by Giovanni Russonello

Amy K. Bormet is one of the D.C.’s rising jazz stars. She plays every Monday night in the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra and gigs regularly around town at clubs like Twins Jazz. Save one or two others, she is almost inarguably the most visible woman on the scene. But that’s not exactly what she wants. In fact, she says it’s part of the problem.

“There’s all these women in D.C. playing killin’ music and I love them, and I never get to perform with them,” Bormet said. “I just wanted to make everybody aware of all these musicians that I’m aware of.”

Cue the First Annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival, Bormet’s brain child and her solution to that nagging question: Where are all the great female jazz players gigging at? 

The festival arrives in four installments, one on almost every Wednesday in March – which is Women’s History Month. Each show will take place at Twins and feature two different female musicians playing two different sets. “The whole scheme is that I have two people on each show and they each plan a set, but each person plays on the other person’s set too,” Bormet said.

She’s already got greater aspirations: For next year’s second annual WWJF, Bormet plans to expand to multiple venues. “I want to have a bigger and more exciting festival next year, where I can have multiple venues and more people and make it into a huge thing,” she said.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: The first annual festival will be plenty grand. It kicks off this Wednesday with sets from New York City-based trombonist Melissa Gardiner and rising D.C. vocal star Lena Seikaly.

Below is a full schedule, plus a few choice words from Bormet about why she picked each musician and what she anticipates from their performances.

March 2: Melissa Gardiner and Lena Seikaly

Amy says: “These two were in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at the Kennedy Center in 2008. Melissa just finished her jazz master’s degree with a full scholarship to Juillard and a brand new album. She is one of the most optimistic people I know, and all of her attitude comes through in her playing. We met at the University of Michigan as rowdy jazz dorks. She went from taking lessons with Geri Allen at the University of Michigan to gigging with her in NYC.

“Lena is a fabulous singer who grew up around D.C. and went to the University of Maryland, and now she’s hiring all the fancy cats in town for her numerous gigs. We’ve performed together at a few places around town and the crowd always loves her presence and great technique. I love to accompany her because she always finds interesting ways to sing the standards.”

March 9: Amy K. Bormet and Gabrielle Murphy*

Amy says: “I will be doing tunes from my new album, Striking, and I’m looking forward to having Gabrielle perform on my compositions!

“Gabrielle is a feisty sax player, I first met her a few summers back standing outside of Utopia in the wee hours. DeAndrey Howard famously told me, ‘Just wait til you hear her play!’ This will be our first time performing together in public, not just sitting in. Gabrielle just graduated from Peabody and has been performing all over the East Coast.”

[*Murphy is replacing Karine Chapdelaine, who was scheduled to perform on this date but is recuperating from pneumonia.]

March 23: Jessica Boykin-Settles and Leigh Pilzer

Amy says: “My swinging scholars. These ladies are smarter than you, they swing harder and you are going to like it. I met Leigh at a “Women in Jazz” event at Northern Virginia Community College. She is a killer saxophonist, arranger and composer, and she’s getting her doctorate in Music Theory at Catholic University. Recently, she brought in some new charts for the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra to play, listened to the band and on the set break she was reading a scary-looking tome on atonal harmony.

“Jess is the most enthusiastic jazz evangelist. We have worked together for the last five years at the Washington Jazz Arts Institute, where she inspires teenagers to be swinging and commit to a real study of the music. She is some sort of miracle worker. One of my favorite things about going to Howard University was stopping in her office to hear some ridiculous disco Herbie Hancock playing on the stereo. We had a great show at Strathmore last spring where I really saw her love for the music come to life.”

March 30: Christie Dashiell and Sarah Hughes

Amy says: “Christie was my roommate at Betty Carter Jazz Ahead last year. She is so talented and so down to earth, it’s absurd. I guess if I was in the Dashiell family of jazz geniuses I would be humble too. I am so happy to have her and her brother C.V. on this show! They are the crowning jewels in the HU jazz tiara.

“When Sarah performs Ellington’s ‘Star-Crossed Lovers’ with the BCJO, I can see the whole front row start to close their eyes and sway. It’s ridiculously beautiful. She’s also an outstanding composer and I loved hearing her tunes with Brad Linde at CapitalBop’s last D.C. Jazz Loft.”

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The Washington Women in Jazz Festival starts this week at Twins Jazz and continues on almost every Wednesday in March (skipping the 16th). Tickets to each show are $12 in advance, or $15 at the door. Passes to the whole festival are $40.

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