CAPE MAY – From May 28 through May 30, over 100 world-class musicians will descend upon Cape May venues to play the Exit Zero International Jazz Festival. And, for the third year running, Cape May Brewing Company is the event’s exclusive beer sponsor.
“Why am I excited about this partnership?” asks festival founder/producer Michael Kline. “How many reasons do you want? We pride ourselves on accentuating what Cape May and South Jersey do best, so this is an ideal collaboration. And the music happening on the Cape May Brewery stage [at Cabanas Beach Bar and Grill] is going to blow the roof off. It’s a really great fit for the brewery.”
A great fit, Kline explains, because the performers scheduled here are “explosive.” Take, for instance, the jazz/funk fusion group The Rebirth Brass Band, hitting the CMBC stage on May 29th at both 10 and 11:59pm.
“To me, this is the greatest party band in the world, but I’m not the only one who thinks it,” Kline says. “Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers tweets about it all the time, saying these guys are the best band he’s ever seen live.”
But it’s not just this spot that will be white hot — six-time Grammy winner Dr John and 11-year-old piano prodigy Joey Alexander will headline at Convention Hall. And at outdoor venues throughout the area – the lawn of the historic Emlen Physick Estate, the pier of the Lobster House restaurant, and on a 400-person pavilion at Diamond Beach that will host two Havana-inspired evenings – the riffs will be hot and the CMBC brews will be ice cold.
“I don’t want to generalize, but craft beer and this type of music do tend to go hand in hand,” says Kline. “Neither are the kind of thing you can get just anywhere; you have to work a little bit harder to seek them out. Both are for people who want something just a little bit above the norm… they’re for people who want something better.”
For more information on ticketing and pricing, check out exit0jazzfest.com. And for more info on cool happenings/collaborations at the brewery, visit capemaybrewery.com.