WASHINGTON — Jazz fans are in for a treat this week in our nation’s capital.
The 11th annual D.C. Jazz Festival returns with shows from June 10-16.
“It’s grown tremendously,” Artistic Director Willard Jenkins tells WTOP. “When we first started out, it was a few days and it was confined to a certain number of venues. Now, we’re literally in all four quadrants of the city and we’re in over 40 venues with over 150 artists.”
The event was founded by Charlie Fishman as the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, but after some jockeying over the naming rights, it eventually morphed into the D.C. Jazz Festival.
“Historically, D.C. is in the Top 5, if not No. 2, as far as importance in jazz in this country,” Jenkins says, pointing to D.C. natives such as Ellington and James Reese Europe. “D.C. has a rich jazz history.”
Now, that history continues Wednesday with guitarist John Scofield at The Hamilton, marking the festival’s official kickoff following last weekend’s preview series at the Phillips Collection.
Other venues include Bohemian Caverns, Twins Jazz and the historic 6th and I synagogue.
This weekend, the festival moves to The Yards on the Capitol Riverfront with a free show Friday with Soul Rebels Brass Band from New Orleans, Cubano Groove from D.C. and vocalist Sharón Clark.
On Saturday, The Yards will host a star-studded lineup of Oscar-winner Common, Grammy-winner Esperanza Spalding, Nigerian Afrobeat artist Femi Kuti and D.C. saxophonist Marshall Keys.
On Sunday, check out The Cookers, an all-star group of seven different band leaders.
The festival closes out Monday and Tuesday at The Hamilton with Brooklyn artist Snarky Puppy, who is a favorite among millennials.
“With all the many events that we have … you can’t go wrong,” Jenkins says. “It’s a music of vast degrees of creativity. If you entered a room with 50 people sitting in a room and said, ‘What is jazz?’ you might get 20 different answers. … Jazz, to me, is actually not one style of music. It’s an aesthetic umbrella under which are all these different styles of music.”
Click here for ticket information.
