Here’s WHAT THE PRESS ARE SAYING about Brooklyn porch music
Over the past two years, a new program has crystallized. Neighbors donated porches. Musician friends and former students pitched in as teachers, paid through a nonprofit Nathanson helped found called Jazz Passengers Music Projects. Pianist Aidan Scrimgeour, who had joined the nightly jam sessions back in 2020, has now become a leader of the nascent porch school.
A musical tradition that began as a solo act during the loneliest days of the pandemic has blossomed into an ensemble that’s helping to develop the next generation of musicians
During the city’s lockdown, porch concerts in Ditmas Park began as a way to unite artists. These events, along with new series and festivals, have transformed this quiet area into an arts hub.
For 82 days straight, a diverse group of musicians found their way to a stoop in Flatbush, and everybody followed the sax player. (It was his house.)
By conventional measures, religion took a big hit during the pandemic. Houses of worship were shuttered. But the spirit blows where it will, giving form to the void, and during extraordinary times like this one, it can give new meaning, depth, and understanding to what religion is, or could be.
Los patios de estas casas en Ditmas Park se han convertido en salones de clases para que adolescentes practiquen sus habilidades musicales durante el verano.
Over in Ditmas Park, a nightly jazz fest broke out in late March when Gabe Nathanson, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Vermont, grabbed his trumpet. His father Roy, a 69-year-old teacher and celebrated jazz musician, strapped on his saxophone, and they belted out “Amazing Grace” duet from their second-floor balcony.
During the city’s lockdown, porch concerts in Ditmas Park began as a way to unite artists. These events and new series and festivals have transformed this quiet area into an arts hub.
A Brooklyn jazz musician put together a band that played one song every day for more than two months during the coronavirus pandemic. The musicians gathered outside the home of saxophonist Roy Nathanson and performed for people in the neighborhood.