(WEST ORANGE, NJ) -- The OSPAC Annual West Orange Jazz Festival produced by Pleasant Valley Productions will celebrate their 18th season on Saturday, September 20, 2025. The festival runs from 1:00pm to 8:00pm and will be hosted by Monifa Brown, radio host of WBGO's "Saturday Evening Jazz" and "Hard Bop Café" programs.
The festival will once again be held outdoors at OSPAC (Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center), a picturesque pavilion located at 4 Boland Drive conveniently located off I-280 exit 8B in West Orange, New Jersey. Since its inception, the festival has presented a dazzling cross-section of local and world-renowned Jazz and Blues artists. This year’s line-up aims to attract jazz enthusiasts and all-around music lovers with its star-studded line up showcasing critically heralded musicians, as well as rising stars on the international Jazz scene.
The festival is proud to open this year in collaboration with WBGO for a free Kids Jazz concert featuring vocalist Antoinette Montague. The thrilling non-stop, seven-hour line-up features percussionist Bobby Sanabria & Tres Magos, alto saxophonist Bruce Williams’ Quintet, pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton’s Trio, Matthew Whitaker’s Organ Trio, harpist Riza Printup’s Trio and The Rutgers University John Coltrane Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Anthony Branker. Attracting several hundred patrons every year, the one-day event has become a favorite destination for local music enthusiasts in West Orange and its neighboring communities.
OSPAC was established in 2001 and honors Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who miraculously and heroically saved over 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust and is the subject of Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film Schindler’s List. Larry Pantirer of Millennium Homes, donated OSPAC in memory of his father Murray was one of the many people who were rescued. Pleasant Valley Productions (“PVP”) has been the operating organization of OSPAC since 2019 and has dedicated themselves to producing quality entertainment for West Orange residents and surrounding communities. PVP is thrilled to continue the tradition of the OSPAC Jazz Festival and hopes to bring the love of jazz to the next generation of musicians.
Tickets for OSPAC Annual West Orange Jazz Festival are $10 for the seven-hour event with a special $20 VIP ticket that includes reserved VIP seating. Tickets are available for purchase online or at the gate.
Lawn chairs and blankets are suggested. The Kid’s Jazz Concert which kicks off the festival at 1:00pm is free, however, a ticket purchase is required to attend the remainder of the festival.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
* 7 hours of continuous jazz performances
* Family-friendly fun with the WBGO Kids Jazz Series
* A curated selection of food vendors
* Beer & Wine Garden for guests 21+
* Artisan booths and community showcases
MEET THE ARTISTS
ANTOINETTE MONTAGUE: A tour de force who can sing it all, vocalist Antoinette Montague has appeared on numerous Grammy and Emmy-nominated recordings and has been heralded by JazzTimes Magazine as "A genuine jazz singer… as real as they come." The Newark, New Jersey native vividly recalls borrowing records from the local library and falling in love with Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong, among others. Mentored by revered the vocalists Etta Jones and Carrie Smith, Montague has collaborated with everyone from Frank Foster, Bernard Purdie, and Bobby Sanabria to Danny Mixon and the late Mulgrew Miller. Montague recently named Jazz Journalist Hero Award, Educator of the Year by The Newark School of the Arts and performs and teaches for Jazzmobile, NY Jazz Clubs, NJPAC, Jazz in the Garden, Dorthaan’s Place, Charlie Parker Fest and international platforms. She has made it a mission to teach underserved populations including children in foster care and incarcerated adults. She is a part of the Jazz at NYC’s ACS for Jazz Power Initiative, and she is CEO of the Jazz Woman to the Rescue Foundation which encourages the donation of instruments to young people. Antoinette Montague hosts a weekly radio program on WHCR 90.3 FM called Jazz Woman to the Rescue, which is also the title of her latest recording.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY JOHN COLTRANE ENSEMBLE DIRECTED BY DR. ANTHONY BRANKER: In spring 2025, the Rutgers University Jazz Ensemble I, under interim director Dr. Anthony Branker, commemorated the 60th anniversary of John Coltrane’s landmark 1964 recording, A Love Supreme. Performing Coltrane’s music along with original compositions, the ensemble channels the spiritual expression of the icon, featuring tenorman Jeremy Leon, alto saxophonist Michael Price, pianist Jacob Hurlock, double bassist Alex Apolo Ayala-Berrios and drummer Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez.
New Jersey native, composer, arranger, and conductor Dr. Anthony Branker is a faculty member of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Prior to Rutgers, Branker was the founding director of the Princeton University Jazz Studies program where he taught for close to three decades. A Fulbright scholar, Branker is the recipient of a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant with support from the Doris Duke Foundation (2024) and a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship recipient for Music Composition (2025). His compositions have been performed by the New Wind Jazz Orchestra, Steve Nelson, Kenny Barron, and Ralph Peterson, Jr., while also conducting such luminaries as Terence Blanchard, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, and Jimmy Heath in large ensemble settings. Branker’s most recent book is Activating Voices in Jazz History: Students Broadening the Narrative (Routledge). He has recorded eleven albums as a leader with his latest being Songs My Mom Liked on Origin Records.
