Jazz in the Parks: Corcoran Holt with Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 06/10/2023
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The region’s most acclaimed jazz musicians are returning to the ever-popular Jazz in The Parks on the Great Lawn this summer – this year, with a fourth, additional concert due to popular demand. Bring your neighbors and friends for the city’s favorite laid-back summer evenings – listed by Washingtonian magazine as one of the area’s top five outdoor spots to listen to live music just last year! Bring your own picnic, blanket and refreshments, and enjoy popular local food vendors and giveaways.
The events start at 5 pm with a children’s performer (get ready to dance!), followed at 6 pm by the headliners listed below.
Dates:
Saturday, June 10, 5-8 pm: Presenting Corcoran Holt with Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble
Saturday, July 8: Presenting Ben Williams
Saturday, August 12, 5-8 pm: Presenting Amy K. Bormet’s Washington Women in Jazz with children’s opening performer Baba Ras D.
Saturday, September 9, 5-8 pm: Presenting Rochelle Rice with children’s opening performance by Heidi Martin
More about the Artists on Saturday, June 10:
Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble: @farafinakan
Farafina Kan is a professional West African percussion orchestra dedicated to maintaining the history and integrity of traditional African music. Under the tutelage of international performing arts legends, Farafina Kan seeks to sustain the work initiated by these legends through professionalism, artistry, continual learning, and proactive intergenerational transmission of African culture through music and movement. Farafina Kan is a family comprised of young African-American artists reared in many of the dance companies who established the foundation for African dance in the U.S., including Memory of African Culture, Sankofa Dance Theatre.
Corcoran Holt, a son of Washington, D.C., began playing upright bass at age 10 with the DC Youth Orchestra. Soon he learned that his great-grandfather, with whom he shares a birthday, was a bass player who grew up in High Point, NC and lived next door to a very young John Coltrane. Legend has it that he gave Trane music lessons. Corcoran feels called to the bass and his work is about honoring the ancestors. He went on to attend the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and furthered his study with a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies at Queens College in New York City. Corcoran has performed with dozens of jazz legends throughout his career and after an 18-year stint in New York has settled back in Washington, D.C.
Location:
The Great Lawn is located at the center of the campus. Enter from 16th Street NW, or enter from Georgia Avenue at Butternut Street NW, and follow Main Drive around to the grassy area. Map 1010 Butternut Street NW for an address.
How to Get There:
Parking is limited on campus, so walking, scooting, biking, buses, and trains are recommended. The Parks at Walter Reed is a 12-minute walk from the Takoma Metrorail Station on the Red Line, and more than a dozen bus lines run up 16th Street NW and Georgia Avenue NW. Bike parking is available on campus. Some parking is available in on-street spots; please follow the signage.
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.