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!"

Lena Seikaly - Looking Back

Lena Seikaly is one of the Washington DC area’s finest vocalists with the clarity of her singing along, her control of her pitch and vibrato and the instrumental quality of her phrasing and scatting. One could cite a number of influences, and Ella Fitzgerald may be one, but the overall quality of her singing is akin to Roberta Gambarini. Her third, self-priced album Looking Back has her backed by the Chris Grasso Trio (Grasso, piano; Zach Pride, bass; and Lenny Robinson drums), the go to trio to back jazz vocalists in the Nation’s Capital. Also present is the marvelous guitarist Paul Pieper, whose subtle single note solos and chords add to the wonderful accompaniments here.

The eleven songs here take us back to what John Edward Hasse calls the “golden age of American songwriting” (mostly from the twenties and thirties) with emphasis on material recorded by Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. I am not familiar with I’m Nobody’s Baby, which gets things off on a swinging note, with some scatting, a crisp drum break and wonderful piano. Fascinating Rhythm opens as duet with Pride with her scatting before the full group enters. Her phrasing is such a delight to listen to and Pieper adds a choice solo before she scats in unison with him for a few bars on this delightful performance. Her rendition of Foolin’ Myself suggests Billie Holiday in her phrasing, with the clean, restraint shown by band adding to the performance's feel.

The settings here lend freshness to familiar songs. A duet with guitarist Pieper results in a lovely,  lively Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone, while on the Gerald Marks- Walter Hirsch ballad, Baby, What Else Can I Do, Grasso and Pride provide relaxed backing. Donald Heywood and Will Marion Cook’s collaboration, I’m Coming Virginia, may be better known today from the Frankie Trumbauer- Bix Beiderbecke recording, but  was popularized by Ethel Waters. Seikaly and the trio are a bit more vigorous performing it. It is followed by a moody I Cover The Waterfront. Duke Ellington’s I Love You Madly is a pretty duet with bassist Pride. Pieper’s guitar replaces Grasso’s piano on Guilty, which in addition to Pieper’s sublime playing has Pride taking an arco bass solo while Robinson’s tastefully employs brushes.

Of special interest is Irving Berlin’s Supper Time whose lyrics take the perspective of an African-American wife and mother whose lost her husband to a lynching. Written for Ethel Waters, this has been previously done by Roberta Gambarini with the late Hank Jones on piano. Simply accompanied by Grasso, she straightforwardly sings the lyrics. The simplicity of the performance delivers the stark imagery of Berlin’s lyrics powerfully,

With superb backing, imaginative and varied settings for the songs, Looking Back is another wonderful recording by Lena Seikaly. I have seen Lena Seikaly perform on a number of occasions, and this recording captures  the qualities that make her live performances so marvelous. Her website is lenaseikaly.com, and this CD is available on cdbaby.com.

I purchased my copy. I should not that I saw her perform this on April 19 at Loew's Madison in Washington backed by Grasso and Pride and she was wonderful as usual. She will be appearing Friday April 25 at a special Jazz Appreciation Month Take 5 program at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art's Kogod Courtyard dedicated to the music of Ella Fitzgerald. The Museum's website says she will be part of a performance by the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra on a program that will highlight Ella Fitzgerald’s collaborations with big bands, including the Count Basie Orchestra and the Duke Ellington. More information can be found on the Museum's website. Here she performs After You're Gone from her new album.

Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Returns Standing Up For The Real Jazz

Christian McBride will be a featured performer

 at the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival

Presidents Day Weekend is always a reason for celebration for jazz-lovers in the Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia area as the annual Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival returns. Standing up for real jazz, this year’s edition “will celebrate  the soulful side of Real Jazz, otherwise known as ‘Soul Jazz.”  Among those featured will be the legendary Les McCann who will lead a group that includes saxophonist Javon Jackson. But there is much more to be heard Friday Evening February 14 through Sunday night February 16 at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel & Executive Meeting Center, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

The Festival is organized under the leadership of saxophonist, composer and educator Paul Carr as a showcase and benefit for his Jazz Academy of Music. Performances along with workshops and educational programs characterize this event. Notable performers appearing this year include vocalists Giacoma Gates, Vanessa Rubin and Freddie Cole for Friday Night’s kickoff the Ronnie Wells Main Stage performance. Area vocalists Kristin Callahan and Heidi Martin will perform in the MAJF Club Room, while David Cole will play the blues in the Juke Joint.

