Jazz: 2008-2009 Season

Upcoming Events

• Mos Def
  Produced by Jill Newman Productions

  Sep 21, 2008 at 7:00 PM | Buy Now
  Artist Mos Def explores hip hop, jazz, and soul with his band, drawing from original compositions and material by Miles Davis, Beyoncé, James Brown, and Gil Scott-Heron, among others.

• Kevin Mahogany's Kansas City Revue

  Sep 26, 2008 | Buy Now
  Award-winning vocalist and Kansas City native Kevin Mahogany presents his Kansas City Revue with the Godfathers of Groove and vocalist Kathy Kosins, moving through R&B, boogie woogie, blues, and jazz.

• The Blind Boys of Alabama and Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Down by the Riverside

  Sep 28, 2008 at 7:00 PM | Buy Now
  New Orleans' legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band and vocal titans the Blind Boys of Alabama join forces to present Down by the Riverside, combining jazz and gospel hymns.

• Jeremy Pelt Quintet

  Oct 3, 2008 | Buy Now
  Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has been lauded for his tone, which "strikes a warm balance between brightness and suffusion" (All About Jazz), and has been voted Rising Star on the trumpet five years in a row by DownBeat Magazine.

• Grady Tate

  Oct 4, 2008 | Buy Now
  With his classic warm and mellow baritone, Grady Tate has twice been nominated for the Best Male Vocalist Grammy Award.

• Hank Jones Trio with Roberta Gambarini

  Oct 11, 2008 | Buy Now
  "One doesn't turn to Hank Jones for innovation or surprise but rather for highly polished, state-of-the-art mainstream jazz piano" (All About Jazz). To celebrate the 90th year of his birth, he's joined by renowned vocalist Roberta Gambarini.

• Steve Wilson and Wilsonian's Grain

  Oct 17, 2008 | Buy Now
  Described as "a riveting improviser" by Jim Macnie of the Village Voice, saxophonist Steve Wilson is "among the best New York jazz has to offer" (The New York Times).

• Terri Lyne Carrington Quartet

  Oct 18, 2008 | Buy Now
  A world-renowned drummer, composer, and producer, Terri Lyne Carrington is no stranger to the spotlight, having been a mainstay in the industry for more than 20 years.

• Allan Harris: Cross That River: Cry of the Thunderbird

  Oct 24, 2008 | Buy Now
  Allan Harris returns to the Center with selections from his newly released CD, Cry of the Thunderbird, the next installment in his Cross That River trilogy.

• "Keys to New Orleans": Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler, Jon Cleary

  Nov 7, 2008 | Buy Now
  "The Keys to New Orleans" features three Crescent City music legends--Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler, and Jon Cleary--joining forces for a spectacular tribute to the Big Easy.

• Javon Jackson with Les McCann: "Swiss Movement Revisited"

  Nov 8, 2008 | Buy Now
  Saxophonist Javon Jackson and pianist Les McCann come together to perform in a concert that revisits McCann's 1969 hit album Swiss Movement, recently re-released by Rhino/Atlantic.

• Dan Tepfer

  Nov 14, 2008 | Buy Now
  Critics have called New York-based pianist/composer Dan Tepfer "brilliant" (Boston Globe) and "one of tomorrow's jazz stars" (Eugene Weekly). He was recently named the 2007 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz of the American Pianists Association.

• Frank Wess Quintet

  Nov 21, 2008 | Buy Now
  Flutist, saxophonist, NEA Jazz Master, and Kennedy Center Living Jazz Legend Frank Wess has been praised by the Washington Post for his "soulful lyricism" and "great artistry."

• Ellington Voices: Classical to Jazz with Nnenna Freelon and Harolyn Blackwell

  Nov 22, 2008 at 7:30 PM | Buy Now
  Vocalists Freelon and Blackwell explore the intersection of classical music and jazz through the musical genius of Duke Ellington in this world premiere Kennedy Center–commissioned concert.

• NSO Pops: An Evening with The Jazz Ambassadors/Marvin Hamlisch, conductor

  Nov 28 - 29, 2008 | Buy Now
  As part of "Jazz in DC," The Jazz Ambassadors Army Field Band joins the NSO Pops over Thanksgiving weekend for a rousing program that will include the music of Duke Ellington, Dr. Billy Taylor, and James Reese Europe.

