A DC JazzFest guide, by festival musicians
Picked by five of D.C.'s leading jazz voices, the festival's must-see shows include Ron Carter, Lalah Hathaway and Charles Covington.| CapitalBop
In 2002, journalist Natalie Hopkinson ventured into a nondescript rowhouse in Northwest D.C., home of legendary underground club The House of Secrets. It was Howard University’s homecoming. Upstairs, a duo brought the sounds of U Street to the club’s cramped attic, filling the space to the brim. The group was the CrossRhodes, featuring W. Ellington… The post Wes Felton and Raheem DeVaughn tell ‘the story of us’ appeared first on CapitalBop.| CapitalBop
Picked by five of D.C.'s leading jazz voices, the festival's must-see shows include Ron Carter, Lalah Hathaway and Charles Covington.| CapitalBop
Features| CapitalBop
Live reviews| CapitalBop
The Month in Shows| CapitalBop
Live reviews| CapitalBop
Features| CapitalBop
Features| CapitalBop
Features| CapitalBop
CapitalBop is dedicated to promoting, presenting and preserving jazz (aka Black American Music or creative music) in Washington, D.C.| CapitalBop
Ahead of the D.C. Jazz Festival later this month, August features performances from Kokoroko, T.K. Blue, Warren Wolf and more.| CapitalBop
To feel love is to be vulnerable and not have it held against you. This is one way that Brandon Woody’s philosophy of sound comes across. From the first note, you are not only touched, you are held. The music becomes a way to release the thing holding you back, in order to be bound…| CapitalBop
Those that follow Paul Carr on social media know — beyond his longstanding joke rivalry with fellow saxophonist Roger Woods — he ends most of his posts with “#realjazz2.” The term “real jazz” is one of the central pillars of Carr’s imprint on the D.C. jazz world. It is often how he brands the music… The post ‘Real jazz means the truth:’ Paul Carr on his new presenting series at Takoma Station appeared first on CapitalBop.| CapitalBop
Cyrus Chestnut, Adi Meyerson, Heidi Martin and more visit D.C. this month, bringing welcome relief from the summer heat.| CapitalBop
It is hard not to begin a piece on saxophonist Joshua Redman without mentioning his emergence as a Young Lion in the early 1990s. Or without mentioning his father, Dewey Redman, and the elder Redman’s legendary body of work as a clear connection to jazz history. The discourse on the music is consumed with era… The post Saying less: On Joshua Redman’s new quartet appeared first on CapitalBop.| CapitalBop
Among musicians, Joe Ford was a household name. Although the mainstream media never quite caught on to the saxophonist’s musical prowess, Ford’s passing on May 25 has led to a cascade of reflections from friends, contemporaries and musical successors, highlighting his humility, generosity, authenticity and originality. Ford’s expansive career spanned over 50 years. He first… The post The musicians’ musician: Celebrating the life and legacy of Joe Ford appeared first on CapitalBop.| CapitalBop
Ahead of a special performance at the Library of Congress, the saxophonist sat down to reflect on 60 years of musical exploration.| CapitalBop
Happy Pride Month — and Happy Black Music Appreciation Month! While the WorldPride Festival fills D.C. streets with rainbow flags and people from all over the world — especially for the headlining music festival — Rhizome will hold a more DIY, community-oriented program in the form of the Queering Sound festival. June 7 is a… The post 5 D.C. jazz picks for June 2025 appeared first on CapitalBop.| CapitalBop
Before Roberta Flack became an internationally renowned, chart-topping music icon, she was already making indelible footprints in Washington, D.C., both as a public-school choir teacher and an aspiring singer and pianist. It was in D.C.’s classrooms and especially its small nightclubs that Flack — who died in February at 88 — established the disarmingly personal… The post Roberta Flack’s D.C. legacy appeared first on CapitalBop.| CapitalBop
With his fiery debut album, the trumpeter takes listeners on a narrative journey of love, resilience and community.| CapitalBop
The D.C.-raised bass phenom will return to D.C. Friday to premiere his newest album, 'Between Church & State.'| CapitalBop
If you notice, things are looking a little different around here. 2025 marks 15 years of CapitalBop, and we are marking the milestone by revamping our web presence. Hopefully you find this fresh web landscape more streamlined, newly engaging and increasingly informative. We will continue to celebrate – more on that to come. In the…| CapitalBop
Kokayi is a multi-discipline creative force who launched from D.C. and has touched the world in many ways over a lengthy career. From his start as an underground hip-hop destroyer of microphones, his roles expanded to include bandleader, producer, visual artist and — increasingly — in-demand collaborator in the wide world of jazz. As an…| CapitalBop
Sun Ra ArkestraHoward TheatreSaturday, March 22, 2025 On the first Saturday night this spring, I visited the Howard Theatre to hear the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen on a double-bill with indie-rock pioneers Yo La Tengo. The Howard has been at the corner of T Street and Florida Avenue for 115…| CapitalBop
Earlier this month, Bill Warrell — an institution on D.C.’s music and arts scene since the 1980s — hosted what he called a “firehouse sale” at Outer Space, his decommissioned firehouse-turned-studio in Brentwood, Md., as he prepared the building to be sold. Warrell was a founder of the legendary experimental-music venue d.c. space and of…| CapitalBop
A seven-person panel of D.C. jazz experts voted on their top albums of the year. Winning LPs came from ¡Fiasco!, Brad Linde and Luke Stewart.| CapitalBop
On an early Wednesday evening this summer, drummer Lenny Robinson was deftly steering a remarkable trio, consisting of vibraphonist Chris Barrick and keyboardist Federico González Peña. During their first set at JoJo Restaurant & Bar, they delighted a sparse yet attentive crowd with sparkling renditions of Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” and “Tell Me A Bedtime…| CapitalBop
