Home Rule Music Festival, June 16-17 & 24: Tix available now!
The Home Rule Music Festival last year was a blast. On a beautiful afternoon in June, we teamed up with the team at HR Records for a full day of music, record-shopping, great food, drinks and fun at The Parks at Walter Reed in Petworth. This big, free, concert-slash-fair-slash-cookout was a meeting of generations and […]
DCPS walked back its plan to take over Duke Ellington School of the Arts. But what does the future hold for the legendary school?
I remember in 2004 when I came to audition for the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Growing up, there hadn’t been any real arts programs at my primary schools, outside of a few typical elective offerings. Duke Ellington, as I envisioned it, sounded like a fantasy world. I imagined that young kids would be […]
5 live jazz picks for May in D.C.
May is upon us, which means the end of Jazz Appreciation Month and the beginning of arguably the best weather the DMV will experience all year. The music-makers of our city stand at the ready to match that beauty on stages all over D.C. this spring. One series that takes advantage of May’s beautiful weather […]
Musician and activist Aaron Myers chosen to lead D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities
The D.C. Council voted unanimously today to confirm Aaron Myers — a jazz vocalist, pianist and longtime artist-activist — as the new executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. “For years, I’ve advocated for creatives to the D.C. government, and now I’m in a position to take that same spirit and advance […]
Archival LPs revisit the lasting legacy of the Left Bank Jazz Society
For nearly 40 years, The Left Bank Jazz Society (LBJS) presented regular Sunday jazz shows in Baltimore, and turned Charm City into a favorite destination for many of the East Coast’s best musicians. Now, a trio of archival releases is shining a light on that history. New albums featuring performances by Sonny Stitt, Shirley Scott […]
Braxton Cook brings his experiences, inspirations and love of family to ‘Who Are You When No One Is Watching?’
There’s something to be said for an artist that doesn’t just make music with the objective of creating hits. Saxophonist and vocalist Braxton Cook is one of those: a musician who’s intentional about what he chooses to put out into the world, often driven by something greater than what’s on the surface. A DMV native […]
5 live jazz picks for April in D.C.
Happy Jazz Appreciation Month! The annual 30-day celebration of jazz and creative music kicked off strongly on April 1, with Elijah Jamal Balbed and the Beltway Horns playing at Takoma Station, the 2023 Jazz Masters Tribute Concert at the Kennedy Center, and a Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra concert paying tribute to jazz-influenced visual art. If […]
‘Different ways of relating:’ Kris Davis breaks down the vision behind her landmark album ‘Diatom Ribbons’
When Kris Davis won the “Rising Star Pianist” award in DownBeat‘s 2018 critics’ poll, it was not so much an announcement of her arrival, but rather a confirmation of her already sizable impact on contemporary creative music. Davis comes from two musical worlds. On the one hand, she received a rather typical jazz education at […]
Through Cats’ Eyes: Saxophonist Brian Settles’ intimate, evocative images of Brookland D.C.
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. Brian Settles is a saxophonist, composer and photographer who has […]
5 live jazz picks for March in D.C.
Happy Women’s History Month! The premiere event on the D.C. jazz scene this month is the Washington Women in Jazz Festival, now in its 13th year, which continues to serve as a destination for new, engaging work by women and nonbinary musicians in our area. You can check out CapitalBop’s full preview of that festival, which […]