The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival at the Hilton Rockville Through Feb. 21

Call the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival a reincarnation. You once knew it as the East Coast Jazz Festival, the area’s annual midwinter jazz event, the beloved creation of singer/educator Ronnie Wells, who founded the event in 1992 and died in 2007. But this year the festival resurges with a new name and a new captain: D.C. saxophonist Paul Carr. Under his guidance, the MAJF gathers the cream of the D.C. jazz scene and the region’s most promising student musicians into the festival’s longtime venue, along with some nationally known jazz greats. The highlight of that mélange promises to be tonight’s performance by the Paul Carr Quintet, when the saxophonist plays with local bassist Michael Bowie and three world-renowned players: pianist Mulgrew Miller, trumpeter Terrell Stafford, and drummer Lewis Nash. But even that star-studded session is icing on the cake.

THE FESTIVAL TAKES PLACE FRIDAY TO SUNDAY AT THE HILTON ROCKVILLE, 1750 ROCKVILLE PIKE. $135-$175. INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS $15-$45. (301) 468-1100.

Our Readers Say

This is the best news since I ctarted attending tne ECJF ON annual basis, from 1998 'til Ronnie's passing.
I am so grateful for the resurging of one of the most "REAL JAZZ FESTIVALS" left in the United States of Ameica.
The work shops and the allottment of time for Jazz history, makes this event "A Love, Supreme"
If there are still rooms available, I shall be there.
Yes, thank God for Jazz,Papa Blues and Mother Spirituals made for us a fine baby.

Leave a Comment

Note: HTML tags are not allowed in comments.
Comments Shown. Turn Comments Off.