DC JAZZFEST 2025
Headliners
Day 5 - Sunday, Aug 31
PAUL CARR & VANESSA RUBIN
ARENA STAGE - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
1:00PM
Paul Carr, a Houston native and 1985 Howard University graduate, has dedicated his professional career to performing and promoting Jazz through education and community outreach. He carries on the Texas tenor tradition espoused by great heroes such as the late Houstonians Arnett Cobb and Don Wilkerson who served as his early idols and mentors. He grew up in inner-city Houston, Texas and was a member of the Kashmere High School Stage Band, whose director, the late Conrad Johnson, is the subject of a documentary, Thunder Soul, produced by actor, Jamie Foxx.
CHRISTIE DASHIELL
THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
2:45PM
Christie Dashiell: Proud member of a true jazz family (her bassist father is director of the Howard University jazz program, and her brothers are jazz professionals), she matriculated in music through Howard University (where she currently teaches jazz voice) and as a member of HU’s famed jazz vocal tradition Afro Blue. She is a 2025 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy nominee for her second album Journey in Black. She recently contributed to Terri Lyne Carrington’s noted recreation of the classic Max Roach/Abbey Lincoln collaboration We Insist: Freedom Now!
HIRUY TIRFE QUARTET
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
3:00PM
Winner of the 2024 DCJazzPrix, this energetic quartet is helmed by the soaring tenor saxophone of Philly-based Hiruy Tirfe, who is of Eritrean descent. He has collaborated with The Roots, Patti LaBelle and Solange Knowles, among others.
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LYLE LINK
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
PEARL STREET WAREHOUSE
3:00PM
One of the DMV’s most in-demand tenor saxophonists and flutists, he has performed with an array of jazz and pop greats. He has also performed with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In addition to leading his group, the Lyle Link Quartet, he is a music educator at the Sheridan School and the Levine School of Music.
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MAKOTO OZONE &
GREGOIRE MARET
DC JAZZFEST AT ARENA STAGE - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
4:00PM
A renowned Japanese pianist who studied at the Berklee College of Music, where he first encountered and subsequently performed with vibraphonist Gary Burton. He has made over 40 albums as a leader or co-leader, including partnerships with NEA Jazz Masters Chick Corea and Burton. Additionally he has composed film soundtracks and has worked extensively in jazz education.
This performance is presented with generous support from the Embassy of Japan, a proud partner of the DC Jazz Festival.
JONKUK KIM
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
4:00PM
Jongkuk Kim is an award-winning Billboard nominated drummer, improviser, and electronic musician from Incheon, Korea. He is a rising star in the worldwide jazz community, who is also active in the Korean K-Pop community.
This performance is made possible thanks to our collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
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EMMET COHEN TRIO
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
4:15PM
A young artist with an old soul, pianist Emmet Cohen has established himself through rewarding partnerships with his jazz elders – including NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Heath, Jimmy Cobb and Ron Carter, as well as saxophonist Houston Person – both in-studio and onstage. During the pandemic, his “Live from Emmet’s Place” concerts from his Harlem apartment became hugely popular, garnering millions of views.
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TODD MARCUS
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF- SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
PEARL STREET WAREHOUSE
5:00PM
The Baltimore-based composer and bandleaders has been aptly characterized as one of only a handful of jazz artists in the world to focus their work primarily on the bass clarinet, though he also excels on the clarinet. As a bandleader he has embraced the jazz clarinet tradition, including collaborations with such masters of the instrument as Don Byron.
DADO MORONI TRIO
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
TRANSIT PIER 5:15PM
CORCORAN HOLT SUPERGROUP
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
5:40PM
The Corcoran Holt Supergroup w/George Cables, Steve Turre, Sean Jones, Billy Harper & Jeff 'Tain' Watts. The 2024/2025 DC Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence, Corcoran Holt is a DC native and graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Currently teaching at Arizona State University, he has graced toured and recorded with jazz pioneers includings NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Cobb, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath and Kenny Garrett. Corcoran began his musical pursuits at age 4 when he studied West African percussion instruments.
