Corcoran Holt Quintet: Freedom of Art

One of jazz's most dynamic bassists and bandleaders brings his quintet to The Side Door

Corcoran Holt – Bass

Stacy Dillard – Tenor & Soprano Saxophone

Josh Evans – Trumpet

Benito Gonzalez – Piano

Kweku Sumbry – Drums & Djembe

Corcoran Holt is a force of nature on the bass — a musician whose commanding presence, deep groove, and musical intelligence have made him one of the most sought-after players on the New York scene. A son of Washington, D.C., Holt began his musical journey at age four playing djembe and West African percussion before taking up the upright bass at ten with the renowned DC Youth Orchestra. He attended the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and went on to earn his B.A. in Jazz Studies from Shenandoah Conservatory and his M.A. from Queens College under the tutelage of Buster Williams. His connection to the music runs deep — legend has it that his great-grandfather, a bassist who grew up in High Point, North Carolina, lived next door to a young John Coltrane and gave him his first music lessons.

Holt has performed and recorded with some of the most celebrated names in jazz, including Kenny Garrett, Roy Hargrove, Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Delfeayo Marsalis, Carmen Lundy, and Jazzmeia Horn, among many others. He appears on three Grammy-nominated recordings — Kenny Garrett's Pushing the World Away (2013), Jamison Ross's Jamison (2014), and The Baylor Project's The Journey (2017) — and on Kenny Garrett's Sounds from the Ancestors, which won the NAACP Image Award for Best Jazz Instrumental in 2021. In 2009 he represented the United States as a Jazz Ambassador with the U.S. State Department, touring the Middle East as both performer and clinician. He has performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, and Dizzy's Club, and has toured across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Jazz Bass at Arizona State University and is the DC Jazz Festival's Artist-in-Residence.

As a bandleader, Holt channels that same depth of spirit and vision into his own music. His debut album The Mecca (2018) paid homage to his D.C. roots, and his acclaimed sophomore release Freedom of Art stands as his most personal statement yet — a testament to transformation, family, and the enduring principle at the heart of jazz: freedom itself. The compositions emerged during the 2020 pandemic, drawing from the loss of his father, the steadfast love of his family, and the deep musical brotherhood forged over years of touring with this very ensemble. Stacy Dillard delivers soulful, inventive saxophone work throughout, Josh Evans brings virtuosic trumpet firepower to the group, Benito Gonzalez anchors the harmony with brilliance and warmth, and Kweku Sumbry — a percussionist of extraordinary range — holds it all together on drums and djembe. This is a rare opportunity to experience this extraordinary project live in an intimate setting.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.