Frédéric Yonnet Joins Marcus Johnson and Keter Betts to Inaugurate Silver Spring's Jazz Festival

Time Change:
Yonnet to perform from
5:00-5:40pm

[Silver Spring, MD July 26, 2004] — It was announced today that it the first annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival will be launched on Saturday, September 11 from 4 to 10 p.m. on the new Silver Plaza in Downtown Silver Spring. The inaugural Festival, organized by the Silver Spring Urban District, will feature Silver Spring’s own legendary bassist, Keter Betts, and pianist/keyboardist Marcus Johnson. Other notables on the roster include French harmonica sensation Frédéric Yonnet, vocalist Alyson Williams, Nick Colionne on sax, and Project Natale. Murray Horwitz, executive director and COO of the AFI Silver Theatre, and former vice president of cultural programming for National Public Radio, will serve as the Festival’s master of ceremonies. Unlike many Jazz Festivals, this one is free and open to the public.

The Festival kicks-off at 3 p.m. when area high school jazz bands from Blair, Einstein and Blake parade through the streets and neighborhoods of Silver Spring on flatbed trucks. They’ll raise the curtain on the Festival stage at 4 p.m. with an old fashioned cutting contest (battle of the bands) and one will be crowned Festival Champion and take home the Borders/Jazz Times Festival Trophy until next year’s Festival. Judging the contest will be Betts, Horwitz, and other members of the jazz industry.

This first Festival honors longtime Silver Spring resident, the great Keter Betts. Recipient of the 2003 Living Legacy Jazz Award, Betts is one of the most respected bass players in the business. Best-known as Ella Fitzgerald’s sideman for over 24 years, Betts’ distinguished career included tours of duty with jazz luminaries Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Byrd, among others.

The Marcus Johnson Project headlines the Festival with a shout-out performance featuring jazz phenoms Johnson, vocalist Alyson Williams, and Nick Colionne on guitar. President and CEO of the Silver Spring based Marimelj Entertainment Group, and record label and music publishing company, Three Keys Music, Marcus Johnson has been “creating classics, not just hit songs,” since the age of nine.

Poets Joel Dias Porter (a.k.a. DJ Renegade), Reuben Jackson (who is also the Smithsonian’s Duke Ellington archivist), Lisa Pegram, and Brian Gilmore will read from their jazz-themed work at regular intervals throughout the afternoon and evening.

Sponsors for the event include Borders Books, The Celebrate Downtown Silver Spring Foundation, Class Acts Arts, Comcast, Discovery Communications, The Gazette, Jazz Times Magazine, Marimelj Entertainment Group, Montgomery County, The Peterson Companies, the Silver Spring Regional Center, the Silver Spring Urban District, Smooth Jazz 105.9, and Washington Gas.

Schedule:

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DIRECTIONS:

Ellsworth Drive between Georgia Avenue & Fenton Street Downtown Silver Spring

From Baltimore:

Take I-95 South to I-495 West. Get off at Exit 30B, Colesville Road (Silver Spring). Continue South on Colesville Road/Rt.29 to Fenton Street. Turn left on Fenton Street and right on Ellsworth Drive to Silver Plaza.

There is Free Parking by turning left on Ellsworth from Fenton Street and left into the garage -OR-by going one more block on Fenton and turning right onto Wayne Avenue and right into the garage.

From Virginia:

Take I-95 North to I-495 North. Get off at Exit 30B, Colesville Road (Silver Spring). Continue South on Colesville Road/Rt.29 to Fenton Street. Turn left on Fenton Street and right on Ellsworth Drive to Silver Plaza.

There is Free Parking by turning left on Ellsworth from Fenton Street and left into the garage -OR-by going one more block on Fenton and turning right onto Wayne Avenue and right into the garage.

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