HOLYOKE — Hot off a win for Best Latin Jazz Album at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, pianist, composer, and band leader Luis Perdomo will be the featured guest artist at the 25th annual Holyoke Community College (HCC) Jazz Festival on March 1-2.

The two-day festival opens on Friday, March 1 with an 8 p.m. concert with Perdomo performing with the Amherst Jazz Orchestra under the direction of David Sporny on the stage of the Leslie Phillips Theater in the HCC Fine & Performing Arts building. The Friday night concert is free for HCC students, faculty, and staff, and $10 for the general public.

“Luis is a great musician, a great teacher, and a great guy,” festival organizer and HCC Music Professor Bob Ferrier said. “I know him from the Jazz in July program at UMass, where we teach together. He just won a Grammy for the number-one Latin jazz album, so that’s special. We’re very happy to have him here at HCC for our 25th-anniversary festival.”

The festival will continue on Saturday, March 2 in the Leslie Phillips Theater with jazz combo performances. Jazz clinics, workshops, and jam sessions will be held throughout the day in the HCC Recital Hall (FPA building, Room 137). Perdomo will conduct two music clinics, one at 11 a.m. and another at 1 p.m. A concluding concert will be held in the theater Saturday afternoon featuring Perdomo with HCC students and festival faculty.

In addition to his work as a performer, Perdomo is a composer, bandleader, and teacher. He began performing in his native Venezuela as a teenager and now makes his home in New York City. He is also an associate professor of Music at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

A prolific sideman, he has appeared on more than 200 records, playing with the likes of artists such as David Sanchez and David Gilmore as well as recording seven albums as a bandleader. He was a member of Ravi Coltrane’s Quartet for 10 years and is a founding member of the Miguel Zenon Quartet.

This year, Perdomo and Zenon, a Puerto Rican saxophone player, received the Grammy award for Best Latin Jazz Album for their 2023 release, El Arte del Bolero Vol. 2.

The Amherst Jazz Orchestra, led by trombonist David Sporny, has been a mainstay of the HCC Jazz Festival since the first one in 1998. The HCC Jazz Festival has been held every year except for 2020 and 2021, when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

HOLYOKE — The annual Holyoke Community College Jazz Festival returns for its 24th year on Friday, March 3, with bass player Avery Sharpe joining the Amherst Jazz Orchestra and members of the HCC jazz faculty for a big-band concert.

The show will begin at 8 p.m. in HCC’s Leslie Phillips Theater in the Fine & Performing Arts building on the main HCC campus, 303 Homestead Ave. The concert is free for HCC students, faculty, and staff, and $10 for the general public.

In addition to his work as a performer, Sharpe is a prolific composer, as well as a music educator and founder of the artist-owned record label JKNM Records. Sharpe’s most recent album was 400 in 2019. Released on JKNM, the album marked the 400th year since Africans were brought to U.S. shores in 1619.

“We’re very excited to welcome Avery Sharpe to HCC this year as guest artist for our annual jazz festival,” festival organizer and HCC Music Professor Bob Ferrier said. “He’s not only a great musician, but also a great teacher and a great human being.”

The Amherst Jazz Orchestra, led by trombonist David Sporny, has been a mainstay of the HCC Jazz Festival since the first one in 1998. This year’s concert will feature Sharpe performing with Amherst Jazz Orchestra and members of the HCC jazz faculty: Geoff Cunningham (on trumpet), Pete Grimaldi (on trumpet), and Robert Ferrier (on guitar).

HOLYOKE — After being canceled the last two years, the annual Holyoke Community College Jazz Festival returns for 2022 with a big-band concert on Friday, March 11, featuring the Amherst Jazz Orchestra along with members of the HCC jazz faculty.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in HCC’s Leslie Phillips Theater in the Fine & Performing Arts building on the main HCC campus, 303 Homestead Ave.

The HCC Jazz Festival was last held in March 2019 with Grammy-winning saxophonist Paul Winter as the guest artist for the two-day event. Jazz Festivals in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Amherst Jazz Orchestra, led by trombonist David Sporny, has been a mainstay of every HCC Jazz Festival since the first in 1998. Traditionally, the festival opens with the concert on Friday night with a special guest artist playing with the orchestra, followed by jazz workshops with area high-school musicians and a closing concert on Saturday afternoon.

This year’s concert will be a one-day event with the Amherst Jazz Orchestra as the headliner and spotlighting members of the HCC jazz faculty: Ted Levine (saxophone), Geoff Cunningham (trumpet), Pete Grimaldi (trumpet), and Robert Ferrier (guitar).

“It’s been a long two years, and while we won’t be having our usual guest artist, student performances, and clinics, we will be having a big-band concert with the Amherst Jazz Orchestra that will feature some of our HCC faculty,” said Ferrier, the Jazz Festival co-founder and organizer. “It’ll be great to be back on stage again, even if it’s only for one night. Hopefully we’ll be back to our traditional two-day event next year.”

The concert is free for HCC students, faculty, and staff, and $10 for the general public. Call (413) 552-2485 for more information.