• NPR's A Jazz Piano Christmas

  Dec 4, 2008 | On Sale 10/10/08,
  Join the Kennedy Center and National Public Radio when top jazz pianists and other artists perform their favorite holiday songs. An annual NPR tradition, the concert will be recorded for later broadcast.

• A Jazz New Year's Eve

  Dec 31, 2008 | On Sale 10/10/08,
  Ring in the New Year in style with a sizzling late-night jazz performance by the Grammy-winning ensemble New York Voices and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band.

• Benny Golson at 80

  Jan 24, 2009 at 7:30 PM | On Sale 10/10/08,
  The Kennedy Center salutes the 60-year career of award-winning saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson in a concert with appearances by the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Al Jarreau, Ron Carter, and others.

• So in Love: An Evening of Cole Porter, with Patricia Barber

  Feb 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM | On Sale 12/11/08,
  Vocalist Patricia Barber performs music from Her Cole Porter--her 2008 Blue Note Records CD that includes "I've Got You Under My Skin," "What Is This Thing Called Love?," and "You Do Something to Me."

• So in Love: An Evening of Cole Porter, with Ann Hampton Callaway

  Feb 13, 2009 at 9:30 PM | On Sale 12/11/08,
  Enjoy a sexy, suave, and swinging time with vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway and her Trio, as they take a cosmopolitan romp through the Cole Porter songbook.

• "Dedicated to You": Kurt Elling in a John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman Tribute

  Feb 28, 2009 | On Sale 12/11/08,
  Kurt Elling brings Ernie Watts, the Ethel String Quartet, and the Laurence Hobgood Trio aboard for Dedicated to You, Elling's creative re-imagining of John Coltrane's collaboration with "romantic balladeer" Johnny Hartman.

• Edmar Castaneda Trio

  Mar 27, 2009 | On Sale 12/11/08,
  "A jazz harpist of imposing talent" (The New York Times), Colombian-born Edmar Castaneda has turned the New York jazz scene on its ear, transforming the harp into a percussive lead instrument.

• René Marie, "Voice of My Beautiful Country"

  Mar 28, 2009 | On Sale 12/11/08,
  MAXJAZZ recording artist and Kennedy Center favorite René Marie has been called "a jazz singer with the talent, the imagination, and the sheer presence to be included in the very top level of performers" by the Los Angeles Times.

• The Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary--On Tour

  Apr 5, 2009 | On Sale 2/12/09,
  Blue Note Records artists--pianist Bill Charlap, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxophonists Ravi Coltrane and Steve Wilson, guitarist Peter Bernstein, drummer Lewis Nash, and bassist Peter Washington--perform well-known hits from this renowned label's vault.

• Marc Cary and the Focus Trio

  May 1, 2009 | On Sale 2/12/09,
  As cool and collected as they come, pianist/composer and DC native Marc Cary has been ranked by DownBeat Magazine as one of the four "most multi-dimensional" keyboard players on the scene today.

• John Clayton and Gerald Clayton, "Father and Son"

  May 2, 2009 | On Sale 2/12/09,
  Three-time Grammy-nominated bassist John Clayton's talents are consistently in demand. His son, pianist Gerald performs with an "Oscar Peterson–like style, highly controlled touch and dynamics and rhapsodic, episodic soloing" (The New York Times).

• Ambrose Akinmusire

  May 8, 2009 | On Sale 2/12/09,
  Winner of the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition, Ambrose Akinmusire performs music that works its "way under the skin, delivering a tickle one moment and an electric jolt the next" (Variety).

• Roger Kellaway: "Tribute to Oscar Peterson"

  May 9, 2009 | On Sale 2/12/09,
  Roger Kellaway "is a rare pianist with the technical command and historical knowledge to recreate a portion of Oscar Peterson's ‘power, clarity, musicality, and will to swing,' all while sounding like himself" (JazzTimes).

• Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival - 14th annual

  May 14 - 16, 2009 | On Sale 2/12/09,
  The festival marks its 14th thrilling year with three evenings of star-studded performances featuring the world's top female jazz artists.