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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 age 11; joined the local musicians union in Pittsburgh at age 14; and went on to have an eight-decade career as a musician of the highest caliber. Even after all of that, he would be the […]

February 7, 2020 0

The Month in Shows

5 jazz picks for February in D.C.

You can celebrate Valentine’s Day with jazz at many shows next week — including CapitalBop’s presentation of trumpeter Marquis Hill and his new Love Tape project. Other good options include bluesy, swinging crooner Aaron Myers’ takeover of JoJo Restaurant on Feb. 14 and the iconic neo-soul belter Bilal, who plays the Kennedy Center’s Studio K […]

February 6, 2020 0

Announcing...

This Sunday at the DC Jazz Loft: Experimental guitarist Sandy Ewen and swinging sax stalwart Gabe Wallace

The DC Jazz Loft is a home for all forms of creative improvised music, and there’s no better example of that than this month’s concert: back-to-back sets featuring experimental guitarist and multimedia artist Sandy Ewen and jazz saxophonist Gabe Wallace. As always, the loft starts at 7pm at Rhizome DC, just off the Red Line […]

February 6, 2020 0

Announcing...

Our special Valentine’s Day presentation of Marquis Hill’s ‘Love Tape’

Musicians like to talk about love, and in jazz it’s no exception. Whether your favorite artists play music with text or just instrumentals, chances are you’ve heard them express their thoughts on that all-encompassing human emotion. And more often than not, those thoughts are expressed simply: “Listen to me” and its corollary, “I love you.” […]

January 29, 2020 0

Interviews

‘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. Jazz Loft in 2016, it was an incredible moment of catharsis for the saxophonist. Writing the suite broke a months-long writer’s block that weighed on the D.C. native since the release of his 2015 album Lessons […]

January 22, 2020 0

Announcing...

Announcing the 5th Jazz and Freedom Festival, an all-day musical celebration benefiting ICE OUT OF DC

The 5th Jazz and Freedom Festival An MLK weekend celebration of live music, learning and activism, presented by CapitalBop, Shannon Gunn and Eaton DC Featuring Todd Marcus, Cristian Perez, Angel Bethea, the Jazz and Freedom Octet, and poet/community advocate Claudia Rojas Sunday, Jan. 19, 2019 3 p.m. doors 3:30 Panel Discussion 4:30-9:15 Five sets of […]

January 6, 2020 0

The Month in Shows

5 jazz picks for January in D.C.

Happy New Year! Lots of great music is happening in the District in the third decade of the millennium, and CapitalBop officially celebrates its 10-year anniversary later this year. We’re looking forward to telling you all about that later — but there’s plenty of great jazz and improvised music to catch right now. In recent […]

January 2, 2020 0

Announcing...

Join us in celebrating a year of music at our DC Jazz Loft holiday party

It’s been an incredible year for CapitalBop. In 2019, we’ve produced almost 40 shows and over 70 articles, featuring a diverse cross-section of artists from D.C. and afar. So it’s time to celebrate! Join us this Sunday for a special DC Jazz Loft holiday party at Rhizome DC. There’ll be live music, seasonal snacks and […]

December 9, 2019 0

Interviews

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 had an entrepreneurial instinct, and lately he’s taken to administering musical remedies via the radio. With his wife and collaborator, vocalist Lynn Veronneau, he hosts the radio show Antidote Sounds on Arlington Independent Media’s station, WERA […]

December 6, 2019 0

News

Islam’s impact on modern jazz takes center stage at the Smithsonian

How do you create jazz programming that truly honors the spiritual dimensions of the holidays, despite the heavily commercialized nature of the season? That’s a question that Charlie Young III and Ken Kimery — the artistic director and executive producer, respectively, of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra — wrestled with for some time. They found their […]

December 6, 2019 0