"If we are to make progress in modern music, we must be willing and able to open our minds to new ideas and developments." --Mary Lou Williams

Jane Ira Bloom by Susan Cook

Highlights of this year’s three-day festival include performances by Lynne Arriale, Flora Purim, Hiromi, and the IAJE Sisters in Jazz Collegiate All-Star Band, as well as the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award presentation to Jane Ira Bloom, the finals of the third Mary Lou Williams Jazz Pianist Competition, and festival jam session.

Lynn Arriale

Festival Performers (Terrace Theater, Tickets $30 per evening)

Thursday, May 10 (7 pm)

• Lynne Arriale. For sheer elegance of style and composition, pianist Lynne Arriale has no peer in American jazz. With original works rooted in folk traditions and melodic passion as well as inventive reconstructions of jazz standards and pop classics (e.g., from Monk to Lennon), her “brilliant musicianship and bandstand instincts place her among the top jazz pianists of the day" (New York Times).

• Karen Briggs. Known as a “hybrid” violinist given her classical training and nontraditional repertoire, Karen Briggs creates energetic and soulful music blending Latin, African, classical, R&B and jazz, embellished with rhythmic bowing. Briggs comes back for her third festival appearance.

• Flora Purim, featuring Airto Moreira. Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim is a two-time Grammy nominee and four-time winner of Down Beat’s “Best Female Vocalist” title. This special performance features Flora and husband, all-star percussionist Airto Moreira, her partner for more than three decades.

Friday, May 11 (7 pm)

Jeannie Cheatham © Meredith French

• Mayuko Katakura won the 2006 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Pianist Competition, and was invited to perform in this year's festival. The daughter of two jazz musicians, the native of Sendai, Japan began playing piano at age five. Although she initially studied classical music, she ultimately was hooked by the music of Thelonious Monk, who became her main influence. This is a significant talent at the dawn of her career.

• Anat Cohen has evolved as one of the key voices of her generation on both tenor sax and clarinet. A native of Tel-Aviv, Israel, she’s equally comfortable in modern and traditional jazz idioms as well as classical, Latin, and Afro-Cuban styles. Since relocating to New York in 1998, Cohen has been a major force in the development of modern jazz and global music.

• Jeannie Cheatham and the Sweet Baby Blues Band. Kansas City singer/pianist Jeannie Cheatham has been described as exuberant, soulful, growling and howling. With her Sweet Baby Blues Band, Jeannie is dedicating this performance to her late husband, bass trombonist and musical partner Jimmy Cheatham, who passed away in January. The band’s motto is “Nobody goes home feeling bad.” Count on it.

• The Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award: Jane Ira Bloom. With a career spanning more than 25 years, soprano saxophonist/composer Jane Ira Bloom has been described as "a true jazz original...a restlessly creative spirit, and a modern day role model for any aspiring musician who dares to follow his or her own vision" (Bill Milkowski). The 2007 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award will be awarded to Bloom in tribute to her lifetime of service to jazz.

Saturday, May 12 (7 pm, sold out)

Anat Cohen

• Hiromi. Japanese prodigy Hiromi Uhera was barely done with piano studies at the Berklee College of Music when she released her stunning Telarc debut, Another Mind. A protégé of the great Ahmad Jamal, Hiromi recently released her fourth recording (Time Control) with her long-standing trio, adding electric guitar to the mix that still defies classification. Says the composer/pianist, "I don't want to put a name on my music. It's just the union of what I've been listening to and what I've been learning. It has some elements of classical music, rock, and jazz, but I don't want to give it a name.” Jamal, on the other hand, gives the music a simple label—“Amazing.”

• Stephanie Jordan "sets hearts aflutter," says All About Jazz. "She's a singer with poise and pizzazz, with a voice and an appealing look that bring to mind Carmen McRae and Lena Horne." Other names that come to mind listening to Jordan include Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson and Dianne Reeves.

• Ann Patterson's Maiden Voyage. The Los Angeles–based Maiden Voyage is one of the nation’s leading big bands. Under the leadership of saxophonist Ann Patterson, the 17-piece band has been performing since 1980, evolving from a novelty act to a well-respected ensemble. Returning to the festival for the first time since 2000, the band will perform a musical tribute to Melba Liston (the 1997 Women in Jazz Award winner).

Free Events (Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, no tickets needed)

Stephanie Jordan

• IAJE Sisters in Jazz Collegiate All-Stars (May 10 & May 13 at 6 pm). Presented in collaboration with the International Association of Jazz Education, the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate All-Star Band was selected via audition and debuted at the 2007 IAJE Conference.

• Third Annual Women in Jazz Pianist Competition (May 11, 12:30–2:30 pm & 6–7 pm).
  In honor of Mary Lou Williams, the Kennedy Center presents this exciting two-part pianist competition, in which five finalists get to display their talents in front of Millennium Stage audiences and a jury of renowned international musicians. The winner will be announced later the same evening during the festival's 7 pm performance in the Terrace Theater. The winner will be invited to perform as part of the 13th annual festival in 2008.

• Jam Session (May 12, 12:30–2:30 pm). Bassist Miriam Sullivan, drummer Lucianna Padmore, and the newly named winner of the 2007 Women in Jazz Pianist Competition invite musicians to the stage for this annual impromptu jam—always a blast!
  
  

For remaining tickets for the festival, visit www.kennedy-center.org or call (202) 467-4600. Kennedy Center Jazz is sponsored by Cadillac; media sponsors include WAMU 88.5 FM and WPFW 89.3 FM radio.