Aretha, Hancock, Sting & More Head For White House
President Barack Obama and the First Lady will host a stellar array of jazz and soul artists at the White House, as part of International Jazz Day on 29 April. Aretha Franklin, Sting, Diana Krall, Buddy Guy, Herbie Hancock, Hugh Masekela, Pat Metheny and Jamie Cullum are among the stars who have been invited to perform.
This will be the fifth edition of International Jazz Day, which runs in a different guest city each year. Previous centres have included Istanbul, Paris and Osaka. Now it’s the turn of Washington, D.C., the birthplace of the great Duke Ellington, to host the festivities, joining with towns, cities and villages in over 190 countries on all seven continents to observe IJD through thousands of performances and programmes. The show will be broadcast in the US 24 hours later, on 30 April, on ABC.
Other artists taking part in the event, in alphabetical order, include Joey Alexander, Terence Blanchard, Kris Bowers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Till Brönner, Terri Lyne Carrington, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling, Robert Glasper, Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain, Lionel Loueke, Christian McBride, John McLaughlin, Marcus Miller, James Morrison, Danilo Pérez, the Rebirth Brass Band, Dianne Reeves, Lee Ritenour, David Sánchez, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Trombone Shorty, Chucho Valdés, Bobby Watson and Ben Williams.
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