Swinging back into things Jazz performances make a triumphant return after two years of virtual performances

By Kyla Smith and Sasha Vesensky Staff Writers

The DC Jazz Festival (DC JazzFest) was an idea started on a paper napkin in 2004 by Grammy award-winning producer Charles Fishman. Fishman realized that there were no major jazz festivals in D.C. and decided to change that. “So he walked and talked to several stakeholders in D.C., and in 2004, a nonprofit was born,” DC JazzFest CEO Sunny Sumter says. “Fast forward [to] right before the pandemic… we’re at over 175 concerts over 10 days in more than 40 venues in all eight wards of the nation’s capital.”

In the early twentieth century, jazz was born in New Orleans out of the Black American experience. Evolving from slave songs and spirituals, it gave many a new chance at musical expression. Aditya Das is a Blair senior who plays piano in the Blair jazz band. “[Jazz] was a very big form for Black people to express themselves through music and express [their] voice,” he says. “It gave them a voice that they didn’t otherwise have in society at the time, and I think that that’s still continuing.”

D.C.-based jaz group

Greater U Street Jazz

Collective’s name pays homage to the voices of those who migrated out of the south during Jim Crow and birthed neighborhoods like U Street in D.C. and other similar cities.

“The U Streets and all the other cities in the Great Migration gave birth to some of the greatest intellectual, artistic, [and] scientific geniuses the world [has] known, and that’s the greater U Street neighborhood we’re talking about,” bassist for the Collective Thomas View says. “We may use music to celebrate it, but it’s not about mimicking Broadway or something like that. It’s about a statement of a people who came here with nothing and made something out of nothing, and it may be one [of the] greatest success stories in the history of human beings on planet Earth in my opinion.”

Jazz has a rich, deep history in American culture and has connected people across many communities. “Jazz invites everybody to the table,” Sumter says. “If you go and you’re listening to jazz musicians all around the world, you see they’re all colors, all ages, all genders, and they perform all kinds of jazz music.” Jazz is about supporting other artists and building community, something which continued even when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live performances.

During the pandemic, Michael Philips, music director of Jazz Kitchen Productions and co-host of the Takoma Park radio show “In the Jazz Kitchen,” helped conduct over 200 outdoor concerts that provided a space for people to see live performances during a time when many people felt the strain of being cut off from community experiences. “You don’t realize until you see some live performance, how bad it’s been, being deprived of that,” Philips says.

The outdoor performances were hosted in private yards, and a small fee was charged to provide an income for the performers. “For some of them, it was a financial lifeline,” he says. “So… the hosts pay a fee, and then guests… that came knew in advance that they would be expected to provide tips… and they were very generous.”

These performances were not only important to the artists and musicians on stage, but also the audience members experiencing their music. “People were very emotional about it,” Philips says. “Some people cried at the beauty and just the life-affirming feeling of art being performed on a beautiful day, in the sun, with the trees, and the birds; [they] hadn’t had that for months… and so it resulted in a real emotional outpouring for some of them.” come see the show, or you can watch it from the comfort of your living room. But we’re not doing that as a jazz institution,” she says. “As a performing arts presenter, we believe that people need a live experience; we believe in the experience [happening] in person.”

Like Jazz Kitchen Productions, DC JazzFest also hosted shows during the pandemic but provided them virtually. “We did a great job of going virtual, and we were able to get 200,000 people [who] attended virtually because people had nothing to do in 2020. A lot of them tuned into Jazzfest. So that was really beautiful. That was a wonderful way that we could still do the music,” Sumter says.

For jazz collective pianist Pete Frassrand, performing live again has brought satisfaction not only to himself but also his audience, strengthening the idea that music has the power to unite. “There’s this feeling of joy being able to perform together in a space live with others; I think audiences have been more receptive, and maybe we all appreciate what we’ve been missing for the last couple of years,” Frassrand says.

Silverpatrons

Diamond Mr. Eric W. and Dr. Jamie S. Padmore

Platinum

Gold

Silver Bronze

Kate Stewart - Susan Heavey

In the last year, live jazz performances have been returning. Sumter believes in the importance of having live performances for the festival instead of continuing streaming performances. “Live streaming [has] never been better and a lot of people in the arts are offering streaming options—you can

While the genre continues to evolve, jazz artists still have the job of honoring ancestors and the musicians who came before them. As performances continue in the future, View acknowledges the driving forces for musicians like himself. “[There is a] responsibility to the people who didn’t make it... to enjoy life that we have and to make music and to share it enthusiastically, and authentically.”

Chris Moriarity - Diane Kelleher - Jennie Guilfoyle and Mark Swartz - Pamela Sumner Coffey - Stenzler FamilySusan Euling - Tim Ernst and Grace Manubay - Timothy Ernst

Chenmuren Zhang - Emil Parker - Geoffrey Egnal - Joseph P Kowal - Katherine and Dan Hinckley - Katy and Bart Friedman - Marcela and Philip Bender - Mark Amaral - Mitch Warren & Joanna Slaney - Peter Colavito - Stefanie Weiss - Stuart Guterman

Amy Cooke - Anne Pfitzer - Alison MacDonald - Cathy Feingold - Cathy Henderson - Claudia Deane - Corinne

Nash Sauri - Elizabeth Keyes - Gary Anderson - Gary MacDonald - Hans Riemer - Jason & Jamie Fasteau - Jorge

Munoz - Katherine & Dan Hinckley - Kathy Cole - Kurt and Dot Kasik - Lorig Charkoudian - Maria VélezMckinley Jovanovic - Mica Bevington - Michael Newman - Nicholas Jovanovic - Nina Schwartz - Pamela Winston - Reemberto Rodriguez - Rex Robison - Ron and Connie Hanson - Sarah Hanson - Tami Spire - The Holmquist Family - Marina Deane-Gonzalez