Melissa Aldana has burgeoning ‘Visions’ for her quartet
Melissa Aldana’s 2019 album Visions represents a new horizon for the tenor saxophonist. The 31-year-old, winner of the 2013...
Category: Interviews
Ahmad Jamal on having a ‘spiritual anchor,’ remembering Jimmy Heath and the world beyond the piano
Ahmad Jamal first sat down at a piano at the age of 3; was playing Liszt and Ellington by...
‘Every time something happened I found myself at the piano’: Elijah Jamal Balbed takes ‘Karma Suite’ to Kennedy Center
When Elijah Jamal Balbed premiered the “The Karma Suite,” his first long-form composition, at the final Union Arts D.C....
Ken Avis isn’t a doctor, but he plays the ‘Antidote’ on the radio
Ken Avis is perhaps best known as a guitarist in the worldly jazz group Veronneau, but he has always...
Simone Baron is out to make ‘genre-fluid’ music
I first met Simone Baron just a few weeks ago, at the Wednesday night jam session at Mr. Henry’s...
How Braxton Cook found his voice (literally) and became a rising star in jazz
Saxophonist Braxton Cook seemed to be following the recognizable trajectory of a young D.C. jazz musician — then he...
Joe Chambers: From the JFK Quintet to the Kennedy Center, by way of M’Boom
During the 1960s, a select group of masters helped redefine the traditions and artistic standards contained within the genre...
Robert Glasper previews his two-week residency at the Kennedy Center
For the last 15 years, Robert Glasper has been on a singular mission to reconnect jazz to the world...
Ryan Porter, L.A. trombonist and Kamasi Washington collaborator, is now a DMV resident (for a limited time only)
How do you use your powers for good? When vested with newfound fame, how can you stay connected to...
Herbie Hancock has been busy. On Tuesday he kicks off a world tour in D.C.
[ai1ec post_id=”129390″ view=”agenda”] Herbie Hancock is always thinking about the future. As a keyboard player, he helped define the...