News

DC Jazz Festival 2022: CapitalBop’s picks

Last year the DC Jazz Festival moved its annual festivities from its usual timetable in early June to Labor Day weekend, avoiding what was then a surging Delta variant wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and allowing for higher numbers of guests to be vaccinated in time for the fest). Now that move looks permanent, as […]
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Interviews

Matthew Shipp, an icon of creative music, says improvisation is everything

The avant-garde piano luminary Matthew Shipp is always fearless, often ambiguous and unendingly ambivalent about how his music is received by the audience, so long as he knows what he has produced is honest and meaningful. The 61-year-old pianist makes work that blends the more formalized structures and timbres of the bop tradition with avant […]
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Interviews

‘About the music, about the people:’ Clarence Ward III Talks Roy Hargrove, the sounds of Baltimore City and his new EP

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Clarence Ward III has recently established himself as a staple of Baltimore jazz. His weekly jam sessions at R. House, near the Charles Village neighborhood, have ignited the scene and created a joyous environment for both attendees and the best jazz musicians in the city, young and old. His music, which he […]
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CapitalBop

5 live jazz picks for August in D.C.

Four of this month’s D.C. jazz picks feature ticket prices at $20 and below. Two — well, two and a half – are completely free to the public. Could it  be a sign of new horizons in community-based, well-funded, public arts programming here in the District? Either way, it’s worth taking advantage while it’s here. […]
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Announcing...

Welcoming Jeanette Berry, CapitalBop’s new executive director

These days, more often than not, if you want good news you’ve got to make it yourself. And that’s what we’ve been up to at CapitalBop: laying new plans, and helping new music come to life. Today we have some particularly good news to share: We are happy to announce that Jeanette Berry has come aboard as […]
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The Month in Shows

5 live jazz picks for July in D.C.

The weather app on my phone yesterday said it felt like its 100 degrees Fahrenheit: Welcome to the official reign of summer in the swamp, everybody. On days like that, when there was plenty of outdoor music going on (prominently, Delfayo Marsalis’ Sextet at Jazz in the Garden and Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East at […]
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News

Kennedy Center announces 2022-23 jazz season

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced its complete 2022-23 jazz season. The lineup is a mix of legends and emerging voices, and highlights Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran’s mission to showcase the interdisciplinary nature of performance on the modern jazz scene. Some familiar events return, such as […]
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CapitalBop