Tregaron Meadow Concert

Hailed as “the capital city’s contemporary cool king”, Brad Linde is a saxophonist, educator, bandleader, and impresario in the Washington DC metro area. He is the director of Jazz and Creative Music at Georgetown Day School and founder of the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra. Raised in NC, he studied music at Elon University (BA) and attended UNC Chapel Hill before graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park with a MM. He learned the bebop language from Barry Harris and engaged in the Tristano School concepts with pianist Ed Paolantonio before studying privately with Lee Konitz and working with Ted Brown. In 2013, he was a participant in the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop.

For over a decade, he has led large ensembles, including the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, the Brad Linde Expanded Ensemble, BIG OL’ (featuring the music of Australian composer Elliott Hughes), and the Team Players BIG LEAGUE. As an impresario, Brad has curated series for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Northeast Washington DC, the Drawing Room in Brooklyn, and others. He continues to present performances and collaborations in the Washington DC area, Baltimore, New York City, and in Durham and Chapel Hill, NC.

Leigh Pilzer is a Washington DC-based saxophonist. She has led her combo at many of DC’s top jazz venues and has toured both nationally and internationally as a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and The DIVA Jazz Orchestra. Leigh often performs with the National Symphony Orchestra in concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and on the orchestra’s nationally televised PBS holiday specials.

Leigh is also a gifted composer and arranger whose work is in the libraries of the SJMO and DIVA as well as military, college, and professional jazz ensembles throughout the country. Recorded arrangements include her original composition “East Coast Andy,” the opening track on The DIVA Jazz Orchestra 25th Anniversary Project (2018). Leigh earned her doctorate at George Mason University. She also holds degrees from the Berklee College of Music and the University of Maryland. Leigh has served on faculty at the University of Maryland, Towson University, and George Mason University.

Saxophonist and composer Brian Settles has established himself as a rising force with a long-term artistic vision, blending the outwardly engaging with the deeply personal, reconciling his intimate command of the jazz lineage with a commitment to his own experimental voice. Settles two albums as a leader feature entirely original music, highlighting his buoyant, pithy compositions: Secret Handshake (Engine, 2011) featured the five-piece Central Union, and was named the best jazz record of the year by both the Washington City Paper and CapitalBop.com. Settles followed up with Folk (Engine, 2013), a trio album acclaimed by Something Else Reviews and the NYC Jazz Record.

Settles went on to attend the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, and has earned a master’s degree in music from Howard University. In 2015 he was listed as a rising star on tenor saxophone in Downbeat magazine critics poll, and he earned an artist fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. All the while he worked with young musicians as a teacher and mentor at the Washington Jazz Arts Institute (WJAI), where he has served since 2002.

Jazz vocalist, musical theatre actor, and BETonJazz on-air talent Yvette Spears was introduced to performance at an early age growing up in New Orleans. Her voice is noted for its dynamic range and distinctive sound. From an airy falsetto to an emotive contralto, her voice creates a musical palate that transcends genre. Spears has appeared in musical productions at Metro Stage, The Alliance for New Music Theatre, DC Strings Workshop, and Bleu Opera Company, most recently appearing in operatic and jazz productions such as “Voices of Zion”, “On the Road to Arivaca”, “My Creole Love Call”, and “Flowers for Roberta” (a performance tribute to the Alexandria, VA native Roberta Flack).

Spears is the founder of Beaux Arts Collective (producer of “Chantez Les Bas: Josephine” in tribute of dancer, singer, actress, and civil rights activist Josephine Baker) and the Voices From The Jazz Boutique series, and she currently serves as President of the Board for DC-based Bleu Opera Company.