By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer  

Even before the Orrin Evans Trio hit The Kennett Flash stage this past Saturday night to close the fourth annual Kennett Jazz Festival, the two-day tribute to the musical genre of the cool had already done its work. 

As has become tradition, the line-up of what has been tacked on to Chester County’s music scene offered a variety of artists that kicked off on April 25 with performances by the Sharon Sable Group and the Vahe Sarkissian Group. The festival returned on April 26 with a nearly ten-hour musical marathon that began with a late morning performance by Buzz Talk, followed up with shows by the Michael Kaplan Superband featuring The Philly All-Stars; the Bacon, Lettuce and North Organ Trio; Chris Oatts’ Pretty Big Band; Jeanette Berry; the Mike Lorenz Trio; Dr. B’s Groove and a closing performance by the Orrin Evans Trio. Born in Trenton, N.J. and raised in Philadelphia, the pianist and composer has released 26 albums and is currently on a tour that will take him to New York City, Cape May, N.J. and Santa Cruz, Calif.  

“It’s difficult to bring something like this to a small town that is not necessarily going to have a built-in jazz audience,” said David Mattock, the co-organizer of the festival. “It’s about establishing a consistency and drawing new audiences who appreciate that we’re pulling something into town from somewhere else that they have never seen before, and allow it to grow on its own, kinetically. Each year, we make the festival a little more sophisticated.” 

Each year, the festival’s line-up has continued to grow in sophistication and diversity. It’s a complicated process to determine the final list of performers, Mattock said. 

“About half of the Kennett Jazz Festival Committee is made up of professional musicians, so when we do our selection process, we get 40 to 50 applications every year,” he said. “We go through them and curate it based on quality, and there are always more excellent acts than we can possibly put on a stage.  

“It becomes a selection based on balance, making sure that one act supports another one, whether it’s in contrast or if it’s because we’re looking to build up a particular type of sound over the course of a day.” 

When the festival first premiered, it was performed at several locations in the Kennett Square Borough that included the Kennett Library, the Kennett Brewing Company, the second floor of Holly Peters Oriental Rugs and the Kennett Flash. Mattock said that confining the festival to The Flash provided the audiences with being able to enjoy better sound quality. 

“When you’re presenting music that is at this level, you really want to have a lot more control over it in order to make sure that we’re giving the audience the same level of the musician’s output,” Mattock said, “and The Flash has the best sound system possible.” 

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].