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In order to keep everyone safe as we welcome you back to performances, we are asking our patrons to provide proof of vaccination and to wear a mask to our performances. Learn more at celebrityseries.org/safety.
MacArthur Genius and Doris Duke Artist Award recipient Regina Carter is rightfully considered jazz’s leading violinist, but just a short list of her collaborators should illustrate how broad is the scope of her art: Wynton Marsalis, Ray Brown, Mary J. Blige, Chucho Valdés, Billy Joel, Dolly Parton, Omara Portuondo, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the list goes on. Whatever the present task, you can always count on Carter’s music being smart, virtuosic, and alive.
Tonight’s performance will close out our Spring Jazz Festival with a special program entitled Gone in a Phrase of Air. Her group includes pianist Xavier Davis, upright bass player Chris Lightcap, and drummer Alvester Garnett. The program includes a collection of original and reimagined music exploring our country’s numerous communities—predominantly African American—displaced and dispossessed in the name of urban renewal. Make no mistake, though: despite these unjust losses, this performance is not solely lamentation; this is equally and importantly a celebration of these places and their iconic musicians, including neighborhoods in Carter’s hometown of Detroit as well as in Boston, St. Louis, Durham (NC), Chicago, Lubbock (TX), and more. As with any of Carter’s work, it will surely “reach a broad range of listeners and strike a responsive chord. Listeners who have ties to similar communities will enjoy the message and the music, and others new to these stories will discover the vibrancy and spirit of these lost places.”
Seating for this performance is limited. This performance is not eligible for group discounts.
“...her impeccable pitch, lovely grace notes, and delicately bent pitches reminding listeners of why she practically has become a symbol of jazz violin in our times. Moreover, she reaffirms that music as wholly accessible and entertaining as this also can be smart and sophisticated.”
The Chicago Tribune
“Regina Carter creates music that is wonderfully listenable, probingly intelligent and, at times, breathtakingly daring…taking the listener into the future of jazz.”
TIME
“Ms. Carter, jazz’s leading mainstream [is] violinist… equally indebted to classical technique and folk song.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
This performance is made possible in part by support from Celebrity Series' LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Innovation Funds.
Duke Ellington: My Heart Sings