Blog -

The Month in Shows

5 live jazz picks for April in D.C.

Happy Jazz Appreciation Month! The annual 30-day celebration of jazz and creative music kicked off strongly on April 1, with Elijah Jamal Balbed and the Beltway Horns playing at Takoma Station, the 2023 Jazz Masters Tribute Concert at the Kennedy Center, and a Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra concert paying tribute to jazz-influenced visual art. If […]

April 3, 2023 0

Interviews

‘Different ways of relating:’ Kris Davis breaks down the vision behind her landmark album ‘Diatom Ribbons’

When Kris Davis won the “Rising Star Pianist” award in DownBeat‘s 2018 critics’ poll, it was not so much an announcement of her arrival, but rather a confirmation of her already sizable impact on contemporary creative music. Davis comes from two musical worlds. On the one hand, she received a rather typical jazz education at […]

March 15, 2023 0

Features

Through Cats’ Eyes: Saxophonist Brian Settles’ intimate, evocative images of Brookland D.C.

Editor’s note: This article is part of a recurring series highlighting D.C. musicians who double as photographers, part of a long tradition in jazz that has included legends like Milt Hinton, Oscar Peterson and Sy Johnson. You can find other entries in the series here. Brian Settles is a saxophonist, composer and photographer who has […]

March 10, 2023 0

The Month in Shows

5 live jazz picks for March in D.C.

Happy Women’s History Month! The premiere event on the D.C. jazz scene this month is the Washington Women in Jazz Festival, now in its 13th year, which continues to serve as a destination for new, engaging work by women and nonbinary musicians in our area. You can check out CapitalBop’s full preview of that festival, which […]

February 28, 2023 0

News

What to catch at the 13th annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival

The Washington Women In Jazz Festival returns this March for its (lucky) 13th year, helmed by founder, the pianist and D.C. jazz mainstay Amy K Bormet. Since 2011, Bormet has organized a month-long, citywide showcase highlighting D.C.’s vibrant community of women and non-binary jazz musicians. This year’s festival is back in full swing starting this […]

February 27, 2023 0

Interviews

‘I’m always pushing:’ After years away, Corcoran Holt is ready to give back to D.C.

After nearly two decades away, bassist and percussionist Corcoran Holt recently returned home to Washington, D.C., to take on the next chapter of his evolution as a musician and educator. On the bandstand, Holt, 40, is an attentive listener and expert craftsman in delivering well-balanced songs with fellow band members, and rendering original tunes which […]

February 24, 2023 0

Features

The lost but not forgotten history of the African Music Gallery, a D.C. institution

The past 10 years or so will likely be remembered as a breakthrough moment for West African pop music in the United States. Collaborations with superstars such as Drake and Beyoncé have no doubt helped raise the profile of artists like Wizkid and Burna Boy, but those artists now stand as recognizable stars on their […]

February 17, 2023 0

News

This weekend, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Fest celebrates ‘all hues’ of jazz in D.C. and beyond

When you think of the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, which celebrates its 14th edition this weekend at the Rockville Hilton, Paul Carr wants you to think “inclusivity.” That’s why for this year’s edition, he chose the slogan “All shades, all hues.” “I came to jazz through Grover Washington, Jr.,” the veteran D.C.-area saxophonist and educator said […]

February 16, 2023 0

Announcing...

CapitalBop presents Dante’ Pope’s ‘Reflections,’ an Eaton House residency performance

As the capital of the (un)free world, Washington, D.C. has always been a home to artists whose work both inspires and challenges. Today, one of our most visionary musicians — whose art sits at the intersection of music, education and activism — is Dante’ Pope. That’s why CapitalBop is happy to be partnering with this […]

February 8, 2023 0

Features

Fight in Hell: How Jason Moran uplifts the legacy of James Reese Europe — and inspires action today

In May 1919, W.E.B. Du Bois penned one of his most famous editorials, “Returning Soldiers.” Having fought in the European Great War, he wrote, the descendants of African America would now be returning to fight in another Great War. Forced to fight the Germans in France, the segregated 369th Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, […]

February 8, 2023 0