Previewing the 2021 Provincetown Jazz Festival

The Provincetown Jazz Festival is always one of the year’s most anticipated events, as locals and visitors alike look forward to performances by national and international jazz musicians. The festival is entering its 17th year in 2021, and although it will look slightly different due to CoViD-19 uncertainty and precautions, it’ll still provide an excellent opportunity to check out some live music on the Cape.

It’s worth noting that none of the official Provincetown Jazz Festival performances will take place in the town of Provincetown in 2021.

However, it’s still possible to spend your vacation in Provincetown and attend these events. You could also book a vacation rental elsewhere on Cape Cod because the venues the festival is using are easily accessible.

Here’s a look at the facilities and lineups you’ll see at the 2021 Provincetown Jazz Festival, which takes place on August 2 and 16.

The Venues

This year, you’ll have to visit the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth or the Cotuit Center for the Arts if you wish to attend the Provincetown Jazz Festival. The reason is that these venues are large enough to allow for some level of social distancing during the shows.

There had been plans to hold performances at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, but the venue is too small to accommodate large crowds while keeping a safe distance between attendees.

The Crown and Anchor is another venue that often hosts performances during the Provincetown Jazz Festival, but it’s more of a nightclub environment, and there were no plans to hold events there in 2021.

The Cotuit Center For the Arts is a large campus with multiple buildings on Falmouth Road. One of the newer buildings contains a 400-seat theater that organizers will use during the Provincetown Jazz Festival. There’s plenty of on-campus parking, too, making the center simple to reach.

The Cultural Center of Cape Cod is located on Old Main Street in South Yarmouth, just over the Bass River Bridge from West Dennis. It’s easily accessible, but keep in mind that parking is limited in the surrounding area.

Who’ll Be There

On Monday, August 2, the Cultural Center of Cape Cod will host concerts by Krisanthi Pappas and the Cape Cod Jazz Quintet.

Pappas is an accomplished jazz singer who has been compared to Norah Jones and Diana Krall. She has performed with some of jazz music’s biggest names, including Branford Marsalis and Gary Burton, and has won the Billboard World Song Contest in the jazz category twice.

The Cape Cod Jazz Quintet is well-known in this area because they frequently headline events on the Cape. The band features drummer Bart Weisman, bassist Ron Ormsby, pianist Fred Boyle, trumpeter and flutist Steve Ahern, and saxist and flutist Bruce Abbot.

The performances at the Cotuit Center for the Arts will take place on Monday, August 16, and feature two performers making their Provincetown Jazz Festival debuts.

First, there’s Peter and Will Anderson, identical twins from Washington, D.C., who play clarinet and saxophone. The duo has performed at Blue Note New York and the New Orleans Jazz Festival and headlined venues like the Kennedy Center and the Lincoln Center over the years.

There will also be a concert by Leslie Boyle at the Cotuit Center for the Arts. Boyle, a prominent jazz vocalist from the Cape, will be accompanied by members of the Cape Cod Jazz Quintet as she sings songs from multiple genres in a performance that’s sure to impress.

Getting Tickets

Tickets for the 2021 Provincetown Jazz Festival are available through each venue’s website. There’s a link to both on the Provincetown Jazz Festival’s official website, as well.

For shows at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, you can also place your order by phone at 508-394-7100. The same goes for performances at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, which you can purchase at 508-428-0669.

Tickets are $30 each and include both nightly performances at the venue. A percentage of every ticket sale is donated by the Provincetown Jazz Festival to worthy local causes.

Getting Back to Normal in 2021

The Provincetown Jazz Festival usually has at least one event in Provincetown, but that wasn’t in the cards for 2021.

Still, having the opportunity to check out some live jazz music in an intimate environment should provide attendees with a sense of normalcy after a 16-month period that has been anything but typical.

If you’re planning a vacation to the Cape this summer, buying some tickets to one of these concerts is sure to provide an evening of entertainment. It also offers hope that we’re finally coming out of this pandemic and returning to normal sometime in 2021.