The Flynn Reveals Adi Oasis as the Curator for the 2024 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

The Flynn has announced Brooklyn-based French-Caribbean soul-funk-R&B artist and producer Adi Oasis as the curator for the 2024 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. This year’s festival takes place across Downtown Burlington from June 5-9.

The Flynn has also announced the opening and closing events of the festival. Haitian-American composer, singer, and visual artist Cécile McLorin Salvant, who Dr. Angela Davis called, "without a doubt, her generation’s most accomplished jazz vocalist," opens the festival on the Flynn Main Stage on June 5 at 7:30 pm. The festival closes with one of the towering figures of the modern jazz scene: five-time Grammy-winner Robert Glasper on the Flynn Main Stage on June 9 at 7 pm. Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is produced by the Flynn and presented by New England Federal Credit Union. 

Tickets for Cécile McLorin Salvant on June 5 and Robert Glasper on June 9 are on sale now to Flynn members. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, March 29. Become a member and get tickets only at flynnvt.org.

"I’m honored to be the curator for this year’s Burlington Discover Jazz Festival," said Adi Oasis, curator for the 2024 festival. "Curating a festival has been a dream of mine for many years and it was exciting to be given this opportunity. My hope is to share my vision of where jazz is today and bring joy while creating awareness. I couldn't be prouder of the lineup of tremendous talents we've put together; each represents a different musical message. It was important to me to highlight everyone—including women, international, and queer artists—alongside more traditional jazz artists. The opening night puts a spotlight on Black women in jazz, and we are closing the festival with one of today's most acclaimed musicians. Burlington is in for a very special experience and I’m certain that all the artists will absolutely love meeting this welcoming community."

With her intoxicating voice, head-spinning compositions, funky bass playing and striking personal style, Adi Oasis is an electric performer and a sought-after collaborator in modern jazz and R&B spheres. She has toured globally and shared the stage with notable artists like Anderson .Paak, Lee Fields, Chromeo, Big Freeda, and Lenny Kravitz. Oasis has performed at a wide variety of festivals including Newport Jazz Fest, Love Supreme, Central Park SummerStage, Afropunk, and Montreux Jazz Festival. She recently released her latest solo album, Lotus Glow, featuring her trademark soaring vocals, funky bass, and retro-futurist production, plus special guests KIRBY, Leven Kali, Jamila Woods, and Aaron Taylor. As curator for this year’s Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, Oasis helps guide the vision and themes that tie the five-day event together, selecting artists that represent and celebrate the present and future of jazz as an evolving art form.

"We are overjoyed to welcome Adi Oasis as this year’s curator," said Jay Wahl, Flynn executive director. "Adi is an exceptional artist who, along with her incredible sound and style, brings a really exciting artistic vision to the festival that we’re thrilled to support and present to the people of Burlington. We can’t wait to share the amazing lineup she’s put together. If these Main Stage shows with Cécile McLorin Salvant, Melanie Charles, Robert Glasper, and aja monet are any indication, it’s going to be an extraordinarily special week."

Cécile McLorin Salvant—playing Burlington Discover Jazz Festival’s opening night on the Flynn Main Stage on June 5—is a three-time Grammy winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album and recipient of the MacArthur fellowship. She is coming off her daring seventh album, Mélusine, a bracing left-turn where she explores baroque and folkloric textures while singing in French, Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl. Brooklyn-based singer, bandleader, flautist Melanie Charles opens the show. Charles has collaborated with marquee artists such as SZA, Wynton Marsalis, Mach-Hommy, Gorillaz, and The Roots.

Robert Glasper—playing the closing night of the jazz festival on June 9 on the Flynn Main Stage—is the leader of a new sonic paradigm with a career that bridges musical and artistic genres. To date, he boasts five Grammy wins and 12 nominations across 11 categories; an Emmy Award for his song for Ava DuVernay’s critically hailed documentary 13th, with Common and Karriem Riggins; and a Peabody Award for his composition of Mr. Soul!. Glasper’s breakout crossover album Black Radio won him the Grammy for Best R&B Album and established him as the musician of choice for some of the world’s most iconic artists, most notably Kendrick Lamar who enlisted Glasper to play keys throughout his landmark album To Pimp A Butterfly. The ongoing Black Radio series has since become Glasper’s calling card—he won the Grammy for Best R&B Album for Black Radio III in 2023—securing him a place at the heart of a trailblazing community: from long-time sonic brothers Mos Def and Bilal to legends including Lupe Fiasco, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu. Surrealist blues poet and community organizer aja monet is the opening act for Glasper.

On the opening evening of the festival, on June 5 at 5:30 pm, the Flynn is also hosting a kick-off fundraiser in Flynn Space, featuring a special performance by prominent local musician Geoff Kim, leading the Geoff Kim Organ Trio. Proceeds from this opening night fundraiser help support the free programming that is featured throughout the jazz festival, including the large-scale free events held across two days at the Burlington Waterfront.

Tickets are on sale now for Flynn members for Cécile McLorin Salvant and Robert Glasper. Tickets for these two shows go on public sale on March 29. The full festival lineup will be revealed at a press event on May 3, including artists playing the Top of the Block on Church Street on Thursday, June 6; waterfront shows on Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8; as well as multiple days of student bands playing in Downtown Burlington. Find out more about Burlington Discover Jazz Festival at flynnvt.org.

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