Sundays in Harbor Island Park With Local Musicians

It’s always nice to hang out in Harbor Island, but it’s even better when there’s free music from top-flight local performers.

Last night, the Steph Chinn Jazz Collective, a pick up group of great musicians, kicked off the Village of Mamaroneck (VOM) Council of the Arts Sundays in the Park With the Arts concert series and kept the crowd of 100 bopping.

“This is the best jazz group I’ve heard in a while,” said Frances Lisa, who attended with her friend, Lucille Novotny. “Then again, any outdoor music is great.”

The line-up features festive Latin music with Edgar & Friends on August 14, Billy Reed & the Street People on the 21st and River City Slim & the Zydeco Hogs on the 28th at 7 p.m.

Arts council member and author of Grand Central Winter Lee Stringer praised the series’ concerts as a reflection of the village’s diversity.

“Our mission is to promote local artists and when it came time to find musicians for the series, we were sitting around asking ‘who do we know around here?’ and a bunch of names started coming up,” said Phyllis Gutterman, chair of the arts council.

The council plans an upcoming art exhibit at the Mamaroneck Library, a poetry drive at the Emelin Theatre and the Word of Mouth show on LMCTV, which involves interesting discussion about an inspiring book. They may seek to hold a jazz festival. Another goal is to develop a base listing of all local artists and support them, Gutterman said.

Chinn, a trumpet player, teaches music at the Mamaroneck Avenue School. He traded riffs with saxophonist Jim Mullen, who teaches at the Hommocks School. “I heard that they were looking for local musicians and my name came up as part of the conversation,” said Chinn. “It’s an honor to be here.”

He opened with an inspired solo version of “The Star Spangled Banner,” which stuck to the melody but added several bluesy flourishes when appropriate. The congas launched into a Latin-flavored jam that transformed into the Miles Davis number “So What.”

Attendees bobbed their heads and placed their blankets and chairs noticeably far apart from each other, forming a large radius in front of the band shell that reached back to the lighting poles.

After he got the audience warmed up, Chinn couldn’t resist putting on his teacher hat and explained how to follow along with the journey established by each song and to listen for how every soloist explores different nuances of the overall theme.

“Just as people know that at classical concerts you don’t clap between movements and you also don’t wear a suit and tie to a heavy metal concert, there are things going on in jazz and the audience is part of the performance,” he said. “We feed off your energy.”