Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has puts her unique spin on standards as well as re-envisioning jazz classics. Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, and throughout the 70’s she performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and began to turn her attention back to Jazz.

Bridgewater began self-producing in 1993, and all her albums with the exception of one, have received Grammy® nominations. Her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ella, was a double Grammy® award winner.

Bridgewater also pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony® Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz in 1975. Having recently completed a run as the lead role of Billie Holiday in the off-Broadway production of Lady Day, her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret and the Off-Broadway and West End Productions of Lady Day, for which Bridgewater received the British Laurence Olivier Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She also served as the namesake host of the long-running syndicated NPR radio program JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, produced by Becca Puliiam for WBGO.

As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. In April 2017, she was the recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Fellows Award with honors bestowed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Dee Dee subsequently hosted the Jazz Masters Award celebration for the NEA.

Dee Dee Bridgewater also launched The Woodshed Network, a non-profit partnership with 651 Arts created to mentor, connect, support, and educate women in Jazz. Bridgewater serves as Artistic Director.

Schedule of Events:

Three Stages of Entertainment!
Before the festival, join us from 11 am - 1 pm for a pre-show Latin and American jazz concert by Taisha Estrada on the Ellsworth Plaza Stage!

3:00pm: Second Stage: CantoSur
3:30pm: Mainstage: Crush Funk Brass Band
4:15pm: Second Stage: Akua Allrich and the Tribe
5:00pm: Mainstage: Paul Carr and the Jazz Collective
6:00pm: Second Stage: Chien Chien Lu and Richie Goods ‘Connected’
7:00pm: Mainstage: Marcus Johnson with Crank and Flo
8:30pm: Mainstage: Dee Dee Bridgewater

CantoSur

CantoSur was created by vocalist Cecilia Esquivel and guitarist Dani Cortaza to offer Brazilian and Latin Jazz for a variety of settings. The duo is often accompanied by top musicians from the Washington DC Metropolitan Area and New York. For this year’s performance at the Silver Spring Jazz Festival, they will feature two very special guests straight from Brazil, Marinho Boffa Jr on piano and Cris Caner as a guest vocalist.

Crush Funk Brass Band

Crush Funk brings music where it’s least expected.Blending together that NOLA sound with a DC vibe!

Akua Allrich and the Tribe

Akua Allrich’s musical roots run deeply into blues, soul and rhythm and blues, with a clear grounding in jazz and pan-African music. She is the child of a musical family. Her father, Agyei Akoto, was a founding member of the jazz group, Nation.. Jazz vocalist and DC-native Akua Allrich has proven herself to be a musician of extraordinary talent and crowd-moving passion. With finesse and charisma, this vocalist, composer and teacher, has successfully etched out a place for her unique musical expression, electrifying audiences in and around the nation’s capital with sold-out performances.

Paul Carr and the Jazz Collective

Paul Carr is an award winning saxophonist, Educator and Founder of the Jazz Academy of Music, and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival. Paul is passionately committed to the education of children and young adults, particularly as it relates to the preservation of jazz. As founder of the Jazz Academy of Music, he hosts summer camps and jazz ensembles for kids throughout the year. The Houston native has made himself indispensable to the DC jazz education and concert scene. Paul has toured Russia, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Central and South America and has shared the stage with many of the greatest names in jazz. Paul has appeared frequently as guests of Presidents at the White House.

Chien Chien Lu and Richie Goods ‘Connected’

Taiwanese composer and vibraphonist Chien Chien and Bassist Richie Goods met in trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s band, and instantly formed a strong musical bond. During the pandemic, they talked deeply about the Black Lives Matter movement and the increasing acts of violence perpetrated against Asians. They decided to do a project that would unify people and invoke imagery of love and peace.

Marcus Johson Presents Crank + Flo.

Crank + Flo is a Jazz and Gogo mesh, for those who love a different sophisticated Gogo experience. Internationally famous, homegrown star Marcus Johnson will lead the energetic performance. Marcus plays a blend of contemporary jazz stylings and hip-hop and rhythms. He describes his music as “instrumental R&B with a D.C. bounce.” Marcus began playing the piano at age nine and, from that point, he wanted to “create classics, not just hit songs.” Marcus is a founding member of the Silver Spring Jazz Festival and FLO wine.

Dee Dee Bridgewater
Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics.

A multi-hyphenate polymath and fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy-winner most recently won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee. Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, and throughout the 70’s she performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and began to turn her attention back to Jazz.

Bridgewater began self-producing with her 1993 album Keeping Tradition(Polydor/Verve) and created DDB Records in 2006 when she signed with the Universal Music Group as a producer (Bridgewater produces all of her own CDs). Releasing a series of critically-acclaimed CD's, all but one, including her wildly successful double Grammy Award-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ella - have received Grammy nominations. Bridgewater also pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz in 1975. Having recently completed a run as the lead role of Billie Holiday in the off-Broadway production of Lady Day, her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret and the Off-Broadway and West End Productions of Lady Day, for which Bridgewater received the British Laurence Olivier Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She also served as the namesake host of the long-running syndicated NPR radio program JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, produced by Becca Puliiam for WBGO.

As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. In April 2017, she was the recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Fellows Award with honors bestowed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In December 2017, Bridgewater was presented with the ASCAP Foundation Champions award acknowledging her charitable contributions.

In 2018, Bridgewater received the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award. 2019 brought her induction in the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to music and in celebration of her latest CD, Memphis, Yes...I'm Ready. That same year, Bridgewater launched The Woodshed Network, a non-profit partnership with 651 Arts created to mentor, connect, support, and educate women in Jazz. Bridgewater serves as Artistic Director with lead support by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

2020 found Dee Dee hosting the first virtual NEA Jazz Masters Virtual Tribute Concert. Following the success of the event, in 2021, she again hosted the 2021 Jazz Masters Virtual Tribute Concert, this time alongside venerable actor Delroy Lindo. In 2022, Lindo again joined Bridgewater to host the inaugural Jazz Music Awards. In 2023, Bridgewater oversaw the 4th year of The Woodshed Network program and can be found touring worldwide with her Dee Dee Bridgewater Big Band, Quartet, and in duo with Grammy-winning pianist Bill Charlap.

Date:
Saturday, September 9, 2023

Time:
3 - 10pm

Location:
Veterans Plaza.
1 Veterans Place,
Silver Spring, MD 20910

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