If a change of scene is what you need ‘long about this time of year, the Punta Del Este International Jazz Festival in Uruguay may be good for what ails you. Tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart has played the festival each of the past four years, and he sent JazzWax blogger Marc Myers a dispatch from the fest last week. Read Grant’s take here on a fest that featured Paquito D’Rivera, Terell Stafford, Gary Smulyan, Jesse Davis, and tributes to Clifford Brown, Gerry Mulligan, and Pepper Adams.
Stewart’s become a semi-regular at the Jazz Workshop in Northampton over the past two years. He was last there on December 18, and he’ll be in West Hartford on Saturday, February 9 to headline the 16th annual Jazz for Juvenile Diabetes benefit. Grant’s put together an all-star quintet including pianist Bill Charlap, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Phil Stewart for the occasion. The benefit is produced by Steven Sussman, the Hartford physician who’s steadily gaining renown as a photographer. His pictures of Roy Haynes and John McLaughlin have graced the cover of Downbeat in recent months, and he’s contributed several photos to this blog, including this photo of Stewart taken last February at the Cultural Center at Eagle Hill in Hardwick, Mass. Read more about the benefit here.