Women’s History Month has begun on a somber note in Washington, as we continue to mourn one of the first ladies of D.C. music, Ms. Roberta Flack. Tributes have already been held, and will continue to, for this singular weaver of story, melody and song, who famously performed nightly for years at Mr. Henry’s before leaping to international fame.

Akua Allrich helped lead a first tribute to Flack at that venue, during the Capitol Hill Jazz Jam on Feb. 26. She performs a free show at Songbyrd on March 5 as part of Washington Performing Arts’ Mars Arts D.C. series. (Disclosure: Allrich is a CB board member.)

On March 7, the D.C. jazz scene will mark International Women’s Day one day early with an appearance by a strong group helmed by vocalist Shacara Rogers and pianist Amy K. Bormet at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Southwest. The show will serve as a preview to the annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival – which Bormet founded in 2011 – happening this year from March 28-30 at the Pen Arts Mansion.

For a jolt of energy from the forefront of the electronic jazz world, drummer and producer Mark Guiliana is bringing his new MARK project to Union Stage on March 26.

And the Kennedy Center still has a month’s worth of formidable jazz programming planned, despite President Donald Trump’s swift and forceful takeover of the institution. South Carolinian Gullah exponents Ranky Tanky take Millennium Stage on March 8. Vibraphone lion Joel Ross returns to the Kennedy Center’s Studio K stage on March 15, on the heels of his exploratory 2024 album nublues. Finally, saxophone giant Joe Lovano closes out the month on March 28 with his new Paramount quartet, featuring guitar virtuoso Julian Lage, bassist Asante Santi Debriano and Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun. 

For all other live jazz needs, consult the full D.C. jazz calendar. 

HERB SCOTT FEAT. IMANI-GRACE COOPER: TRIBUTE TO ROBERTA FLACK

Friday, March 7, 8 p.m.
Mr. Henry’s (tickets)
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Herb Scott is something of a symbol of the modern jazz cat: he can blow his alto sax with the best of them, burning down the house with Charlie Parker-style, rapidfire phrasing, or he can pick up the mic to drop a few bars as a rapper. Imani-Grace Cooper is a celebrated vocalist in the area, equally adept playing in go-go groups, singing jazz standards or belting R&B. With her own group, the Big Black Band, Cooper has been experimenting recently with ways to bring more varied sounds from the Black American music spectrum – from gospel to hip-hop – under her jazz umbrella.

She and Scott will co-lead a tribute to Roberta Flack at Mr. Henry’s, the longtime Capitol Hill nightclub whose upstairs listening room is where Flack launched her career.

ANGELIKA NIESCIER, TOMEKA REID AND SAVANNAH HARRIS

Tuesday, March 11, 7 p.m.
Rhizome DC (tickets)
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Beyond Dragons seems an appropriate title for the first trio album by alto saxophonist Angelika Niescier, cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Savannah Harris. Fire erupts when Niescier – a German creative musician and bandleader – plays the alto, twisting her weightless melodies into odd shapes and angles. But an electricity also crackles between the three players as they build, tear down and reassemble melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas and textures in real time. This concert is presented by Transparent Productions.

VIJAY IYER TRIO

Thursday, March 13 & Friday, March 14, 7 and 9:30 p.m.
Blues Alley (tickets)
[view on calendar]

What can be said about Vijay Iyer with the brevity that these calendar entries require? The Harvard professor and polymath boasts a rich musical history, having played with some of the sharpest, most cutting-edge players and thinkers in the music: Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, Wadada Leo Smith, Greg Tate and others. He maintains a relationship to the traditional formats of mainstream jazz – as with his regular trio, featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey – but his music rarely falls back on easy stylistic or historical cues. Here he leads a trio featuring Jeremy Dutton on drums and Devon Gates on bass.

ALLYN JOHNSON AND THE JAZZDC ALL-STARS

Wednesday, March 19, 6 p.m.
Kennedy Center – Millennium Stage (tickets)
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Pianist Allyn Johnson, the “dean of D.C. jazz” and head of the jazz program at the University of the District of Columbia, is a leading figure on the local jazz scene. On the ivories he punches out fast lines and harmonies that spread their colors throughout the music. Here he leads the JazzDC All-Stars, a midsize ensemble featuring some of the top musicians in the city, in a show presented by the DC Jazz Festival. The group features Thad Wilson on trumpet, Reginald Cyntje on trombone, Antonio Parker on alto sax, Tedd Baker on tenor sax, Nasar Abadey on drums, Herman Burney on bass and Janelle Gill on piano. Johnson will conduct.

AROOJ AFTAB

Thursday, March 27, 8 p.m.
Union Stage (tickets)
[view on calendar]

There is a deep history that lives in Arooj Aftab’s voice. The Pakistan-born singer carries thousands of years of Hindustani and Sufi traditions with her into the realm of jazz and creative music. Hearing her sing in her deep, cavernous tone – sometimes eerie, sometimes balmy – can make one’s hairs stand on end. Aftab’s latest album, 2024’s Night Reign, shows a musical vision as vast as her own voice. She collaborates with the likes of emcee and poet Moor Mother and vibraphonist Joel Ross on the haunting original “Bolo Na;” recruits guitarists Cautious Clay and Kaki King to reimagine a work by the Sufi mystic and poet Rumi; and pairs with pianist James Francies for a version of “Autumn Leaves” that sounds native to Lahore rather than Manhattan.

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