Return to Glory: A Celebration of Fred Irby III & the Howard University Jazz Ensemble

Fred Irby has established an unparalleled tradition of educating the next generations of jazz contributors for half a century. As a Professor of Music at Howard University, Irby is the Coordinator of Instrumental Music, Trumpet Instructor, and Director of the internationally acclaimed Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE). Irby is the Principal Trumpet of the Kennedy Center Opera House Musical Theater Orchestra. His commissions include compositions by two eminent African American composers: Ulysses S. Kay, TROMBA: Suite for B-Flat Trumpet and Piano, and Frederick C. Tillis, Spiritual Fantasy #1 for Piccolo Trumpet and Piano. During the 2022 Inaugural Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Distinguished Faculty and Staff Awards ceremony, Irby received three awards: Outstanding Creative Work, Outstanding Teaching, and Outstanding Service.

Return to Glory is a co- presentation of DC Jazz Festival, the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, and Mecca Filmworks with film direction by TL Benton, a Howard University graduate and Emmy-Award winning Producer-Director, and former member of the HUJE.

“DC Jazz Festival is proud to partner with the Howard University Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts and Mecca Filmworks to honor Fred Irby for a lifetime of service to HBCUs” said Sunny Sumter, DCJF President and CEO, and former member of the HUJE.

Irby established the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award in 1996 to honor the legacy of the 1996 NEA Jazz Master and was instrumental in Golson receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Music from his alma mater (Howard University) in 2014.