Charleston Jazz and Spoleto Festival USA are proud to announce “Jazz is Community,” an expansive new initiative designed to celebrate the power of jazz as a force for connection, education, and artistic exchange. This exciting collaboration will bring leading jazz figures to the Charleston area for immersive residencies that feature concerts, workshops, public discussions, and informal performances.
The inaugural edition of “Jazz is Community” will take place during the Charleston Jazz Festival (April 21 - 29) featuring the legendary Big Chief Donald Harrison Quartet from New Orleans. A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and esteemed cultural ambassador, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison seamlessly blends traditional New Orleans sounds with modern jazz, funk, and beyond. His innovative style reflects both the deep heritage and dynamic evolution of jazz, a genre rooted in community and storytelling.
As Big Chief of Congo Square Nation, an Afro-New Orleans cultural group, and as a dedicated educator, Harrison embodies the legacy of jazz not only as a form of musical expression but as a means of bringing people together. His residency will engage Charleston audiences with both his artistry and his vision of jazz as a living, breathing tradition that unites past and present.
Jazz is Community Programs:
Charleston Jazz Festival Finale:
Big Chief Donald Harrison Quartet
Sunday, April 27, 5pm Circular Congregational Church
Tickets available at www.charlestonjazz.com
Presented in partnership with Spoleto Festival USA, this performance features the incomparable Big Chief Donald Harrison Quartet from New Orleans. A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and cultural ambassador, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison masterfully blends traditional New Orleans sounds with modern jazz, funk and more, creating a style as vibrant and dynamic as the city he calls home and as broad as jazz gets.
Donald Harrison – Alto Saxophone
Dan Kaufman– Piano
Nori Naraoka – Bass
Joe Dyson – Drums
School Program and Masterclass
Monday, April 28
The Donald Harrison Quartet will inspire students with an in-school performance at Goose Creek High School and talk at a local public school and lead a masterclass for Charleston Jazz Academy students.
Bark Like Thunder, Roll Like Lightning
A Conversation About Building Community Through Culture
Followed by Big Chief Donald Harrison Quartet, in performance
Tuesday, April 29, 6pm Fox Music House
Free
Join us for an intimate night with Donald Harrison, Big Chief of Congo Square Nation.
6pm – Screening of “Guardians of the Flame,” a documentary that is the product of some 17 years, beginning on a visit to post-Katrina New Orleans in 2006 by Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme and writer Daniel Wolff, about creativity, cohesion, survival and healing among Harrison’s family and the culture bearers of his community.
7pm – Larry Blumenfeld (Jazz Curator, Spoleto Festival USA) will interview Harrison about his long legacy in American music—from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers to Eddie Palmieri to Biggie Smalls and more—and his lifelong dedication to music education and to building community through culture.
8pm – A live performance by the Big Chief Donald Harrison Quartet.
“Jazz is Community” builds on a longstanding partnership between Charleston Jazz and Spoleto Festival USA. Over the past decade, this collaboration has enriched the local music scene by bringing world-class festival performers into the classrooms of the Charleston Jazz Academy and providing academy students the opportunity to showcase their talents at Spoleto Festival USA’s opening ceremonies. This year, Spoleto Festival jazz artists Etienne Charles and Vijay Iyer will be conducting master classes for students enrolled in the summer youth combo camp from June 2-6, 2025.
“This initiative reflects our shared commitment to fostering musical excellence and deepening connections between artists and audiences,” said Charleston Jazz Executive Director Tatjana Beylotte. “With Donald Harrison, we welcome an artist who truly embodies the spirit of jazz as both a global and deeply personal art form.”
The jazz program at our festival has always been about more than simply performances, and it embraces how this culture affects our lives,” said Spoleto Festival USA General Director and CEO Mena Mark Hanna. “This new initiative, 'Jazz is Community,' extends our partnership with an important local source of jazz culture and invests in the music's deepest and furthest-reaching meaning."
This performance and the related education programs are made possible by the Oliver S. and Jennie R. Donaldson Charitable Trust and Hilton C. Smith Jr., and the Byron Fellowship Educational Foundation.
For more information, visit CharlestonJazz.com and SpoletoUSA.org.