Jazz Jam at the Island Merchant, photo by Ray Drueke
By
Christopher Kazarian
One of
the forces behind the efforts to push jazz to the forefront of the Cape
Cod music scene has been drummer Bart Weisman, who moved to Cape Cod in
2003 from Washington, D.C. with his wife, artist Amy Heller. When he
arrived here he said, "the jazz scene had really died down. What I’ve
been doing for the past eight to nine years is trying to bring it back
to many parts of the Cape."
Judging
by the regional reformation jazz has experienced since this time, it is
clear that Weisman has accomplished that mission. "The Cape has been a
terrific place for jazz," he said. "There are now many restaurants
supporting jazz that weren’t around when I came here. That says a lot
about what is being done to bring great music to jazz fans around the
Cape.
He
started a year-round Jazz Jam at the Island Merchant Hyannis, held every
third Sunday of the month, with musicians of all talent levels, from on
and off Cape Cod, congregate for an impromptu jam session. Any he heads
three separate acts - the Bart Weisman Jazz Group, the Bart Weisman
Klezmer Swing Group, and the Bart Weisman Smooth Jazz Group - that play
a bevy of nightclubs, concert venues, and private events this side of
the canal.
Provincetown
Jazz Festival, photo by Amy Heller
Perhaps
his biggest contribution occurred in 2005 when he put together the
first-ever Provincetown Jazz Festival, a two-day event in August
featuring performances at the Provincetown Town Hall and the Cotuit
Center for the Arts. He chose Provincetown because of its rich jazz
history, with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and Miles
Davis once performed.
Those
names have since been replaced with current jazz luminaries as Alex
Brown, Stephanie Jordan and Sharón Clark, all of whom have performed at
the Provincetown Jazz Festival in recent years, helping the island
bridge the gap from the past to the present.
"In this
country, there is a rich tradition of jazz. It is America's music and is
our number one export to the world," he said.
And on
Cape Cod, he is one of a group of jazz aficionados working to ensure
that it does not get lost in the iTunes shuffle.
