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News

What to catch at the 13th annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival

The Washington Women In Jazz Festival returns this March for its (lucky) 13th year, helmed by founder, the pianist and D.C. jazz mainstay Amy K Bormet. Since 2011, Bormet has organized a month-long, citywide showcase highlighting D.C.’s vibrant community of women and non-binary jazz musicians. This year’s festival is back in full swing starting this […]

February 27, 2023 0

Interviews

‘I’m always pushing:’ After years away, Corcoran Holt is ready to give back to D.C.

After nearly two decades away, bassist and percussionist Corcoran Holt recently returned home to Washington, D.C., to take on the next chapter of his evolution as a musician and educator. On the bandstand, Holt, 40, is an attentive listener and expert craftsman in delivering well-balanced songs with fellow band members, and rendering original tunes which […]

February 24, 2023 0

Features

The lost but not forgotten history of the African Music Gallery, a D.C. institution

The past 10 years or so will likely be remembered as a breakthrough moment for West African pop music in the United States. Collaborations with superstars such as Drake and Beyoncé have no doubt helped raise the profile of artists like Wizkid and Burna Boy, but those artists now stand as recognizable stars on their […]

February 17, 2023 0

News

This weekend, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Fest celebrates ‘all hues’ of jazz in D.C. and beyond

When you think of the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, which celebrates its 14th edition this weekend at the Rockville Hilton, Paul Carr wants you to think “inclusivity.” That’s why for this year’s edition, he chose the slogan “All shades, all hues.” “I came to jazz through Grover Washington, Jr.,” the veteran D.C.-area saxophonist and educator said […]

February 16, 2023 0

Announcing...

CapitalBop presents Dante’ Pope’s ‘Reflections,’ an Eaton House residency performance

As the capital of the (un)free world, Washington, D.C. has always been a home to artists whose work both inspires and challenges. Today, one of our most visionary musicians — whose art sits at the intersection of music, education and activism — is Dante’ Pope. That’s why CapitalBop is happy to be partnering with this […]

February 8, 2023 0

Features

Fight in Hell: How Jason Moran uplifts the legacy of James Reese Europe — and inspires action today

In May 1919, W.E.B. Du Bois penned one of his most famous editorials, “Returning Soldiers.” Having fought in the European Great War, he wrote, the descendants of African America would now be returning to fight in another Great War. Forced to fight the Germans in France, the segregated 369th Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, […]

February 8, 2023 0

Interviews

‘Ain’t But a Few of Us:’ Willard Jenkins on why Black jazz writers’ voices matter

The idea for Ain’t But a Few of Us, Willard Jenkins’ new volume exploring the experiences and work of Black jazz writers, is nearly 50 years old. Known for his prolific work not only as a writer, but also as an arts administrator, advocate, organizer and educator, Jenkins came up writing for the Black Watch, […]

February 2, 2023 0

The Month in Shows

5 live jazz picks for February in D.C.

After a brief period of hibernation in January, the D.C. jazz scene is starting to roar back to life. Our region’s first major festival of the year returns when the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival takes over the Rockville Hilton Feb. 17 – 19, drawing tourists back into town and giving local musicians a spotlight next to […]

January 31, 2023 0

Features

House without organs: Rhizome DC, hear and now

The word – the troubling, discouraging word – didn’t come from their landlord, remembers Layne Garrett. Sometime late in the summer of 2020, while the world was still discovering what it means to be ill-prepared for a global pandemic, someone was perusing a website that tracks development projects in D.C., and noticed a proposal for […]

January 20, 2023 0

The Month in Shows

5 live jazz picks for January in D.C.

Happy New Year! I hope you all – readers, musicians and other D.C. jazz movers and shakers – got to take some time to rest, recharge and relax over the holiday period. January is, perhaps expectedly, a rather slow month, shows-wise. The scene is resetting and adjusting, and touring artists are not quite back on the […]

January 4, 2023 0