Jazzman Gary Motley to jam with saxophonist David Sánchez at Emory Jazz Fest

Grammy-winning sax player David Sánchez will headline this year’s Emory Jazz Fest, and the event’s founder and director Gary Motley is, well, pretty jazzed about it.

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The Emory Jazz Fest turns 22 this week, but, hearing its founder and director, Gary Motley, talk with such energy about the music fest, you’d never guess he’s been doing this more than two decades.

“There are major league, talented musicians who are from here or based here,” said Motley, a seasoned solo jazz pianist as well as an educator at Emory, a composer and big band leader. He started at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts when it first opened in 2003 and became the founding director of jazz studies at Emory the following year. “While we don’t have a lot of venues like we used to have, the quality of the musicianship is very strong. And the prospect of who our next visiting artist will be continues to be exciting,” he says.

Motley has good reason to be excited. This year, the festival‘s headliner is Grammy-winning Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sánchez. Reflecting his Caribbean roots, Sánchez’s playing is as lively as it is varied, showcasing his equal love of mainstream jazz and Latin music, stretching the boundaries of both while boldly blending them. Throw in some Pan-African polyrhythms — all while he’s leading the band — mellowed by a kind of transatlantic fusion vibe — mixing bass with bongos with xylophone — and you have one complex sound coming to the Schwartz Center February 13 through February 15.

“I’ve known for David for several years,” said Motley. “We haven’t played together in a while, and this is the first time we’re doing a full concert together.” The last time the Grammy-winner graced the halls of Emory was 10 years ago while doing a master class as a guest with Motley’s big band.

Sánchez will be the headliner for the 2025 festival, which opens February 13 with the sax virtuoso leading a lecture/demonstration, free and open to the public. Motley says that non-musicians are encouraged to attend and ask questions. This will be followed by a Friday night performance with Sánchez and the Gary Motley Trio, featuring Leon Anderson on drums and Kaleb Thompkins on bass (the first time all four musicians have played together). The jazz show’s last day on Saturday will offer a free morning jazz clinic before going out with a bang that night with Motley, Anderson, Thompkins and the Emory Big Band. Except for the Friday night performance, all shows and classes are free.

An educational and interactive-lite experience is central to what makes the Emory Jazz Fest different from other music fests. It was something Motley insisted upon when he created it. “One of the conditions that I asked for with musicians that I brought to Emory was that they prevail themselves to at least give a master class,” he said. “We often talk about the future of music and how we pass it on, and this is a really important component.”

Motley is encouraging people to bring their instruments to the Saturday morning music clinic, which, he hints, could become an impromptu jam session. As for what’s on the program, Motley gives a little shrug that suggests: It’s jazz; who knows?

“Without giving too much away, fasten your seat belts,” he said. “David is a very creative and imaginative player. We all come from very different musical backgrounds, and it’ll be a very unique experience to watch four musicians get to know each other on stage. It will definitely be fresh.”

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Jeff Dingler is an Atlanta-based author and entertainer. A graduate of Skidmore College with an MFA in creative writing from Hollins University, he’s written for New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Tiny Love, Newsweek, WIRED, Salmagundi and Flash Fiction Magazine. More information at jeffdingler.org.