No Trick Pony to Perform at The Kennedy Center in September

The Kennedy Center has added new Jazz programming to take place in the River Pavilion next month. No Trick Pony is a Washington, D.C. power-trio featuring Amy K. Bormet (keyboard/voice), Keith Butler Jr. (drums), and Brian Settles (tenor saxophone). The group presents a unique sound that often finds Bormet constructing song, poetry, melody, and harmony—above a quiet tornado of exploration from Settles and Butler underneath. Though each member is steeped in streams of traditionally defined music—jazz, popular music, punk, classical—the group tends to focus on a deconstruction of the strict barriers of jazz, exploring instead on the transitional points between composition and improvisation. Groove abounds as a way to moor the listener in these explorations, which have the uncanny ability to present as both song and not-song. No Trick Pony has appeared at The Arts Club of Washington, The Catalytic Sound Festival, and a featured billing at the Capital Fringe Festival.

About Amy K. Bormet

Amy K. Bormet is a pianist, vocalist, and composer, known for her fearless free-wheeling style and dedication to creating new music. To collaborate with and celebrate women musicians, she started the annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival in 2011, directing, financing, and performing in an annual festival and women-focused events throughout the year in the D.C. area. She has formed several ensembles to perform and record her compositions. Currently she tours and performs her songs with the Amy K. Bormet Trio and No Trick Pony. As an educator and a mentor, Bormet amplifies her performance tours with outreach masterclasses and residencies, recently at the Thailand International Jazz Conference (Mahidol University, January 2020), Los Angeles City College (February 2020), the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts (May 2022), and Shepherd University (Jan 2023). She is a teaching artist who has presented and performed with her all-women trio “the future of jazz is female” for middle school students at the Kennedy Center’s REACH. Her trio and string quartet debuted two sets of new music at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in March 2016. She wrote and performed music for two residencies at the Kennedy Center; Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead for composer/performers and the Mary Lou Williams Emerging Artist Showcase.

Ticket Information

Tickets go on-sale to members on Tuesday, August 13 and to the public on Thursday, August 15. Tickets can be purchased on the Kennedy Center website, at the Kennedy Center box office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

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