10:30 am
Alexandria Kleztet
The Alexandria Kleztet is an exciting and innovative klezmer band. Since they first began performing together in 1998, the unusual instrumentation and original approach of The Alexandria Kleztet has been delighting audiences in Washington, DC, Virginia, Maryland, and beyond. With the release of their albums "Close Enough for Klezmer," "Delusions of Klezmer," and "Y2Klezmer," the band can share its unique style of "alternative Klezmer" with local listeners and audiences worldwide. Leader Seth Kibel began his career as a full-time professional musician in 1996, when he moved to the Washington/Baltimore area following his graduation from Cornell University with a double major in Music and American Studies. Since that time, he has been in demand as a sideman and as a bandleader performing in such diverse genres as jazz, rock, blues, swing, klezmer, Dixieland, and classical music. Seth Kibel received 2007 Wammies from the Washington Area Music Association for best world music instrumentalist and his recording The Great Pretender and was nominated for musician of the year. In previous years, band members have received many other Wammies, including "Best World Music Duo or Group" (2003, 2004, 2006), "Best World Music Instrumentalist" (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006), "Best Jazz Instrumentalist" (2005), and "Best World Music Recording (2000, 2003, 2005).
Contact: kleztet@aol.com
Website: www.kleztet.com

1:00 pm
Little Bit a Blues
A D.C. favorite, Little Bit A Blues, which combines the warm vocals and Piedmont guitar picking of Warner Williams' with the virtuose harmonica of Jay Summerour. Williams and Summerour began playing together during the early 1990s, and have been featured in concerts, on television and radio, and at festivals across the country. Appearances have included the National Public Radio series Folk Masters, at the National and Lowell folk festivals and on the National Mall during the American Roots Fourth of July celebration. According to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, "Guitarist and songster Warner Williams of Takoma Park, MD, is one of the greatest unsung heroes of the Piedmont blues. His Eastern seaboard style incorporates fiddle tunes, ballads, country and popular songs, ragtime, and gospel. With a jaunty rhythmic finger-picked guitar-style and an eclectic repertoire that ranges from blues to honky-tonk, jazz crooning to children's songs, Williams is an old-style community entertainer of national significance." The duo's "Down and Dirty" CD was nominated for a 2007 Wammie for best blues recording by the Washington Area Music Association.
Contact and Website: www.littlebitablues.com