The Labor of Musical Love

By Eva D. Coleman
Lifestyle & Culture Editor

Sherri Shepherd and Curtis King
on stage at TBAAL Riverfront Jazz
Festival Sept. 3, 2023

Labor Day weekend at The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) was filled with legendary, top notch and upcoming talent in Jazz and R&B. The sixth installment of the Riverfront Jazz Festival delighted music goers as they hurried from a performance on one stage to the different location of the next, featuring many favorites.

Stephanie Mills was the Friday night headliner. Mills sang classics from the arena stage that often had the audience singing along. Her energy was contagious and other notables were in the crowd to take it all in. Don’t Stop the Music! Cavin Yarbrough and Alisa Peoples of Yarbrough and Peoples, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) member Greg Dunmore, of Pulse Beat from Detroit, were out Friday night as well.

Stephanie Mills performs at TBAAL
Riverfront Jazz Festival in
Dallas, TX Sept. 1, 2023

Day two of the Riverfront Jazz Festival continued with performances from classic jazz artists Najee, Marcus Miller, Michael Franks and more. R&B artists Kevin Ross and Lalah Hathaway graced the stages as well, with Musiq Soulchild closing out the night. The Promising Young Artists lineup was a separate stage filled with many who will surely have main stage performances in their futures.

The third and final night of TBAAL’s Riverfront Jazz Festival was C-O-O-L! That spells “cool.” Morris Day and The Time closed it out and shut it down! Their set also included an emotional video tribute to Prince. Earlier acts featured performances from Gerald Albright, Stanley Clarke, members of the Laws family with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and more. Comedian and talk show host Sherri Shepherd and Texas State Senator Royce West and family were also in attendance.

With Texas Metro News having covered this jazz festival since its inception, this annual reunion of music, fans and friends keeps getting bigger and better. Stay tuned for 2024.