Vocalist Sharon Clark

Saturday, February 15, there will be atrium performances by a variety of high school bands. At noon in the Main Stage, the Festival will present the first The Mid-Atlantic "Jazz Voice"--Vocal Competition. Next on the main stage will be three of the area’s preeminent vocalists, Sharon Clark, Dick Smith, and Lena Seikaly backed by the Chris Grasso Trio. The Ronnie Wells Main Stage that evening will present the Gary Bartz Quartet, a Trombone Summit with Delfeayo Marsalis, Frank Lacy and Steve Turre with the Christian McBride Trio closing the main stage. On Staurday, highlights of the Club Stage include Aaron Seeber Quartet (with saxophonist Tim Green); vocalists Janine Gilbert-Carter and Chad Carter; and Nadine Rae will be shouting her soulful blues in the Juke Joint.

Delfeayo Marsalis

Sunday, February 16 opens with saxophonist Bobby Watson and the Howard University Jazz Ensemble on the Main Stage. Vocalist Dee Daniels will be backed by the Eric Bryd Trio and then the legendary Benny Golson Quartet cones on. Starting the evening on the Main Stage will be trombonist Reginald Cyntje and his Group that includes steel pan player Victor Provost. Cyntje’s CD “Love” was one of the most impressive and moving new jazz releases by a Washington DC area artist in 2013. After Cyntje will be the pairing of Les McCann and Javon Jackson with the festival’s headline set. Paul Carr closes the Festival main stage with a tribute to the late pianist Mulgrew Miller with a group with Bruce Barth on piano and Steve Nelson on vibes. 

Gary Bartz

Performances in the MAJF Club sunday include the Kenny Rittenhouse Septet, The Jazz Academy Orchestra featuring Delfeayo Marsalis, and Leslie Sumney. Linwood Taylor will be playing in the Juke Joint. This night, like the other evenings, will conclude with a midnight jam in the club room led by Wes ‘Sugar’ Biles. For more information (including ticket packages and accommodations) and to support real jazz, visit the festival’s website, http://www.midatlanticjazzfestival.org.

All photos © Ron Weinstock

DC Jazz Festival Picks for June 8

This is the eighth post I am making to highlight some of the shows associated with this year’s DC Jazz Festival. I am specifically not highlighting the DC JazzLoft Fest since I have posted on this already. I will may also pick a few other shows around the DC Virginia area that should not be overlooked. I am posting this a day ahead of the date of performances, and being a bit less verbose.  For more information visit http://www.dcjazzfest.org/content.cfm/schedule_and_major_events.

Mark Prince at 2012 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival

Drummer Mark Prince’s Aqua Leo is at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden at 5:00PM. Prince is an accomplished drummer who is able to transverse hip hop and rhythm & blues to contemporary and straight-ahead jazz.

At the Hamilton, The Brass-a-Holics will be performing a tribute to the late Chuck Brown with a mix of go go and New Orleans Brass Band.

Vocalist Lena Seikaly will be performing at the Mandarin Oriental

Acclaimed Saxophonist Marcus Strickland will be the Bohemian Caverns. Here he is in performance.

Donvonte McCoy, who Capital Bop calls perhaps the DC area’s leading trumpeter, is at the 18th Street Lounge.

For a non Jazz Festival show, Diunna Greenleaf and Blue Mercy along with Memphis Gold will be at the State Theatre for the opening event of the Tinner Hill Blues Festival. This evening I will be passing on the several excellent jazz programs to see this performance.

Diunna Greenleaf and Jonn Del Toro Richarson at 2010 DC Blues Festival at the Carter Barron

DC Jazz Festival Picks for June 6

This is the sixth post I am making to highlight some of the shows associated with this year’s DC Jazz Festival. I am specifically not highlighting the DC JazzLoft Fest since I have posted on this already. I will may also pick a few other shows around the DC Virginia area that should not be overlooked. I am posting this a day ahead of the date of performances.  For more information visit http://www.dcjazzfest.org/content.cfm/schedule_and_major_events.

