The festival headliner for 2011 is Dee Dee Bridgewater, who won a Tony Award for her acting performance in ‘The Wiz’ and who has also snagged two Grammy Awards for ‘Best Jazz Vocal Performance’ and ‘Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal.’ In addition to her musical and acting accomplishments, Bridgewater hosts the weekly NPR jazz program ‘JazzSet.’
Also on the bill is New Orleans native Henry Butler, an eight-time W.C. Handy ‘Best Blues Instrumentalist – Piano’ award nominee. Blind since birth, Butler not only is a musical chameleon — mixing jazz, Caribbean, classical, pop, blues and R&B influences — but he’s also an accomplished photographer whose work has been displayed at exhibitions.
