The ASCAP Foundation Partners With DC Jazz Festival

The ASCAP Foundation, under the leadership of President Paul Williams and Executive Director Nicole George-Middleton, has joined forces with the DC Jazz Festival, headed by President & CEO Sunny Sumter, to support the development of up-and-coming jazz artists.

The DC JazzFest, one of the world's most exciting showcases for jazz, will feature a performance by Chase Elodia with his band the Perennials. Elodia is a recipient of the 2023 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award and will perform with his group on September 2, 2023 on the Transit Stage.

Williams said, “We are thrilled to begin this partnership with DC JazzFest, a festival that is known for helping to introduce jazz to diverse audiences in and around our nation's capital. It is a pleasure to support jazz creators and help to nurture and support this essential American art form.”

George-Middleton added, “Our work with DC JazzFest, like our program with The Herb Alpert Foundation, provides another invaluable opportunity to shine a spotlight on emerging jazz composers. We look forward to working with DC JazzFest in the coming years and introducing its fans to some of our best rising jazz talent.”

Sunny Sumter commented, “We are delighted to collaborate with The ASCAP Foundation to highlight their support for jazz and look forward to some exciting festival performances from their award-winning young jazz creators.”

Elodia is a composer and drummer. His album, Portrait Imperfect, was released on Biophilia Records in May 2022 and named one of the Best New Albums of the Year by Downbeat magazine. A 2022 MacDowell Fellow in composition, Elodia's work has been recognized by The ASCAP Foundation, Avaloch Farm, the Boulder County Arts Alliance, the Café Royale Cultural Foundation, the Escape to Create Residency, and South Arts. His band, Perennials, has toured across the United States multiple times and given master classes at Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Denver, and Yale University. In early 2023, Elodia organized a Biophilia Records stage at the Winter Jazz Festival, where he performed with his ensemble. In addition to his activities with Perennials, he also leads Walking in the City (WITC), a multidisciplinary suite with poets from across Brooklyn, which debuted at National Sawdust in June 2023. WITC & Perennials will continue to perform across the United States and Europe throughout 2023 and 2024.

About the ensemble:

Chase Elodia's Perennials is a Brooklyn-based ensemble. Their recent album, Portrait Imperfect, was awarded 4.5 stars and hailed as “artful” and “ambitious” by Downbeat magazine. Founded in 2020, the band combines a collaborative and improvisational sensibility with an aesthetic orientation that has been nourished by singer-songwriters and electronic artists like Meshell Ndegeocello, Norma Winstone, and Becca Stevens. The group frequently tours across the US and abroad; in the past few years, they have performed at the San Teodoro Jazz Festival (Sardinia, Italy), DC Jazz Festival, Bird's Eye (Basel, Switzerland), Lakehouse Jazz (San Francisco), The Muse (Boulder, CO), Rudy's Jazz Room (Nashville, TN), Fulton St. Collective (Chicago, IL) and Rockwood Music Hall (New York, NY). The band was featured at the 2023 Winter Jazz Festival, has received accolades from the Café Royale Cultural Foundation and South Arts, and is set to release their next album in Spring 2024.

The Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards were established by The ASCAP Foundation in 2002 to encourage gifted jazz composers up to the age of 30. The program carries the name of the great trumpeter and ASCAP member Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Foundation's multi-year financial commitment to support this unique program. The recipients, who receive cash awards, are selected through a juried national competition.

Application guidelines are at www.ascap.com/music-career/support/young-jazz-guidelines.aspx

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting and encouraging American music creators through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and providing grants to other 501(c)(3) organizations engaged in educational programs for aspiring songwriters and composers. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org

DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded by renowned jazz producer Charles Fishman and his wife, attorney Stephanie Peters, in 2004. The organization aims to provide enriching and entertaining jazz performances and programs which introduce students and adults from all walks of life to jazz, our nation's singular original art form. DCJF presents a selection of the jazz genre's most acclaimed artists as well as emerging artists, and provides enhanced exposure for the rich treasure trove of musicians from the Washington, DC area. For more information, visit https://www.dcjazzfest.org/.

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