CB celebrates Black American Music 12 months a year, but with February being Black History Month, there are some particularly notable programs highlighting the heritage of jazz in the month ahead. Akua Allrich (disclosure: a CB board member) returns with her annual tribute to her great influences Miriam Makeba and Nina Simone at the Prince George’s County Publick Playhouse to kick off the month this Saturday, Feb. 1. Percussionist and past AACM chairman Kahil El’Zabar returns with his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s annual Black History Month show in D.C., this time at Rhizome on Feb. 7. Trumpeter John Lamkin II brings his signature hard-bop outfit the Favorites Quintet to Mr. Henry’s for a BHM-themed performance on Feb. 22. 

While not strictly under the guise of Black History Month programming, Virginia jazz fiddler Maximillan Jacobs, the February artist-in-residence at Strathmore, presents a pair of engaging and historically minded programs as part of his residency. On Feb. 12, he’ll lead a tribute to the early African-American jazz violinist Eddie South and his work with Django Reinhardt and with D.C.’s own Stuff Smith. The following Wednesday, Feb. 19, Jacobs gives a workshop on the history of jam sessions across musical traditions – jazz, blues, Irish folk, bluegrass, etc. – in the region.

The Kennedy Center will round out the month with a Millennium Stage performance by Afro Cuban singer Daymé Arocena on Feb. 26 – what you might think of as Havana’s version of Akua Allrich. 

Canadian clarinetist Virginia MacDonald returns to the District with bass clarinetist Todd Marcus, co-leading their deft quintet at My Dead Aunt’s Books on Feb. 8. And the Messthetics perform in the middle of a D.C. punk rock blowout at Black Cat on Feb. 22, with post-punk band Bed Maker opening and ’80’s harDCore band King Face headlining.

Finally, be sure to check out the lineup for this year’s Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, occurring between Feb. 14-16 this month. A full CB preview of the annual “real jazz” celebration is forthcoming, complete with suggested picks, but for now you can check out the festival’s schedule and grab advance tickets.

For all your other live jazz needs, as always, consult the full D.C. jazz calendar. And keep an ear out for it on WPFW 89.3 FM, where a select few listings are broadcast daily in audio form.

JAZZMEIA HORN

Thursday, Feb. 6-Saturday, Feb. 8, 7 and 9:30 p.m.
Blues Alley (tickets)
[view on calendar / night 2]

Vocalist Jazzmeia Horn boasts impressive credentials, including winning the 2013 Sarah Vaughan and 2015 Thelonious Monk jazz competitions. The thrice-Grammy-nominated Horn sings standards with a powerful, earthy tone that draws heavily on the blues, and also writes her own tunes in a classic mode. She sounds somewhere between Vaughan and the great scatter Anita O’Day.

JANEL LEPPIN

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m.
Birchmere Music Hall (tickets)
[view on calendar]

Janel Leppin is one of the District’s finest bandleaders, harnessing a nuanced sensibility in both her compositions and improvisations that produces restless, complex sonic textures, which range from lush and beautiful to sharp and arresting. She’s widely respected in the DMV area for her work leading her Ensemble Volcanic Ash, and as half of the power duo Janel and Anthony (with guitarist Anthony Pirog). She performs solo opening for Tuareg rock guitarist Mdou Moctar, who will play a special acoustic set.

CHARLES COVINGTON TRIO WITH SANDY CRAWFORD

Friday, Feb. 14, 6 p.m.
Kennedy Center – Millennium Stage (free, reservation required)
[view on calendar]

Charles Covington is an elder statesman on the D.C. jazz scene who for many years taught jazz piano and organ at Howard University. An improviser of high lyrical and percussive pedigree, Covington projects a savvy, blues-rooted sensibility. He leads a so-called unValentines Day program at the Kennedy Center. Working with his trio and vocalist Sandy Crawford, he’ll present a set of spirituals and jazz standards along with a reading of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman.”

WILLIAM HOOKER TRIO

Saturday, Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Rhizome (tickets)
[view on calendar]

Avant-garde drummer and sonic contourist William Hooker is as interested in texture as he is in percussion. His music rumbles, trembles and tenses; it can pulse with real urgency, without charging toward any particular endpoint. He’s been a considerable force in free jazz since arriving on the New York City scene in the mid-1970s, and continues to make his own way. He leads a trio with Ras Moshe Burnett on saxophones and Hans Tammen on percussion.

JASON MORAN, MARCUS GILMORE AND BLANKFOR.MS

Saturday, Feb. 22, 7 and 9:30 p.m.
Kennedy Center – Studio K (tickets)
[view on calendar]

Jason Moran has guided not just the Kennedy Center’s jazz programming for the last decade, but directions in the music writ large throughout his 25-plus-year career. His solo piano works often have a pristine delicacy and beauty, as well as a strong sense of messy abstraction; his working band, the Bandwagon, trades in sometimes-fearsome grooves. He has collaborated meaningfully with the old guard, like Sam Rivers and Archie Shepp, and has written operas, tributes to Thelonious Monk and James Reese Europe, and more. Moran’s work showcases true dedication to the craft, and an endless imagination. Here he joins forces with workhorse drummer Marcus Gilmore (the longtime drummer for Vijay Iyer through the late 2010s) and electronic tape loop artist BlankFor.ms in a new configuration.

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