Ellis Marsalis This year’s Duke Ellington Jazz Festival celebrated the musical heritage of New Orleans. Fittingly, the festival’s fifth iteration came to an end with the first family of New Orleans jazz convening at the Kennedy Center to honor its patriarch, the great pianist and educator, Ellis Marsalis. Joining Ellis were his sons, each of whom bring a different quality to the music. Saxophonist Branford has the wit and the largest breadth of experience,…

It’s about that time, jazz lovers: The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival is upon us. The event is the District’s premier jazz happening, and is now in its fifth iteration. Though its official dates are June 5 to June 15, pianist and local mainstay Allyn Johnson will open the festival on Thursday with a free prelude concert, which will take place at 5 p.m. at The Phillips Collection. This year’s festival theme is “Celebrating New…

Dana Leong (second from left) w/ Milk & Jade We first came across Dana Leong at opening night of last year’s Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, an annual event currently running at venues throughout the city. He came to town again in the spring, performing as part of National Geographic’s free concert series. That show featured his own band, Milk & Jade, which was performing after having completed an international tour as cultural ambassadors on…

Duke Fest artistic adviser Paquito D’Rivera It’s an exciting time for jazz lovers as this week marks the 4th installment of the annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, which begins tonight and runs through October 7 (here’s a look back at last year’s event). Though still a far cry from the well-established festivals in New Orleans or the European circuit, Duke Fest has already become the serious jazz festival for the region and has the…

At the close of last night’s concert at the 2007 Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, Executive Producer Charlie Fishman said his friend and mentor, the great Dizzy Gillespie (pictured), who was the focus of this year’s proceedings, chose to name his last big band the United Nation (in the singular) Jazz Orchestra to show the oneness of humanity. Fishman went on to say that Dizzy often told his colleagues that human beings all share two characteristics:…

FRIDAY: >> The city’s free concert series follows MC Hammer with a rare appearance by salsa legend Willie Colon, 7-9 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson Center. >> President Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his book, Broken Government, which examines “the institutional damage he believes the Republican Party has inflicted on the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government during the Bush administration.” 7 p.m. He’ll also be…

Last week we gave you an overview of all that’s going on at the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. This week, we’ll tell you a bit more about all the great music happening this weekend as well as our picks for those of you, which is probably all of you, who don’t have time to make it out to every show. >> Tonight’s pick is Kurt Rosenwinkel, an inventive guitarist who is not to be missed….

The 2007 edition of The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, D.C.’s largest music festival, got off to a glowing start with last night’s opening gala, held at the Inter-American Development Bank. The show was a bit delayed due to some technical difficulties with the piano, but the organizers wisely chose to hold the curtain in order to fix the problem because, as festival executive producer Charlie Fishman told the audience, “If the musicians be happy, then…

Though it is not yet recognized as such by the jazz audience at large, the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival’s organizers have achieved their goals of mounting a world class festival by assembling a roster of top flight talent, which includes Latin jazz legend and festival artistic adviser Paquito D’Rivera (pictured). These jazz greats will grace stages across the city over the course of the nine day festival, which begins on September 9 with a Taiko…

[Updated]: So much music, so little time. While tomorrow’s This Week In Jazz column will preview this year’s fantastic Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, there is even more jazz to be had for those who can’t wait that long. This Saturday, September 8, the 17th Annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival will take place at Gateway Park from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. On the same day, D.C.’s Maryland suburbs get their own jazz celebration in the form…