Downtown Durham’s inaugural two-day jazz party, the Art of Cool Music Festival, is steadily approaching; it commandeers eight Bull City stages April 25–26, 2014. As is the case with most music festivals of its caliber (especially those in their first year), you can almost bet on some late cancelations and additions for its lineup. And so it comes to pas for the Art of Cool, who have just announced that Grammy-winning jazz pianist Robert Glasper and his outfit will not be part of this year’s lineup.
“All we have confirmed is the fact that Robert Glasper had a scheduling conflict,” Art of Cool co-founder Cicely Mitchell says. “So he won’t be on the festival. We don’t have a replacement yet, but we have several offers out.”
Mitchell says that Art of Cool will announce the replacement[s] “very soon” and that the announcement for the lineup “will probably include more than one national act.” She would not set a specific day for the reveal or reveal any acts that Art of Cool is currently entertaining.
“It’s kind of bittersweet that he can’t do it,” she says, “but the scheduling conflict is due to a good opportunity for him and, I think, a better spotlight for jazz.”
