5 D.C. jazz picks for November 2024

Election season is upon us again. I do not need to enumerate what is at stake to you, dear readers of this column. With fencing already erected around the White House and the Capitol, in hopes of heading off another national trauma like January 6, it’s all too obvious to us in the capital just […]

John Patitucci on upholding the legacy of Wayne Shorter

During the 20-year lifespan of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, the group stood as one of the most ecstatic in music, let alone “jazz.” Anchoring the unit during those years was the bass work of John Patitucci, who held together the controlled chaos of Brian Blade’s blur behind the kit, Danilo Pérez’s speedy harmonic scaffolding on piano, and […]

‘The epitome of class:’ The D.C. jazz community remembers Benny Golson

When saxophonist, composer and NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson passed away on Sep. 21, he left a significant hole in the global jazz world. He also left a sizable gap in the fabric of the D.C. jazz community; a onetime Howard University student, Golson appeared frequently in town throughout his life, and many musicians, journalists […]

5 D.C. jazz picks for October 2024

Summer is officially over, according to the calendar and the drop in sweat-inducing weather. But the season for outdoor concerts continues through this month, as in the case of the DC Jazz Festival’s presentation of free concerts at National Landing’s Metropolitan Park on Thursdays (one of which is highlighted in detail below). And with the […]

At Sycamore & Oak, a powerful new jazz series rises in Congress Heights

A new jazz series is underway this month in Congress Heights, bringing some of the most buzzed-about young musicians from around the DMV — and beyond — to the Sycamore & Oak development on the former St. Elizabeths Hospital East campus. Jazz in the Heights kicked off earlier this month with a performance by Brandon […]

Cecily taps the healing power of joy on ‘Awakening Pt. II’

According to the late Black feminist scholar bell hooks, love is a verb — an action we choose every day. But whereas so much of our cultural programming limits our thinking about love to the context of sex and romance, hooks goes beyond that. In her seminal text All About Love, she characterizes love as […]
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