Roy Hargrov

The Hamilton features trumpeter Roy Hargrove this evening. Hargrove is among the leading trumpeters and composers to emerge in the past several decades and a DC Jazz Festival favorite.

Bistrot Lepic Wine bar in Georgetown will feature Véronneau. Véronneau is an acoustic, song-based group playing Latin Jazz, Gypsy Swing and much more featuring the marvelous vocals of Lynn Véronneau along with Ken Avis on guitar, vocals and percussion, David Rosenblatt on guitar and percussion and Pete Walby on drums. Their first recording is the wonderul Joy of Living (Véronneau Music) that showcases Ms. Véronneau’s marvelous singing of which I have written, :She simply has a way of touching the listener's heart … .” They have just issued the Jazz Samba Project which celebrates the classic Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd record Jazz Samba that was recorded in Washington 50 years ago.

Lena Seikaly

The Atlas Performing Arts Center hosts both a Master Class and a performance by guitarist Rodney Richardson and vocalist Lena Seikaly. Richardson is among the foremost jazz guitarists (as well as educators) in the area whilst vocalist Seikaly has emerged as among the many fine jazz singers in the region. Of her most recent CD, Lovely Changes, the website CapitalBop.com said, “In just a few years, Seikaly has established herself as a major jazz vocalist and educator in the D.C. area, performing with the cream of the local crop. …The arrangements and musicianship on the album are crafted to serve the songs, leaving space for the vocal to shine front-and-center. That voice, the endlessly inventive arrangements, and the sensitive ensemble musicianship serve to make Lovely Changes a complete delight.”

DC Jazz Festival Brings 10 Days of Jazz To The Nation's Capital

Ron Carter

The 2012 DC Jazz Festival takes place in the Nation’s Capital June 1 and runs through June 10. The Festival this year will have a variety of signature programs including Jazz Meets the Classics at the Kennedy Center; Jazz in the ‘Hoods at a variety of clubs and museums, presented by Events DC; Jazz’‘n’ Families Fun Days at The Phillips Collection; Jazz at the Hamilton presented by The Washington Post; and Jazz at the Howard.

Jazz Meets the Classics, co-presented by the Kennedy Center on June 4th, will feature an all-star lineup performing unique and exciting jazz interpretations of works by Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Headlining the concert is the Classical Jazz Quartet, with NEA Jazz Masters bassist Ron Carter and pianist Kenny Barron, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and drummer Lewis Nash. Also headlining is NEA Jazz Master and 10-time Grammy Award-winner Paquito D’Rivera, joined by Spain’s Pepe Rivero Trio, Michael Phillip Mossman and Pernell Saturnino.

Lena Seikaly

The Jazz in the ‘Hoods program highlights the innovative CapitalBop D.C. Jazz Loft, Bohemian Caverns, and more than 80 performances at over 40 museums, clubs, restaurants, hotels, and galleries across the city with performers like Loide, Michael Thomas, Mark Prince, and Rodney Richardson with Lena Seikaly. The D.C. Jazz Loft Series, presented by Capital Bop, returns to spotlight some cutting edge music and will span 3 days including an all day manifest on June 9. Performers include Marc Cary’s Cosmic Indigenous; Tarbaby, featuring Orrin Evans, Nasheet Waits. Eric Revis; and the Todd Marcus Nonet. I will hopefully have a separate post on Capital Bop’s DC Jazz Loft Series separately.

Elijah Balbed

The free annual Jazz ‘n’ Families Fun Days at The Phillips Collection on Saturday, June 2nd and Sunday, June 3rd will treat families to performances from some of the finest musicians from around the region, including Marianne Solivan, Victor Provost, the Herman Burney Trio, and the Elijah Balbed Quartet. Jazz at the Hamilton, the Festival’s main venue, will feature 10 nights of performances with such noted artists as Randy Weston, Monty Alexander, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Heath, David Sanchez, Les Nubians, Antonio Hart, Cyrus Chestnut, Jonathan Batiste, Ben Williams, Etienne Charles, John Scofield, Roberta Gambarini, and Marshall Keys.

