Monday, Mar 24, 2025 at 7:00pm
The Schomburg Center's annual Women's Jazz Festival (WJF) is celebrating 33 years of centering Black women in the field of jazz. The Women's Jazz Festival was founded in 1992 by then Harlem resident and jazz vocalist, Melba Joyce. Year after year, the festival and its curators have brought together musicians, dancers and a melding of musical genres to deliver an exciting series of concerts featuring some of the best-known and emerging talent by women in jazz today.
Join us for opening night of the Women's Jazz Festival with Sarah Elizabeth Charles.
Sarah Elizabeth Charles' Liberating the Bird project is a song cycle that infuses the rich poetry of Dr. Maya Angelou with melody, rhythm and harmony. Charles started writing songs for this project in 2016 and has slowly been developing it with her duo partner, Jordan Peters on guitar ever since. More recently, Charles also collaborated with Black women arrangers and instrumentalists, Juliette M. Jones & Monique Brooks Roberts, who have written arrangements for this song cycle that include voice, guitar, string quartet and percussion. Angelou's writing, performing and identity as a prolific artist has had an enormous influence on Charles and this project pays homage to her enormous artistic contributions. Charles' only wish in offering this music is to honorably hold space for the wise words and fruitful experience that Angelou offers the world.
Schedule of Events:
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Camille Thurman, saxophonist and vocalist
Additional Dates:
