Oct 28, 2025 10:47 AM
In Memoriam: Jack DeJohnette, 1942–2025
Jack DeJohnette, a bold and resourceful drummer and NEA Jazz Master who forged a unique vocabulary on the kit over his…
Now in its 12th year, Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead—the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts national jazz residency program for emerging artists—includes two weeks of intense training in performance, composing, and arranging led by saxophonist Nathan Davis (residency director), bassists Chip Jackson and Michael Bowie, trombonist Curtis Fuller, drummer Winard Harper, pianist George Cables, and vocalist Carmen Lundy. The 2009 graduates will perform three free concerts, culminating events for the Jazz Ahead program, on the Millennium Stage Wednesday, April 1, Thursday, April 2, and Friday, April 3 at 6 p.m. The three Kennedy Center performances will be broadcast live on the Internet at kennedy-center.org/millennium.
Dr. Billy Taylor, Artistic Director for Jazz at the Kennedy Center, invited the late, great jazz singer Betty Carter to bring her Jazz Ahead program to the Center in 1998. Twenty-nine young artists were selected for the twelfth annual residency by audition application that considered both composition and performance skills. The panel of judges included jazz artists Nathan Davis, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, and Curtis Fuller. 2009’s group of participants includes emerging musicians from across the U.S., Australia, and Israel.
Participants include:
Trumpeters: Matthew Jodrell, Wayne Tucker
Trombonists: James Burton III, Melissa Jean
Saxophonists: Caleb Curtis, Steve Lambert, Peter Reardon-Anderson, Will Reardon-Anderson
Guitarists: Larry Brown Jr., Graham Keir
Vocalists: Sarah Charles, Jennifer Ledesna, Lena Seikaly, Sonia Szajnberg
Vibraphonists: Behn Gillece, Benjamin Portner
Hammond B-3 Organist: Eli Sundelson
Pianists: Roy Assaf, Nicolas Hetko, Eric Hirsh, Ben Markley
Bassists: Adam Cote, Kevin Hsieh, Benjamin Leifer, Marcos Varela
Drummers: John Lumpkin, Jimmy Macbride, Jesse Simpson, Clif Wallace II
The Kennedy Center also invites young jazz artists in their teens through their late 20s to apply for the Kennedy Center’s 13th Annual Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency project, March 15-26, 2010. The deadline for the receipt of applications is November 20, 2009. Serious jazz musicians are invited to apply. Eligible candidates must be both composers and performers, proficient in English, and under the age of 30. Each applicant must submit a résumé and an audio recording of his/her own work. A panel of jazz artists, selected by the Kennedy Center, will review applications. The Kennedy Center will provide the residency participants with housing, travel to and from Washington, D.C., and modest honoraria for meal expenses. Alumni who have previously participated in two residencies are ineligible to apply.
Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead application information is available at http://kennedy-center.org/
Jack DeJohnette boasted a musical resume that was as long as it was fearsome.
Oct 28, 2025 10:47 AM
Jack DeJohnette, a bold and resourceful drummer and NEA Jazz Master who forged a unique vocabulary on the kit over his…
D’Angelo achieved commercial and critical success experimenting with a fusion of jazz, funk, soul, R&B and hip-hop.
Oct 14, 2025 1:47 PM
D’Angelo, a Grammy-winning R&B and neo-soul singer, guitarist and pianist who exerted a profound influence on 21st…
Kandace Springs channeled Shirley Horn’s deliberate phrasing and sublime self-accompaniment during her set at this year’s Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.
Sep 30, 2025 12:28 PM
Janis Burley, the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival’s founder and artistic director, did not, as might be…
Jim McNeely’s singular body of work had a profound and lasting influence on many of today’s top jazz composers in the U.S. and in Europe.
Oct 7, 2025 3:40 PM
Pianist Jim McNeely, one of the most distinguished large ensemble jazz composers of his generation, died Sept. 26 at…
Drummond was cherished by generations of mainstream jazz listeners and bandleaders for his authoritative tonal presence, a defining quality of his style most apparent when he played his instrument unamplified.
Nov 4, 2025 11:39 AM
Ray Drummond, a first-call bassist who appeared on hundreds of albums as a sideman for some of the top names in jazz…
