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Scenes from the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival

By Matt Hooke
February 29, 2024
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The greatest gift any music festival can give a listener is the chance to think about a genre differently and the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival did just that between February 16 and February 18.

Most concert goers attend a show to hear a specific artist they are already familiar with, but the beauty of a festival is that it can expose you to many different styles in the span of a weekend. Across several stages at the Hilton Hotel in Rockville, the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival showcased Brazilian music, New Orleans jazz to traditional big band. The festival was centered around the "Year of the Big Band" but each of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night shows on the main stage featured fantastic guest vocal performances.

The Saturday and Sunday concert days were highlighted by two tremendous vocalists,

Lisa Fischer

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Lisa Fischer and

Kurt Elling

vocals
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Kurt Elling. Elling's "vocalese" treatment of tunes by

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington and

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane was especially impressive. Adding vocals to instrumental jazz songs is difficult since they take what is originally an abstract instrumental piece that listeners can interpret for themselves into the realm of metaphor and more concrete statements of meaning and intent. Elling's interpretations of music, like his version of "A Love Supreme," are inspired by poetry so they still have a bit of abstraction that can often be completely lost when adding lyrics to a song. Elling's ability to work and connect with a crowd was in top form, getting the crowd of several hundred people to laugh about his stories of hanging out with

Joe Zawinul

keyboards
1932 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Zawinul of

Weather Report

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Weather Report, and other moments of a life in jazz.

Vocalist

Lisa Fischer

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Lisa Fischer immediately won over the crowd as a guest star with the

Orrin Evans

piano
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Orrin Evans Captain Black Big Band. Her commanding stage presence on songs like "Dambala" and "Blues in the Night" mesmerized the crowd as she moved across the stage to connect with the whole audience. The group even got the crowd to sing along for the closing song "I'm so Glad I got to know you."

Other highlights included Friday performances from the

New Jazz Underground

band / ensemble / orchestra
b.2020

" data-original-title="" title="">New Jazz Underground, famous for its viral YouTube clips, along with

Delfeayo Marsalis

trombone
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra. Marsalis's group played several cuts from their latest album Uptown on Mardi Gras Day. along with covers of Fats Domino's "Snowball" and other classics.

On Saturday the

Paul Carr

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Carr Jazz Collective showed that Carr, the organizer of the festival, is as good at performing as he is running a festival. Vocalist

Vanessa Rubin

vocals
b.1957

" data-original-title="" title="">Vanessa Rubin took over the group at one point giving directions for some great performances of tunes like the

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner and Sammy Khan collaboration "You Taught Me to Sing." Other notable performances on Sunday were more focused on instrumentals. The

Ebban Dorsey

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Ebban Dorsey showcased their melodic tunes on one of the festival's smaller stages. Fellow Baltimore musician

Warren Wolf

vibraphone
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Warren Wolf presented his "History of the Vibes" show presenting music from notable vibraphonists from

Bobby Hutcherson

vibraphone
1941 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Hutcherson to

Gary Burton

vibraphone
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Burton. Students ranging from high schools like the Camden Creative Arts High School and the North Carolina Central University Jazz band also got to perform for an audience of jazz fans and musicians. NCCU performed one piece that is almost completely lost "Guess Whose in Love" by

Ray Abrams

b.1920

" data-original-title="" title="">Ray Abrams. View Slideshow

Orrin Evans

Will Hazelhurst

Vanessa Rubin

Joe Locke and Warren Wolf

Mark WIlliams and John Gray

Camden High School

Mid-Atlantic Jazz Orchestra

Delfeayo Marsalis

Kenneth Gay

Ebban Dorsey

Iva Ambush and Ambuscade

Vanessa Rubin

NCCU Jazz Ensemble

Winard Harper

Kurt Elling

Mid-Atlantic Jazz Orchestra

John Gray vocals

Abdias Armenteros

Lisa Fischer

Kurt Elling

Paul Carr

Joe Locke and Warren Wolf

Ephraim Dorsey

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