A famous jazz concert series will be leaving its New York home for a quartet of shows near North Miami Beach next month.
The Blue Note concert series is typically hosted in New York with sister series in Tokyo, Napa, and Hawaii, but will come to the North Miami area as part of a search for outdoor venues. The shows will feature an audience in socially distant pods consisting of two to six people. Food and drink will be available throughout the outdoor, all-ages events. The concert is part of Blue Note’s efforts to keep the music going over the past year, including a series of live-streamed concerts with no audience at their New York venue. The return to live concerts means a gradual return to touring and all that comes with it, from promotional flyer printing to long days on the road.
The series will kick off with two nights by jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. Born in Cuba, Sandoval has been a part of the jazz scene since the 1970s, including touring with Dizzy Gillespie, and received awards ranging from a Presidential Medal of Freedom to an Emmy award for the score to a movie about his life. Sandoval will be followed by performances by Grammy award-winning R&B artist Robert Glasper, who has performed alongside artists like Kendrick Lamar and Erykah Badu, and Big Freedia, known as the “Queen of Bounce,” who has helped to popularize the New Orleans musical style nationwide.
The Blue Note series will kick off at the North Beach Bandshell with shows by Arturo Sandoval on June 5 and 6, to be followed by performances by Robert Glasper on June 12 and Big Freedia on June 26.
