Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson sings at the opening of HR-57 on H Street NE. Giovanni Russonello/CapitalBop

by Giovanni Russonello
Editorial board

This evening, HR-57 will host a memorial jam session for Jimmy “Junebug” Jackson, the club’s beloved house drummer and musical patriarch, who died on Saturday. Admission is free to all musicians; for audience members, the typical $8 cover charge remains.

The D.C. jazz community has been stricken since receiving the news of Jackson’s death, which resulted from congestive heart failure and complications from a failed surgery attempt.

Though he was always quick with a joke or a gag, Jackson’s musical integrity and expertise made him an inspirational figure to the crop of younger musicians who regularly attended the weeknight jam sessions he hosted at HR-57.

The event tonight will run from 8 p.m. until approximately 11:30, and a pastor is expected to speak to the crowd in the middle of the evening. Since Jackson’s funeral will be held in Atlanta, HR-57 owner Tony Puesan, a friend and associate of Jackson’s, said he wanted to give members of the D.C. jazz community “an opportunity to come and pay their respects.”

Puesan added, “Junebug was a great man. Nobody did more for this club than he did.”

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The memorial jam for Jimmy “Junebug” Jackson takes place at 8 p.m. tonight at HR-57. Admission is free for musicians, and $8 for audience members. More information is available here.

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