DC Jazz Festival: Latin Jazz at Carter-Barron

When you say "Latin jazz," chances are your words are interpreted pretty narrowly—screaming salsafied horns, fast dance beats, crooning Spanish vocals. But that’s as silly as assuming all Latin American countries are identical. Latin jazz is a big tent with styles spun off any number of traditions from several nations, and the combinations and possibilities are limitless.

Want proof? The DC Jazz Festival is offering a night of music featuring two Latin jazz performers who couldn’t be more different. The Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band, specializes in boisterous Afro-Cuban salsa with conga-playing Sanchez placing dance grooves front and center; Edmar Castaneda, meanwhile, is a harpist from Colombia who plays a darker, more delicate variant of what is still unmistakably Latin jazz. It’s also an open-air concert—a stunning reminder of how many worlds can fit under one sky.

Sanchez and Castaneda perform at 7:30 pm at Carter-Barron Amphitheatre in Rock Creek Park, 16th Street and Colorado Avenue NW. $24.