Live! Woodrow Wilson Plaza Free Summer Performance Series features the George V Johnson Jr Quartet

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Free Summer Performance Series

 

Ronald Reagan Building

 

Live!  Woodrow Wilson Plaza

Kick-Off Performance
Monday, June 13th at Noon
Smokey Robinson

 

June 13 - September 23
Monday through Friday 
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm weather permitting

From salsa to strings, and blues to swing, Live! on Woodrow Wilson Plaza features hot entertainment in a cool café atmosphere throughout the summer. The free performances feature world-renowned entertainers in a variety of flavors, such as African dance, Celtic folk songs, jazz violin, hip hop, Latin swing and pop rock.

Live! continues every weekday until September 23th, when it concludes with a special 5:00 p.m. performance by the Godfather of Go-Go, Mr. Chuck Brown. There is plenty of outdoor seating so take the Metro, grab a lunch from Aria and spend the afternoon grooving.

 

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Pictures of Live!

Live! 2011 Calendar of Events

Schedule subject to change

 

(Due to Liz Briones Cancellation)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 @ Noon

 

DC's Premier Jazz Vocalist makes a Rare Performance

 

GEORGE V JOHNSON JR 

One the most exciting & talented vocalist on the jazz scene~~~Washington Post

George V Johnson Jr

Executive Director & Founder

Washington DC Jazz Network

240.694.7560

 

Over 40 years of on stage experience...

Vocalist, Lyricist, Actor, Recording Artist, 

Commentaries, TV, Radio, Voice Overs, Theater & Concert Producer, Promoter,

Publisher, Consultant, Publicist, Jazz Radio Host,

Jazz Vocalese Workshop Instructor,

Vocal Coach, Playwright, Blogger, Music Therapist, 

 Internet Marketing & Advertising, Website designer and more...

 

THE LEGACY CONTINUES...

 

THE FATHER OF THE ART OF JAZZ VOCALESE

EDDIE JEFFERSON

 

One of my students from Washington DC

George V Johnson Jr

He's Next In Line!  Next In Line!

 

1977 Baltimore Left Bank Jazz Society

Passing the torch!!

Deemed "NEXT IN LINE" by the late great Eddie Jefferson and considered as one of the foremost practitioners of the "Art of Jazz Vocalese", George V Johnson Jr, first turned heads on his debut recording in 1981 with “Pharaoh Sanders” on the LP REJOICE and was credited with vocals and lyric on Coltrane’s classic “Moments Notice “, later reissued on CD by Evidence Music. 

 

Johnson was mentored and performed regularly with “James Moody &

 

LOU DONALDSON

 

July 9, 2011 @ Birdland Jazz Club, NYC

 

Two of the greatest saxophonist in the history of Jazz. His close association with Moody led to many Local & National Live Radio and Television Broadcasts. He has also performed with John Malachi, Shirley Horn, Buck Hill, Richie Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Pharoah Sanders, Benny Golson, Don Sickler, David 'Fathead' Newman, Wes Anderson, Clifford Jordan, George Coleman, Frank Foster, Dr. Art Davis, Keter Betts, Calvin Jones, Zoot Simms, Al Cohn, Herman Foster, Harold Mabern, Kenny Barron, Mulgrew Miller, Rueben Brown, Marshall Hawkins, John Hicks, Barry Harris, Kirt Lightsey, Philly Joe Jones, Idris Muhammad, Larry Ridley and the Jazz Legacy Ensemble and many more. Johnson has entertained and performed at clubs, festivals, concert halls world wide.

 

2011 DC Jazz Festival Jazz 'N' the Hood "Bohemian Caverns

 

Jimmy Heath

Imagine listening to a seasoned jazz musician rip into a bebop solo so sizzling and smooth it makes your senses tingle. Close your eyes and play along. Try and picture the sweat bouncing off the performer like the notes that leap through the air. See if you can hear the mesmerizing melodies go up and down, bringing you through joy and sadness, taking your emotions on a sensory experience unlike any other. Now picture that musician and his beloved instrument: His voice. That's the art of vocalese, and that's what native D.C. son George V Johnson Jr. has been doing for over 40 years....Working as a performer, a D.C. Metrobus driver and a New Jersey train conductor at different times throughout his life, Johnson's latest work has taken the form of pedagogy. He has become a teacher and mentor to both aspiring and established vocalists from around the area, and most recently he has lent his years of experience and talent to AU, leading the AU jazz vocal ensemble. ~~By Ben Lozovsky, The Eagle (American Univ.)

 

 

 

 

Featuring

 

Richard Doron Johnson - piano

 

Richard graduated from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at NEC under the direction of influential Ron Carter. Upon arriving in New York City within a matter of weeks Richard became a member of Wynton Marsalis' Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra from 2000-2003. He also was part of Russell Malone's quartet as well as Irvin Mayfield's quintet. On May 24th 2001, Richard led his own trio on a two month tour of South and Central America.

