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by Giovanni Russonello
There’s so much talent bouncing around the D.C. jazz scene, and so many listeners eager to experience it. That’s why there was little standing in the way of success at CapitalBop’s inaugural D.C. Jazz Loft. Over the course of five hours and five sets, a vast variety of local talent – from hard bop to free jazz to metal fusion – bent people’s minds way out of whack (but don’t take our word for it).
So today, we’re pleased to announce our second D.C. Jazz Loft. This time, we’re taking a more targeted approach – this one’s the Bebop Edition. We’re bringing it all back home to the days when jazz cats would congregate in W. Eugene Smith’s Manhattan loft and play until the sun came up. The music isn’t strictly bebop, but most all of it will be swingin’ its butt off.
– Check out the Facebook event here –
The loft will go down this coming Sunday, Feb. 13, at the same time (7 p.m.) and same place (Red Door – see map below) as the last one. Updated: A $5 donation is suggested, and the show is BYOB. Our first loft attracted a wonderfully diverse and abundant audience, and we’re hoping for more of the same. Bring family, friends, foes … it’s gonna be a burner! Here’s a list of the acts:
U STREET ALL-STARS
The first D.C. Jazz Loft culminated in a performance from the U Street All-Stars, a CapitalBop-assembled group of the city’s top bop improvisers. Their effusive solos over jazz standards were so killin’, we decided to make the group a regular part of the D.C. Jazz Loft series. The ensemble is rehearsing charts for this upcoming loft, so the all-stars will be burnin’ down the place in squeaky-clean fashion this Sunday. The group will again feature Washington City Paper award-winner Elijah Jamal Balbed on tenor saxophone, Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra co-leader Joe Herrera on trumpet and local trombone master Reginald Cyntje, among many others. And as before, the set will culminate in an open jam – so musicians, bring your axes!
BRIAN SETTLES TRIO
D.C. native Brian Settles graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Howard University, and now teaches at the Washington Jazz Arts Institute. But along the way, this 36-year-old tenor saxophone master has achieved a reputation that reaches beyond his hometown. Settles is a member of New York drummer Tomas Fujiwara’s quintet, the Hookup, joining luminaries Mary Halvorson and Jonathan Finlayson as they drift and drive into a tough-love negotiation with fluid, cut-up harmonies and rhythm. At home in D.C., Settles often plays in more straight-ahead settings, and he’s always in demand for large ensemble gigs, due to his precise readings of parts and ability to dash off a captivating solo in t-minus sixteen bars. But at the D.C. Jazz Loft, Settles will stretch out on his own, leading a sax-bass-drums trio. His inside-outside stylings are equally likely to reflect the influences of Michael Brecker and Eric Dolphy – and they’re not to be missed.
brad linde quartet
The jazz lofts of the 1950s and ’60s provided common ground where the disparate elements of Manhattan’s jazz scene could come together, where the leaders of bebop’s avant-garde might jam with the laid-back heroes of cool jazz in an open-ended and unpretentious environment. Bebop pioneer Thelonious Monk and hard bopper Sonny Clark were perennial presences at W. Eugene Smith’s famous loft on Sixth Avenue; but so were cool jazz saxophonists Lee Konitz and Zoot Sims. At the D.C. Jazz Loft, local saxophonist Brad Linde (who studied with Konitz) will bring his cool quartet to Red Door. The capital city’s contemporary cool king, Linde is one of the most ubiquitous performers on the D.C. scene. He’s a skilled bandleader as well as instrumentalist, co-leading the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra with Herrera and helming his own nine-piece Brad Linde Ensemble. He’ll perform here on baritone saxophone, accompanied by alto saxophonist Sarah Hughes, bassist Tom Baldwin and drummer Tony Martucci in a bout of contrapuntal group improvisation over Linde and Hughes’s originals.
CHARLES WOODS’ D.C. LOVE ORCHESTRA
Saxophonist Charles Rahmat Woods tears open the bebop and hard-bop traditions, his exploratory sensibilities informed by Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Woods has gone on musical journeys with greats Don Cherry and Roy Haynes, among others, but nowadays he fronts the D.C. Love Orchestra, a small combo of progressive bop musicians. The sound is at times fierce, at times poignant – and it always taps into an unspoken spiritual realm.
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Cool idea! How do y’all go about booking the loft? The drummer in my band is from DC. We’ve been thinking about planning a show down there.