Amani (featuring, from left, Stephen Fuller, Gordon Lane and Marty Eigen) will perform outdoors at The Morris Museum in Morris Township, June 15.
In the summer of 2020, in response to the pandemic, The Morris Museum in Morris Township began presenting outdoor, socially distanced concerts on its back deck, a parking area behind the building. It worked so well that the museum has continued to present summertime concerts there, and its fifth season, comprising two series — Lot of Strings Music Festival (chamber music) and Jazz on the Back Deck — begins this week. There will be 14 concerts in all.
Attendees bring their own chairs and are welcome to bring their own refreshments. The concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. but the deck opens at 6 p.m. for those who want to eat before the show.
Tickets are available for blocks of space that can accommodate either two people, or one. In the event of bad weather, the shows will move indoors to the museum’s Bickford Theatre.
Here is the schedule. For information and tickets, visit morrismuseum.org.
LAURA ANGLADE
Jazz on the Back Deck
June 15: Amani, featuring a tribute to Tony Bennett. Group includes Stephen Fuller (vocals), Marty Eigen (saxophone, flute and clarinet), Brandon McCune (piano), Flip Peters (guitar), Alex Gressel (bass) and Gordon Lane (drums)
June 22: “Jazz Goes to the Movies” with Don Braden (saxophone, flute), Cydney Halpin (vocals), David O’Rourke (guitar), Oscar Perez (piano), Bill Crow (bass) and Karl Latham (drums)
June 27: Antoinette Montague, featuring tap dancer A.C. Lincoln and including tributes to Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughan
July 13: Evan Sherman Big Band
Aug. 10: Laura Anglade Quartet
Aug. 17: The Fumos featuring Jack Walsh (guitar), George Wurzbach (keyboards), Tony Orbach (tenor saxophone), Paul Vercesi (alto saxophone), Kevin Bachelor (trumpet), Charlie Sands (bass) and Gary Ciuzio (drums)
Aug. 24: Vanisha Gould
Sept. 14: Mike Davis & the New Wonders
PUBLIQUARTET
Lot of Strings Music Festival
June 20: PUBLIQuartet
July 11: Telegraph Quartet. Program includes Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6; Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 2; and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105 B. 193.
July 25: Aizuri Quartet. Program includes Clara Schumann’s Die stille Lotosblume from Sechs Lieder, Op. 13 No. 6; Silvestre Revueltas’ String Quartet No. 4, “Música de Feria”; Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s String Quartet in E-flat Major; and Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor D. 810, “Death and the Maiden.”
Aug. 1: Harlem Quartet
Aug. 3: Erinys Quartet. Program includes Saariaho’s Terra Memoria; Bartok’s String Quartet No. 3, Sz.85; and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op.127.
Aug. 15: Ani Kalajian Sextet
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
