MUSIC
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 - 26
VARIOUS TIMES

Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
Various Locations, Harlem & Lower East Side, Manhattan

Free
https://cityparksfoundation.org/charlieparker/

An insanely good jazz festival, in honor of the insanely great Charlie Parker, that takes place toward the end of every August.  I'm a huge fan of inside/outside alto sax player Gary Bartz in all events, but I genuinely think the two star shows of this year's Festival are the ones involving him:  a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the release of the outstanding debut album by inside/outside trumpeter Charles Tolliver (another player I'm a huge fan of), on which Bartz played (and he'll play with Tolliver here -- along with that king of drummers, Jack DeJohnette!!!), in Marcus Garvey Park uptown on Friday; and a set by Bartz's current quartet in Tompkins Square Park downtown on Sunday -- especially when the opening acts on Sunday include The Bad Plus!

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  Near Marcus Garvey Park, go to the East 125th Street branch of Manna's, that wonderful steam-table soul food mini-chain, before the show -- or to the smart French wine bar, Barawine, after.  Near Tompkins Square Park, grab a hot dog or two at Crif Dogs and then see if you can sneak through the phone booth to Please Don't Tell, serving some of the very best cocktails in a City where that accolade really means something.