AJ Jump sees jazz as nothing less than foundational.
"It is one of the pillars of music," said Jump, a musician and committee chair for the 2026 Wilkes-Barre Cavalcade of Jazz.
On Friday, the three-day festival will kick off by honoring a man organizers see as vital to supporting that pillar in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Longtime broadcaster George Graham will receive Cavalcade’s inaugural Champion of Jazz Award "for his extraordinary contributions to jazz broadcasting, recording, and promotion over more than five decades at WVIA Radio."
"He has been one of the greatest champions of jazz in this area, let alone the United States," Jump said of Graham, who retired in January after a half-century with WVIA.
"Over the years he has hosted countless amount of incredible jazz musicians, you know, whether they were live in the studio or he would just interview them," Jump said. "George has definitely always been at the forefront of what was going on in the world of jazz."
The opening ceremony, set for 5 p.m. Friday at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Public Square, is free. It will feature a performance by the Indigo Moon Brass Band, a New Orleans-style second line jazz and funk group of which Jump is a member.
"I've been a drummer for coming up on 30 years of my life," said Jump, 42.
Events will include Wolfpack Jazz
All events are free except for Saturday evening's concert by the Bill Frisell Trio at the Kirby Center, with tickets available at this link.
FULL EVENT SCHEDULE
Information on the events and groups scheduled to perform at the 2026 Wilkes-Barre Cavalcade of Jazz can be found here.
Among the acts this year will be Wolf Pack Jazz, the Wilkes-Barre Area Creative and Performing Arts Academy student ensemble.
"It's a really great chance to basically put a spotlight on that program and the youth within jazz music in the area," Jump said.
Other scheduled acts include Neil Nicastro, Jimmy Gee’s Band, Son De Tres Trio, and more.
After Frisell takes the stage at the Kirby Center the music will continue with The Funk Afterparty, a free gathering at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Rodano’s on Public Square.
Performing for the afterparty: Mike Dougherty, Justin Mazer, Nick Driscoll, Mark Kiesinger — and, again, Jump.
"We play all funk music every year on Parade Day in Scranton, so this was kind of an opportunity to sort of give the listener something adjacent to jazz ... sort of a funky thing, as opposed to just straight jazz, but very much a brother or first cousin of jazz," Jump said.
'This is a good region for jazz festivals'
The festival is a 2020s revival of a landmark jazz concert staged in downtown Wilkes-Barre 75 years ago.
The Cavalcade of Dixieland Jazz Concert was a seven-hour event held at the Hotels Redington and Hart in February 1951. The concert attracted 800 people, according to contemporary newspaper reports.
Today, jazz festivals have become popular fixtures in communities around the world, large and small.
Northeast Pennsylvania and surrounding areas are no exception, Graham said, noting the popularity of festivals in Scranton, Delaware Water Gap and Reading.
"This is a good region for jazz festivals," Graham said. "I think jazz fans now have more opportunities to appreciate the music in different venues."
"A lot of middle-sized cities are doing jazz festivals, but this has a good history behind it," he said of Wilkes-Barre.
Jump said the event draws guests from around the region and beyond.
"I mean, every year it just keeps growing. the first year out of the gate was tremendous, and then last year we were seeing folks coming from places like Maryland or New York State and staying the whole weekend," he said. "We're just looking to have another great year."
