LaBamba, the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, and Louis Prima, Jr. are among the names scheduled to take the stage this year.
MORRISTOWN, NJ — A rainy forecast put a damper on the 2023 Morristown Jazz and Blues Festival, and this year’s lineup includes a few names who didn’t get to perform last September.
This year, the annual festival will again be a one-day event: Saturday, Sept. 14, from noon until 10 p.m. on the Morristown Green.
This year’s performers include Louis Prima Jr. and The Witnesses, hot jazz band The Hot Sardines, blues singer and guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor, Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg and his 18-piece Rock’n R&B Big Band, and the U.S. Navy’s premier jazz ensemble, the Commodores. The festival was split into two days last year, with Prima, The Hot Sardines, and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores set to perform on the date that was canceled. The festival will also pay tribute to festival founders Linda Smith and Michael Fabrizio, who both died in 2021. Since its inception in 2011, the Morristown Jazz and Blues Festival has grown to be an end-of-summer favorite, drawing top-tier musicians and thousands of fans to the area and bringing patrons in to local restaurants, hotels, and shops.
Here is this year’s lineup:
- 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. – The Hot Sardines
- 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. – The U.S. Navy Band Commodores
- 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – LaBamba‘s Rock’n R&B Big Band
- 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. – Louis Prima Jr. and The Witnesses
- 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – Joanne Shaw Taylor