SUPERBLUE: KURT ELLING & CHARLIE HUNTER WITH SPECIAL GUEST SCOTT MULVAHILL
Renowned for his singular combination of robust swing and poetic insight, two-time GRAMMY winner Kurt Elling has secured his place among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. The New York Times proclaimed Elling, “the standout male vocalist of our time”. Over a twenty-five year career of touring and recording, Elling has won three Prix du Jazz Vocal (France), two German Echo Awards, two Dutch Edison Awards, and has been nominated for a GRAMMY award fifteen times. He has had a 14-year run atop the DownBeat Critics and Readers polls, and has won twelve Jazz Journalists Awards for “Male Vocalist of the Year”.
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KAMASI WASHINGTON FEATURING AMI TAF RA
He is a founding member of the jazz collective West Coast Get Down. Washington joined the Gerald Wilson Orchestra for its 2005 album In My Time. He played saxophone on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. His debut solo recording, The Epic, was released in May 2015. The mini-album/EP Harmony of Difference followed in September 2017. His second full-length studio album, Heaven and Earth, was released in June 2018, with a companion EP titled The Choice released a week later.
Washington has played along with a diverse group of musicians including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Horace Tapscott, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Flying Lotus, Mike Muir, Francisco Aguabella, St. Vincent, the Pan Afrikaan People’s Orchestra, Run the Jewels and Raphael Saadiq.
Ami Taf Ra | Moroccan~Dutch Artist
Growing up in the Netherlands, Arabic music was always present in her home. From Middle East Icons such as: Um Khaltoum,Warda, Asmahan to name a few. At the age of 14 her mother gave her the album of the legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz as a birthday present. She fell in love with Fairuz’s sound. Especially the sound of the fusion compositions with Jazz.This is when Ami Taf Ra knew that she doesn’t have to choose for one music style. but can combine her both backgrounds, the western music that she grew up with in Europe and her background with the Arabic music in the East. Ami Taf Ra enrolled at the Music School of Amsterdam. There, she was a member of the Gospel world choir and member of local bands that she performed with. At the age of 18, she went to the Hollywood center of Arabic music in Cairo, Egypt. She recorded her first Arabic song (in Egyptian dialect). The song was recorded in the same studio where the Egyptian legend Abdelhalim Hafez recorded some of his songs (studio Sout El Hob). Since then, Ami Taf Ra has been performing in different countries around the world. From Denmark to Turkey, Morocco,Belgium,Israel, Cairo, Lebanon, Jordan to name a few. Ami taf Ra recorded her debut album EastWest in Amsterdam in 2018. She collaborated with musicians from the Netherlands, Bulgaria,Spain,Slovenia and Turkey. On the album there are 6 original compositions by Ami Taf Ra and 3 covers. https://amitafra.com/bio
Showtimes ~ 6:30pm | 9:30pm
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ELIANE ELIAS
Hot off her 2022 GRAMMY® win for Best Latin Jazz Album for Mirror Mirror, (also recently nominated for a Latin GRAMMY®) internationally acclaimed recording artist, pianist, singer, composer and arranger Eliane Elias’ distinctive musical style and artistry is one of the most celebrated and recognizable sounds in jazz and Brazilian music. She blends her Brazilian roots and alluring voice with her virtuosic instrumental jazz, her classical and compositional skills, while she consistently displays her pianistic mastery and ability to integrate the many artistic roles she takes on.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alcide Patrick Nunez was born on March 17, 1884 in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana of Isleño and French Creole descent. The family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana when he was a child. Growing up amid the Marigny and Bywater districts of New Orleans, he joined several bands in which he played guitar, although switched to clarinet about 1902. He soon became one of the top clarinetists in the city. By 1905 he was a regular in Papa Jack Laine’s band, in addition to playing with Tom Brown and sometimes led bands of his own.
Though he could play several instruments, he mainly played the clarinet and was able to improvise variations on the songs he heard. Before he was able to make music a full-time profession, Nunez worked for a while driving a mule-drawn wagon with fellow musician Chink Abraham.
In early 1916, he went north to Chicago, Illinois with Stein’s Dixie Jass Band, but he left the band shortly before they made their first recordings. After spending some time playing with Tom Brown’s band in Chicago, he went to New York City with Bert Kelly’s band and became his bandleader. He went on to help form the Louisiana Five, led by drummer Anton Lada, becoming one of the most popular bands in New York that recorded for several record labels.
In 1922, after Bert Kelly replaced him with Johnny Dodds, he returned to Chicago to lead the house band at Kelly’s Stables and played with the band of Willard Robison. Soon thereafter Nuñez began to lose his teeth, impairing his ability to play clarinet. He returned to his family in New Orleans, but after getting dentures he regained his ability to play the clarinet. He joined the police department to join the Police Band and at the same time was a member of The Moonlight Serenaders band and several other dance bands that played in New Orleans.
For a time in 1921, he settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he bought a large house but eventually returned home to New Orleans. Clarinetist Alcide Nunez, who was also known as Yellow Nunez and was one of the first musicians of New Orleans to make audio recordings, transitioned from a heart attack on September 2, 1934.
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The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is criss-crossing North America once more on a flight to the nation’s capital to take his seat in Studio K at The Kennedy Center for a command performance by vocalist Rene Marie. Opening in 1971 on the east bank of the Potomac River, this voyager first experienced the luxury and superb acoustics at the 1972 homecoming performance of Marvin Gaye as he unleashed his What’s Going On album on his adoring public. It was a magical night in the concert hall. Since then, I have had the pleasure to see a variety of jazz and soul performances like the one I will be privy to this evening. There’s a 7:30pm at 9:30pm tonight.
I met Rene in Atlanta in the Nineties and witnessed her meteoric rise in the city and then the world first hand as she captivated small and large audiences with her style and class. Most intriguing were her original compositions from which she took from life. Imaginative storytelling will take you on a journey within yourself as she relates the similarities we have in common as human beings. Listen carefully and you will reflect upon your own life.
The Kennedy Center is located at 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20566. For more info 202-467-4600 or visit notoriousjazz.com/event/rene-marie-experiment-in-truth.
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