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| DHC returns to her jazz roots on July 1st at 12th Annual Cape Cod Jazz Festival Deborah Henson-Conant (DHC) conceived the instrument she plays. "I wanted to take an 80-pound concert harp and shrink it down to an instrument I could strap on and play like an electric guitar, " she says. She was already well-known as the country's leading jazz-harpist by the early 90′s, but traveling with the huge instrument. She took her vision of a truly portable harp to France and described it to the head of the world's cutting-edge harp manufacturer, CAMAC. He loved the idea. The result is the world's leading electric harp, named after her, the "DHC-Light, " an 11-pound carbon-fibre instrument she wears – and she's the world's leading player and coach of this innovative instrument. 12th Annual Cape Cod Jazz Festival: The 12th annual Cape Cod Jazz Festival takes place at the Wequassett Resort and features some of the region's best performers. It has become one of the most anticipated events of the summer season and is free and open to the public. Performances take place on the garden terrace overlooking Pleasant Bay. Cocktails and a light menu are available throughout the evening. This is the second concert of the Cape Cod Jazz Festival 2015 season, a festival that includes saxophonist Grace Kelly, the Julliard Jazz Ensemble, White Heat Swing Orchestra, Paula Cole and Kevin Eubanks. SHOW DETAILS ============= WHO: GRAMMY Nominated Electric Harpist Deborah Henson-Conant WHAT: A Night under the Stars with Deborah Henson-Conant WHEN: Wed. July 1st, 2015 at 8:30pm WHERE: The Wequassett Resort on Pleasant Bay, Chatham, Massachusetts 02633 DHC uses a looper pedal to layer sounds and create rhythmic grooves she improvises over. She combines styles and genres, focusing on styles she says offer opportunities for physical expression — like Jazz, Blues, Flamenco and theater-inspired music. "All my work is about invention – on the spot, in the moment – and the combination of story and music with physical gesture you can actually hear" she says. Henson-Conant hit the jazz scene in the early 90′s as the only woman instrumentalist on Dave Grusin's jazz label, GRP – and she spent the 90′s touring Europe with her trio playing contemporary jazz originals. She's now another rarity, a woman orchestral composer whose jazz-inspired concertos are performed around the world – and as the creator and founder of the first online school for improvisational jazz harp studies, the DHC Academy (or as some call it, "Pluck University"). Her solo appearance at the Cape Cod Jazz Festival is a rare chance to see the master of an instrument she invented, up-close and personal – just hands, harp, looper-pedal, voice. An evening surrounded by jazz, under the stars, overlooking Pleasant Bay. write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Jazz News :: home page |