Click for a hi-res version of the flyer

by Giovanni Russonello and Luke Stewart

Here at CapitalBop, we can hardly contain our excitement about our D.C. Jazz Loft Series at the DC Jazz Festival next month. If you haven’t bought tickets or donated to our Kickstarter campaign in order to earn immediate rewards (free downloads, tickets and signed CDs, anyone?), we’d strongly recommend doing one of the two!

And if you’re looking for a taste of what lies ahead, come out to this Sunday’s fourth D.C. Jazz Loft. We’ll be previewing June’s festivities with a burning lineup of bands that run the gamut from free jazz to bebop. Two of the groups (one bop, one free) will also be performing at next month’s D.C. Jazz Loft Series, and another is comprised of nationally renowned avant-garde stars who just happen to be passing through D.C. this weekend and are looking for a DIY space to play.

–View the Facebook event–

This BYOB show at Red Door is going to be thrilling – and admission is free, though we strongly suggest a $10 donation. This show and CapitalBop’s D.C. Jazz Loft Series at the festival are sponsored by the indie jazz record label Hipnotic Records. Check out the full cast of improvisers below, and we’ll see you on Sunday night!

Learn more about CapitalBop's
D.C. Jazz Loft Series at the DCJF

ROB MAZUREK’S STARLICKER
Bubbling up from the Chicago underground scene is Starlicker, the project of renowned avant-garde cornetist Rob Mazurek. He’ll be injecting a dose of meek Midwestern manners furious free jazz fire into Red Door. The trio is rounded out by vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and percussionist John Herndon, a veteran of influential free jazz groups Tortoise and the Chicago Underground Duo. Mazurek’s improvisational style is rooted in the great hard-bop trumpeters – Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan – but in his work with bands ranging from Yusef Lateef’s small ensembles to the Exploding Star Orchestra, he invokes the Windy City’s long-running avant-garde tradition.

ELIJAH JAMAL BALBED
D.C.’s 21-year-old tenor sax sensation won the City Paper‘s “Best New Jazz Musician” honor last year. Since then, he’s set his sights on eliminating the word “new” from that label, honing his Sonny Rollins-meets-Dexter Gordon chops in an array of settings. He’ll bring his quartet to Subterranean A on June 11 to open for the world-famous J.D. Allen at CapitalBop’s DC Jazz Festival series, and this Sunday offers a preview of his appearance next month.

OOO
OOO (sounds like “Tri-O Trio”) is quickly taking over D.C.’s burgeoning experimental music scene. Composed of saxophonist Aaron Martin, drummer Sam Lohman and bassist Luke Stewart (who’s also an editor for CapitalBop, and a co-author of this post), OOO is equally likely to be found playing a back-alley show in Petworth or accompanying a hip-hop DJ at U Street’s Liv nightclub. The trio opens for the widely acclaimed Darius Jones Trio at a festival show on June 10, but you can get an early taste of its bubbling brew this Sunday.

U ST. ALL-STARS
As has become beloved tradition at the D.C. Jazz Lofts, the U St. All-Stars — a loose, CapitalBop-compiled collective — will close out the night with toothy renditions of jazz standards and, eventually, an open jam session. Not all 10 of the musicians who have appeared under the moniker will be on hand (they’re called the All-Stars for a reason: they’re always getting called for gigs); instead, a smaller iteration of the group will highlight a few voices, and leave plenty of room for those who want to sit in.

—

The D.C. Jazz Loft will take place at 7 p.m. on May 8. Red Door is located at 443 I St. NW. The show will preview the D.C. Jazz Loft Series at the DC Jazz Festival; both this event and the series are sponsored by Hipnotic Records.

Comments

comments