Jazz Dimension: Jazz women hold fest honoring jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams

Jazz Dimension: Jazz women hold fest honoring jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams

Women in jazz are performing in Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival May 10-12, sponsored by BET on Jazz.

The sixth annual event is a celebration of the tremendous contributions of women in jazz to the development of the music and is named in honor of one of jazz's most progressive artist, Mary Lou Williams.

Each year, the Kennedy Center Education Department, which programs and administers the Kennedy Center Jazz Season under the leadership of Dr. Billy Taylor, artistic advisor of jazz, presents the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award to a leading jazz artist.

On May 10, during a festival performance in the Terrace Theater, Vi Redd will be recognized for her lifelong contributions to the art of jazz music. Each year, the festival includes workshops, seminar and free jam sessions on the Millennium Stage.

The 2001 IAJE/BET on Jazz Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Sextet joins the festival in free Millennium Stage performances on May 11 and 12. The International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) Sextet is comprised of winners of the annual Sisters In Jazz Collegiate Competition.

Each year, female college jazz students from around the world compete via taped audition for all-expenses-paid grip to perform at the annual IAJE Conference.

The purpose of the IAJE Sisters in Jazz Program is to encourage and promote the participation of young women in the art of jazz music both educationally and professionally through the implementation of a monitoring program linking young women with established women jazz musicians.

During the festival, the Kennedy Center Education Department presents the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award to an outstanding artist of her lifetime of service to the music. Joining past awardees, Cobi Narita, Melba Liston, Geraldine de Haas, Shirley Scott, and Marian McPartland.

Dr. Billy Taylor, the Center's advisor on jazz, says, "The Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, honoring one of America's greatest jazz pianists, is offered to the public, and the national and international media, as a demonstration of the variety and diverse talents of women jazz artists to the public."

Thursday in the Terrace Theater, performers are Genevieve Rose Quartet, acoustic bassist; Joyce Di Camillo Trio, pianist, vocalists the Jane Monheit Quintet, reed artists Laura Dreyer and Mysterious Encounter and Jazz Vocalist Nancie Banks Orchestra;

FRIDAY, May 11 at 6 p.m. on the Millennium Stage will be Jazz Sisters In Jazz Collegiate Sextet, which consists of winners of the annual Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Competition; Festival performance on the Terrace Theater at 7 p.m. presents Annette A. Aguilar and String Beans, Jazzberry Jam Quintet, String of Pearls, Cindy Blackman Quart and Vi Redd will receive the 2001 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award in honor of her lifetime of service to jazz.

SATURDAY, MAY 12 at 6 p.m. on the Millennium Stage IAJE Jazz Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Sextet will broadcast live over the Internet at <http://kennedy-center.org/millennium>, Tania Maria Duo, Maria is pianist; Violinist Karen Briggs and Friends and Vocalist and organist Gloria Coleman and Her Trio perform at the Terrace Theater at 7 p.m.

Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.