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To Our DCJF Fans
Also from the Summer, 2011 newsletter:
To Our DCJF Fans,
Another amazing DC Jazz Festival concluded with the wildly successful Night in Treme concert at the Kennedy Center. There were so many highlights: Jazz’n Families Fun Days at the Phillips Collection; Jazz in the ‘Hoods at 40 venues in 16 neighborhoods across the city; the magnificent, unforgettable Bobby McFerrin concert with Howard University’s Afro Blue Reunion Choir; the return of our Jazz on the National Mall extravaganza, thanks to Bing; the launch of the DCJF/Capital Bop Jazz Loft Series; Presentation of DCJF Lifetime Achievement Awards to jazz giants Jimmy Heath and Eddie Palmieri - I could go on and on. We are especially proud that the festival provided a showcase for more than 80 DC-based groups, and a treasure trove of more than 150 DC musicians, also promoting venues that present jazz across the city. Master Classes, workshops, student concerts, part of the year-round Roberta Flack Music Excellence Education Program have further distinguished the festival by encouraging our young people and budding musicians to embrace our nation’s singular original art form.
Over the years, thanks to our Board of Directors, our sponsors, donors, vendors, partners, our exceptional, dedicated staff and, of course, a representation of the most celebrated and admired jazz artists in the world who have performed at the festival, the DCJF has been acclaimed, and has quickly become recognized among the finest jazz festivals in the country.
As I wrote in my letter for the DCJF souvenir program book, the cliché “It Takes a Village” doesn’t apply to the DC Jazz Festival – for us, “It Takes a Family,” and we are truly a family, a family that includes all of you who have attended and supported this extraordinary festival over the past seven years. This year’s DCJF Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, Jimmy Heath, once composed a piece dedicated to my mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, “Without You, No Me.” To paraphrase Jimmy, “Without You, No Festival.” Thank you all for helping make the DC Jazz Festival such a fabulous success, and one of the most popular, highly-anticipated signature cultural events in our nation’s capital city.
Charles Fishman
President, Festivals, DC, Ltd.
Founder and Executive Producer, DC Jazz Festival
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