Roy Haynes Kicks Off D.C. Jazz Fest at the Hamilton


Virtuoso and legendary drummer Roy Haynes and his Fountain of Youth Band kicks off the 15th D.C. Jazz Festival June 5 in fitting fashion at the Hamilton, one of the festivals main venues with its Jazz at the Hamilton Live series.

It’s a big night in more ways than one: Haynes is a walking, drumming honorary member of the history of jazz and fittingly will be given the 2013 DCJF Lifetime Achievement Award.

Roy Owen Haynes has had a lasting impact on jazz—he came out of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston to become one of the most recorded drummers in the history of jazz. He’s had a career that lasted more than 60 years even bridging the gap to the rock-and-roll generation, including Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stone, the Allman Brothers Band and Page McConnell. If you want to check out just where Haynes belongs in the parade of jazz, you might want to get a musical biography CD set, called “A Life in Time—The Roy Haynes Story,” released in 2007. On it are musical highlights from the life, time and music of Haynes, with recordings that feature Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny as well as Haynes’s own Hip Ensemble and Fountain of Youth Quartet.

Better yet, check out You Tube, always a treasure trove of jazz music, including one in which Haynes and the great saxophonist Sonny Rollins talk over old jazz times or a jam session with Haynes and Chick Corea. Even better still, there’s a video called “Blue ‘n Boogie” and one featuring Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Steve Swallow and Haynes as well as a Terri Lyne Carrington Tribute to Haynes. Carrington, by the by, will be performing “Money Jungle Provocative in Blue” June 8 at the Hamilton as part of the festival.

Opening on Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., for Haynes is Nasar Abadey and Supernova.

Another jazz fest highlight on Wednesday is Marc Cary, performing “Solo Piano: A Tribute to Abbey Lincoln” at the Bohemian Caverns on U Street.

On tap for June 6, Pianist Allyn Johnson, called by many the “Dean of D.C. Jazz,” will be at the Phillips Collection at 5 p.m.; Trumpeter Nicholas Payton XXX will be at Hamilton Live at 7:30 p.m. and Lonnie Liston Smith will perform at Bohemian Caverns at 8 and 10 p.m.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *