Peggy Stern has spent the past couple of decades producing Lulu Fest (or its predecessor, the Wall Street Jazz Festival), an annual music festival with two guiding principles: the celebration of female bandleaders and the idea that the term 鈥榡azz鈥� encompasses all improvised American music.
鈥淭his [fest] I would call jazz, yes,鈥� Stern says. 鈥淎nd you know, I've always been a little bit leery of saying that jazz word because it's like, you know, Austin is taking its time growing into it. But it seems like the time is now. And to me jazz is improvised American music. Period. So if there's improvisation 鈥� and it doesn't matter whether it started as Brazilian music or a Brazilian tune 鈥� if there's improvising in it, it becomes jazz. The same thing for Western swing music or for bebop.鈥�
The core mission of Lulu Fest remains the same, but the festival itself changes a bit from year to year. 鈥淔irst of all,鈥� Stern says, 鈥渨e're changing venues. We're going to the first Universalist Unitarian Church over on Grover, and I've wanted to do it there for years, but this is the year that it finally worked out. They have two beautiful pianos there 鈥� they have a Mason & Hamlin and a Steinway, both grands, both beautifully kept pianos. So I decided that this is the year to do some two-piano work. So鈥� that's the opening set on Friday night, with Emily Gimble and myself and Dena DeRose, who is coming from Austria. The second and final act, the headlining act if you will, on Friday night is Carolyn Trowbridge and her quintet. She's an excellent musician.鈥�
DeRose will appear again on night two (鈥測ou know, doing her actual set where she sings and plays piano at the same time,鈥� Stern says), and then the two-night fest will close with Ada Rovatti. 鈥淚t's very beautiful, exciting music,鈥� Stern says. 鈥淚'm really excited about that set. [Also], it turns out I'm the pianist 鈥� side man, side person 鈥� in Ada Rovatti鈥檚 set and we're playing all her music and it's very tricky. I have to study it, which has been really fun, [I鈥檓] really enjoying it. And it's gonna actually involve electric piano and acoustic piano at the same time so I'm working on it. This music really calls for electric piano in a lot of places and the combination of acoustic piano and electric piano together is really crunchy. I love it.鈥�
