Los Angeles Hosting Monk Institute International Jazz Vocals Competition and All-Star Gala Concert

Happening this weekend, the following appeared in the November-December Jazz & Blues Report.

Vuyolwethu Sotashe at 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival

The Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocals Competition will be held November 14-15 in Los Angeles. This year’s Competition features some of the world's most outstanding young jazz vocalists who will sing before a judging panel that includes Patti Austin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Freddy Cole, Al Jarreau and Luciana Souza. The Jazz Vocals Competition Semifinals will be held on Saturday, November 14 from 12 to 5 p.m. at Schoenberg Hall on the UCLA campus. Each of the eleven semifinalists will perform for 15 minutes, accompanied by pianist Reginald Thomas, bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Carl Allen. Three finalists will be selected for the Finals on Sunday, November 15 at 7 p.m. at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. They will vie for scholarships and prizes totaling more than $100,000 including a $25,000 first place scholarship and a guaranteed recording contract with Concord Music Group.

The 11 semifinalists are: Liam Burrows, Sydney, Australia; Christie Dashiell, Greenville, North Carolina; Jazzmeia Horn, Dallas, Texas; Sirintip Phasuk, Stockholm, Sweden; Walter Ricci, Naples, Italy; Lena Seikaly, Falls Church, Virginia; Vuyolwethu Sotashe, Butterworth, South Africa; Veronica Swift, Charlottesville, Virginia; Katie Thiroux, Los Angeles, California; Danielle Wertz, Falls Church, Virginia; and Lucy Yeghiazaryan of New York, New York and Armenia. This writer has been privileged to have seen several of the semi-finalists perform including Vuyolwethu Sotashe, the winner of the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival's 1st Vocal Competition in 2014.

Christie Dashiell at 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival

Immediately after the Competition Finals, The All-Star Gala Concert on Sunday, November 15 will bring together some of the most renowned artists of our time. Legendary producer, composer, bandleader and humanitarian Quincy Jones, will receive the Institute’s 2015 Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award. Herbie Hancock, Seth MacFarlane, Andy Garcia, Jeff Goldblum and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will host the event. Artists will include Patti Austin, George Benson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Freddy Cole, Dave Grusin, Jimmy Heath, Paul Jackson, Jr., Al Jarreau, Hubert Laws, Gretchen Parlato, Arturo Sandoval, Wayne Shorter, Luciana Souza, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ben Williams and others. John Beasley will serve as the evening’s musical director.

The Thelonious Monk Institue International Jazz Competition, is regarded by many as the most prestigious jazz competition. Each year, the Competition features a different instrument, and major scholarships and prizes are awarded to talented young musicians. For 28 years, the competition has launched the careers of a number of major jazz artists including saxophonist Joshua Redman; vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jane Monheit and Gretchen Parlato; pianist Marcus Roberts; bassist Ben Williams; and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. Cécile McLorin Salvant was the winner the last time the competition focused on vocals and the other two finalists, Charenée Wade and Cyrille Aimée, have also led successful solo careers.

Lena Seikaly at 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival

Proceeds from the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocals Competition and All-Star Gala Concert will support the Institute’s public school jazz education programs across the U.S. and around the globe. In recent years, the performances of the semi-fianls have been broadcast over the world-wide web, and one should check the Monk Insitute's website to see if they web-cast this round this year. Tickets for the gala start at $40 and are available at dolbytheatre.com. For more information about the competition and the Monk Institute’s other programs, visit monkinstitute.org.

(In addition to the Monk Institutes press release, this writer also used Nate Chinen's New York Times story for background).

On Facebook, The Monk Institute gave more details about the webcast of the semi-finals. 

"This year's MonkCompetition features Semifinalist vocalists from Australia, Italy, South Africa and Sweden as well as the United States. No matter where you are, you can watch the 2015 Semifinals round at UCLA - with all 11 of our unbelievable competitors - LIVE on monkinstitute.org. Webcast starts at 12:00 Pacific Time on Saturday, November 14. Don't miss it!"

New Vintage Jazz & Wine Fest Coming August 24

Kris Funn performing with Corner Store  

Kris Funn and the Corner Store are amongst the bands playing the New Vintage Jazz & Wine Fest at the DC Fairgrounds near Nationals Park in Washington DC. This takes place Saturday August 24 starting at 2:00PM

Curated by the folks at Capital Bop (http://capitalbop.com) here is the full line-up

The artists will perform at the following times:
2:30 – Tarus Mateen
3:15 – Kris Funn & Corner Store
4:15 – Todd Marcus Quartet
5:15 – Christie Dashiell Quartet
6:15 – Donvonte McCoy Quartet, Feat. Heidi Martin
7:15 – The Funk Ark
8:30 – Rafiq Bhatia

I have enjoyed Tarus Mateen (he is bassist with Jason Moran and The Bandwagon amongst other groups); Funn, bass clarinetist Marcus and trumpeter McCoy and they are exceptional artists. Vocalists Dashiell and Martin are performers I am really looking forward to see. Capitol Bop's website has much more information on what looks like an amazing event, including more information on the performers. 

Here is a link to their post that announced this event: http://capitalbop.com/2013/07/24/show-announcement-new-vintage-jazz-wine-fest-amazing-talent-wine-at-the-fairgrounds/.

One footnote. I met Kris Funn at the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and he is the nephew of a former colleague of mine at the government agency I worked at. I kidded Kris that his uncle made the best pound cake I ever had. Kris is on a number of recordings of the brilliant young trumpeter, Christian Scott, in whose band he has been in for several years. His group was a highlight of a DC Jazz Loft show that was part of the DC Jazz Festival a couple years ago from which the picture at the top of this entry was taken.

Here is the exceptional bassist, Tarus Mateen playing with saxophonist Brian Settles as part of a group led by drummer Lenny Robinson. Mateen will be leading his own group this day.

Donvonte McCoy is one of the Washington DC's premier trumpeters. My picture of him was taken during a salute to the music of Lee Morgan he performed at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. 

Todd Marcus is among the few who focus on playing bass clarinet exclusively. here he is at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival.

Capital Bop's DC Jazz Loft Series Needs Your Kickstart

I highlighted the upcoming DC Jazz Festival back in late April. Well the Festival starts in two weeks from today. One of the events associated with the Festival is the DC Jazz Loft Series that is being produced by the website Capital Bop, one of the DC area’s prime sources for what is happening jazz wise. Additionally they produce regular jazz loft shows highly upcoming performers and performers who have their own highly original approach to America’s musical art form.

To quote Luke Stewart and Giovanni Russonello, “We run CapitalBop.com, a website dedicated to promoting the city’s jazz scene by providing full-press coverage and by putting on concerts. … Since December 2010, we’ve been organizing D.C. Jazz Loft shows to spotlight this city’s vast and varied jazz talent in low-frills, exciting settings.” With respect to the DC Jazz Loft series, “[W]e’re proud to announce our return to the DC Jazz Festival for the second annual D.C. Jazz Loft Series. At three exciting shows next month, we’ll be presenting a tenacious argument for the relevance and power of contemporary jazz, and we'll be doing it at engaging, community-oriented venues." The shows at this year’s Jazz Loft series are:

June 1 // Todd Marcus Jazz Ensemble with D.C.'s Christie Dashiell Quartet, live at the Dunes. Baltimore’s Todd Marcus is among the few who specialize in the bass clarinet and is scheduled to lead his nine-piece ensemble headlining this show. Capital Bop notes that he leads a nine piece ensemble. “Thankfully, both Marcus’s oddball instrumentalism and his offbeat ensemble are astonishingly strong, modern and infectious. Few people improvise with more fervor or write music better than he does.” Opening will be vocalist Christie Dashiell featuring the former member of Howard University’s famed acapella group Afro-Blue. she’ll she’ll lead her own quartet through a blend of original compositions, and covers of jazz and pop songs.


