CapitalBop, Shannon Gunn and Eaton DC present The 2021 Jazz and Freedom Festival Episode 1: Alice’s Jazz and Cultural Society
Alice’s Jazz and Cultural Society was the product of a dream shared between Dr. Alice Jamison and trumpeter Deandrey Howard: a community-focused, alcohol-free home for jazz in D.C.’s historic Brookland neighborhood. But AJACS, like so many other D.C. venues, was forced to shutter its doors during the pandemic for a variety of reasons. It’s unclear if the venue will ever reopen.
To honor and remember this treasure of the D.C. scene, we sat down with Howard, a longtime D.C. musician best known for his 20-year residency at the (now closed) bar/restaurant Utopia, to talk about his history with D.C. jazz and the origins of AJACS. –––
THE 2021 Jazz and Freedom Festival is a benefit for the Washington Jazz Arts Institute. Learn more here: http://www.wjai.org ———