Revived Jazz For Jennings Benefit Returns to Watermill Center June 26

By Anisah AbdullahThe benefit concert and brunch Jazz for Jennings returns for a second consecutive year, reviving the annual event after a 10-year hiatus to continue its support of the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.

The late Peter Jennings, a former ABC News anchor, held the inaugural benefit concert in 1996 with his good friend Max Roach as a way of supporting a community center in need of help. He held the concert in his home for eight years and brought in some of the greatest jazz musicians from around the world to perform.

The concerts stopped after his death in 2005, but his widow, Kayce Jennings, decided to resume the successful fundraiser last year at the Watermill Center.

“The child care center needed help,” Ms. Jennings explained. “It seemed we had an obligation and opportunity to bring it back. We have a responsibility to our community.”

As the concert continues to help the center, it is now also being held in memory of Mr. Jennings and how his compassion and commitment had kept the center alive. Many members of the Bridgehampton community are coming together to try and make this year’s event just as successful as the original concerts.

Faculty and students from the child care center will volunteer, and a select few students will perform as a way of thanking the donors for their ongoing support. Some alumni from the center will also speak at the event, Ms. Jennings said.

Event bandleader and world-class jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis said this year’s concert will feature eight musicians including Randy Brecker on trumpet, Dan Rose on guitar, Cyrus Chestnut on piano, Carl Allen on drums, Ada Rovatti on tenor sax, Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass, Steve Turre on trombone and himself. Mr. Faddis added that they arranged a smaller ensemble this year in order to create a better flowing and more intimate setting.

Ms. Jennings said jazz musicians are the most generous group of people she has ever encountered in her life. Regardless of busy schedules, they come from all over to perform at the event because they believed in Mr. Jennings and the worthy cause that he put together.

Debra McEneaney, a close friend of the Jenningses, said she and Ms. Jennings were thrilled by the success of last year’s event. Many supporters were glad the benefit returned after such a long break.

“We thought it would only be a one-time thing,” Ms. McEneaney said. “But the Watermill invited us back for another year after so much positive feedback.”

“During the sound check, people asked me, ‘You’re going to do it again, aren’t you?’” Ms. Jennings said as she recalled last year’s support from her peers. And they proved to be right.

The Watermill Center donated the venue for a second year, making Jazz for Jennings the first and only outside organization allowed to use the property. The center holds a weekly program called the Young Artists Residency Project for students from the child care center.

The child care center, serving about 150 to 200 children a year mostly from lower income African-American families and the growing local immigrant populations, used last year’s donations to partly fund a new music program and expand into cultural arts. Mr. Faddis also hosted music workshops at the center to teach the kids about the trumpet and jazz music.

“I love working with kids and I think what [the child care center is] doing is a beautiful and necessary thing,” Mr. Faddis said. “I have much respect for the teachers and people that try to get music for the kids at a young age.”

This year, Ms. Jennings said they hope to fill the tent and raise as much money as possible. They want more people to pay attention to the child care center and the local community, just as Mr. Jennings did.

Jazz for Jennings will take place on Sunday, June 26, at 12:30 p.m. at the Watermill Center. Tickets are $500 per person and can be purchased at bhccrc.org. All proceeds will benefit the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.