(BALTIMORE, MD) -- Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has announced over $64,000 to support eight artists and 22 Network members through the 2020-2021 Jazz Touring Network program. Grants will support 33 engagements across the mid-Atlantic region.
MAAF is working with all of our grantees to be as flexible as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of this press release, Jazz Touring Network presenters and artists were working together to select engagement dates while taking into account the necessary health precautions to ensure a successful partnership. For more information on a particular engagement, please contact the venue directly.
The Jazz Touring Network (JTN) is a presenter-based membership program designed to expand the presentation of jazz throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Member organizations have access to the tools necessary to develop and sustain the art form as an ongoing part of their annual programming. JTN focuses on performing arts presenters with little-to-no experience presenting jazz, and who also work with communities underserved by the arts. The program offers opportunities for professional development, peer networking, and funding for regional jazz tours.
Since 2001, MAAF has supported over 40 organizations through the program. Today there are 27 members of the JTN representing seven states and the District of Columbia. Click here for more information and a complete list of current network members.
The Jazz Touring Network is made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts' Regional Touring Program.
Collaboratively developed by members of the network, the tours include:
Anat Cohen Quartetinho, New York, NY. Anat Cohen has always felt a deep connection to the joy, inventiveness, and deep grooves of jazz’s rich and eclectic musical traditions. The prolific clarinetist-saxophonist’s latest musical project, The Anat Cohen Quartetinho, was birthed from her GRAMMY-nominated Tentet and explores a myriad of musical influences, both acoustic and electronic, from Israel, the US, and Brazil. Quartetinho features Anat (clarinet & bass clarinet), Vitor Gonçalves (accordion & piano), Tal Mashiach (bass & 7-string guitar), and James Shipp (percussion, vibraphone, and electronics).
Anat Cohen Quartetinho will be presented by:
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Queens College- Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Flushing, NY
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez.
Ladies Sing the Blues, featuring vocalists Catherine Russell, Charenee Wade, and Brianna Thomas, New York, NY. They channel 1920s blues divas Bessie Smith (the “Empress of the Blues”); Mamie Smith (the “Queen of the Blues”); Ma Rainey (the “Mother of the Blues”); stage and screen icon, Ethel Waters, and legends like Billie Holiday, Alberta Hunter, and Ida Cox. Originally presented at Jazz At Lincoln Center, this concert features an amazing 7-piece band including horn charts adapted from the original recordings.
Ladies Sing The Blues will be presented by:
Kingsborough Community College - On Stage at Kingsborough, Brooklyn, NY
Montgomery County Community College - Lively Arts, Blue Bell, PA
Queens College - Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Flushing, NJ
University of Richmond - Modlin Center for the Arts, Richmond, VA
Photo Credit: Frank Stuart.
Christie Dashiell, Washington, DC. Born in Washington, DC and raised in Greenville, North Carolina, Christie Dashiell is a graduate of Howard University and the Manhattan School of Music. As a member of Afro-Blue, Howard’s premier vocal jazz ensemble, Dashiell appeared on NBC’s “The Sing Off.” She has twice received recognition in DownBeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards as Outstanding Soloist and Best Vocalist in the Graduate College division. Dashiell tours with her own quartet, and has performed with Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Smokey Robinson, Esperanza Spalding, and Fred Hammond. She has appeared at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, DC Jazz Festival, and Winter Jazzfest in New York City.
Christie Dashiell will be presented by:
CapitalBop, Washington, DC
Christina Cultural Arts Center, Wilmington, DE
Photo Credit: Colville Heskey.
Dayramir Gonzales, Los Angeles, CA. Dayramir Gonzalez is a three-time Cubadisco award-winner and the first Cuban national to receive Berklee College of Music’s “Presidential Scholarship” and the 2013 Wayne Shorter Award for most outstanding jazz composer. During this tour, Dayramir will share the music of his journey as a young Havana-native who brings the Afro-Cuban music legacy infused with the vanguard sounds of New York to the United States. His music reflects his ancestral heritage of pulsating West African motifs to his contemporary take on the classical Cuban tradition of the late 19th century as well as a modern approach to the large orchestral ballads inspired by the artistry of jazz legends like Billy Strayhorn and Gil Evans.
Dayramir Gonzalez will be presented by:
Artvolution Cultural Innovation Project, Inc., Bensalem, PA
Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
Photo Credit: Rob Klein.
