Charleston Music Hall - Charleston Jazz

2024 Charleston Jazz Festival

Charleston Music Hall

René Marie is a very rare artist. A modern vocal icon, her unique artistry has been recognized with multiple domestic and international awards, including two Grammy Award nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album. A lyricist, composer, arranger, playwright, actress, educator, speaker, and social justice activist, René is an Americana roots artist with jazz improvisational chops. Influenced by her southern upbringing, she incorporates folk, R&B, country, and classical elements into her music and approach, lending her a unique sound and style that have captivated audiences worldwide. Over a span of two decades, 11 recordings, and countless festival and concert stage performances, René inspires people with her artistry, her life story, and her ability to affirm the power of the human spirit.

The Charleston Jazz Festival is proud to feature René Marie & Experiment in Truth as they showcase the music of their highly anticipated Jump In The Line! Tour. This beautiful concert intersperses the most-beloved calypso selections of Harry Belafonte with lesser-known facts about his use of music to effect social change. Each musical selection (arrangements by trumpeter Etienne Charles) is curated to engage the heart and mind of both long-time fans of Harry Belafonte and more recent acolytes. Don’t wait, jump in line and reserve your tickets today!

René Marie - Vocals
Xavier Davis - Piano
Dan Wilson - Guitar
Rodney Jordan - Bass
Quentin E. Baxter - Drums
Wycliffe Gordon - Trombone
Terell Stafford - Trumpet

2024 Charleston Jazz Festival

Charleston Music Hall

Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists on the scene today. Born in Berkeley, California, he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. In 1991, Redman graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and had already been accepted by Yale Law School, but deferred entrance for what he believed was only going to be one year. Instead, he moved to New York City and immediately found himself immersed in the city’s burgeoning jazz scene. Five months later, Redman was named the winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Since then, Redman has worked and played with a vast array of jazz luminaries, released over twenty albums (Warner & Nonesuch), and garnered top honors in critics and reader polls of DownBeat, Jazz Times, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone.

The Charleston Jazz Festival is thrilled to be one of the presenters of Joshua Redman Group’s Where We Are tour in collaboration with Gabrielle Cavassa. The surface concept of Where We Are is rather simple: each of the songs makes reference to a specific geographical location in the United States: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia,’ Count Basie’s ‘Going To Chicago,’ Rodgers & Hart’s ‘Manhattan,’ John Coltrane’s ‘Alabama,’ and more. Simply stated, this tour is based on an album about America.

Where We Are is perhaps above all a meditation on the power and importance of place—the unique human beauty created when we locate ourselves in shared physical spaces together with others; the loss, anomie, and angst suffered when we divide ourselves unnaturally and unjustly apart.

Joshua Redman - Saxophone
Gabrielle Cavass - Vocals
Paul Cornish - Piano
Phillip Norris - Bass
Nazir Ebo - Drums 

2024 Charleston Jazz Festival

Charleston Music Hall

Arturo O’Farrill is a Latin jazz pianist, composer, and educator that was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. His professional career began with the Carla Bley Band, and he continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

In December 2010, Arturo traveled with the original Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra to Cuba, returning his father’s musicians to his homeland. He continues to travel to Cuba regularly as an informal cultural ambassador, working with Cuban musicians, dancers, and students, bringing local musicians from Cuba to the US and American musicians to Cuba.

Arturo has received commissions from Meet the Composer, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Philadelphia Music Project, The Apollo Theater, Symphony Space, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Young People's Chorus of New York, Columbia University, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Arturo O'Farrill - Piano
Jasper Dutz - Saxophone
Bam Rodriguez - Bass
Zack O'Farrill - Drums
Carlos Maldonado - Percussion