Chicago pianist Ramsey Lewis was gigging with his trio at DC..'s Bohemian Caverns 45 years ago this month when he covered Dobie Gray's hit single "The In Crowd." Lewis' version would become a massive Top Five hit, eclipsing even the original and marking one of jazz's last gasps as jukebox music.
Lewis has remained a jazz [...]
Monday night, amid a champagne-and-cake gala, the much-discussed Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra gave the performance that began its permanent Monday-night residency in the venerable U Street club. Organized and directed by trumpeter Joe Herrera and baritone saxophonist Brad Linde, the band is surprisingly eclectic, with R&B and concert musicians and military-band members joining jazz players [...]
First, a note: While Dave Brubeck's four-night stand at Blues Alley is the biggest show in town this week, it's sold out for every show. So let's talk about stuff we can all go see.
Friday, April 16
Two Washington jazz institutions converge herein. Thad Wilson remains a nonstop powerhouse in our fair city; he keeps busiest [...]
My post last week regarding the newly born Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra mentioned in passing "the demise of the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra," the previous occupant of the Monday evening slot at Bohemian Caverns. However, as a few members of the D.C. jazz scene have pointed out to me since, this was not the best [...]
Monday nights have been dark at Bohemian Caverns since the demise of the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra last fall. But that's about to change: Omrao Brown, co-owner and booker for the venerable jazz club, and baritone saxophonist Brad Linde have just finalized plans to resurrect Big Band Mondays. This time, however, it will be starring [...]
Feb. 26
One of the most ecstatic recordings of last year was Shine!, by the young tenor saxophonist JD Allen and his trio. In the lineage of sax trios, Allen and his men (bassist Gregg August, drummer Rudy Royston) have more in common with Ornette Coleman than Sonny Rollins: Allen is rich in melody, but unafraid [...]
Take the part about open venues with as big an asterisk as you can muster; if the reason for that isn't obvious, you don't live here.
Feb. 13
There aren't a whole lot of bands in the area with violinists as sidemen, let alone leaders. That's one of many reasons to catch a performance by Matvei Sigalov [...]
Jan. 29
Twenty-five-year-old Chinese-Australian bassist Linda Oh knows more about tension and release on her instrument than do many bassists twice her age—an ability that brought her as far as the semifinals in last fall's Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. But as her recent debut album Entry demonstrates, she's also an extremely talented and original composer, [...]
When people discuss D.C.'s nightlife back in the day, they usually only think as far back as the original 930 Club on F Street. D.C. filmmaker Jeff Krulik is digging deeper. Inspired by the late Emil Press' photos of Washington streetscapes, and by stories collected from area residents, Krulik has organized a panel discussion and [...]
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 [...]
