July 15, 2025
By Michelle Madden
“Jazz is fundamentally improvisational. When you see musicians performing these unpredictable, complex harmonies, it’s magic. It’s incredible that humans can do this,” says Vita West Muir, the visionary founder and executive/artistic director of Litchfield Performing Arts—the organization that runs the jazz camp and jazz festival (celebrating its 30th anniversary this summer).
Muir and her late husband, Arthur Muir, came to Litchfield in 1976. They bought a Colonial on North Street with a living room that could hold a hundred, and began hosting classical concerts. “Our home was always a hotel for visiting artists,” says Muir. They ran the series until the audience began to die—literally. So they pivoted to jazz to attract a younger audience.
The festival was, until 2018, held outdoors—most recently at the Goshen Fairgrounds (where Art was known to jump in and mow the lawn). It eventually swelled to a peak of 9,000 guests. “We had to tell people to stop bringing marshmallows. They would light them and throw them,” says Muir.
With age, the event has mellowed and—with no risk of projectiles—it is now held at the Tisch Family Auditorium at The Frederick Gunn School. This year, the Emmet Cohen Trio will open. In 2019 the American Pianist Association crowned Cohen with their top award.
Matt Dwonszyk—one of the fastest-rising, most in-demand bassists alive—and his sextet will follow. The guitar duo of Pasquale Grasso and Frank Vignola will also grace the mainstage. Grasso first performed at the festival in 2022 with Samara Joy (who at the age of 25 had already collected five Grammys). The legend Pat Metheny is quoted as saying of Grasso, “The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life.” Grasso and Vignola have residencies at the jazz clubs Mezzrow and Birdland Theater in New York City, respectively. Saturday will close with the world-class clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen.
Past icons have included Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck (the father of “cool jazz”), Roy Haynes (one of the most recorded drummers in jazz), Wayne Shorter (who teamed up with Miles Davis), and newcomers like the nine-time Grammy winner Christian McBride. Diana Krall performed twice in the late 1990s. “Two years later she was playing with Tony Bennett and we couldn’t afford her,” laughs Muir.
While known for the festival, the soul of the organization—and closely integrated with it—is the jazz camp, one of the most respected in the country. Ensembles perform in the tent on opening night; once their careers take off, the young musicians often land on the festival stage—and the Grammy stage. Nicole Zuraitis attended camp as a trombonist, and has performed multiple times at the festival; she has been nominated three times, and won in 2024. Zaccai Curtis, a pianist and composer, came to the camp when he was 13. He has performed at the festival several times and won Best Latin Jazz Album this year.
So, come. Take a seat. Open your mind—and witness magic. (The festival runs July 25-27.)—litchfieldjazzfest.com
