The last waltz: Black Fox Lounge Ensemble’s final show
Aaron Myers, Oren Levine, Percy White and Will Stephens have played together nearly once a month for the last 15 years (or as much as global pandemics, world tours, and family dynamics have allowed), since the first year Myers was the house singer for the Black Fox Lounge. That kind of regularity and the formation of a real “band” is a rarity in jazz, especially for the D.C. jazz scene, where musicians need to constantly be on the hunt for gigs.
But that decade-and-a-half run comes to a close this week when the band plays what they say will be their final regular show together this Friday (under Myers’ billing) at Mr. Henry’s.
“I have spent more musical time with these fellows than I’ve spent with many other people,” Myers said. “We all come from completely different backgrounds and spaces and… all four of us seem to have such a love for the music.”
The Black Fox Lounge was a smartly appointed yet laid back two-floor bar and restaurant space that opened on the north side of Dupont Circle in December 2009. Co-owners Russwin Francisco and Jim McGlade told the Washington Blade in 2014 they wanted to “offer a more sophisticated alternative to the people of Dupont Circle.” Though never strictly a “gay bar,” the Black Fox was unique for being a gay-owned space that featured jazz in a socially inclusive setting.
Myers, who moved to D.C. from Los Angeles in 2008, walked in on the third day of business and began playing the baby grand piano in the basement. He quickly became the lounge’s artist in residence, playing weekly gigs up until the club’s closing in December 2014.
The seeds of what would become the Black Fox Lounge Ensemble were formed after Myers met drummer Will Stephens — the force behind the still-active DC Jazz Jam — at the DC Jazz Jam’s first home, the Adams Morgan Ethiopian restaurant Dahlak. Stephens then brought in bassist Percy White. Later, in the fall of 2010, pianist Oren Levine — who had just moved back to the District after some time away — sat in one night, and the quartet was locked in thereafter.
Myers, who in addition to his sustained musical work has served as executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities since 2023, credits the Black Fox Lounge and that band with allowing him to really gain solid footing as an artist. He referred to the Black Fox as a “safe space… to evolve and be creative” to the Blade in 2014.
Looking back now in 2025, Myers also sees the Black Fox Lounge and that house band as what helped him establish his footing in the D.C. jazz scene. “Coming to D.C. from Texas by way of Los Angeles, I didn’t study jazz at Howard or at UDC, [and] I didn’t go to Duke Ellington. It seemed to be a ‘closed club,’ to a degree,” Myers recalled. “The Black Fox Lounge seemed to open up opportunities and bring a very welcoming, affirming and inclusive atmosphere for both audiences and players.”
Though the Black Fox residency began with Myers, he emphasized the collective nature of those weekly performances. In 2015, as the Black Fox was closing, Myers began performing regularly at Mr. Henry’s. The band stuck together and has played every one of Myers’ regular gigs at Mr. Henry’s since. “The gig was Percy, Will, Oren, and myself,” Myers said.
The group also became tight knit outside of the bandstand. In February 2022, Levine and his wife helped Myers make it on a flight out of Russia, where Myers had been on a State Department tour until Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. Stephens and his now-wife had one of their first dates at one of the quartet’s shows. White and Myers would sometimes also pull double duty on the weekends, playing until late at the Black Fox Saturday and then getting up and playing together at church the next morning. Even now, the two still bring the thunder of the Holy Spirit to their church together.
While the original building is now home to both a cannabis shop called Chocolate City Wellness and an adult novelties store called Bite the Fruit, the Black Fox Lounge Ensemble has kept on keeping on for what has become 15 years of performance countless hours together. Now, however, the members are in a state of transition. Levine and his wife are retiring to Saint Croix and White has a new upcoming venture (which Myers said he would let White reveal).
Myers is unsure if the group will play again after the show this Friday at Mr. Henry’s, but for now they are focused on capturing what made the quartet so special in the first place.
Tickets are still available for the show through Mr. Henry’s’ Instaseats page for $25. There is also a $15 food and drink minimum that night.
