Legendary Dee Dee Bridgewater Will Highlight Full Day of Traditional and Multicultural Artists on Two Stages at Free Silver Spring Jazz Festival on Saturday, Sept. 9

Legendary vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, a three-time Grammy® Award winner, will highlight a full day of entertainment on two stages at the free 18th Annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival in Silver Spring downtown on Saturday, Sept. 9. The festival, which will start at 3 p.m. on Veterans Plaza, will feature performers with various types of traditional and multicultural jazz sounds.

Veterans Plaza is located at 1 Veterans Place in Silver Spring downtown, adjacent to the Silver Spring Civic Building. The festival site is easily accessible from the Silver Spring Metrorail Station and the area has considerable public parking. The festival will be held rain or shine.

The Jazz Festival will feature a brewery garden with yard games, comfortable seating, artist demonstrations and food and offerings from local breweries. Denizens Brewing, Silver Branch Brewing and Third Hill Brewing—all located in the Silver Spring Arts & Entertainment District—will serve craft beers.

The two stages on either side of Veterans Plaza will provide an opportunity for attendees to turn their chairs and immediately view the next musical performance.

The mainstage will feature:

• Crush Funk Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans brass sound mixed with D.C. funk.
• Straight-ahead jazz by Paul Carr and the Jazz Collective.
• Smooth jazz and go-go music by Marcus Johnson with Crank and Flo.

Dee Dee Bridgewater will take the main stage at 8:30 p.m. In addition to her solo career, she pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony® Award for her role as Glinda in The Wiz in 1975. Having recently completed a run as the lead role of Billie Holiday in the off-Broadway production of Lady Day, her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret and the off-Broadway and West End Productions of Lady Day, for which Bridgewater received the British Laurence Olivier nomination for best actress in a musical. 

Bridgewater launched The Woodshed Network, which was created to mentor, connect, support and educate women in jazz. Her commitment to support female artists was the inspiration for featuring female jazz artists on the second stage. These jazz performers will demonstrate how the traditional African American art form of jazz has influenced and been interpreted by their respective backgrounds.

Each group on the second stage will feature female lead vocalists:

• Cecilia Esquivel of CantoSur will perform Brazilian jazz and samba.
• Akua Allrich will sing in many languages including Portuguese, French, Spanish, English, Xhosa and Twi.
• Taiwanese-born Chien Chien Lu will deliver a unique sound using a vibraphone.

Schedule of performers:

• 3 p.m. Second Stage: CantoSur
• 3:30 p.m. Main Stage: Crush Funk Brass Band
• 4:15 p.m. Second Stage: Akua Allrich and the Tribe
• 5 p.m. Main Stage: Paul Carr and the Jazz Collective
• 6 p.m. Second Stage: Chien Lu and Richie Goods ‘Connected’
• 7 p.m. Main Stage: Marcus Johnson with Crank and Flo
• 8:30 p.m. Main Stage: Dee Dee Bridgewater

The Jazz Festival also puts a spotlight on Downtown Silver Spring and its many restaurants featuring a variety of cuisines. Attendees are encouraged to use public transportation and to bring a blanket and/or low back lawn chairs for seating.

“The Silver Spring Jazz Festival has something for everyone,” said Jacob Newman, director of the Silver Spring Regional Services Center. “Jazz aficionados can enjoy traditional jazz and the unique music of the internationally influenced stage. And for the public who just enjoys a good concert, we have a brewery garden, food trucks and lawn games your kids can enjoy.”

Visit the  Silver Spring Jazz Festival website for more information about the event.  Photos of past Silver Spring jazz festivals can be found at SS Jazz Fest Promo Materials. Photos of headliner Dee Bridgewater are available on her website.