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THE JAZZMEIA HORN QUARTET
DC JAZZFEST AT ARENA STAGE - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
6:30PM
After winning the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015, this magnetic vocalist has received two GRAMMY nominations. Her broad repertoire ranges from jazz standards n the tradition of Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan to distinctive jazz remakes of material by artists like Stevie Wonder.
GARY BARTZ NTU TROOP
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
6:45PM
The recipient of a 2024 NEA Jazz Master award, alto and soprano saxophonist Gary Bartz is a proud son of Baltimore whose legacy runs deep in the DMV, where he has developed a robust audience. Bartz’s Ntu Troop is an electrifying ensemble that delivers a powerful message of struggle, love and hope, exploring Black consciousness within the realm of jazz.
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JOHN SCOFIELD TRIO
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
7:15PM
John Scofield’s guitar work has influenced jazz since the late 70’s and is going strong today. Possessor of a very distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls somewhere between post-bop, funk edged jazz, and R & B.
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ALLAN HARRIS
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
PEARL STREET WAREHOUSE
7:30PM
Allan Harris: Is a vocalist and guitarist who comes out of the rich baritone jazz vocal tradition embodied by such masters as Joe Williams, Johnny Hartman and the vocalese expressions of Jon Hendricks and Eddie Jefferson. Harris has also amply displayed his folkloric sensibilities through his much-lauded expression of the oft-overlooked Black cowboy traditions in his album and subsequent show Cross That River. Harris’ current project The Poetry of Jazz brings his voice to jazz expressions of the poetry of a spectrum of writers from Shakespeare to Langston Hughes, Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
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KEYON HARROLD
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
8:10PM
A thoroughly modern jazz trumpeter, as a bandleader Keyon Harrold has expressed his artistry in recorded and performance settings that incorporate the art of improvisationers and music of his generation, hip hop. His career has ranged from performing on trumpet in the Miles Ahead film about Miles Davis to crafting instrumental backdrops for Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige and a host of other musical greats.
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RON CARTER
DC JAZZFEST AT ARENA STAGE - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
8:15PM
The Guiness Book of World Records designee as the most recorded bassist in the immense history of recorded music, 2024/2025 DC Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence and NEA Jazz Master Ron Carter is quite simply one of the most distinguished artists in American Music. Though his incomparable public profile was set primarily as a member of the great Miles Davis’ mid-60s “second great quintet” with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Miles, Ron Carter has contributed to a vast array of recorded projects and on bandstands across the globe as an extraordinary bandleader – from his legendary trio with the late guitarist Russell Malone, to his peerless “Piccolo Quartet”, which he led from his unique piccolo bass instrument, to his ongoing big band projects and various & sundry ensembles in between.
EDDIE PALMIERI TRIBUTE
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
9:00PM
A special tribute to the late NEA Jazz Master Eddie Palmieri. Band Members will include:
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Louis Fouché - saxophone, musical director
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Brian Lynch - trumpet
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Jimmy Bosch - trombone
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Zaccai Curtis - piano
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Luques Curtis - bass
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Camilo Molina - timbales
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Vicente "Little Johnny" Rivero - congas
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José Claussell - bongos & cowbell
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CORCORAN HOLT QUINTET + JAM
DC JAZZFEST AT THE WHARF - SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
PEARL STREET WAREHOUSE
10:15PM
The Corcoran Holt Quintet + JAM feat. Benito Gonzalez, Josh Evans, McClenty Hunter, Stacey Dillard. The 2024/2025 DC Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence, Corcoran Holt is a DC native and graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Currently teaching at Arizona State University, he has graced toured and recorded with jazz pioneers includings NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Cobb, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath and Kenny Garrett. Corcoran began his musical pursuits at age 4 when he studied West African percussion instruments.
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