2007 BeanTown Hits New Highs

Festival breaks attendance record as crowds revel in a weekend of world-class jazz.

The 2007 BeanTown Jazz Festival delighted tens of thousands with a host of jazz luminaries September 27 to 29. The event kicked off Thursday with an intimate performance featuring faculty member and bass player Esperanza Spalding at the Beehive—Boston's hottest new club. Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Roy Haynes, Regina Carter, and more played to a sold-out Symphony Hall crowd Friday to establish the Joyce Alexander Wein Scholarship Fund. On Saturday the city came out in force—70,000 strong—for a free afternoon of music under the sun.

All photographs by Phil Farnsworth. Press: to inquire about photo availability and usage, please e-mail us (and see the Instructions for Photo Usage). From left, Ray Drummond, Regina Carter, Howard Alden, Joe Lovano, Lew Tabackin, and Jon Faddis perform at Symphony Hall Friday for A Celebration of Jazz and Joyce.   More than 70,000 music fans flocked to Boston's South End for Saturday's free outdoor festival.   Legend Herbie Hancock's music trancends genres, but he was all about jazz at Symphony Hall.   Claudia Acuña, a singer/songwriter/arranger from Chile, performs "Amanecer" with pianist Joey Calderazzo, a song they cowrote.   Jazz impresario George Wein extends heartfelt thanks to each of the night's performers. He created the Joyce Alexander Wein Endowed Scholarship to honor the memory of his late wife.     Composer and pianist Michel Camilo's "Caribe" fuses jazz, Latin, and classical.   Bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, also a Berklee faculty member, plays with Herbie Hancock.     Lew Tabackin, who also played flute during the show, takes a solo on tenor saxophone.   Jazz great Roy Haynes's solo ranks as one of the night's many highlights.   Trumpeter Charles Tolliver performs on stage at Saturday's BeanTown Jazz Festival.   A packed crowd enjoys the music, food, and weather.   Charles Tolliver's band plays on the Target stage.   Bloco AfroBrazil gets the crowd pumped.   Boston Mayer Thomas M. Menino; Joe Campanelli, president and CEO of Sovereign Bank; and Berklee President Roger H. Brown with a check from Sovereign, a lead sponsor of the festival.   Crowds surround one of three music stages, which featured a rotating line-up of performers.