The Beat Beneath Us opens the 2026 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival with a celebration of rhythm, movement, and Black creative power — placing the body itself at the center of the music.

The evening begins with Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, A Dance Company, performing dances made in tribute to Max Roach, the iconic drummer, composer, and activist whose music reshaped jazz and whose artistic voice was deeply engaged with the civil rights movement. Drawing on Roach’s rhythmic innovation and political urgency, Brown’s choreography translates sound into movement — honoring Roach’s legacy through ensemble motion that is grounded, propulsive, and alive with history.

The second half of the evening features Savion Glover, Jason Moran, and Chris “Daddy” Dave coming together as equal partners in rhythm — tap, piano, and drums — creating a live, improvisational exchange where movement and music are inseparable. Glover brings a fiercely musical approach to tap, using his feet as both instrument and voice. Moran, a MacArthur Fellow and defining artistic voice of contemporary jazz, and Dave, one of the most influential drummers of the last two decades, meet him in a shared language of rhythm that is urgent, inventive, and deeply rooted in jazz tradition.

The result is an explosive opening reminding us that jazz is not only something we hear — it is something we see, feel, and experience through the moving body.

BDJF is produced by the Flynn and presented by Vermont Tire with Nokian Tyres.