Apr 11, 2023 10:47 AM
Brad Mehldau Tells His Story
At the tail end of 2022, Brad Mehldau took advantage of a New York sojourn to play piano with old friends at Smalls…
Steve Coleman (left) and Jonathan Finlayson perform at the historic Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C., as part of the DC Jazz Festival on June 14.
(Photo: Michael Wilderman)The 2016 DC Jazz Festival climaxed with a rousing set by tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington on June 19, a fitting culmination to more than two weeks of numerous performances at venues all around the District.
Coordinated by Executive Director Sunny Sumter and Artistic Director Willard Jenkins, the festival included concerts at The Hamilton Live (featuring violinist Regina Carter, vocalist Kurt Elling, saxophonist Maceo Parker and pianist Harold Mabern), the CapitalBop Loft (with pianists Michele Rosewoman and Orrin Evans), the Kennedy Center (featuring an all-star salute to Howard University Jazz), the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (with Steve Coleman & Five Elements), and the extensive Jazz In The Hoods presentations.
More than 90 bands and 300 emerging and veteran artists performed during the fest. One unique event was the DC Alley Museum Live Mural Project by artist Bill Warrell, in which visitors young and old were invited to pick up a paintbrush and add to a montage of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, commemorating the group’s 1982 Washington, D.C. concert.
That mural—as well as many other moments from throughout the fest—is captured in the photo album below, which was constructed by photographer and D.C. resident Michael Wilderman.
“Perhaps that’s a key to what makes me tick — a very strong curiosity, which makes me a perpetual fanboy of whatever I’m discovering,” Mehldau says.
Apr 11, 2023 10:47 AM
At the tail end of 2022, Brad Mehldau took advantage of a New York sojourn to play piano with old friends at Smalls…
Ahmad Jamal (1930–2023) with his trio at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago.
Apr 18, 2023 9:44 AM
Pianist-composer Ahmad Jamal passed away April 16 in his home in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, after battling prostate…
“Remember to be a warrior, not a worrier,” Shorter said, 10 days prior to his passing on March 2.
May 9, 2023 12:02 PM
Sadly, the formative giants of jazz are passing the torch and joining the ancestors. But such cliché and dwelling on…
“When you play blues-type stuff, the material is pretty obvious; it’s how you do a lot with a little,” Liebman said.
May 30, 2023 1:06 PM
At 76, soprano and tenor saxophonist Dave Liebman — an alumnus of bands led by Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, leader of…
“When I first emerged on the scene, I was dealing with working with a certain trumpet player who shall remain nameless,” Reed said. “It was very much an indoctrinating, dogmatic point of view, but it was all I knew.”
May 16, 2023 3:15 PM
As a piano-playing prodigy, Philadelphia native Eric Reed performed gospel music in his father’s church at age 5. By…