and open to all ages of community members.
The Northfield Jazz Festival was the original brainchild of local vibraphonist Dave Hagedorn, said Sanford, who took the baton to take the event through to its completion. Sanford received a 2024 Southeast MN Arts Council (SEMAC) grant to fund much of the festival and has partnered with Friends of Way Park to organize the event.
“Northfield is really a community that can support this type of performance,” said JC Sanford, festival organizer. “It’s kind of amazing that all three of these bandleaders actually reside in Northfield, so it’ll be awesome to have their bands together on the same day to share with the community.”
“Kaley Varley, president of Friends of Way Park Board, said that the jazz festival was exactly the type of event her group wants to support.
“It brings enriching experiences to families at Way Park and the Northfield community in general,” she said.
Sanford, who lives around the corner from Way Park, said he was excited the community would get to enjoy what some of the local musicians have been practicing during jam sessions at Hot Spot and other venues around town.
Not only does Sanford want the festival to showcase jazz music and local musicians, he wants to be able to educate the community on the rich components and history of jazz. This fall, Sanford will be teaching jazz and theory classes at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Brooklyn bound
Sanford, who graduated from Northfield High School, was raised by a musician father and librarian mother. “As a kid, I listened to all kinds of music,” he said, but mostly classical, Broadway and jazz.
After starting college at St. John’s University, he garnered degrees from the University of Northern Iowa and the New England Conservatory. Sanford spent 16 years in New York City as a professional musician, trombonist/composer. He’s performed and conducted in many European capitals.
He returned to Minnesota in 2016. His most recent projects include a trio with pianist Michael Cain and bassist Anthony Cox called New Past and his Imminent Standards Trio which released consecutive recordings in 2021 and 2022.
DownBeat Magazine’s Critic’s Polls over the past several years has regularly recognized Sanford as a “Rising Star” trombonist. He has also been the conductor of the thrice-Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble.
He received a 2018 McKnight Composer Fellowship, along with several MN State Arts Board grants in recent years. He currently co-leads the modern jazz orchestra Inatnas Orchestra with his award-winning wife, composer Asuka Kakitani. His new project EQ (Electric Quartet) features a more “plugged-in” approach that utilizes electronics over a mix of originals and standards.
Sanford has performed as a trombonist with the likes of Danilo Pérez, Matt Wilson, and George Schuller, and been an ensemble member in wide-ranging groups such as Nathan Parker Smith’s prog-rock big band, Andrew Green’s film noir tribute Narrow Margin, singer-songwriter Joy Askew’s New York Brass, and Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.’s jazz/new music hybrid Numinous.
Sanford said he’s excited to grow the festival into a annual summer tradition. He hopes to be able to invite a larger number of Twin Cities artists next year, as well as bringing in a national jazz headliner.
“If the community supports this opening act, I’m looking forward to the Northfield Jazz festival continuing to grow in the years ahead,” he said.
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