The Monterey Jazz Festival is the longest consecutively running jazz festival in the world, and to celebrate its 55th year, the fest has hit the road with a touring show of contemporary jazz stalwarts. The tour comes to the Germantown Performing Arts Centre this week, headlined by singer Dee Dee Bridgewater (pictured).
Bridgewater was born in Memphis in 1950 (her father taught at Manassas High School) but raised in Michigan before emerging as a major jazz figure in the 1970s. She’s a multi-Grammy winner and also won a Tony for performing in The Wiz in the mid-Seventies. Along the way, she’s played Billie Holiday onstage, recorded tributes to Ella Fitzgerald and Horace Silver, and been an ambassador for the genre via a syndicated NPR show.
At GPAC, Bridgewater will be joined by bassist Christian McBride, who was one of the biggest new jazz figures to emerge in the 1990s. Others performing are: bop pianist Benny Green, prolific drummer Lewis Nash, saxophonist Chris Potter, and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.
The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour is at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre on Sunday, April 21st. Showtime is 7 p.m. Tickets start at $25. See GPACweb.com for more info.