RIZA PRINTUP: Down Beat Magazine declares Riza Printup “should be taken seriously as one of the few major soloists on her instrument around today” while Jazzwise Magazine heralds she is“Never short of an idea.” The accomplished harpist, composer/arranger, educator, and children’s author has appeared at the Kennedy Center and Metropolitan Opera House. She has shared the stage with such diverse artists as clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pop star Lady Gaga, pianists Chick Corea and Kenny Werner and operatic soprano Kathleen Battle. Riza also frequently collaborates and records with her husband and trumpeter Marcus Printup. As an educator Printup has taught at the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, NJ, and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s WeBop program in New York. She has also curated her own early childhood and K-5 Jazz curriculum (I Have A Song Inside My Heart’s “Jazz Explorers”) which is being utilized in the United States, Canada, and Japan. The devoted educator has two children's books Theodore and Hazel and the Bird and The Great Big Spider & The Waterspout Blues. Her newest recording is Pag-Ibig Ko Vol. 1 with saxophonist Matthew Muñeses.
MATTHEW WHITAKER: Keyboard phenom and Juilliard grad Matthew Whitaker started playing music as a toddler and has been featured on The Today Show and 60 Minutes, among other programs. People Magazine declares Whitaker “is taking the world by storm” while Down Beat Magazine adds, “Whitaker has it all.” Matthew, who was born blind, made his auspicious debut at the Apollo Theater at age ten opening for Stevie Wonder’s induction in the Apollo Hall of Fame. The Hackensack native has collaborated with a who’s who list in jazz and beyond including Jon Batiste, Christian McBride, Ray Chew, Regina Carter, and Anderson Paak. Whitaker is a three-time ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award winner and has scored music for the Alvin Ailey Dance company. His latest and fourth recording as a leader is entitled On Their Shoulders: An Organ Tribute.
CHAMPIAN FULTON: Declared “a charming young steward of the mainstream jazz tradition...” by The New York Times and “an assured vocalist with a galvanizing presence” by The New Yorker, Champian Fulton has been a mainstay on the New York Jazz scene for over two decades. Fulton has released 19 albums as a leader and the in-demand chanteuse and pianist maintains a busy international touring schedule. She has performed alongside such luminaries as Lou Donaldson, Frank Wess, Buster Williams, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, among numerous others. Born into a musical family in Norman, OK, Champian Fulton moved to New York in 2003 and quickly forged a place for herself on the Jazz scene. Fulton has been a regular performer at the famed Birdland Jazz Club. In 2023, her recording Meet Me at Birdland was heralded as the “Best Vocal Album of the Year” by the NYC Jazz Record.
BRUCE WILLIAMS: Praised for his “beautiful tone” by JazzTimes Magazine, Bruce Williams is the king of groove, funk, and swing. Hailing from the nation’s capital, the alto saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator credits his older brother for igniting his love of Jazz. Williams has been mentored by some of the greatest saxophonists in American music including Frank Foster, Branford Marsalis, and Joe Ford. The Juilliard and Montclair State professor, who also works with Montclair’s Jazz House Kids, is the musical director of the acclaimed Roy Hargrove Big Band. One of the most sought-after saxophonists in Jazz, Bruce Williams maintains a busy international touring schedule. Williams has collaborated with an A-list of Jazz icons, including The Count Basie Orchestra, The World Saxophone Quartet, Little Jimmy Scott, Geri Allen, Cecil Brooks III, Buster Williams, and Jimmy McGriff, among many others. Bruce Williams has recorded five albums as a leader and his most recent recording is Private Thoughts, a powerful reflection on his father.
BOBBY SANABRIA: Nine-time Grammy-nominee as a leader and inductee into the Bronx Walk of Fame, Bobby Sanabria is a force of nature. The New York Times declares, “He can turn on a dime from a surging Bop to an infectious Cuban Songo, from delicate waltz time swing to a lively Mambo to Trinidadian Soca.” The master drummer, percussionist, educator, composer, arranger, bandleader, and film maker of Puerto Rican descent was born and raised in the South Bronx. His impressive resume includes stints with legends Mongo Santamaria, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera, Ray Barretto, Henry Threadgill, Chico O’Farrill, Randy Brecker, M’BOOM and the Father of Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mario Bauzá. Sanabria is an associate producer of, and featured interviewee in numerous award-winning documentaries including The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King and From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale. He’s a professor at the New School University and formerly the Manhattan School of Music, NYU and his alma mater, The Berklee College of Music. Sanabria is also co-artistic director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and host of The Latin Jazz Cruise on WBGO. He’s recorded over 100 albums as a sideman and his latest recording as a leader is the Grammy nominated Vox Humana featuring his Multiverse Big Band and vocalists Antoinette Montague, Janis Siegel, and Jennifer Jade Ledesna.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
1:00pm-2:00pm WBGO Kids Jazz Concert with Antoinette Montague
2:15pm-3:00 Rutgers University John Coltrane Ensemble Under Direction of Dr. Anthony Branker
3:15pm-4:00pm Riza Printup Trio
4:15pm-5:00pm Matthew Whitaker Organ Trio
5:15pm-6:00pm Champian Fulton Trio
6:15pm-7:00pm Bruce Williams Quintet
7:15pm-8:00pm Bobby Sanabria and Tres Magos
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