I found myself wishing I had kids to take to it.

Saturday afternoon belongs to the festival's Jazz 'n Families Fun Day at the National Mall's Sylvan Amphitheatre (behind the Washington Monument on the south side). From noon till 6 p.m., the Mall offers jazz events you can take the kids to: music for both adults and the little ones, plus food, drink, crafts, storytelling, and [...]

There's a movement (so to speak) of Israeli jazz musicians in New York, and clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen is at the forefront of it: in addition to the instruments, she's a prolific composer and owner of her own label (Anzic Records). All this meant she would be a formidable presence at the National Museum of Women [...]

Jazz does better when it's not Debate Night–this based on the enormous audience at the Sculpture Garden last night at 5:00, and they didn't come for the food. This was a Frederic Yonnet crowd.
The French harmonica player has a fat, meaty sound with a bluesy edge and lots of chords, in contrast to the [...]

(Note: Yes, I did have a camera with me last night. But the batteries were dead. I'll do better tonight.)
7:30 PM, JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
For better or worse, it was an intimate evening at the Goldman Theater – less than 20 people in attendance. "Isn't it terrible? I'm competing with Sarah Palin!" chanteuse Yardena lamented with [...]

So just in case you're at your computer...post-debate...wondering whether or not to show up fashionably late for tonight's second French-American Jazz Quintet performance at Bohemian Caverns: don't.
Though the DEJF schedule had announced shows at 9 and 11, in fact they went down at 8 and 10.  I showed up at 10:55 to find the bar [...]

After Paquito d'Rivera's phenomenal set at the Inter-American Developmental Bank, I hurried over to Blues Alley to catch Jamie Broumas' second show. It's hard to imagine a better home for Broumas than Blues Alley, and easy to imagine the scene in black and white—3 a.m. drunks slumped astride their chairs with their ties loosened [...]

With over 100 performances happening throughout the District from now until Tuesday, picking the best of each day isn't easy. Still, here are two good bets for tonight:
Yardena has a hard time categorizing even herself: the vocalist was born in Israel and has performed the music of her homeland, but also mixes in Spanish folk [...]

Washington's Duke Ellington Jazz Festival kicks off each year with a private gala and concert for the sponsors and friends of the festival. Last night's, held at the Inter-American Development Bank, was one act, scaled back from last year's triple-bill spectacular. But its size was more than made up for by the quality of its [...]

The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival has annually featured an NEA Jazz Masters Concert, headlined by its newest inductee. In the case of 2008, that was to be Ramsey Lewis, the gospel-drenched pianist who scored a huge hit in 1965 with "The In Crowd" (recorded at D.C.'s Bohemian Caverns).
Alas, no more. Lewis, who was scheduled to [...]