It's Monday night in Southeast D.C., and you can hear the music halfway down the block. It's a raucous yet cohesive sound—a mixture of rock-n-roll and R&B, dashed with a little hip-hop and funk.
Step inside the single-family home, and the source of the noise becomes clear: Black Alley is in the midst of a two-hour rehearsal, [...]
"We've got the jazz stars of tomorrow," boasted T.S. Monk (known for the occasion as Thelonious Jr.) at the start of last night's Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition finals. Never has that statement rung more true; by the time the evening's three stellar piano finalists had finished performing at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater, it [...]
(Update 10/5 7:32 AM: It bears mentioning that I missed the first hour of Sunday's semifinal, which included Salvant's performance for that day. My critique of her singing would surely have been affected if I'd seen her perform twice, as I did Wade and Amie. Caveat emptor.)
Two things to remember:
(1) Singing is perhaps the most [...]
Friday, Oct. 1
The Airmen of Note are a fine attraction all by themselves, aren't they? This is Washington—we know a thing or two about military bands—and "the Note," the Air Force's jazz ensemble, has a storied history of great players and even better arrangers (Sammy Nestico, Mike Crotty, Alan Blaylock) who've both maintained the band's [...]
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2010: OK. So keeping track of who’s playing when at New Orleans’ Jazz Fest is almost as tough as figuring out the SXSW line-up—though we’ll go ahead and thank Jazz Fest organizers for providing us with a handy grid. From what we can tell highlights will include performances by [...]
A belated answer key to our Rolling Stone: Parse that Platitude contest!
There is a difference between people who sing and those who take that voice to another, otherworldly place, who create a euphoria within themselves. PLATITUDE REFERS TO: Elvis Presley
You know a force from heaven. You know something that God made. And [blank] is [...]
"I don't even like jam bands," the engineer told me at Will Call. "I just come to these things to get high."
I nodded at the child strapped to his back. "You folks are in good company, then. The Beautiful People are out in full force tonight."
