August 6th, 2025

Take in four hours of jazz, Aug. 9 at the Eustis Estate in Milton

Banner Arts & Culture Sponsored by Cruz Companies

The third annual David Chesnut Jazz Festival is a few days away. On Saturday, August 9, the four-hour festival at the Eustis Estate at 1424 Canton Avenue in Milton will showcase local and national talent for a highly eclectic afternoon and early evening of music. One would be hard pressed to find a lineup more varied.

Mark Redmond, the event organizer and founder and president of Mandorla Music, told the Banner, “The David Chesnut Jazz Festival is a high point in the ongoing presenting partnership between Mandorla Music and the Eustis Estate. This year’s lineup has a little something for everyone: the Brazilian/jazz/pop of Caio e Jess, funky organ music from the amazing Anastassiya Petrova’s trio, a new multigenerational band from avant-garde pioneer Taylor Ho Bynum and a killer quartet from tenor player Gregory Groover Jr.”

Caio e Jess is a duo made up of vocalist and composer Jessica Curran, an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music; and her husband, Brazilian guitarist Caio Afiune. Their first album, “Encontro das Aguas,” is about to be released and it aims to “uniquely blend their backgrounds in Brazilian music, pop and jazz to create organic and lush compositions.”

New York City-based Anastassiya Petrova, originally from Kazakhstan, maintains ties with Boston as an assistant professor at Berklee and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge. As an organist and pianist, Petrova moved from training in classical music to jazz improvisation. Her trio at this performance includes Mark Zaleski on alto saxophone and Austin McMahon on drums. Petrova told the Banner, “Our program features organ classics, original compositions from all three of us and music by women composers whose voices deserve greater recognition.”

Cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum told the Banner, “We’ll probably be the most ‘avant’ of the ensembles on the bill. I’m deeply interested in investigating the wider possibilities of sound and improvisation, but I do love a deep groove and a big melody, so that should all be in the mix.” 

That approach has found expression in an array of ensembles he has helped to establish over many years. His open outlook led, for example, to the Acoustic Bicycle Tour, which is described on his website as, “an ongoing performance journey where I travel solely on bicycle, presenting solo concerts and playing with ensembles of area musicians. The endeavor is an act of composition, a performance art piece, a philosophical statement, a celebration of musical community and an exercise in extreme physicality.”

Performing with him will be Noah Campbell on soprano and tenor saxophone, Bill Lowe on trombone and tuba, Magdalena Abrego on guitar, Mali Obamsawin on bass and Luther Gray on drums.  Bynum said the group will pay tribute to a mentor, the late trumpet player and composer Bill Dixon, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The festival closes out with saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr.,  assistant chair of ensemble at Berklee.  His quartet includes Jesse Taitt on piano and keyboard, Youngchae Jeong on bass and Tyson D. Jackson on drums. Groover has released three albums and a fourth is due by the year’s end. He draws on his love and knowledge of gospel and traditional jazz to create personal narrative in his music.

Festival admission is $20 for Historic New England members, $30 for nonmembers and $10 for Card to Culture holders. Doors open at 2 p.m., but the performances won’t start until 3 p.m.

The lineup of the four sets is Caio e Jess at 3-4 p.m.; Ana Petrova Organ Trio at 4-5 p.m.; Taylor Ho Bynum’s Nextette at 5-6 p.m.; and from 6-7 p.m., the Gregory Groover Jr. Quartet.

According to the event organizers, “The David Chesnut Jazz Festival is held in honor of David Chesnut, a coachman and chauffeur employed at the Eustis Estate from the 1890s until 1905. His father, David Chesnut I, also worked with the estate’s horses.”

Redmond told the Banner that the Eustis Estate is easily accessible via by public transportation but it is close to Route 128 and is about 15-20 minutes via ride share from the Ashmont MBTA Station in Dorchester.

The festival will be outdoors, rain or shine. Attendees are encouraged to dress appropriately and bring chairs or blankets for lawn seating.

David Chesnut Jazz Festival, Eustis Estate, Gregory Groover Jr.