Free outdoor jazz at MOCA - Miami on the Cheap

MOCA remains closed, we will update this post when the museum reopens and Jazz at MOCA returns.

The last Friday of the month brings a free concert and free admission at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 NE 125 St., North Miami.

The museum is open by donation from 7 to 10 pm during this event. (Admission is always free for children under 12, North Miami residents and city employees.) Plus, there is plenty of free parking. The music starts at 8 pm.

The MOCA galleries are open by donation until 10 pm so concertgoers can enjoy the current exhibitions.

March 27: Jacques Schwarz-Bart and Jazz with an Attitude

Jacques Schwarz-Bart grew up in Guadeloupe where he learned how to play the Gwo ka drum as a child. He was coached by Anzala, one of the top percussionists in Guadeloupe and learned the biguine style of music. At age six, while living in Switzerland, Schwarz-Bart discovered jazz music and taught himself how to play the guitar by playing along with jazz records.

Schwarz-Bart’s impressionistic writing, powerful tone, and wide-ranging language – both lyrical and angular – have fueled a growing presence in the jazz scene. Schwarz-Bart has been at the center of several musical revolutions including neo soul and New Jazz as a founding member of Roy Hargrove RH Factor. He created two new styles of jazz music including Gwo ka Jazz and Voodoo Jazz, reuniting jazz music with its Afro-Caribbean and spiritual origins.

Schwarz-Bart has played alongside luminaries including Roy Hargrove, Danilo Perez, Ari Hoenig, Meshell n’Degeocello, Chucho Valde, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Eric Benet, James Hurt, and David Gilmore. In 2005, Schwarz-Bart began the Gwo ka Jazz Project which included musicians Admiral T and Jacob Desvarieux of Kassav’ and created the albums, Soné Ka La and Abyss. In 2010, he released Rise Above which is a collaboration with his wife singer Stephanie McKay.

Jazz with an Attitude ( JWA) is a visionary trio that conjures the best of urban music and jazz. Jacques Schwarz-Bart formed a band with two of his star students at Berklee College of Music, keyboardist Ron Cha and drummer Isaiah Weatherspoon.

Find more free and cheap music events and concerts this week: