Morristown Jazz & Blues Festivals Lights Up The Green

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Greater Morristown traded in the pandemic blues for blues music on Saturday with the 10th annual Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival.

For the first time since 2019, Morristown Green was filled with people, music, and food for the beloved annual free festival.

The free festival was mask-optional, and the two-acre area was packed with beach blankets and lawn chairs, according to a report in the Morristown Green. As the music played, many festival-goers danced with each other.

Photo courtesy of Frank Gibbons

Anyone worried about COVID could take some comfort in the vaccination clinic, which provided free Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccinations on-site thanks to a partnership between Atlantic Health System and the Town of Morristown. Fifty-seven people were vaccinated, according to the Town of Morristown.

In the meantime, there was plenty to groove to. The festival featured five two-hour acts from swing jam band Swingadelic; guitar and violin from the Frank Vignola Trio (Vignola has played guitar for Ringo Starr, according to his festival profile); drums, saxophone, and bass, and even tap dancing from Winard Harper & Jeli Posse; big band music from singer/songwriter Louis Prima Jr. and the Witnesses; and headliner Rob Paparozzi, who has played with Blood, Sweat and Tears, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, the original Blues Brothers band, and more.

Despite the revelry, the concert had a few somber moments of tributes to the recently deceased. Performers paid tribute to a number of people who died from the coronavirus. The Frank Vignola Trio played a tribute set to jazz guitar virtuoso Bucky Pizzarelli, who died in April 2020 at age 92 from coronavirus complications. Martin Pizzarelli, the bass player of the group, lost his father Bucky and his mother Ruth a week later, according to a report in the Daily Record.

Many people also remembered festival co-founder and co-producer Linda Kiger Smith, who died in June of breast cancer complications. Winard Harper & Jeli Posse, Rob Paparozzi, and husband Don Smith all paid tribute to Smith in different ways.

The festival also honored Michael Fabrizio, who passed away suddenly in June at just 55 years old. Fabrizio was the former head of the Morristown Partnership, and worked with Linda and Don Jay Smith to create the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival. Fabrizio later served as head of the Morristown Parking Authority.

The festival is sponsored by a number of local businesses, including Morristown Municipal Airport, NJ Arts, the Rockefeller Group, Best Western Plus, Morristown Inn, Atlantic Health System, Day Pitney, LLP, and more. See the festival website for a full list of sponsors, and more information about the music sets and memorial tributes.