Release Date: April 14, 2010
10th Season of Jazz in the Garden Concert Series Begins on May 28 at the National Gallery of Art
Visitors to Jazz in the Garden relax around the grand fountain in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.
The Jazz in the Garden concert series, the National Gallery of Art's beloved summer tradition, begins its 10th season on Friday, May 28, with weekly performances through Friday, September 10. The free concert series features an array of jazz artists performing a range of styles—from swing to progressive to Latin—every Friday evening from 5:00 to 8:30 at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, rain or shine.
The concert series welcomed an unprecedented number of attendees last summer, totaling nearly 200,000 guests for the season. The relaxed garden setting, coupled with the friendly cultural atmosphere, has made this event a favorite Friday after-work destination for Washingtonians and visiting families alike. Musicians perform in front of the Pavilion Café while visitors sit around the grand central fountain or relax on a blanket on the beautifully landscaped grounds. Guests may indulge in the Pavilion Café's food and beverages or bring their own picnics.*
Jazz in the Garden guests may enjoy even more of the Gallery's collection this summer—a newly acquired sculpture and a restored favorite. Roxy Paine's Graft, the artist's first work to enter the collection, was installed in the fall of 2009. This tree-like structure representing two fictive but distinct species joined in the same form, is a perfect match with the Sculpture Garden, a place that balances art and nature with the urban, yet verdant, setting of the nation's capital. Hector Guimard's An Entrance to the Paris Métropolitain, which has been in restoration for the past year, has been reinstalled next to the Pavilion Café.
Jazz in the Garden is sponsored by Guest Services, Inc., and the National Gallery of Art.
Performances
In case of inclement weather, concerts are held inside the Pavilion Café. The schedule for this season's Friday evening concerts is as follows:
May 28: Leslie Summey (female jazz vocalist)
June 4: Berklee World Jazz Nonet (DC Jazz Festival)
June 11: Deanna Bogart (bluesion)
June 18: Ron and Ryan Diehl (Father's Day tribute)
June 25: Nattybeaux (jump swing band)
July 2: Bio Ritmo (hot salsa)
July 9: James King Ensemble (jazz bassist)
July 16: Incendio (Latino jazz from Los Angeles, CA)
July 23: Young Lions (fusion rock/jazz)
July 30: John Jensen (jazz trombonist)
August 6: Bjorn Solli (Norwegian jazz guitarist)
August 13: Carsten Boe Trio (Django jazz from Oslo, Norway)
August 20: Pete BarenBregge (ensemble avante-garde)
August 27: Miles Stiebel (smooth jazz violinist)
September 3: Josh Bayer (progressive jazz guitar)
September 10: Bruce Swaim (jazz saxophone)
To learn more about Jazz in the Garden concerts and performers, please visit www.nga.gov/programs/jazz.htm or call (202) 289-3360.
Refreshments from the Pavilion Café
A special menu of appetizers, entrees, and salads is available inside the Pavilion Café, while carts serving barbecue pork sandwiches, beef and shrimp kabobs, and gelato are located throughout the garden. A variety of beverages—beer, wine, sangria, mixed drinks, and soda—is sold on-site.* View the full Jazz in the Garden menu at www.jazzinthegarden.com.
Pick Up a Picnic Basket
Savvy concertgoers may skip the lines and avoid the hassle of bringing their own picnics by preordering the Pavilion Café's signature Jazz in the Garden Picnic Basket. At a budget-conscious $25, the keepsake basket (serving two) offers artisanal bread baguettes, meats and such cheeses as Wensleydale cranberry and smoked Gouda, gourmet dips and spreads flavored with smoked salmon and artichoke, fresh summer fruits, and bottled Saratoga water. Wine by the bottle can be added for an additional price.* Also included is a calendar of other free programs and exhibitions at the Gallery. Guests may preorder baskets and wines by the bottle at www.jazzinthegarden.com or by calling (202) 289-3360. Baskets may also be purchased at the Pavilion Café, availability permitting.
*Alcoholic beverages may not be brought to the premises from outside.
Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg
The improvisational nature of jazz—particularly that of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and the bebop style that was popular in the 1950s—is reflected in the spontaneous and uninhibited prose of many Beat writers. This year, Jazz in the Garden coincides with Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, the first scholarly examination of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs, on view at the National Gallery of Art May 2–September 16, 2010. In honor of the exhibition, the first concert on May 28 features bebop music performed by female jazz vocalist Leslie Summey.
The exhibition explores Allen Ginsberg's photography from his 1950s "drugstore" prints, including celebrated portraits of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, to his later portraits of the Beats and other friends made in the 1980s and 1990s. Ginsberg (1926–1997) started taking photographs in the early 1950s when he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera. For the next decade he captured numerous intimate shots of himself as well as his friends and lovers. He abandoned photography in 1963 and did not return to it until the early 1980s. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted much of his early work and began making new portraits, adding extensive inscriptions. Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generations from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.
The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Trellis Fund, with additional support from The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc.
For more information and to order exhibition images, visit http://www.nga.gov/press/exh/3107/index.shtm
Friday Afternoon Films About Jazz
On select Friday afternoons during Jazz in the Garden, the Gallery presents free film screenings relating to jazz. All programs take place in the East Building Auditorium, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Full details about the film program are at http://www.nga.gov/programs/film/.
Cecil Taylor: All the Notes
June 18 and June 25 at 3:00 p.m.
The story of the famous free jazz
pioneer and master of complex improvisation (Chris Felver, 2004, 73 minutes)
B-Side
July 9 and July 16 at 3:00 p.m.
A kaleidoscopic view of Barcelona's
music scene and the city's distinctive jazz culture (Eva Vila, 2009, 94 minutes,
Spanish and Catalan with subtitles)
Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy
September 3 at 3:00 p.m.
Innovative bassist Charlie Haden's legendary
collaborations with Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and others (Reto Caduff,
2009, 87 minutes)
Retour à Gorée/Return to Goree
September 10 at 3:00 p.m.
Vocalist Youssou N'Dour's epic journey
to bring back to Africa a jazz repertoire and to sing jazz in Goree, the island
off the coast of Senegal that today symbolizes the slave trade (Pierre-Yves
Borgeaud, 2007, 108 minutes, English and French with subtitles)
Sculpture Garden
Designed to offer year-round enjoyment to the public in one of the preeminent locations on the National Mall, the 6.1-acre National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden opened to the public on May 23, 1999. The richly landscaped setting provides a distinctive backdrop for 17 monumental works of 20th-century sculpture by such internationally renowned artists as Louise Bourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein, Tony Smith, and Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Visitors may enjoy spacious seating and walking areas amid the native American canopy and flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden was given to the nation by The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. More information about the Sculpture Garden is available at www.nga.gov/exhibitions/sculpture.
Hours and Location
The summer hours of the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, May 28 through September 10, are as follows:
Monday through Thursday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The Pavilion Café remains open until 8:30 p.m. on Fridays during the Jazz in the Garden concert series, and until 6:00 p.m. the rest of the week.
Located on the National Mall at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, in the block adjacent to the West Building of the Gallery, the Sculpture Garden has six entrances and is accessible to visitors with disabilities.
The nearest Metro stations are Archives/Navy Memorial (Green/Yellow Lines), Smithsonian (Blue/Orange Lines), and Judiciary Square (Red Line). The DC Circulator Bus stops at 4rth Street and Madison Drive NW, and on 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.
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