Features

Simple, honest, beautiful: On Brandon Woody’s sonic journey

To feel love is to be vulnerable and not have it held against you. This is one way that Brandon Woody’s philosophy of sound comes across.  From the first note, you are not only touched, you are held. The music becomes a way to release the thing holding you back, in order to be bound […]
0
News

Christie Dashiell reacts to her first Grammy nomination: ‘This is for all of us’

After receiving her first-ever Grammy nomination last week, for her sophomore album Journey in Black (2023), beloved D.C.-based vocalist Christie Dashiell gave credit to the city that she has called home for the better part of two decades. “It feels amazing,” Dashiell told CapitalBop, referring to her nomination in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. […]
0
Interviews

Clarinet conclave: Don Byron dishes to Todd Marcus about the ‘white-centric’ history of their instrument, the genius of Joe Henderson and touring post-pandemic

Clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Don Byron has been a trailblazer in music since his first albums came out in the early 1990s. His contributions extend a small-but-powerful legacy of artists — including Eric Dolphy, Bennie Maupin and David Murray — whose work as improvisers and composers has established a prominent role for the clarinet and bass […]
0
The Month in Shows

5 D.C. jazz picks for November 2024

Election season is upon us again. I do not need to enumerate what is at stake to you, dear readers of this column. With fencing already erected around the White House and the Capitol, in hopes of heading off another national trauma like January 6, it’s all too obvious to us in the capital just […]
0
Interviews

John Patitucci on upholding the legacy of Wayne Shorter

During the 20-year lifespan of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, the group stood as one of the most ecstatic in music, let alone “jazz.” Anchoring the unit during those years was the bass work of John Patitucci, who held together the controlled chaos of Brian Blade’s blur behind the kit, Danilo Pérez’s speedy harmonic scaffolding on piano, and […]
0
Features

‘The epitome of class:’ The D.C. jazz community remembers Benny Golson

When saxophonist, composer and NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson passed away on Sep. 21, he left a significant hole in the global jazz world. He also left a sizable gap in the fabric of the D.C. jazz community; a onetime Howard University student, Golson appeared frequently in town throughout his life, and many musicians, journalists […]
0
CapitalBop