June 2 // Tarbaby (Orrin Evans, Nasheet Waits and Eric Revis) with D.C.'s Kris Funn & Corner Store, live at the Fridge. Tarbaby is a jazz supergroup on a mission. Featuring pianist Orrin Evans (leader of the acclaimed Captain Black Big Band), bassist Eric Revis (a longtime collaborator with Branford Marsalis and a strong bandleader) and drummer Nasheet Waits (who performs with Jason Moran, among other greats), this band is uncompromisingly experimental and unabashedly outspoken. Opening will be bassist Kris Funn & Corner Store. Funn is currently a member of Christian Scott’s touring band, Corner Store, also features drummer Quincy Phillips of the Roy Hargrove Quintet. The band debuted at a jam-packed D.C. Jazz Loft where they “burned the house down, with Funn’s blues-battered bass lines, rocking originals, and dramatically danceable revisions of John Coltrane and Sam Cooke tunes taking center stage.”

June 9 // Jazz Loft MegaFest, feat. Marc Cary's Cosmic Indigenous with Lenny Robinson's Mad Curious and Elijah Jamal Balbed/Tarus Mateen/Lee Pearson II, live at the loft at 629 New York Ave. NW. “The series will culminate in a daylong Jazz Loft MegaFest on Sat., June 9. This won’t be any old concert: From 3 p.m. till 2 a.m., you’ll be immersed in a marketplace of improvised sound, visual art, quality food, drinks and creativity. We’re converting a gorgeous loft space on New York Avenue ( into a pop-up shop, music venue, art gallery, movie theater, and – with assistance from the foodies at the Taste of DC – an eatery and bar, catered by some of the top restaurants in the District.

With respect to Mark Cary, “His latest project, Cosmic Indigenous, throws everything into a pot and turns up the heat to a boil. The quintet is devastatingly danceable, which distracts you from how much creativity is happening onstage: Cary plays keyboard and laptop music, Malian singer and dancer Awa Sangho croons and yowls, two percussionists interweave (Sameer Gupta on tabla and drums, and Daniel Moreno on Latin percussion) and trumpeter Igmar Thomas brings a punchy rhythmic sensitivity to his melodic improvisations.”

Drummer Lenny Robinson is a DC fixture who plays with precision and grace, even at the swiftest tempos – but he’s also attuned to the malleability of a cymbal, or a snare drum. In his trio, Mad Curious, Robinson is joined by two of the greatest musicians in D.C. jazz, saxophone searcher Brian Settles and star bassist Tarus Mateen.

Tenor saxophonist Elijah Jamal Balbed is a young gun who plays every note like he’s got something crucial to prove. He swings hard, and calls up the memory of his forebears in the music such as John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. He will be accompanied by two veterans of the DC scene, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Lee Pearson II.

This is quite a series of concerts and more that I highly recommend. Much of what I have taken is from Capital Bop’s own post on this series of shows, http://www.capitalbop.com/2012/04/25/announcing-this-years-d-c-jazz-loft-series-at-the-dc-jazz-fest-marc-cary-tarbaby-much-more/#ChristieDashiell. They have videos of several of the performers on that page. I am looking forward to attending a good portion of the performances at this year’s series. Tickets for the series can be purchased at the Capital Bop website.

Capital Bop is also engaged in a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to help produce this series. As I type this they still need to raise approximately 40% of their $4000 goal. I am one of those who are financially supporting this Kickstarter campaign and I encourage my fellow jazz lovers in the Washington DC area to show their support for the DC Jazz Loft Series, part of this year’s DC Jazz Festival. The Campaign is scheduled to end on May 31 at 11:00PM. Here is the link to the Kickstarter campaign, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/capitalbop/capitalbops-dc-jazz-loft-series-at-the-2012-dc-jaz.