Jennifer Hartswick & Nick Cassarino Duo, Nashville, TN & Brooklyn, NY. Trumpeter and vocalist Jennifer Hartswick and guitarist Nick Cassarino have been playing music, writing, laughing, and storytelling together since meeting in their native Vermont almost two decades ago. Now based in Nashville, TN, Hartswick is best known as a founding member of the Trey Anastasio Band, and has recorded and shared the stage with Herbie Hancock, Phish, Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones, Christian McBride and many others. Cassarino, who resides in Brooklyn, NY, performed as a member of hip-hop collective Lifted Crew and toured alongside rap icons Slick Rick and Big Daddy Kane before forming internationally renowned The Nth Power onstage at a late-night Jazz Fest jam session in 2013.
Hartswick and Cassarino have each made names for themselves, touring tirelessly, but together their powerful jazz-fusion originals are delivered with passion, dedication and sophistication that is evident in their joyous, soulful performances, providing audiences with a truly special musical experience.
Jennifer Hartswick & Nick Cassarino Duo will be presented by:
Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, DC
Binghamton University - Anderson Center for the Arts, Binghamton, NY
Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg, WV
Christina Cultural Arts Center, Wilmington, DE
Jefferson Center, Roanoke, VA
Salisbury University - Cultural Affairs, Salisbury, MD
Photo Credit: Michelle Stancil.
Joel Ross - Good Vibes, Brooklyn, NY. Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist and composer Joel Ross has a way of being everywhere interesting at once: from deeply innovative albums (Makaya McCraven’s Universal Beings, Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens’ In Common) to reliably revolutionary combos (Marquis Hill’s Blacktet, Peter Evans’ Being & Becoming) to an ever-present force on the New York jazz stage. In 2019 he joined the Blue Note Records roster; adding his name to an illustrious jazz vibraphone legacy on the label that extends from Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson to Stefon Harris. His debut record Kingmaker was one of the exceptional releases of the year and while it was a great recording, live, along with his band, is where his vision truly rises to astounding heights.
Joel Ross - Good Vibes will be presented by:
Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown, MD
CapitalBop, Washington, DC
Christina Cultural Arts Center, Wilmington, DE
Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Brooklyn, NY
Jefferson Center, Roanoke, VA
Queens College - Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Flushing, NY
Virginia Arts Festival, Norfolk, VA
Photo Credit: Lauren Desberg.
Marc Cary, Baltimore, MD. In a jazz world brimming with brilliant and adventurous pianists, musician and composer Marc Cary stands apart by way of pedigree and design as one of New York’s best jazz pianists. None of his prestigious peer group ever set the groove behind the drums in Washington, DC go-go bands nor are any others graduates of both Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln's daunting bandstand academies. On top of his expansive recording catalog and international touring, he is currently teaching the Undergraduate and Graduate improvisation programs at Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School, and with this — alongside his long-standing acclaimed performance based jam sessions The Harlem Sessions — Cary is an indisputable connector between the jazz generations.
Marc Carey will be presented by:
CapitalBop, Washington, DC
Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
Kente Arts Alliance, Pittsburgh, PA
Light Up The Queen, Wilmington, DE
Photo Credit: Vikram Valluri
Victor Provost, Crofton, MD. Victor Provost is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading voices on the unique, and often misunderstood, steel pan (or steel drum). Through appearances at concert halls, clubs, and stages around the world, he has been meticulously developing a reputation as a “dazzling” soloist, crafting an impressive improvisational voice and style. With a strong foundation in Bebop, a contemporary sensibility, and deep roots in Caribbean music, he seamlessly melds and mixes genres. The Washington D.C. City Paper’s “Jazz Percussionist of the Year” six years running, his 2017 recording Bright Eyes (Sunnyside) debuted at #5 on the iTunes Top 40 Jazz Charts and was met with praise from The Washington Post, Downbeat Magazine, Hot House Magazine, and numerous artists and presenters.
Victor Provost will be presented by:
CapitalBop, Washington, DC
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Brooklyn, NY
Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
MCG Jazz, Pittsburgh, PA
Photo Credit: Chris Drukker.
About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation develops partnerships and programs that reinforce artists' capacity to create and present work and advance access to and participation in the arts. The Foundation was created in 1979 and is a private non-profit organization that is closely allied with the region's state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. It combines funding from state and federal resources with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to address needs in the arts from a regional, national, and international perspective.
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