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 has always been a part of the festival’s core programming.
The music begins on Wednesday, with events happening at venues all over town, and runs through the end of the weekend. The main event will again be at the Wharf, in Southwest D.C., with music happening all afternoon on Saturday and Sunday. There, festival-goers will be able to stroll from a gleaming tribute to mid-century hard-bop on one stage, to a set of cutting-edge avant-garde sounds in the next. Performers will range from world-renowned touring artists passing through the city to the leading musicians based here in D.C.
Looking ahead to the festivities, CapitalBop asked a few of the D.C.-based artists who will be performing at this year’s DCJF to tell us what one set, other than their own, they were most excited to catch this weekend. We added a handful of our own recommendations to the list of eight picks you’ll find below.
Tickets for the seated and standing areas of the Wharf’s events – which now include indoor shows at the nearby Arena Stage – are still available. And of course, one can also just hang out on the Wharf near the performances and catch most of the action from across the water. A full rundown of all festival events can be found at dcjazzfest.org/2024schedule.
Picks by performing artists are attributed to them below. All other text is by Jackson Sinnenberg and Giovanni Russonello.
ALLYN JOHNSON AND THE D.C. JAZZ ALL-STARS, FEAT. ANTONIO HART AND CHRISTIE DASHIELL
Wednesday Aug. 28, 8 and 9:30 p.m.
The Hamilton Live (tickets)
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“I would love to check out Allyn Johnson’s show because he is an amazing jazz artist. Every time I see him play, whether he is a side-person or the leader, he raises the level of playing for the entire band while displaying the utmost in skill, talent, and leadership while on stage. We are lucky to have him in this town! Whatever performances or projects he gets involved in, they stay true to the soul and spirit of the music. I deeply respect his playing, and even wrote a song about it, ‘In Walked Allyn.’” – Shannon Gunn
Shannon Gunn performs as part of the DCJF with her Saffron Ensemble at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage at 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30.
KEITH KILLGO: TRIBUTE TO DONALD BYRD AND KEVIN TONEY
Friday Aug. 30, 6:00 p.m.
Westminster Presbyterian Church ($10 admission fee, free for kids under 16)
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Keith Killgo was a student at Howard University when his instructor, the iconic trumpeter Donald Byrd, picked him and a few of his fellow students to form a new group. It would become one of the seminal jazz fusion groups: the Blackbyrds. In the intervening 40 years, drummer Keith Killgo and bassist Joe Hall have been constant presences in the ensemble, anchoring it with grooves that embody the Chocolate City sound of 1970s D.C.
Killgo here leads a tribute here to Byrd, and to his recently departed bandmate Kevin Toney, who was also one of the original Blackbyrds.
DAVID MURRAY QUARTET
Saturday Aug. 31, 5:05 p.m.
Wharf – District Pier (tickets)
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To talk about the development of jazz in the 1970s and ’80s without mentioning saxophonist David Murray would be an act of vast omission. Murray came to New York in 1975, when the loft-jazz scene was spreading an ethos of self-sustainment and assertiveness throughout Lower Manhattan, and he quickly became a centerpiece of that world. He opened his own loft space, Studio Infinity, and became a founding member of the influential World Saxophone Quartet. He was a disciple of the shrieking, torrential saxophonist Albert Ayler, but in Murray’s wide wavelengths of vibrato and his fierce tone, you can hear the entire lineage of saxophone protagonism that preceded him, from Coleman Hawkins through Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane.
He plays at the DC JazzFest with his working quartet featuring Marta Sanchez on piano, Russell Carter on drums and Luke Stewart on bass.
(Disclosure: Luke Stewart is CapitalBop’s co-founder and current Director of Presenting. Stewart was not consulted for this article.)
STANLEY CLARKE N 4EVER
Saturday Aug. 31, 8:45 p.m.
Wharf – District Pier (tickets)
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Over the past 40 years, Stanley Clarke has helped revolutionize jazz from within and without. Working with Chick Corea’s Return to Forever in the early 1970s, he helped bring a sense of legitimacy to the electric jazz bass, expanding the technical expectations associated with the instrument and helping to usher in the peak years of jazz-rock fusion. In his solo output ever since, Clarke has ranged from smooth funk to instrumental rock ‘n’ roll to straight-ahead jazz (often playing acoustic bass as well).
Here, he leads a bunch of young guns through the catalog of his work with Chick Corea and Return to Forever.
KRIS DAVIS’ DIATOM RIBBONS
Sunday Sept. 1, 6:30 p.m
Arena Stage (tickets)
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In 2018, pianist Kris Davis tied for the top spot in the DownBeat magazine critics poll’s “Rising Star Artist” category. A year later, her album Diatom Ribbons won accolades on best-of-the-year lists across the jazz world. Davis’s music at its core is always a little quirky, in the best way: Odd time signatures and free improvisation twist in and out, in ways that make the art highly kinetic and never stagnant.
The Diatom Ribbons ensemble, centered around a core trio of Davis, drummer Terri Lynn Carrington and bassist Trevor Dunn, creates music that straddles the line between more mainstream post-bop and avant-garde experimentalism. Its mix of rhythms and timbres from rock, hip-hop and funk make the work both accessible and singular.
BILL FRISELL FOUR
Sunday, Sep. 1, 7:55 p.m.
Wharf – Transit Pier (tickets)
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Few guitarists have had more influence on the younger generations in jazz and creative music than Bill Frisell. His tone can sustain and stretch for what seems like minutes or miles, capturing the vastness of the American plains. He’s worked that magic across decades, whether reworking Madonna or Neil Young tracks as if they were silly putty or carrying the head melody along with the likes of Charles Lloyd.
Here he leads his latest quartet, featuring Gerald Clayton on piano, Gregory Tardy on reeds and Jonathan Blake on drums.
NEXT JAZZ LEGACY
Sunday, Sep. 1, 6:30 p.m.
Union Stage (tickets)
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“I am looking forward to catching the Next Jazz Legacy band, which features a couple of my favorites, vocalist Christie Dashiell and drummer Eliza Salem. Christie and I were at Howard University together, and we were roommates at Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead. She is easily one of my favorite singers in the world. Eliza is a great drummer, and is really blowing up, playing in lots of great bands. I also plan to be at opening night with the D.C. Jazz All-Stars big band, directed by Allyn Johnson. Allyn is an inspiration for me, as a pianist, person and teacher. That band is filled with D.C. treasures, and I adore them all.” – Amy K. Bormet
Amy K. Bormet performs with her trio at the Wharf’s Transit Pier at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Sep. 1.
CORCORAN HOLT QUINTET
Sunday Sept. 1, 9:30 p.m.
Union Stage (tickets)
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“Corcoran Holt is a son of Washington, D.C., who serves as this year’s artist-in-residence of the DCJF. I’ve known him since he was 11 or 12 years of age, when he was also a Djembe drummer. I had the pleasure and honor to bring him on a month-long Supernova tour of East Africa under the auspices of the U.S. State Department’s Rhythm Road. It is important that I see him perform as he continues to grow immensely as a player, educator, husband and father.” – Nasar Abadey
Nasar Abadey performs with his longstanding ensemble Supernova at Union Stage at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31.
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