DC Jazz Festival Announces 2015 Headliners

The DC Jazz Festival announced some of this year’s headliners, a diverse selection of renowned and emerging artists performing in venues across the nation’s capital, June 10-16. Locally, nationally and internationally acclaimed artists confirmed for the 2015 DCJF include multiple award winner Common, several Grammy winners and nominees including Esperanza Spalding, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, Snarky Puppy, the acoustic jazz supergroup The Cookers (2014 iTunes Jazz Album of The Year designees), Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, and NEA Jazz Master Paquito D’Rivera, among numerous other outstanding artists (with more to come).

The DC Jazz Festival is dedicated to showcasing the wealth of great artists based in our community. This year’s festival will feature popular local artists including saxophonist Marshall Keys and the swinging, honeyed vocal tones of Sharón Clark.

“We are delighted to dive into our second decade presenting a lineup that will ensure we continue to attract jazz lovers from around the world to enjoy our nation’s original art form in D.C.,” said Sunny Sumter, Executive Director of the DC Jazz Festival. “The Festival helps shine a light on our mission, which has always been to celebrate jazz in our nation’s capital, promote music integration in school curricula and to expand and diversify the audience of jazz enthusiasts across the globe.”

As the largest and most diverse music festival in the nation’s capital, the DCJF reaches more than 60,000 visitors of all ages each year.

“This remarkable array of talent – with much more to come - exemplifies the broad range of modern music expressions of the jazz esthetic and beyond,” said DCJF Artistic Director Willard Jenkins.

The Festival’s outdoor showcase at The Yards Park on the Anacostia River returns for the third straight year, by popular demand. Dubbed “DC Jazz Festival and Events DC Present: Jazz at The Yards,” the event features a weekend of cool music, jazz extensions, and first-class performers in a gorgeous setting.

Also returning for another year is Jazz at the Hamilton Live, presented by the DC Jazz Festival and The Washington Post. “The Post is proud to continue to present Jazz at the Hamilton Live DC and help bring jazz legends and award winning artists to downtown D.C.,” said Steve Hills, President and General Manager for The Washington Post. “The mix of timeless classics and rising stars creates an eclectic series for jazz lovers of all kinds.”

2015 Festival highlights and primary venues include:

The DC Jazz Festival and The Washington Post Present Jazz at The Hamilton Live (June 10-16), features seven nights of exciting, eclectic performances. Performers include such acclaimed artists as NEA Jazz MasterPaquito D’Rivera, Grammy Award winning band Snarky Puppy; the prolific guitarist, composer and bandleader Charlie Hunter; multi-genre drummer Stanton Moore, the amazing Columbian harpist Edmar Castaneda, and virtuoso saxophonist Joshua Redman in a unique partnership with the genre-bending trio The Bad Plus, recently voted #2 Best Jazz Group in the esteemed 62nd annual DownBeat magazine Critic’s Poll.

DC Jazz Festival and Events DC Present: Jazz at The Yards (June 12 & 13), is an exclusive blowout where fans can enjoy jazz at the beautiful urban, green, innovative Capitol Riverfront at The Yards overlooking the Anacostia River; wine and beer tastings; chef demonstrations; and a marketplace. The event features such vital artists as Grammy Award-winning hip-hop legend Common, who took home a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Academy Award as co-writer in the Best Original Song category, for “Glory,” from the film Selma, and whose beyond category artistry has collaborated with jazz artists ranging from Roy Hargrove to Robert Glasper, as well as R&B titan John Legend and Femi Kuti; jazz bassist, bassist-vocalist Esperanza Spalding, the first jazz artist to ever win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist (2011); Nigerian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Femi Kuti,(son of Afrobeat legend & Broadway show subject FELA Kuti); and beyond jazz & jam saxophonist, flutist and vocalist Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (KDTU), who’ve toured most recently with The Rolling Stones.

Jazz in the ‘Hoods presented by Events DC (June 10-16), features more than 45 clubs, restaurants, museums, libraries, loft spaces, and hotels across the District. This includes the CapitalBop D.C. Jazz Loft Series featuring innovative, boundary-breaking and beyond-jazz artists, and the East River JazzFest featuring half a dozen “Celebrating Stayhorn!” performances honoring the 100th anniversary of composer William “Billy” Strayhorn. Jazz in the ‘Hoods performances will also be held at Bohemian Caverns, Twins Jazz, Gallery O/H, National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, THEARC, Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Japanese Information and Culture Center, and other venues across DC.

Jazz ‘n Families Fun Days (Prelude Event, June 6-7), in partnership with The Phillips Collection, celebrates the synergy between jazz and the visual arts with performances in The Phillips Collection’s Music Room and auditorium by more than a dozen regional artists and rising star ensembles. The two-day free family-event will feature storytelling, unique meet-the-artist opportunities, an instrument petting zoo, art workshops, a jazz passport scavenger hunt, and more!

More Information: http://dcjazzfest.org

from http://www.jazzcorner.com

Edited by snobb - 29 Jan 2015 at 2:56pm