Jimmy Heath

Jazz at the Howard celebrates the tradition of jazz in D.C. at the newly restored and reopened historic Howard Theatre. Headline artists include multiple Grammy Award-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves and famed Italian guitarist Pino Daniele. The Festival also hosts a performance by the dazzling clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, and six concerts co-presented by the Kennedy Center at the Millennium Stage featuring artists such as Malika Zara, the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, and Origem.  There is plenty of terrific jazz in a variety of musical flavors for the casual and discerning music lover at the 2012 DC Jazz Festival.

Roy Hargrove

The DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) is the largest music festival in Washington, D.C. A project of Festivals DC, Ltd., a 501 © (3) non-profit organization, the DCJF is one of the most highly-anticipated cultural events in the nation’s capital. The DC Jazz Festival is sponsored in part with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about the DC Jazz Festival and upcoming programs, visit www.dcjazzfest.org.

All photos © by Ron Weinstock

Outstanding New Jazz Releases.

Continuing my lists of outstanding Blues and Jazz, here are some Jazz releases that in 2010 impressed me.  These are not in any specific order.

Jason Moran Ten (Blue Note) This was quite a year for the pianist Moran was was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Ten refers to the the years his trio “The Bandwagon” has been together and this recording mixes a variety of new compositions which his fresh interpretation of Monk’s “Crepuscule With Nellie.” Most fascinating is his “Old Babies,” which is based on a very early twentieth century recording by the legendary pioneering performer, Bert Williams, and whose vocals Moran evokes in his piano on this.

Owen Howard Drum Lore (BJU Records) The genesis of this recording came from Howard’s participation in a jazz workshop’s composition class when someone asked why he a drummer was participating, and the result is this disc of eleven drummer penned compositions, superbly performed by Howard’s combo. Of Howard’s playing, I have noted, “Even when not upfront, his playing complements and pushes the soloists through these fascinating compositions that is a lesson that student at the jazz workshop hopefully by now has learned.”


Maurice Brown The Cycle of Love (Brown Records). A Chicago native who studied at Southern University’s acclaimed Jazz Program, Brown has a warm, lively tone and with a wonderful group produces some superb music. The music on this, his second album, exhibits some a playfulness and melodic qualities that can bring a smile to one’s face, yet there is plenty of substance here.

Lena Seikaly Written in the Stars (self-produced). Distinctive interpretations by this young Washington, DC area singer who has such a marvelous voice. Interesting song selection of standards and originals with a highlight for me being her rendition of the Charles Mingus ballad “Duke Ellington’s Song of Love.”

Catherine Russell Inside This Heart of Mine (World Village). Russell, daughter of the legendary band leader Luis Russell and bassist carline Ray delights us as she mines “lesser known songs from decades past and revive them in a lively fashion that avoids being campy. Her vocals are a model that many singing jazz and blues would do well top listen to and learn from how she delivers her songs as well as marvel from the sensitive and sympathetic support she receives.”

Gabriele Tranchina A Song Of Love’s Color (Jazzheads) This, I wrote, “is a wonderful release that is sure to charm listeners with not only Gabriele Tranchina’s lovely voice, but her wonderful expressiveness and the tight playing in support of her. This is a recording that easily lends itself to repeated listening.”

Azar Lawrence Mystic Journey (Furthermore). The saxophonist with his fine band joined by Eddie Henderson on trumpet and the late Rashied Ali on drums has produced a phenomenal recording that suggests the inspiration that John Coltrane provided Lawrence on a body of terrific material and performances.

Antonio Sanchez Live in New York (CamJazz) Strong double CD performance at NYC’s Jazz Standard with drummer joined by his brother David on tenor sax, Miguel Xenon on alto sax and Scott Colley on bass for some truly special performances. 

Issac Delgado L-O-V-E (Sony Classical) The Cuban singer’s marvelous tribute to Nat King Cole is centered around the three albums Cole recorded that were recorded for Spanish speaking audiences. I wrote that the “combination of Delgado’s vocals and the exquisite accompaniments result in this being one of the year’s most enchanting recordings.”


William Parker I Plan To Stay A Believer: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield (Aum Fidelity). A lively double CD all star free-jazz big band exploration of the music of Curtis Mayfield that may have some ragged edges but makes compelling listening.