Homegoings Live: Black Women in Jazz

moderated by Myra Flynn and featuring Adi Oasis, Melanie Charles, and Lady Wray

Flynn Main Stage /// FREE

Main Stage

About

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is recommended but not required.

Join Homegoings host Myra Flynn for a live taping of the Vermont Public show. She'll lead a raw, informative, and inspiring discussion about navigating the Jazz world (and beyond) as a woman of color. Joining her on the Flynn’s Main Stage are performers Melanie Charles, Lady Wray, and Adi Oasis, who is also this year's festival curator. This event is free for all and includes students from local schools in attendance.

Homegoings invites listeners to take part in candid and genuine conversations about race. Host and Executive Producer Myra Flynn explores themes that fearlessly straddle the line between necessary and uncomfortable, as she speaks with artists, experts and regular folks all over the country about their literal skin in the game—of everyday life. Homegoings is produced and distributed by Vermont Public.

Singer/songwriter Myra Flynn has performed at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival several times, including a final night showcase on the Flynn Main Stage at last year’s 40th anniversary celebration. As an artist, Flynn has spent her career embracing dichotomy: half Irish and half African American, her original indie/soul songs blend arresting vocals with a dynamic lyrical delivery. She has shared stages with Ivan Neville, Mike Gordon, Gabrielle Gordon, Slick Rick, Anaïs Mitchell, and Lee “Scratch” Perry. She is also performing on the final night of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival as part of the tribute concert for Joe Moore in City Hall Park.

2024 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival curator Adi Oasis also performs on the Burlington Waterfront on Friday, June 8. With her intoxicating voice, poignant lyrics, soulful melodies, funky bass playing, and striking personal style, 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, Thundercat, Lenny Kravitz, Masego, Yasiin Bey, and more. Oasis has performed at a wide variety of festivals including Newport Jazz Fest, Love Supreme, Central Park SummerStage, Afropunk, and Montreux Jazz Festival.

Melanie Charles opens for multiple Grammy winner Cécile McLorin Salvant on the Flynn Main Stage on the first night of the festival. The Brooklyn born and raised singer and flautist is know for her bold genre-bending style as well as collaborations with marquee artists such as Wynton Marsalis, SZA, Mach-Hommy, Gorillaz, and The Roots. Her latest album, Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women, is reflective of Charles’ tremendous versatility and imagination as an artist but also her deep care for community.

As a fifteen-year-old in Virginia, Lady Wray auditioned for Missy Elliot in her mother’s home. With her voice already full and arresting, Missy signed her on the spot. Soon after, her breakout single, Make It Hot, was certified gold. Fast forward to now: she’s a mother, a wife, and living for herself and her family. So, naturally, this evolution has changed her music: she sings how she wants to, expertly writing lyrics for herself and others. Her latest record, Piece of Me, showcases her signature take on R&B with a heavy dose of soul while infusing the dynamic boom-bap sound and energy of her earliest music. Lady Wray performs at the Top of the Block on Thursday, June 6.