The Musical Majesty of New Orleans
June 13, 2011, Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m.

HBO®’s Tremé Series Star Wendell Pierce and Musicians From the Hit Mini-Series to Perform

June 1, 2011, Washington, D.C.—The DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will present A Night in Tremé: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans on June 13, 2011 in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. The closing concert of the DC Jazz Festival, this performance will feature the legendary Rebirth Brass Band; Mardi Gras Indian Chief, alto saxophonist, and Musical Director Donald Harrison, Jr.; singer and trumpeter James Andrews; clarinetist Dr. Michael White; and funky trombonist Big Sam Williams. Wendell Pierce, the smooth-talking trombonist Antoine Batiste on the HBO® series Tremé, will provide narration about the history of the neighborhood and the struggle to repair and rebuild lives after Hurricane Katrina.

“In 2009, when the festival celebrated New Orleans, and honored Jazz Master Ellis Marsalis, I told him that each year the DCJF would have a feature about New Orleans,” said DC Jazz Festival Executive Producer Charles Fishman. “We are proud to present these renowned artists from Tremé, enabling our audience to enjoy and further appreciate the music, history and culture of the great city of New Orleans.”

A Night in TREMÉ: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans is a national touring project, produced by Absolutely Live Entertainment, in conjunction with the airing and promotion of the second season of Tremé. From David Simon and Eric Overmyer (both of The Wire®), Tremé follows musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians, and ordinary New Orleanians as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes, and their unique culture in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and levee failures that caused the near-death of an American city.

The Kennedy Center is pleased to continue in this important presenting partnership with the DC Jazz Festival. Whether it’s on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage or in the Concert Hall, the DC Jazz Festival is a vital part of presenting jazz – ‘America’s Classical Music’ as the late Dr. Billy Taylor would call it – in the nation’s capital,” said Kennedy Center Vice President, Education, Darrell M. Ayers.

The Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans has been a source of African American music and culture for as long as cooks in the Crescent City have been serving red beans and rice on Monday nights. Birthplace of the great New Orleans brass band tradition and one of the first black neighborhoods in America, Tremé (pronounced truh-MAY) is the heartbeat of New Orleans and the home to Congo Square.

Tickets for A Night in TREMÉ: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans are $20-$65 and can be purchased by visiting or calling the Box Office at (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324, or the Kennedy Center website kennedy-center.org.

Proud major sponsors and partners of the DC Jazz Festival, to date, include Bing; The Washington Post; ABC7/WJLA-TV and News Channel 8; Patton Boggs LLP; Sage Communications; the Washington Convention and Sports Authority; Linda and Michael Sonnenreich; the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; The Phillips Collection; Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck LLP; Verizon; Microsoft; the Washington City Paper; American Airlines; LCG Systems; Dworbell; the Mayo Charitable Foundation; the NEA Foundation; Amtrak; WMATA (Metro); Bohemian Caverns, WWOZ FM, WPFW FM; Washington Marriott Wardman Hotel, Washington Informer, Whole Foods; Acadiana; ZGS Station Group, and the National Park Service, among others.

Additional Resources

• Complete line-up: http://www.dcjazzfest.org/content.cfm/schedule_and_major_events
• Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/4crcoo5
• Twitter: @dcjazzfest
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dcjazzfest
• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcjazzfest/

About the DC Jazz Festival
With more than 100 performances in dozens of venues across the city, the DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) is the largest music festival in Washington, D.C. and one of the most highly anticipated cultural events in the nation’s capital. Founded in 2005 by Executive Producer Charles Fishman, the DCJF features a representation of the jazz genre’s finest local, nationally and internationally renowned artists; a year-round music education programs and concerts for students and residents at venues throughout the District of Columbia; promotes music integration in school curricula, and supports outreach to expand and diversify the audience of jazz enthusiasts. Featured artists who have performed at the DCJF include co-Artistic Director Paquito D’Rivera; Dave Brubeck; Dee Dee Bridgewater; Wayne Shorter; Clark Terry, Hank Jones, Ellis, Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis; Harry Connick, Jr.: Dr John; Mavis Staples; John Scofield; Irma Thomas; Terence Blanchard; Nicholas Payton; Donald Harrison; Eddie Palmieri; Roy Hargrove; Roberta Gambarini; the Dirty Dozen; Chuck Brown; Roy Haynes; Randy Weston; Poncho Sanchez; Danilo Perez; David Sanchez; Steve Turre; Claudio Roditi; Slide Hampton; Jimmy Heath; James Moody; Antonio Hart; Kenny Barron; Regina Carter; Step Afrika!; Airto Moreira and Flora Purim; among many others.

The DC Jazz FestivalSM is a project of Festivals DC, Ltd., a 501©3 non-profit service organization. The DC Jazz Festival is sponsored in part with a grant from the Government of the District of Columbia, Vincent C. Gray, Mayor; and, in part, by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. © 2011 Festivals DC Ltd. All rights reserved. For more information, visit www.dcjazzfest.org.

About Kennedy Center Jazz
Kennedy Center Jazz presents legendary artists who have helped shape the art form and rising artists who are emerging on the jazz scene in more than 30 performances a year. Launched in 2002 and dubbed “the future of the jazz nightclub” by JazzTimes, the KC Jazz Club hosts hot new talents and seasoned jazz veterans in an intimate setting. Annual Kennedy Center jazz events include NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas, the sold-out Kennedy Center holiday tradition shared by millions around the country via broadcast on NPR; Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, the Center’s national jazz residency program for musicians under 30 with renowned jazz artists; and the Annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, the first comprehensive festival of this kind created in 1996 by Dr. Billy Taylor. The Kennedy Center showcases new jazz talent by presenting hot up-and-comers for under $20 in the KC Jazz Club. The Center’s jazz concerts are frequently recorded for future broadcast on JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. Kennedy Center Jazz has produced such recordings as Taylor Made at the Kennedy Center featuring Billy Taylor’s original compositions; Up On the Roof: The Best of Kennedy Center Jazz on JazzSet, Vol. 1, featuring performances recorded live at the Kennedy Center; and live recordings from such artists as Mulgrew Miller, Cedar Walton, Roseanna Vitro, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Rufus Reid, among others. Dr. Billy Taylor (1921-2010) served as the Center’s Artistic Director for Jazz from 1994-2010.

Audi of America, Inc. is the Presenting Sponsor of the KC Jazz Club.