A real taste of the French Quarter, and of New York City

On Sept. 11, 2001, Joe Lovano was prepared to start his first day teaching at Berklee College of Music in Boston — and you know what happened.

“I went up the night before,” the renowned tenor saxophonist recalled in a telephone conversation. “It was a Tuesday, a tragic moment. School, of course, was not happening. The next day, I had to address a forum of students, maybe 20 students from all over the Middle East, Asia, Europe.”

“It was very challenging,” he recalled. “Everybody was real nervous. It was a tense situation.”

So what did Lovano do for this group of international students, on the day after, when the United States was still reeling from the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.?

“I just played some unaccompanied saxophone for them,” he said. “I talked about breathing, and how you have to play from a peaceful place, not an aggressive place. Most of the class, I invited up to play a solo piece or a duet with me.”

“I was trying to express love and compassion for humanity and beauty in music and melody.”

Perhaps that moment of peace and beauty helped the students take a step toward healing; Lovano knows expressing his emotions helped him.

And that’s what jazz is all about, he said, waxing rhapsodic about the joys of his favorite genre, which he’ll share with an audience at the Scranton Jazz Festival, when he performs at 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at The Ritz Theater and Performing Arts Center in Scranton.

“You play notes nobody wrote when you live in this world,” Lovano said. “I’m free to be expressive. The art of improvising … is about expressing who you are, your personal journey. And blues, what is the blues? It’s a story about who you are.”

“I look forward to addressing the crowd and playing with this phenomenal band,” said Lovano, who will perform with the Emmy-nominated Scranton Jazz Festival Band.

“It’s a big deal to have this guest artist perform with us,” said Marko Marcinko, who will lead the Jazz Festival Band from the drum chair.

The Jazz Festival will encompass close to 80 musicians at more than 20 venues in downtown Scranton Aug. 2-4. Some performances are ticketed; others free. Marcinko encourages music lovers to visit as many as possible.

“When you experience jazz live, right in front of your face, it’s much different from a recording,” Marcinko said. “You get the energy, the synergy, the emotions the musicians are sharing with you in the moment. It could go in so many different directions at the drop of a dime. Seeing it live is always the best way to get acquainted.”

Headliners on Saturday, Aug. 3, will be the multi award-winning swing group Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, who will perform at 7:30 p.m. as the main stage act at the Scranton Cultural Center.

The band was founded 31 years ago in Ventura, Calif., by singer Scotty Morris and drummer Kurt Sodergren, who are both still with the band. They must love it, right?

“I do love it, actually,” Sodergren said in a telephone interview, adding he expects people will dance to the group’s swing music “if there’s room to dance. Even if there’s not room to dance.”

“They’ve been around for 31 years and they still sound amazing,” Marcinko said. “I’ve seen them and I’ve heard them, with their jump swing, blues and Louis Prima type of style.”

The group’s music has been featured in such films and TV shows as “The Wild,” “Despicable Me,” “Phineas & Ferb,” “Friends” and “So You Think You Can Dance.”

And Sodergren said fans can look forward to hearing the group perform a song from each of its albums in Scranton.

The band’s intriguing name hearkens back to an autograph co-founder Scotty Morris collected from blues artist Albert Collins, who once signed a poster to Morris, calling him “a big bad voodoo daddy.”

The name doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the mystery and voodoo of New Orleans, Sodergren said, although New Orleans style jazz has influenced the group, along with classic American jazz, swing and Dixieland.

​ Tickets for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at the Scranton Jazz Festival are $30 to $60 per person. Tickets for the Scranton Jazz Festival Big Band featuring Joe Lovano are $15 to $25 per person.

For tickets and more information about the festival lineup, visit scranton jazz festival.org.

“We’re in our 19th year,” Marcinko said. “And the festival has grown substantially. We have close to 25 venues being used in downtown Scranton. You can walk around or take a trolley. It’s a real taste of the French Quarter, of New York City, the same kind of world-class quality acts you would find there. It’s a great time to come out and socialize, enjoy the food and the atmosphere.”

In partnership with Lackawanna Market, festival goers will enjoy a new feature on Saturday Aug. 3 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. – an interactive marketplace on Courthouse Square with live music and family-friendly activities. In celebration of the festival’s commitment to the arts, there is no fee to attend the Jazz Walk on Friday and Saturday nights. Admission is also free to the marketplace on Courthouse Square on Saturday.