Saturday, September 6, 2008
12:30 - 7 pm
Gateway Park, N. Lynn Street at Lee Highway
Arlington, VA 22209
Information: 703-228-1850

Gateway Park is 3 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro Station (Blue/Orange line).    
Fantastic food will be available from local restaurants

Schedule:  
12:30 - 2 pm:   Spanish Harlem Orchestra
2:30 - 3:40 pm:   Lafayette Gilchrist & the New Volcanoes
4 - 5:15 pm:   Frederic Yonnet
5:45 - 7 pm:   Holly Cole

Praised among our region's standout jazz festivals by Jazz Times magazine (Jan/Feb,06), the 18th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival features yet another powerful lineup, including versatile vocalist HOLLY COLE, pictured at left - Canada's 2008 Juno Awardee for "Best Jazz Album"; and the Grammy Award-winning SPANISH HARLEM ORCHESTRA, the greatest exponents of the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms and Jazz harmonies that is Salsa. The event is FREE and open to the public, and is co-sponsored by Arlington Cultural Affairs, Rosslyn Renaissance and the Rosslyn BID (Business Improvement District).  It is broadcast live by jazz station WPFW 89.3 FM, and emceed by their on-air personalities.   For 18 years, jazz music has echoed through Gateway Park, just across the Key Bridge from D.C.  The event has featured regional treasures like Juanita Williams and the late Charlie Byrd, as well as stars Ahmad Jamal, Regina Carter, Marc Cary, and Nnenna Freelon.  The event now draws nearly 10,000 jazz aficionados from across the U.S.!  

THE ARTISTS

Hailed as one of the year’s best releases by Jazz Times magazine, HOLLY COLE’s self titled CD just won Canada’s 2008 Juno award for “Best Jazz Album.”   Veteran Billboard critic Dan Quellette calls it “the best album of her career.”   Cole’s career has included seven albums, six of them gold and platinum, a couple of anthologies, a Christmas EP, and a gold album in Japan for her 1993 album “Blame It On My Youth”.  Born and raised in the Maritimes, the eclectic Cole grew up surrounded by music; her parents are classical players, her brother is a composer and jazz artist, her uncle sang and acted on Broadway and her grandfather played C & W accordion.  In her teens she discovered Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins and Betty Carter.  It’s time for a fresh look at an artist which Rolling Stone magazine praises for her   “…sultry minimalism ...avoiding both stiff reverence and kitsch, she consistently proves that delivering a lyric is as much a creative art as writing one.”

Part of a wave of musicians from Europe’s jazz underground, FREDERIC YONNET  (right) demonstrates the harmonica’s versatility as a lead instrument in jazz and R&B.  Yonnet, born in Normandy, France to a Parisian father and French Guyanese Creole mother, was raised in and around Paris. His father, a civil engineer and part-time theater actor, and grandfather, Jacques Yonnet, writer and author of Paris Noir – an acclaimed memoir of the gritty side of Paris – fed his appreciation for the arts.  By 14, Yonnet was performing with organist Jimmy Smith at the Marciac Jazz Festival.  At 19, Yonnet revisited a childhood instrument – the harmonica – and the rest is history.  His performances with Erykah Badu, Branford Marsalis, John Legend, Diane Schuur and India.Arie have exposed the instrument’s infinite possibilities.  He spent much of 2007-08 on tour with legendary vocalist and harmonica virtuoso Stevie Wonder. “Frédéric Yonnet — a Wonder disciple — had a crazy harmonica duel that almost sent Stevie flying off the stage in a frenzy”, cited Fox News following their performance at Madison Square Garden. One of today’s hottest pianists, Baltimore-based

LAFAYETTE GILCHRIST (left) has just released his third album (appropriately  titled, 3), continues to tour internationally with the acclaimed David Murray Quartet, and is fresh from recording on vocal icon Cassandra Wilson’s latest release, Sacred Ground.  Born in Washington, DC, the pianist is self-taught and has been plying his own brand of Jazz-inspired music for over ten years. Both knowledgeable and mindful of the Jazz tradition, Gilchrist says, “I see myself as a child of the Hip Hop nation. Hip Hop doesn't have a deep instrumental voice in its thing right now, and we need to represent in that vein. Hip Hop as a culture has grown up a little now and the musical part of the culture has to grow and expand with it. I see the music I'm doing as representing that ‘cause it's where I'm from.”   
 

SPANISH HARLEM ORCHESTRA (SHO) has established itself as a standard bearer of contemporary Latin music.  The thirteen-member all-star ensemble’s third album, United We Swing, is a stunning follow-up to their 2004 Grammy award-winning album Across 110th St., and their 2002 Grammy nominated debut, Un Gran Día En El Barrio, a recording which established their winning mixture of vibrant new compositions with classics by the likes of Orlando Marin, Tito Rodriguez and Hector Rivera.  This reverence for  “salsa dura” (‘heavy salsa’ – a term used for the meaty sound of the music of the ‘60’s and 70’s) comes as no surprise, considering that it’s Director, the world-renowned pianist, arranger, and producer OSCAR HERNANDEZ, was part of that golden age.  In addition to being musical director, pianist and arranger for Reuben Blades since his band’s inception in the early 1980’s, Hernandez has performed, arranged and recorded with everyone from Tito Puente, Celia Cruz,  Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Manny Oquendo and Conjunto Libre, and the pioneering Grupo Folklorico Experimental.  His work as Musical Director and conductor on Broadway includes Paul Simon’s The Capeman, and the forthcoming stage version of The Mambo Kings.  On another plane entirely, Hernandez has composed extensively for commercials and film and television scores, including the theme for the beloved HBO series (and now Hollywood film) Sex and the City.

ROSSLYN JAZZ FESTIVAL is co-sponsored by the Rosslyn Business Improvement District (BID), in conjunction with the public-private partnership Rosslyn Renaissance, and
Arlington Cultural Affairs, Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources.    Beverage Sponsor: Anheuser Busch: Michelob / Michelob Light
    Radio Sponsor: WPFW 89.3 FM


ALSO....               

 

Find out more about what's happening in the arts in Arlington!

   Check out Planet Arlington Events

Experience more world-class Jazz around the region! 
Click here to check out the upcoming Duke Ellington Jazz Festival October 1 - 7th!