2019-2020 Jazz Touring Networks Engagements Announced

Nine Ensembles Will Visit Mid-Atlantic States

Baltimore, MD – August 1, 2019 – Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has announced nine tours to 23 presenting organizations through the 2019-2020 Jazz Touring Network program. Grants totaling $56,658 will support 39 engagements across the mid-Atlantic region. 

Collaboratively developed by members of the network, the tours include: 

Akua Allrich performs on stage in this close-up shot. She wears a brightly colored tunic in red, gold, and black.Akua Allrich, Washington, D.C.

Jazz vocalist and DC-native Akua Allrich has proven herself to be a musician of extraordinary talent and crowd-moving passion. With finesse and charisma, this vocalist, composer and teacher, has successfully etched out a place for her unique musical expression, electrifying audiences in and around the nation’s capital with sold-out performances. With the launch of her independently produced album, A Peace of Mine, in 2010, and her latest release Uniquely Standard, Akua Allrich Live! in 2012, the young artist’s music and concerts created a significant buzz with critics and music-lovers alike.



Akua Allrich and the Tribe will visit:

  • Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
  • Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
  • Light Up the Queen, Wilmington, DE

Photo Credit: Stella Maglore.

Allison Miller is shot in black and white from the waist up. She wears a black top and holds two timpani sticks up by her head. Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, New York, NY

One of the most exciting jazz drummers on the scene, performer, composer, and educator Allison Miller gathers inspiration from a wide array of genres. Described by critics as a charismatic and rhythmically propulsive drummer with melodic sensibility, Miller engages her deep roots in improvisation as a way to explore all music. The critically-acclaimed percussionist and Yamaha clinician will be joined by her stellar band, Boom Tic Boom, and acclaimed tap dancer, Claudia Rahardjanoto, for the premier of her new JTN co-commissioned work, In Our Veins: Rivers and Social Change.

Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom will visit:

  • Ars Nova Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
  • Bucknell University – Weis Center for the Performing Arts, Lewisburg, PA
  • Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Lake Placid, NY
  • Light Up the Queen, Wilmington, DE
  • University of Richmond – Modlin Center for the Arts, Richmond, VA

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez.

Antonio Hart wears a grey-blue suit and is shot in front of a mottles grey background. He cradles his saxophone in his hands.Antonio Hart, New York, NY

Antonio Hart is a Grammy-nominated alto saxophonist who has recorded 10 albums as a leader since 1991, and has played and recorded with some of the biggest names in Jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Terence Blanchard. Hart studied with Bill Pierce, Andy McGhee and Joe Viola at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he met Roy Hargrove. He followed that with studies at Queens College where he worked with Jimmy Heath and Donald Byrd. Hart is currently a tenured professor at the Aaron Copland School of music at Queens College, and tours with the Dave Holland Big Band and the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band as well as his own ensembles. 


Antonio Hart will visit:

  • Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown, MD
  • Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
  • Kente Arts Alliance, Pittsburgh, PA

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

The members of whost note sit outside on a log and a couch. A coffee table sits in front of them and an old farm house is in the background. There are seven members and they are casually dressed.Ghost Note, Dallas, TX

Headed by Snarky Puppy’s multi-grammy–winning percussion duo of Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth, Ghost-Note is an explosion of sound. With an expansive roster of next-level musicians—representing members of Prince, Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu, Herbie Hancock, Kendrick Lamar, Marcus Miller, Toto, Justin Timberlake, and more—the band is pushing funk music into the future, building on the uplifting, pioneering foundations laid out by the likes of James Brown And Sly & The Family Stone and infusing their fresh take with tastes of Afrobeat, hip-hop, psychedelia, world folklore, and more.

Ghost Note will visit:

  • Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, DC
  • Binghamton University – Anderson Center for the Performing Arts, Binghamton, NY
  • Christina Cultural Arts Center, Wilmington, DE
  • Frostburg State University – Cultural Events Series, Frostburg, MD

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

This is a performance shot of Makaya behind a full drum kit. He wears a black t shirt.Makaya McCraven, Chicago, IL

Makaya McCraven is a beat scientist. The bleeding edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is one of Chicago’s savviest cultural players and a multi-talented force whose inventive process & intuitive, cinematic style defy categorization. His breakthrough album In the Moment quickly launched McCraven into the vanguard of not only Internationally-known jazz artists, but also a niche genre of next-wave composer-producers blurring the boundaries of jazz & electronic music.




Makaya McCraven will visit:

  • Arden Gild Club, Arden, DE
  • Ars Nova Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
  • Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

Stefon Harris is shot in a light grey suit against a dark grey background. He wears glasses and is turned slightly in profile. He sits with his left arm resting on his leg.Stefon Harris + Blackout, NJ and NY

Stefon Harris’s passionate artistry and astonishing virtuosity have propelled him to the forefront of the jazz scene. This tour supports Stefon Harris + Blackout’s new album, Sonic Creed, an album that chronicles the story of a people and their time on the planet. It is a reflection of African-American life in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Furthermore, it is a sonic manifestation and creed of family, community and legacy. The album explores afresh the music of masters such as Bobby Hutcherson, Abbey Lincoln, Wayne Shorter and Horace Silver.

