Northampton Jazz Hero
Sustaining a healthy jazz scene in a small city is no easy feat, but Paul Arslanian has helped turn Northampton into Western Massachusetts’ swing central. For the past 16 years the pianist and composer has led the Northampton Jazz Workshop, a year-round organization that brings leading jazz musicians from New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia to Northampton every week to perform with the Green Street Trio. Performances are followed by Arslanian-curated jam sessions featuring students, professors, teachers, and other local jazz musicians.
A native of Western Mass, Arslanian got his start in music via his parents’ love of music and jazz. A natural-born percussionist, he became a jazz pianist in his teens and studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. His gift for composing and love of rhythm led him to composing for film, tap and modern dance while living in the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. He also honed his jazz chops playing alongside jazz greats at the San Francisco jazz jams he regularly attended. He brought that jazz jam teaching tradition to Northampton when he started the Northampton Jazz Workshop in 2010.
Arslanian has also been providing creative direction for the Northampton Jazz Festival since 2013, expanding the event’s reputation for presenting consistently great live jazz. He’s sought out hundreds of local, youth, college, and regional musicians to perform at the festival, alongside world-renowned jazz artists. And he’s served as a mentor to younger, newer producers at the Jazz Festival to guide them in how to fulfill this role effectively.
In 2018, as executive producer of the Northampton Jazz Festival, Arslanian founded the Jazz Artists in the Schools program in Northampton’s public middle and high schools. Each semester, he collaborates with the school band directors to bring in working jazz musicians for workshops and clinics with students. Funded through donations, it’s an invaluable program that exposes young jazz musicians to professionals, allowing them to experience and play at a level not afforded in the normal classroom environment. Arslanian works closely with the band directors to select artists who will support and complement specific areas that need work.
All of these contributions make Arslanian a 2026 Jazz Hero who has built and sustained the jazz scene in Western Massachusetts.
—Ruth Griggs, 2025 Northampton Jazz Hero
