Jazz fest benefits from impresario/organizer

Bill Knight column for Thurs., Fri. or Sat., Aug. 9, 10 or 11, 2018

Nate Lawrence blends the best of a dreamy philosopher and a pragmatic organizer. An impresario who presents often-ethereal music that seems to reach for infinity, he’s also a practical producer who makes tangible inroads toward the culture’s roots.

His upcoming effort, the free 2018 Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival, is August 17-18-19 mostly at Rock Island’s Martin Luther King Park blocks from the Mississippi River. It will feature jazz acts plus poets, dancers, inspirational speakers, Christian rappers, and even Miss Iowa, Mikhayla Hughes-Shaw. Renamed to honor the late Bill Bell, the East Moline jazz keyboardist and educator who toured with Carmen MacRae and Duke Ellington, the festival attracts an audience that’s about two-thirds area residents and the rest transplanted natives and Midwest jazz fans.

It grew out of Lawrence’s monthly Third Sunday Jazz Series at the not-for-profit River Music Experience in Davenport, which in its 13-year history has missed just two shows, once for a surgery Lawrence needed, and once when a headliner needed an operation.

“We had been looking at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, held annually since 1970, as a model which would allow us to create a sustainable event that celebrated the historically industrial and agrarian nature of the Quad Cities,” Lawrence says. “Just as important, we want to celebrate the legacy of our grandparents who worked in those plants or fields and took pride in their contribution to the success, health and history of our portion of the Mississippi River.”

Lawrence’s appreciation of, and devotion to, jazz stems from family.

“My uncle was a jazz historian and business partner to Ed Thigpen of the Oscar Peterson Trio, which allowed me to hang out with many legendary musicians and appreciate their passion, craftsmanship and cultural responsibility,” says Lawrence, director of Polyrhythms, the Third Sunday promotion outfit that reminds people that it’s “a grass roots, non-profit group of community and cultural-arts advocates dedicated to making our community better.” Its mission statement is “to provide exposure to the arts, and the opportunity to build on the imagination, inner-strength and cultural residues, history and resources of the community by fostering understanding and pride through observing, learning and performing music, dance, creative writing, storytelling and visual arts.”

Supported by contributors including the Regional Development Authority, Quad City Arts, Wells Fargo, the Austin Family Charitable Fund, and the Goldstein Family Foundation, Polyrhythms’ fest in 2005 merged with the Quad Cities Jazz Festival (which started as the Louis Bellson Festival, named for the acclaimed drummer who grew up in Moline and Peoria).

The schedule: Friday opens at 5 p.m. with the Metropolitan Youth Program’s drill team and features Galesburg’s Curtis Hawkins Band’s mix of jazz, R&B and Latin music at 7:15 and Moline’s eight-piece George Rankin and the Cats at 8:45 with their rock ‘n’ soul. Saturday’s activities start at noon with the Teranga House African Drum Circle and continues with music from a septet assembled by Quad City native and veteran trumpet player Manny Lopez (who’s performed with the Temptations, Ray Charles and Manhattan Transfer, among others) at 5, the women vocalists BEEs at 5:30, Quad Cities “all-stars” Funktastic Five at 6:45, and sultry vocalist Alysha Monique at 8:45. Moving to RME’s Redstone Room in Davenport at 3 Sunday afternoon, the fest concludes with the Songbird Jazz Quartet playing “vocal standards meet back-alley jazz” at 3:30, James Culver Kuching Jazz and its combination of Caribbean-style energy and African American R&B at 4:30, and recording artist Frank Russell (who just finished his third CD, “Influences”) at 6.

“We began with a five-year plan to build a festival that allowed us to celebrate the contribution of our grandparents (not the captains of industry, but the workers) who helped this area succeed and become an agricultural and manufacturing giant regionally, nationally and internationally,” Lawrence says. “We have grown as organizers and, like the musicians we bring in, we look for younger ones to take part and take our place. This summer we have an intern from Rock Island who recently graduated from Western Illinois University, and we are all more optimistic for the future of our mission. Participation and optimism are two of our strong suits.”

He sounds assured and also wistful in the days before the fest.

“Here we are at year five, humble yet confident that we have invested a lot of time and more money than we anticipated in an event we consider more than worth the investment,” says Lawrence, who launched WIU’s Black Students Association while a student there in the ’60s. “Self-worth, pride, families and participation are powerful motivators for growth and absolutely necessary for healthy communities to exist.”

For details, go to Polyrhythms Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival Facebook page or phone (309) 373-0790.