2019 DC Jazz Festival: a picture review
June is African American Music Appreciation Month. It is the time of year chosen to celebrate the artistic accomplishments and influences of African-American people. Music born of struggle and triumph, captivity and what it means to be free, spirituality and religious doctrine, politics and protest, racial pride and learned insecurities, romantic love and longing, African-American music is the fabric of America. From June 6-16, 2019, Washington, DC brought in African-American Music Month with a celebration of America’s classical music (better known as jazz) during its 15th annual DC Jazz Festival. Artists from around the globe converged on the District for over 150 performances presented at 40 venues. From Anacostia to the Kennedy Center to U Street to the Wharf, the DC Jazz Festival brought jazz from around the world to the communities within this nation’s capital. Not only that, but the DC Jazz Festival also provided musical/performance opportunities to the sons and daughters of DC’s own jazz music scene.
Here’s a recap in pictures of performances held during the Festival’s closing weekend:
Jose James at The Anthem 6/14/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
Bobby Sparks of Snarky Puppy at The Anthem 6/14/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
DC Jazz Festival’s Executive Director, Sunny Sumter, introducing the Brass-A-Holics at The Anthem 6/15/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
The Brass-A-Holics performed at The Anthem 6/15/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
Jon Batiste at The Anthem 6/15/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
Jon Batiste (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
A member of Terri Lyne Carrington’s Soul Science at The Wharf on 6/16/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
Trumpeter Sean Jones performing at The Wharf (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
tap dancer Brinae Ali performing with Sean Jones’ Dizzy Spellz at The Wharf on 6/16/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
piano prodigy Joey Alexander closes out the DC Jazz Festival with his performance at The Wharf on 6/16/19 (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
The Ambassador of Denmark, Ms. Lone Dencker Wisborg, welcomes the crowd and offers a brief history of the relationship between jazz and Denmark during the 2019 DC Jazz Festival’s Opening Ceremony. (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
Guitarist Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy (photo by Bridget Arnwine)
