The District Chronicles

Issue date: 6/7/09 Section: Neighborhood

Media Credit: DEJF

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The DC Sports and Entertainment Commission and the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival (DEJF) has announced a partnership to host Jazz in the 'Hoods, a series of nearly 80 jazz performances and showcases spread out over 10 days and 32 venues in the District. Jazz in the 'Hoods is a major program of the DEJF.

This year's fifth annual DEJF celebrates New Orleans and runs June 5-15 with performances by the Marsalis family, Harry Connick, Jr., and Terence Blanchard among others.

"We are excited to partner with the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival to bring music and entertainment to our city in a widely accessible way with Jazz in the 'Hoods," said Erik Moses, CEO of the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission. "The DEJF has done an outstanding job organizing this world-class destination music event year after year. We hope District residents and visitors take advantage of the opportunity to experience this quintessential American art form in neighborhoods throughout the nation's capital."

Jazz in the 'Hoods brings the excitement and atmosphere of larger festival activities to the more intimate atmosphere of favorite neighborhood establishments. With a variety of free and ticketed performances in 32 clubs, restaurants, hotels, and galleries in Adams Morgan, Capitol Hill, Downtown, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Southeast, Southwest, U Street NW, and Woodley Park, Jazz in the 'Hoods is expected to draw 5,000 people "Jazz in the 'Hoods is designed to showcase the unique vitality of jazz as an intimate art form, as a music that brings people together in clubs, lounges and restaurants like it did in the U Street corridor back in Duke Ellington's time and like it's doing now," said Sunny Sumter, Managing Director of the DEJF. "We're excited at how our partnership with the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission can make this program even more accessible for residents and tourists alike.  It really is the perfect fit."

Celebrating the rich jazz history of Washington, D.C., the DEJF is the largest music festival in the city with more than 100 programs in almost 50 venues.  It draws thousands of residents and visitors to see local and world-renowned jazz artists and to pay tribute to legendary jazz greats.

This year's 5th annual festival June 5-15 salutes New Orleans, the "birthplace of jazz," and its unique musical heritage with artists including Irma Thomas; Buckwheat Zydeco; Terence Blanchard; Harry Connick, Jr.,; Ellis Marsalis and his sons Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, Jason and Ellis III; Rebirth Brass Band; and many others.

"This year, we flew in 11 different groups from New Orleans that represent the full range of the New Orleans jazz," said Charles Fishman, the founder and executive producer of DEJF.

Ellis Marsalis will be honored with the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award at the closing concert of the festival June 15 at the Kennedy Center, which also features Harry Connick, Jr., and Ellis' sons: Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, Jason and Ellis III.

"The June 15 concert at the Kennedy Center presents a rare opportunity for the public to see Ellis Marsalis perform with his sons and Harry Connick, Jr.," Fishman said.

Highlights of the festival include two free Jazz on The National Mall concerts June 13-14; free educational activities including student concerts and two free Jazz 'n Families Fun Days at the Phillips Collection June 6-7; and the popular Jazz in the 'Hoods and Brunchin' in the 'Hoods.

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