Welcome to the Vermont Jazz Center’s 9th Solo Jazz Piano Festival. This festival aims to illustrate the wide variety of jazz piano styles and approaches by calling on the pianists themselves to convey their own unique attributes while simultaneously demonstrating their direct link to the continuum of the music’s lineage. The Solo Jazz Piano Festival is one of the cornerstones of the VJC’s programming. To date, the festival has presented sixty of the world’s top pianists, including NEA Jazz Masters Toshiko Akiyoshi and Joanne Brackeen, and acknowledged luminaries Stanley Cowell, Benny Green, Helen Sung, Myra Melford, Sullivan Fortner, Kenny Werner (see back panel for full list).
Set I
Carmen Staaf
Carmen Staaf is the 2009 winner of the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano competition. She is the pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater. Her past major performances have included the Playboy Jazz Festival in a two-piano setting with Herbie Hancock, Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the Kennedy Center alongside Kenny Barron and Fred Hersch. She has presented her music at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, SFJazz, and major jazz festivals around the world, including the Newport, Monterey, Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals. Staaf co-leads the group Science Fair with drummer Allison Miller and is a member of Miller’s Boom Tic Boom. This year, she will release an album of duo pieces featuring performances with Ambrose Akinmusire, John Santos and others. Carmen’s work as a side person includes collaborations with Jennie Scheinman, Allison Miller, Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach, Ayn Inserto, Richie Barshay, Natalie Merchant, Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm and many others. Staaf has held faculty positions at Berklee College of Music, the New School, Stanford Jazz Institute, Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (Chennai, India), Jacob’s Pillow, Litchfield Jazz Camp, and the New York Jazz Academy.
Set II
Johnny O’Neal
Grammy-nominated Johnny O’Neal is a living legend. A former member of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, O’Neal has performed with many of the top players of his generation. Highlights of his career include being inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, receiving mentorship and then opening for Oscar Peterson at Carnegie Hall, and performing the part of Art Tatum in the Academy Award-winning 2004 Ray Charles biopic, Ray. Mr. O’Neal has toured or recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Stitt, Benny Golson, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Wycliff Gordon, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Clark Terry, Ray Brown and Milt Jackson. A superb singer himself, he has accompanied Nancy Wilson, Anita O’Day, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and many others. The Detroit-born O’Neal calls himself “a tune guy.” He explains, “I know 1,500 songs. My father was a pianist and singer who emphasized that learning lyrics creates dynamics and a better interpretation of the melody.” Mr. O’Neal was recently awarded a Jazz Fellowship Award from the Jazz Foundation of America, which “aims to foster a community of musicians approaching the latter stages of their careers…as they continue to explore their creative endeavors.”
We will be livestreaming here on our website and on the VJC Facebook page
This year each concert will have both an in-person audience as well as a livestream component. You may purchase in-person tickets here and/or donate to the livestream by clicking above.
The online streaming of this concert is offered by donation. Suggested donations: Full festival pass: $86-$131; Individual headliner concerts: $26 – $56; Saturday daytime pass: $66. Your contribution will go directly towards sustaining the Vermont Jazz Center’s mission of providing access to top quality jazz music to all as well as fair employment to jazz musicians.
LIVE STREAM & IN PERSON
SCHEDULE
Friday, April 18, 2025
Headliner Concert
• 7:30 PM – Carmen Staaf performance (50-minute set)
• 8:30 PM – Johnny O’Neal performance (50-minute set)
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Workshops
• 10:00 am – Carmen Staaf – Rhythmic Frameworks for Improvisation
• 11:00 am – Johnny O’Neal – The Inside Scoop: Stories, Music, and Insights
• 12:00 pm – Sean Mason – Music and Personal Growth
• 1:00 pm – Luther Allison – The Art of Accompaniment
Emerging Artist Presentations:
• 3:30 pm – Michael Carabello
• 4:00 pm – Estefanía Núñez Villamandos
Panel Discussion
• 4:45 pm – Panel discussion with all pianists (juried questions)
Headliner Concert
• 7:30 pm – Sean Mason performance (50-minute set)
• 8:30 pm – Luther Allison performance (50-minute set)
Saturday’s daytime, education-oriented offerings are especially important attributes to this festival’s programming. Each of the four headlining musicians will offer masterclasses that are designed for the general public. These masterclasses reveal the way that each musician thinks about music and life. Saturday will also feature sets from the two emerging artists as well as a round-table discussion with all six musicians.
This Festival is a tribute to Mike McKenzie, a generous philanthropist, who, for the last 28 years has provided artists performing at the VJC with the finest pianos possible. VJC is also especially grateful to a handful of generous sponsors. We feel privileged that Katy Oz, Ellen Smith, Bill Pastuszek, and an anonymous member of the VJC Summer Jazz Workshop believe so strongly in the festival’s impact. VJC also thanks the Thompson Trust, the Windham Foundation and the Vermont Arts Council for their steadfast support. The VJC is appreciative of the excellent care of their instruments by piano technicians William Ballard and Crystal Fielding.
Interested in finding more information on Saturday’s event? Click the button below!
MORE INFORMATION