WEST ORANGE — A non-stop seven-hour jazz line-up will be happening on Saturday, Sept. 19.
The Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center’s annual West Orange Jazz Festival, produced by Pleasant Valley Productions, will celebrate its 19th season from 1 to 8 p.m. outdoors, with a rain date of Saturday, Sept. 26. This year’s festival will be hosted by its artistic director, Monifa Brown, long-time radio host of WBGO’s “Saturday Evening Jazz” and “Hard Bop Café” programs. OSPAC is located at 4 Boland Drive.
The Antoinette Montague Experience, one of the many acts in the line-up, features vocalist Antoinette Montague, with pianist Anthony Wonsey, bassist Melissa Slocum, drummer Brian Sanders, vibraphonist Jay Hoggard and tap dancer Lincoln.
“Just show up and have a good time,” said Montague. “I love to live. I have faith in this music. It still stands the test of time.”
Montague loves the community of the jazz festival, as you can meet jazz greats in a casual setting. “It’s encouraging and inspiring to my heart,” she said.
Born and raised in Newark, Montague calls Newark “one heck of a place for the arts.” She said, “It’s the great soil, a lot of rich talent and art. Sarah Vaughan, James Moody; so many great artists.”
Montague grew up loving music. She said, “My mother was one of the greatest singers I ever heard.”
Her dad had dementia and, when she visited him in the nursing home, she said he’d be swinging an invisible mop and singing. “He’d sing song after song,” she said. “My eyes didn’t stop leaking.”
Montague says that music is in her DNA and she was a natural born singer since birth. “I’d give my little show in my back hallway,” she said. “Five cents got you two cookies and Kool-Aid.”
She was inspired by The Ed Sullivan Show, which gave an amazing variety of talent. “First time I saw James Brown. First time I saw The Mammas and The Pappas. I felt like, ‘This is me. That’s what I am,’” she said.
Last year, Montague was awarded the Jazz Journalists Association “Hero Award” and “Educator of the Year” by The Newark School of the Arts. She’s recorded six albums, including her most recent, “Jazz Woman to the Rescue.”
Through the summer, Montague performed at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, which she said was one of the highlights of her career. “We gave a fun show, with some energy and joy,” she said. “You don’t do a gig in Harlem; you do a gig with them.”
Other highlights in her career include anytime she’s gotten on a plane to go to Korea or Russia.
Montague said that people often go to her to ask for career advice. She said, “The main encouragement I give them is to participate in jam sessions. Get to a piano and learn the basics. Have a message, have something meaningful to say. Listen to music. Listen to musicians.”
Having just gotten married in December, Montague now has a new son. “We enjoy driving around, going to get ice cream,” she said. “It’s nice to have a new family. It’s nice to come home from a gig and have somebody there. Or have them come to a gig with me. I’m grateful.”
To learn more about the Jazz Festival and for tickets, visit: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/pvpospac/ospac-west-orange-jazz-fest.
Photo Courtesy of Angel Roscado
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