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Interviews

‘This is Black America standing up:’ a conversation with Katea Stitt about jazz and justice in D.C.

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of law enforcement have prompted a watershed moment in the centuries-long fight to overcome the systems that perpetuate racist violence in our country. In that struggle for liberation, Black musicians have always been on the front lines. All art is inherently political — and that’s […]

June 5, 2020 0

News

Samuel Prather has a message for right now: ‘Love Always Wins in the End’

Samuel Prather admits that he cannot remember which unarmed Black person’s murder it was that first inspired him to begin working on “Love Always Wins In The End.” There have been far too many to be sure. Prather said he’d been tinkering with the lyrics and the video for years before the song became the […]

June 3, 2020 0

News

Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, some D.C. council candidates declare support for a live music policy platform

Over a dozen candidates for this Tuesday’s D.C. city council primary election have signed on to a sweeping set of statements aimed at ensuring the health of local live music. Last Thursday, Listen Local First, an organization that advocates for the city’s musicians and music venues, published the results of the 2020 DC Councilmember Candidate […]

June 1, 2020 0

Features

Two months into pandemic, many area musicians are still waiting for government aid

Two months after social-distancing measures shuttered the workplaces of thousands of performing artists in and around D.C., many local musicians have been unable to access any form of government financial relief. Even after federal law recently required the District, Maryland and Virginia to offer unemployment insurance to self-employed workers, area jazz musicians’ experiences have largely […]

May 22, 2020 0

News

Area musician aims to raise $15,000 for medical workers amid pandemic

A fundraiser spearheaded by the D.C. jazz pianist Chris Grasso has nearly met its goal of generating $15,000 for medical workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic — thanks in part to the help of a few major jazz musicians. In early April, Grasso launched Live Cov-Aid, a Facebook page of performance videos […]

May 8, 2020 0

Interviews

Ben Williams speaks up, and sings out, on ‘I Am a Man’

After the 2016 presidential election, bassist Ben Williams began a new project to address the changing social climate in the United States. The music he wrote was framed around two major pillars: a program of protest songs he performed at the 2017 Congressional Black Caucus Foundation jazz concert, and the “I AM A MAN” signs of […]

May 7, 2020 0

Videos

Catharsis and comfort: Watch Abinnet Berhanu & Hebret Musica perform ‘Tizita’ at the Spotlight Residency

Abinnet Berhanu’s compositions and arrangements for his band Hebret Musica (“community music” in Amharic) are tapestries built of bright colors and broad strokes. Each piece is tied to a narrative, as Berhanu is quick to explain whenever he performs. He wrote one song based on his father’s youth; another was inspired by an Ethiopian student […]

May 7, 2020 0

Videos

Stuck at home? Watch three new performance videos from Brent Birckhead and his D.C. quartet

The Baltimore native, Howard University graduate and former Washington, D.C. scene mainstay Brent Birckhead recently released three new performance videos featuring a quartet full of DMV talent. The videos contain new versions of tunes that appeared on the alto saxophonist’s 2019 debut album Birckhead, which he recorded with the same quartet: Mark Meadows on keys, […]

May 2, 2020 0

Features

For D.C. jazz musicians, COVID-19 spells difficulty now—and uncertainty ahead

“I remember, as a little girl, the riots on U Street in 1968,” said the 58-year-old vocalist Sharón Clark, a D.C. native and veteran of the city’s jazz scene. “I remember that, when the U Street corridor was burned down. That sticks out in my mind. Of course I remember 9/11. I remember the D.C. […]

April 15, 2020 0

Videos

Watch Akua Allrich perform her original song ‘Shot of Sugar’ at our Spotlight Residency

CapitalBop is using the COVID-19 shutdown as an opportunity to catch up on our backlog of Spotlight Residency live music videos. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks! Akua Allrich exudes maturity; maybe it has as much to do with her identity as a teacher, a mother and a scion of respected community elders […]

April 9, 2020 0