Lulufest Lite feat. the Peggy Stern Trio

Join us for a live taping and listening-room concert for Lulufest Lite featuring the Peggy Stern Trio!

Peggy Stern – Piano

Mercedes Solis – Bass

Masumi Jones – Drums

...with special guest Pamela Hart on Vocals!

About Lulufest:

For 12 years (2004-2015), the Ritenuto Foundation presented the Wall Street Jazz Festival, in Kingston, NY, a free outdoor festival featuring women-led bands. Since relocating to Austin, the Foundation’s CArtistic Director, Peggy Stern, has become inspired to continue the festival here, possibly in an altered form, but keeping the founding principle intact. The bands are always led by women, free to make their own choices of personnel, free to present their own unique musical concept.

LULUFEST intends to tap in to audience favorites, as well as to bring in talent from other places, hitherto unheard in this area. We will not stick to a strictly jazz formula, but all bands will include some form of improvisation. We focus on jazz, Latin, western swing, and original music. We include women who are already well-known, as well as newcomers: some of our audience have been following our artists’ careers for many years, and others will be new to the ‘scene.’

At the Wall Street Jazz Festival, the presentations were elegant and professional, creating an intimate and personal environment. In presenting Austin’s LULUFEST, we intentionally keep that hometown flavor; it works in our favor to see neighbors enjoying this world-class music up close and personal.

Men have long dominated the field of jazz - defined here as improvised American music. Travis County, as a forward-thinking community, provides the ideal forum to present this long, overdue presentation focusing on women as leaders. This is NOT a women’s music festival; to the contrary, most of the bands are generously populated with men. The principle behind the festival is simply that the women leaders and their concepts of the music are being presented here; thus, setting it apart from most other festivals in the country (and the world) at this juncture in history.

About Peggy Stern:

Peggy Stern is a Philadelphia-born pianist, composer, and arranger whose career spans jazz, Latin, R&B, and contemporary chamber music. Classically trained at the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music, Stern expanded into improvisation after moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, performing with groups including SuperCombo, Azteca, and Cat’s Cradle. She later became known for her adventurous, genre-blending approach to jazz, collaborating with artists such as Lee Konitz, Thomas Chapin, and Vic Juris.

Now based in Austin, Stern continues to perform and compose, drawing inspiration from jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Brazilian music, and classical traditions. Her acclaimed recordings include Actual Size, Room Enough, and Z Octet, works praised for their emotional depth, strong melodic sensibility, and inventive arrangements.

Please Note: This is a live-taping, so we'll be enforcing a whisper-policy! Cold bottles of still and sparkling water will be available for purchase, but this event is BYOB. Ice will be available if needed, wine keys and 9oz cups provided! Doors at 7:15pm, Show at 7:30pm.