Gtown Jazz Fest to Launch

Constance Garcia-Barrio

May 16, 2025

Many music historians trace the origins of jazz to several sources, including the dancing and drumming of Black folks, enslaved and free, in New Orleans’ Congo Square in the 1800s. This spring, miles and years from the genre’s roots, the Germantown Jazz Festival will bring the rhythms and spirit that have long marked this music to the doorstep of Northwest Philly.

The free festival, slated for Apr. 25 to 27, will take place at various sites, including Vernon Park, the Nile Café, First Presbyterian Church of Germantown and Germantown Friends Meeting House. The lineup of performers includes the Josh Lee Trio, made up of Lee on baritone saxophone, Ben Singer on drums and Sam Harris on bass.

“This festival is going to be big,” said Lee, a Grammy Award winner who played with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Vocalist Khadijah Renee Morgan, well known to the area’s jazz aficionados, feels that Germantown deserves its own major event. She founded and leads the Community Education and Action Project, Inc., which seeks to provide low-cost holistic healthcare for marginalized Philadelphians and is a festival sponsor. Morgan, who will also perform, is a reiki master whose approach to healing often includes music.

Festival organizers are aiming to host a stellar event and create a movement that celebrates Germantown’s jazz legacy. Past headliners included Rufus Harley (1936-2006), a longtime Germantown resident who became the first jazz musician to adopt the bagpipe as his chief instrument. He was inspired after seeing the Black Watch, a Scottish Royal Highland regiment, play at John F. Kennedy’s funeral in 1963.

 “…Every musician in Philadelphia thought I was crazy,” Harley said in a 2017 interview. But over time, he earned a respected place in the genre. 

Artcinia, a nonprofit launched in 2021 that aims to connect “artists and audiences in places close to home,” per its website, is also helping with the festival. According to Jake Kelberman, the group’s artistic co-director and director of operations, the nonprofit brings music of all kinds to unexpected spaces, from houses of worship to sidewalks. 

Artcinia believes that making affordable, high-quality performances available to communities enriches the lives of its residents. Kelberman, a jazz guitarist, composer and educator, believes that jazz has the power to bring together people of different backgrounds for celebration, an always-timely dimension of the music.         
The fest is also working with Settlement Music School, one of whose six branches in Philadelphia is in Germantown. Organizers hope that the partnership will expose more budding performers to jazz and will perhaps lead them to explore it. 

Besides music, the festival will feature a large pavilion of juried art sponsored by October Gallery, which recently celebrated 40 years of featuring African American artists. There will be art activities aplenty for children, and attendees can enjoy goodies from food trucks representing a range of cultures. For details, go to www.germantownjazzfestival.com .