The proudest legacy of the late Dr. Billy Taylor's reign as the Kennedy Center's artistic director for jazz is, by his own account, the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. "It was the first thing I wanted to do at the Kennedy Center," he told me in a 2009 interview. "When I told [...]
Maria Schneider.
PRELUDE
Dee Dee Bridgewater was wearing a cowboy hat. If she explained this, I missed it.
ANNE DRUMMOND
Drummond, a flutist, began by duetting with bassist Brandi Disterheft on her original "Swing Thing," then brought out her quartet (Klaus Mueller on piano, Mauricio Zotarelli on drums) for the Brazilian standard "Melancia." The band has a clear division [...]
Dee Dee Bridgewater.
HAILEY NISWANGER
Winner of last year's Women in Jazz Festival Competition, Hailey Niswanger is an alto saxophonist—19 years old and a student at Berklee. She thus walks a fine line: How much do you criticize a kid who's still learning the basics? Is her position one where criticism is more important or more irrelevant [...]
Esperanza Spalding.
PRELUDE
Host Dee Dee Bridgewater is probably the world's sexiest 59-year-old bald woman.
ACT ONE
24-year-old Esperanza Spalding's star is rising—she's the youngest-ever instructor at Berklee; has appeared on Letterman and Kimmel; and played the White House twice this year. It's not hard to see why, since she's even more talented than she is charming and self-confident. [...]
Mary Lou Williams cut an enormous figure in jazz history. From 1924, when she began playing piano in public (at the age of 14) to her Carnegie Hall duet with avant-garde titan Cecil Taylor in 1977, Williams was involved in every development in the music. She was a pioneering broadcaster, one of jazz's most sought-after [...]
