Cecily taps the healing power of joy on ‘Awakening Pt. II’
According to the late Black feminist scholar bell hooks, love is a verb — an action we choose every day. But whereas so much of our cultural programming limits our thinking about love to the context of sex and romance, hooks goes beyond that. In her seminal text All About Love, she characterizes love as […]
5 D.C. jazz picks for September 2024
Happy Labor Day to everyone reading, and to the many hustlers, movers and shakers that keep all the plates spinning for the D.C. jazz scene. We’re forever grateful for the mountains you move. Hopefully those who went enjoyed the DC Jazz Festival over the past few days. While, as Mike West noted in his recent CapitalBop […]
Remembering New Orleanians past, pianist Ryan Hanseler makes the old shine like new
Ryan Hanseler featuring Jason MarsalisBlues AlleyMonday, Aug. 19, 2024 As much as jazz is built around experimentation and innovation, paying homage to one’s predecessors remains an important part of its practice. Blues Alley, D.C.’s most storied jazz club, is a perfect venue for this kind of endeavor; its walls are plastered with signed portraits and […]
CB’s guide to the 2024 DC Jazz Festival
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the DC Jazz Festival, and with that comes a lineup worthy of the milestone. This year’s offerings reflect the diverse weave of approaches, textures and philosophies that make up the tapestry of contemporary “jazz,” a.k.a. #BAM, while still reflecting the straight-ahead sound of the D.C. jazz scene that […]
How the DC JazzFest went from ‘a sketch on a paper napkin’ to its 20th anniversary
This year’s DC Jazz Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday, will be the 20th. It’s a big milestone for what was once quite literally just a napkin scribbled with notes. “We’ve come a long way,” Sunny Sumter, the festival’s executive director, said in an interview. “Can you imagine? [DCJF founder] Charlie Fishman and [his wife] […]
CapitalBop Presents: Matthew Shipp Trio at NYU in DC, Sep. 27
“Shipp’s…classic piano trio…ranks among the pre-eminent units in modern jazz.”—New York City Jazz Record Since the 1980s, pianist Matthew Shipp has been the Platonic ideal of an original improviser. With his unique and electrifying style, Shipp is now recognized as a living legend of the avant-garde. A New York downtown-scene fixture, Shipp has combined forces […]
The 6 D.C.-area record stores that will scratch your vinyl itch
CapitalBop recently asked Rhome Anderson, aka DJ Stylus, a well-known DMV-area DJ and record collector, to survey D.C.’s under-appreciated landscape of high-quality independent record stores. Below are his picks for the top shops in the area. Photos by Keith Butler. Washington, D.C. has a strong community of crate-diggers and DJs, and by extension, a network […]
5 D.C. jazz picks for August 2024
Given the dizzying news cycles between this column and the last, I hope all of your heads have stopped spinning as much as possible and you can find some time to put down the phone or pry yourself away from the computer monitor and get out to see some live music. It will center you, […]
The Carlyle Room has closed after two years of trying to bring music back to downtown D.C.
The Carlye Room, the vintage-minded venue that moved to downtown D.C. from Alexandria two years ago, and quickly became one of the most consistent homes for straight-ahead jazz in the nation’s capital, has closed. The space ceased all operations on Tuesday, according to Kris Ross, the venue’s booker. By Wednesday, all shows that had been […]
Through Cats’ Eyes: joy and resistance in jazz through the lens of violinist Jamie Sandel
Editor’s note: This article is part of a recurring series highlighting D.C. musicians who double as photographers, part of a long tradition in jazz that has included legends like Milt Hinton, Oscar Peterson and Sy Johnson. You can find other entries in the series here. Jamie Sandel is a bassist, violinist, composer and radio host […]