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News

Blues Alley is searching for a new home — but it’s not going out of business

This is the “and then there was one” moment for the D.C. jazz community: After a year of closures amid the coronavirus pandemic, Blues Alley is the only full-time jazz club left in town. So the D.C. jazz community has been duly shaken over the past week by reports that the venue is looking to […]

February 25, 2021 0

Announcing...

The all-virtual 2021 Jazz and Freedom Festival honors the legacy of venues lost during the pandemic

Almost one year into the coronavirus shutdown, we’re starting to hear people reminisce on last March, asking themselves: What was I doing right before the shutdown began? For many of us, a big part of the answer involves going to shows. But now, just 11 months later, many of the spaces where we used to […]

February 23, 2021 0

News

This weekend’s Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival will celebrate ‘the spirit of the DMV’

The Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival is always a winter highlight for the DMV jazz scene, bringing together young blood and old masters for performances and conversation. The 2021 MAJF is no exception — but it will not, of course, take place at the festival’s usual home, the Rockville Hilton. This year’s festival, which runs this Friday […]

February 9, 2021 0

News

Listen: Mark G. Meadows’s ‘Communication Is Key’ is the song for this moment in Washington

Pianist and vocalist Mark G. Meadows’ new single, “Communication Is Key,” released Tuesday on streaming platforms, is a plea for new directions and shared purpose, in the face of division. You could say it’s arriving at just the right moment in Washington, D.C. When Meadows sings, “I see the world in circles, you see the […]

January 27, 2021 0

Features

After 37 Years On and 2 Years Off, ‘Hot Jazz Saturday Night’ is back on the airwaves at WAMU

The coronavirus pandemic has crippled the jazz community in every outpost, and D.C. is no exception. Venues have permanently closed; some musicians have moved away, while those who have stayed are hard-pressed to find work. If audiences haven’t undergone quite the same level of turmoil, they’ve nonetheless been deprived of a great source of joy, […]

January 11, 2021 0

News

D.C. pianist James Fernando is a semi-finalist in a worldwide jazz competition

James Fernando, a rising jazz pianist and composer, is representing the District as one of 50 semi-finalists in the 7 Virtual Jazz Club Global Competition. Fernando was selected as a semi-finalist after submitting his video to a panel of judges; advancement to the finals will be partly determined by the number of “likes” the video […]

January 5, 2021 0

Album reviews

Best D.C. Jazz Albums of 2020

Over the past 10 years on the D.C. jazz scene, we’ve seen venues come and go. We’ve seen elders pass on, as well as a steady influx of fresh young voices and ideas. All the while the music continues to grow and change, right along with the ever-gentrifying landscape of Washington, D.C. But the coronavirus […]

December 22, 2020 0

Features

Remembering Andrew White, saxophonist, scholar, impresario and D.C. music royalty of the highest order

The accomplishments of Andrew White — multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, entrepreneur and performer, who made his home in Northeast D.C. for half a century — are as impressive as they are varied. Recognized throughout the city’s jazz community and well beyond for his prodigious talents on alto saxophone, as well as for his proud, outspoken and […]

November 25, 2020 0

Album reviews

Hear these four just-released D.C. jazz albums

Fall 2020: We’re rounding the seventh month of a generation-defining pandemic; U.S. social and political tensions are coming to a head; and artists, like always, are seeking new ways to inspire, persevere, and resist. Sometimes, that’s through direct political action — catch D.C.’s artists on the streets calling on Mayor Bowser to save D.C. venues — and […]

October 30, 2020 0

Features

The legend of Yahya Abdul-Majid

Yahya Abdul-Majid was a musician with an intense air of mystery about him. I had often heard stories of his influence around the scene in D.C., especially from those interested in more adventurous approaches to jazz. From what I could gather, Yahya was a saxophonist who represented a meeting between the mysticisms of Trane and […]

October 21, 2020 0