DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) recently announced new jazz residences.
Bandleader, maestro of the bass, and NEA Jazz Master Ron Carter, along with talented Washington, D.C., bassist Corcoran Holt are the 2024 DC Jazz Festival’s Artists-In-Residence.
Carter, 86, is a three-time Grammy winner and five-time nominee. He holds the Guinness World Records distinction as the most recorded bassist in recorded music history.
A native of Washingtonian, Holt, 41 is a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and was in the DC Youth Orchestra Program. He earned his B.A. from Shenandoah Conservatory and his M.A. from Queens College in New York. Both his degrees are in jazz studies. He is now an assistant professor at Arizona State University.
This intergenerational combination is an attractive jazz performance and education opportunity for DCJF, area jazz lovers, and students.
“I’m thrilled that Ron Carter and Corcoran Holt will join us as artists-in-residence for the DC Jazz Festival’s 20th anniversary, said Sunny Sumter, president and CEO of DC Jazz Festival. “It is a celebration that promises to be enriched by their incredible musical contributions.”
Music Artists and Educators Beyond Compare
Carter’s history with jazz is unprecedented.
A member of trumpeter Miles Davis’ critically acclaimed Second Greatest Quintet during the 1960s, Carter, with pianist Herbie Hancock, the late saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and the late drummer Tony Williams created magic with their sound.
Carter has performed with jazz greats such as Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard, Duke Pearson, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Horace Silver, George Benson, Stanley Clarke, Roy Hargrove, Wallace Roney, Christian McBride, and many more.
Carter is a distinguished professor emeritus from the Music Department of The City College of New York. His career was captured in the 2022 PBS documentary “Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes.”
Holt is an internationally renowned bassist. Like Carter, he has performed alongside other top jazz talent, including Hargrove, Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath, Carmen Lundy, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller.
For the past few years, he has toured globally as bassist in the quintet headed by NEA Jazz Master Kenny Garrett. Holt has often returned to DC to perform at Takoma Station, a long-time jazz spot and Flavor Garden, both located in Northwest D.C.
The Artist-In-Residence program for DCJF was designed to create deeper connections between artists, the festival, and the jazz community. During the residency, artists serve as guest curators, collaborate with other artists, participate in master classes and interviews, and support DC Jazz Festival education community engagement activities.
Find out more about DC Jazz Festival and its 20th anniversary year at dcjazzfest.org.
