The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival returns for its 16th year this coming President’s Day weekend, continuing its annual tradition of showcasing exceptional jazz performances, masterclasses, live artist interviews and jam sessions. And this year marks a step up, as well as a step forward: After many years at the Rockville Hilton, the festival this year will be held at the larger Bethesda Marriott Hotel.

With this year’s theme of “Playing the Changes,” the three-day jazz festival embraces the evolutionary nature of the art form, said Paul Carr, the festival’s founder and director. “The thing about being a jazz artist – and being in jazz, period, whether it’s being on the music side or the administrative side – there’s always changes,” he said. “We’re pretty much reimagining the festival in the 16th year. It’s adding more people to the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival rainbow.”

The 2025 MAJF will include over 25 performances across five stages, as usual presenting a mix of world-class jazz masters, acclaimed regional favorites and collegiate and high school newcomers to the bandstand. Patrons can purchase “all-access passports” or tickets to single sessions, which are groupings of shows on individual stages. All proceeds from the MAJF support Carr’s music education nonprofit, the Jazz Academy of Music.    

“Music doesn’t exist and can’t go forward without young people,” Carr said. “We’re building our audience for the future.” 

Partly with that in mind, this weekend’s MAJF will have a wider range of jazz than in past years, offering everything from traditional jazz to R&B and urban contemporary-infused performances.

This year’s impressive roster of performers includes Carmen Bradford and the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Orchestra, Grammy-winning vocal supergroup Säje, the Tia Fuller Quartet, saxophonist Brent Birckhead, and violinist-vocalist Chelsey Green and the Green Project. The MAJF will also feature tributes to jazz’s vocal greats, including Marcia Baird Burris’ “Carmen McRae Revisited,” vocalist Sharón Clark’s “Sounds of Sarah” (as in Vaughan), and Reggie Upshaw’s “The Legacy of Al Jarreau.”

Carr, alongside his fellow saxophonist and educator Billy Pierce, will perform a tribute to tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger Benny Golson, whose death last year left a significant hole in the music world. “Benny Golson’s tunes are … coveted by saxophone players,” Carr said. “I wanted to honor him with Billy Pierce because Pierce is also a very influential jazz saxophonist. He has taught a lot of people that turned out to be great saxophonists on the jazz scene.” 

Below, find a list of CapitalBop-selected highlights that you won’t want to miss over the weekend, with the session number noted for those who wish to buy individual tickets. Tickets and the full schedule are available on the festival’s website.

Sharón Clark

Friday, Feb. 14, 7 p.m.
Main Stage, Session 1
Tickets $87.98

Sharón Clark captivates audiences with impeccable improvisational storytelling. Her multifaceted ability to personalize well-worn standards makes her a favorite for many around the local jazz scene. Her MAJF performance this year will celebrate the genius of Sarah Vaughan. Clark says that Vaughan “absolutely sang the melody and would take it and make it her artistry, her voice, her emotions. She’s touched me.” Clark’s performance will honor Vaughan’s expansive range, from straight-ahead jazz to Brazilian tunes and pop renditions. “There’s something about the way Sarah put the song up for us that made you feel like she was absolutely living what she was singing about,” says Clark.

Christie Dashiell

Friday, Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m.
The “Q” (Quincy Jones) Stage, Session 1
Tickets $72.42

D.C.-born, North Carolina-raised vocalist Christie Dashiell hails from a musical family, and she has been singing since early childhood. Now an in-demand vocalist on the national scene, she has performed with artists including trumpeter Marquis Hill and Wynton Marsalis, and at this month’s Grammys she was nominated in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category for her newest record, Journey in Black, a record steeped in the traditions of jazz, R&B and soul. Dashiell’s band features local heavy hitters Romeir Mendez, Shedrick Mitchell, Marquis Hill, Allyn Johnson and her brother Carroll “C.V.” Dashiell III. 

Vincent Herring and Something Else!

Saturday, Feb. 15, 10 p.m.
Main Stage, Session 3
Tickets $87.98

Saxophonist Vincent Herring’s style is expressive, intentional and compelling. His honey-like tone and masterful improvisations are classic examples of the “straight-ahead” sound, and he has been called upon to collaborate with jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Art Blakey, Dr. Billy Taylor, Nancy Wilson and Horace Silver.

Herring will present his new supergroup Something Else!, which includes jazz greats James Carter, Paul Bollenback and Dave Kikoski. Listeners can anticipate an engaging and joyful performance by the group, which focuses on the upbeat soul-jazz sound of the mid-to-late 1960s. 

Something Else! features “some of my absolute favorite players in the world,” Herring told CapitalBop. He said that the music will showcase  the band’s synergy across compelling blues-infused and funky compositions. “The improvisation style is strong throughout. Soul jazz is a way of being expressive and connecting with people.”

Cyrus Chestnut and Ekep Nkwelle

Sunday, Feb. 16, 8:30 p.m.
Main Stage, Session 5
Tickets $87.98

Cyrus Chestnut is an award-winning pianist, composer and bandleader with an extraordinary blend of classical, gospel and jazz chops. The Baltimore native has performed with other jazz titans including Betty Carter, Dizzy Gillespie,  Regina Carter and James Moody, among many more.

Vocalist Ekep Nkwelle was recently named one of Lincoln Center’s rising stars, thanks to her playful and skillful approach to jazz standards. Nkwele was raised in D.C., graduating from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and has since gone global, performing on stages including Saint Javier Jazz Festival in Spain, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Keyon Harrold

Sunday, Feb. 16, 9 p.m.
The “Q” (Quincy Jones) Stage
Tickets $36.23

Keyon Harrold is a trumpeter, bandleader and composer whose genre-bending approach and mellifluous tones are highly sought after among industry music leaders. Born in Ferguson, Mo., Harrold graduated from the School of Jazz at the New School, after which he became a first-call trumpet player in New York and elsewhere.

Harrold’s innovative playing can be heard across notable collaborations including Robert Glasper, Gregory Porter, Common, Beyoncé and Jay Z. 2024’s Foreverland netted Harrold his first Grammy nomination with its lush melodies and conversational solos, integrating approaches to jazz, hip-hop and R&B.

Orrin Evans Supergroup with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Chris Potter and Dwayne Dolphin

Sunday, Feb. 16, 10 p.m.
Main Stage, Session 5
Tickets $87.89

A jazz pianist, composer and leader of bands of various sizes, Philadelphia-based Orrin Evans is a cornerstone of today’s jazz scene. His Captain Black Big Band has been nominated for three Grammys, and from 2017 to 2021 Evans alo held down the piano chair of the renowned Bad Plus trio.

He will debut a new, star-studded band at the 2025 MAJF, featuring drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Dwayne Dolphin. 

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