Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is thrilled to announce Diana Krall, Pink Martini, and Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective as three of the headliners for the 34th annual event. The festival runs from June 2-11 and kicks off summer in Vermont style. Tickets go on sale to members at the Messenger level and above Tuesday, February 28 and to the general public Friday, March 3. The exclusive member pre-sale starts Tuesday, February 28 for members at the $120-level and above. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, March 3. The festival will announce the complete lineup in the coming weeks.
Diana Krall: June 9 on the Flynn MainStage
Hailed as “the undisputed superstar of jazz-inflected singers” by NPR, Diana Krall is a three-time Grammy-winner and the top-selling female jazz artist of the past 30 years. She adds to this year’s Discover Jazz Festival a connoisseur’s selection of sultry and smooth. With each new record, the multi-platinum pianist and crooner expands the boundaries of her range without compromising her ever-present cool. She’s worked as Paul McCartney’s musical director, has produced Barbara Streisand, and toured her native country with fellow Canadian Neil Young. Krall’s latest record, Wallflower, is a love note to the records she grew up with. Like the entirety of her broad oeuvre, she imbues her covers with meditative timbres of both tempered celebration and graceful despair.
Pink Martini: June 2 on the Flynn MainStage
“If the United Nations had a house band in 1962,” Pink Martini bandleader Thomas Lauderdale says, “…we’d be that band.” The sentiment sums up this “little orchestra’s” vibe completely: they are a rollicking tour-de-genre that in one moment seduces with musical postcards from Brazil and in the next swings to neo-classical, lounge, or Japanese pop—all mixed together in the great cocktail shaker of jazz. Founded in Portland, Oregon by Harvard classmates Lauderdale and singer China Forbes, Pink Martini debuted internationally at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout the world. Their appearance at this year’s festival marks the band’s 23-year career as the global ambassadors of cosmopolitan joie de vivre.
Terence Blanchard with E-Collective: June 10 in FlynnSpace (two shows!)
Multiple Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is the 2017 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival Artist-in-residence. In addition to engaging with the community through educational events and presentations, Blanchard performs with his new quintet, the E-Collective. This groove-focused outfit draws inspiration more from Weather Report, Funkadelic, and Prince than from Lionel Hampton or Art Blakey, with whom Blanchard performed in the ‘80s. Some of Blanchard’s most notable compositions underpin Spike Lee’s “joints.” In addition to his work on Do the Right Thing and Mo’ Better Blues, Blanchard has composed every Lee score since ’91’s Jungle Fever. On his latest effort, Breathless, Blanchard and his E-Collective tour through grooved fusion with stops at pop (Coldplay’s Midnight), country (Hank Williams’ I Ain’t Got Nuthin’ But Time), and in the streets of Staten Island, with a powerful trumpet-toned protest honoring Eric Garner’s last words.
The 34th Annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is presented by New England Credit Federal Union and produced by Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, in association with Burlington City Arts. The festival is also sponsored by Lake Champlain Chocolates, Long Trail Brewing Company, WPTZ-TV NewsChannel5, Dealer.com, William Hill Vineyards, Nectar’s, Vermont Public Radio, Vermont.com, Vermont Tent Company, and Xfinity. Grant support comes from Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Jazz Endowment, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Surdna Foundation.
Begun as a grassroots event, the festival has grown into a 10-day celebration welcoming over 70,000 people into hundreds of events at venues, clubs, and restaurants. Every corner of Burlington resonates with music and brings the city alive.
The mission of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is to broaden awareness and appreciation of jazz through quality live performances of national and regional scope; present educational activities that illuminate the art form for students of all ages and backgrounds; showcase Vermont and regional jazz artists, including students; and create a vital city-wide community festival that contributes to the national jazz dialogue.