David Lee Jones wrote the horn arrangements for Digable Planets' Blowout Comb, toured with Sade and has played with both the Mingus Big Band and the Sun Ra Arkestra - and here he is with a quartet in a community rose garden on East 129th Street, for free, for an hour. It is the festival at its most local, hours before the big band takes the park. If you want jazz at conversational distance, come to this.
What to expect
A small volunteer-tended community garden rather than a venue, which means a few dozen people, folding chairs, and a band close enough to hear the keys of the saxophone. An hour, straight through, then the crowd walks west toward Marcus Garvey Park for the opening-night main stage.
Good to know
- 2/3 or 4/5/6 to 125th Street, then walk to East 129th Street near Fifth Avenue
- Free with no ticket required
- The garden is small - come early, and expect to stand if the chairs go
- Schedule it as the warm-up before the main stage a few blocks away
- Quiet, intimate and adult-leaning, though children are welcome
- Outdoor and weather dependent; there is no rain cover in the garden
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Common questions
What is Jazz in the Garden?
A Charlie Parker Jazz Festival strand that programs live jazz by local artists in the community green spaces of the Harlem neighborhood where Charlie Parker lived, rather than on the main festival stage.
Where exactly is the Harlem Rose Garden?
At 6 East 129th Street in Harlem, a community-run garden a short walk from the 125th Street subway stations and from Marcus Garvey Park.
Can I go to this and the main stage?
Yes - the garden set finishes in the early evening and the festival's opening-night main stage in Marcus Garvey Park starts afterward, a few blocks away.
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