June stands for jazz all over the nation’s capital. The DC Jazz Festival continues to host the finest performers in the best venues large and small. While Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage premiers world jazz, the summer nights sizzle in the Mansion at Strathmore. Thursday night, the Festival presents DC Choro, players of the finest Brazilian-style choro, a genre of music that emerged from Rio de Janeiro similar to America’s ragtime. This group is defined by their swinging rhythms, intricate melodies and rich harmony. In addition to choro, they make the music of forro, a Brazilian accordion and bass drum dance beat.
Friday evening, the Millennium Stage hosts Cheick Hamala Diabate, a West African historian in the Griot tradition and world-recognized master of the ngoni, a Malian traditional instrument. All Millennium Stage performances are free of charge.
| IF YOU GO |
| DC Jazz Festival |
| » Info: kennedy-center.org, strathmore.org, dcjazzfest.org |
Meanwhile, the music swings in the Mansion at Strathmore.
“One of the things Strathmore loves to do is to nurture our wonderful stable of local musicians,” said Betty Scott, education program coordinator of Strathmore’s Art After Hours concert series spotlighting jazz this month. “It’s quite remarkable the level of excellence here.”
Vocalist Yvette Couvson, a former Strathmore artist in residence, sizzles at the Mansion next Wednesday. Her dynamic interpretation of America’s iconic songbook has led her to work with jazz artists such as Chris Brubeck and the Brubeck Institute. Currently the guest vocalist with D.C. harmonicist Frederic Yonnet, Couvson brings an international flare to her work as a result of her background in French, German and Italian.
Brass act Leigh Pilzer and Jen Krupa make magic of jazz standards and selections from the Great American Songbook when they perform with their quintet, the JLQ, at the Mansion on June 15. Accompanying Pilzer on saxophone and Krupa on trombone are Harry Appelman on piano, Paul Langosch on bass and Dominic Smith at the drums.
“Jen and I work together with a mental mind-set [and] a conscious decision to play with as many different musicians as possible,” Pilzer noted. “It’s a buffet out there [and] part of what keeps [the music] exciting and fresh.”