Stefon Harris + Blackout will visit:

  • Cornell University- Cornell Concert Series, Ithaca, NY
  • Hamilton College – Performing Arts, Clinton, NY
  • Jefferson Center, Roanoke, VA
  • Manchester Craftsman Guild Jazz, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Montgomery County Community College – Lively Arts, Blue Bell, PA
  • University of Richmond – Modlin Center for the Arts, Richmond, VA

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

Morlon Rosado stand center in a white t shirt leaning on a portable piano keyboard. Nine members of his ensemble surround him with their instruments. They all wear black t shirts. The shot is taken in an industrial basement with low ceiling.The Marlow Rosado Latin Jazz Ensemble, Miami, FL

Marlow Rosado is a salsero at heart, but this two-time GRAMMY-winning pianist/composer/producer has also worked with most renowned artists in Latin music across genres from salsa to rock, from merengue to hip-hop, from bachata to reggaeton. Rosado’s music mixes his own compositions with some of the strongest songs from the past, maintaining the essentials of the originals, but metamorphosing through his 21st-century artistic conception.

The Marlow Rosado Latin Jazz Ensemble will visit:

  • Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, DC
  • Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown, MD
  • Cornell University – Cornell Concert Series, Ithaca, NY
  • Salisbury University – Cultural Affairs, Salisbury, MD

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

Veronica Swift is shot from the waist up against a red background. She faces the camera and her left arms is folded at the elbow and her hand rests on her chin.Veronica Swift Trio, New York, NY

At age 24, Veronica Swift is now being recognized around the country as one of the top young jazz singers on the scene. In the fall of 2015, she won second place at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. Veronica’s first appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center was at age 11 when she performed at the “Women in Jazz” series at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. In the summer of 2016 she headlined at the Telluride Jazz Festival Then in April, 2017 she started her residency at the infamous Birdland Jazz Club in New York City. Veronica releases her next album, Confessions on Mack Avenue Records in 2019, which will feature the great pianist Benny Green and his trio as well the Emmet Cohen Trio

The Veronica Swift Trio will visit:

  • Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg, WV
  • Frostburg State University – Cultural Events Series, Frostburg, MD
  • Jefferson Center, Roanoke, VA
  • Montgomery County Community College – Lively Arts, Blue Bell, PA
  • On Stage At Kingsborough, Brooklyn, NY

Photo Credit: Bill Westmoreland.

Voyu Sotashe performs in front of the bright blue and black background. He is standing in right profile, wears a white sweater, and holds a mic up to his mouth in his left hand.Voyu Sotashe, New York, NY

Young South African jazz vocalist, Vuyo (Vuyolwethu) Sotashe, is gradually making his mark in the New York jazz scene. Sotashe moved to the NYC in 2013 after being awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to pursue Master of Music at William Paterson University. Since then, he has gone to win first prize at the very first Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Vocal Competition in 2014, and performed on the festival’s main stage in February of 2015. More recently, he won the Audience prize award and placed second over-all at the Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition in 2015, held at the annual Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In the same year, he placed third in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocal competition, where he was the very first male vocalist ever to place in the competition’s finals.

Voyu Sotashe will visit:

  • Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, DC
  • Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown, MD
  • Bucknell University – Weis Center for the Performing Arts, Lewisburg, PA
  • Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
  • Salisbury University – Cultural Affairs, Salisbury, MD
  • Virginia Arts Festival, Norfolk, VA

Photo Credit: Frank Stewart.

For venues and dates, click here. Please contact venues directly for tickets and to confirm performance dates and times.

The Jazz Touring Network is a presenter-based membership program designed to expand the presentation of jazz throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Member organizations have access to the tools necessary to develop and sustain the art form as an ongoing part of their annual programming. JTN focuses on performing arts presenters with little-to-no experience presenting jazz, and who also work with communities underserved by the arts. The program offers opportunities for professional development, peer networking, and funding for regional jazz tours.

Since 2001, the Foundation has supported 43 organizations through the program. Today there are 23 members of the Jazz Touring Network representing six states and the District of Columbia. Click here for more information and a complete list of current network members.

For questions about the Jazz Touring Network program, please contact Jess Porter, Program Officer, Performing Arts at jess@midatlanticarts.org.

The Jazz Touring Network is made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Regional Touring Program.

About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation develops partnerships and programs that reinforce artists’ capacity to create and present work and advance access to and participation in the arts. The Foundation was created in 1979 and is a private non-profit organization that is closely allied with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. It combines funding from state and federal resources with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to address needs in the arts from a regional, national, and international perspective. For more information on the Foundation’s programs and services, please visit: www.midatlanticarts.org

Contact:
Karen Newell
Director, External Affairs
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation 
karen@midatlanticarts.org 410.539.6656 x104