Richard continues to work extensively with jazz icons such as Russell Malone, Wynton Marsalis, Arturo Sandoval, Vanessa Rubin, Bobby Watson and Herbie Hancock. Currently Richard has been spending a lot of effort working to educate youth of all ages. He has recently completed residencies with Jazz Aspen and the Thelonious Monk Institute. He is also on the faculty for the Middle School Jazz Academy, which is a new program led by Jazz at Lincoln Center . He is also writing and teaching a new program for high school students at the Brooklyn Academy . His Reach AFAR “Jazz to Hip-Hop” programs have been extremely popular in schools across Atlanta in conjunction with the performing band “AFAR.” In addition to these activities, Richard is keeping an active jazz performance schedule. His current jazz trio features Carlos Henriquez on acoustic bass and Ali Jackson on drums.

 

Week #3

 

A Member of the Washington DC Jazz Network

James King - bass

 

 Born in Houston Texas has made the Washington DC area his musical home for the last 30 years. Working with both local and national acts such as Stanley Turrentine, Gary Bartz, Buck Hill, Shirley Horn, John Malachi, Sharon Clark, Max Roach, Sonny Fortune, Harold Mabern, Gary Thomas, Geri Allen, Ronnie Mathews, Ronnie Burrage, John Hicks, James Williams, Jon Hendricks, Junior Cook, James Moody, Pharoah Sanders, Eddie Henderson, Steve Williams, Barry Harris, Rueben Brown, Dick Morgan, Freddy Cole, George V Johnson Jr, to name a few.

 

James King is a very gifted composer with a lyrical bass style and one of the most sort after bassist in the Metropolitan area. He can be found at one of the many National and International Jazz festivals that keep on the forefront of the Jazz scene.

James King currently performs and tours with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

New CD Release "Allen's Odyssey"

 

 

A Member of the Washington DC Jazz Network

Nasar Abadey - drums

 

Drummer and Composer Nasar Abadey is the founder, leader and driving force of SUPERNOVA®. His debut CD, Mirage was released in 2000 on the Amosaya Record Label, and a follow-up CD is planned to be released later this year (2006). He has performed with Amiri Baraka, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Rouse, Gary Bartz, David Sanchez, Cyrus Chestnut, Sonny Fortune, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, Kenny Kirkland, Gary Thomas, Stanley Turrentine, Sun Ra, Frank Morgan, Bobby Hutcherson, Pharaoh Sanders, Malachi Thompson and many others. Additionally, he has appeared in various festivals including, San Remo (Italy), Montreal (Canada), Cap City (DC), Virgin Island (Caribbean), JVC (NYC), Morocco (Africa), Chicago Jazz Festival, Iowa City Jazz Festival, D.C. Loft Jazz Festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival, Mellon Bank Jazz Festival, (Philadelphia), The East Coast Jazz Festival, the Free World Jazz Festival (DC), International Children's Festival (Seattle), Guatemala City Jazz Festival, among others.

Prior to forming SUPERNOVA® he was co-founder/leader, along with Joe Ford and Paul Gresham, of BIRTHRIGHT, and co-producer of two (2) albums, Free Spirits and Breath of Life. Abadey formed SUPERNOVA® to explore his compositional concepts through the many facets of African American classical music, i.e. Jazz. Moreover, he plays a music, which he describes as MULTI-D, which is multi-dimensional and multi-directional. These many directions and dimensions are fields of realities that change according to density and vibration. Working within this paradigm, SUPERNOVA® exercises its artistic license to perform and explore this African American Classical Music, that includes, but is not limited to: traditional African rhythms, R&B, reggae, world, bebop, fusion, afro-Cuban, Brazilian, new age, free form, etc. These terms are mere labels representing polarities of one energy.

Abadey has been awarded grants for performance, merit and composition, by the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, the D.C. Commission for the Arts, Creative Arts Performance Services (CAPS), the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the Prince George's Arts Council, respectively. In addition, he has served as music panelist for the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, and the D.C. Commission for the Arts, and is a board member of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA). In his own words Abadey says, "I feel most comfortable at the cutting edge of the music. It is there that I play past what I know so that my creativity is inspired from a higher source."

Though his travels have taken him to Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and throughout the USA, he still finds time to teach privately, while performing workshops and residencies in the Washington, DC and the surrounding area public schools for Young Audiences, the Prince George's Arts Council, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and Gateway CDC. NASAR ABADEY and SUPERNOVA®, Colors...Textures...and Groove! Nasar Abadey is an endorser of SABIAN cymbals and Vic Firth sticks and products.

 

Click for Complete Summer Series Schedule

 

1050 17th Street, NW Suite 1000 • Washington, DC 20036

202.508.1045 • f. 202.728.1196

www.deshoproductions.com

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