It's not that Antonio Hart is an unknown commodity in the jazz world: He gained prestige playing with Art Blakey and Roy Hargrove before launching his own career. It's that he's not as known as he ought to be. Hart, an alto saxophonist with a sound both hardened and pliant, is a virtuoso in the [...]
Though tonight's performance at the Millennium Stage is officially listed in the DC Jazz Festival's program as "German Jazz All-Stars," that description is only one-third correct. The leader, bassist, and namesake of the Pascal Niggenkemper Trio is the only German in the ensemble. Niggenkemper is a member of the rich music scene of Cologne, and [...]
Update 3:32 PM: According to festival producer Charlie Fishman, the DCJF's listing of a 10:30 PM master class is a typographical error. The class actually occurred at 10:30 AM this morning.
The core of the DC Jazz Festival has been for a few years now the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars. They pop up in various configurations from [...]
That word, "festival," has a certain connotation as something you can take the kids to — an event where there's plenty of space and opportunities for little ones to run around and have their own activities, get their faces painted or draw pictures or what-have-you. Well, jazz is for kids! So says the DC Jazz [...]
Pianist Matt Wigler lives in Baltimore, where he’s a rising senior in high school. That’s right, he’s 17 years old. Wouldn’t expect him to be a deeply entrenched student of the blues, would you? In fact, Wigler’s music is less jazz than jazzy blues: a confident swing, to be sure, but drenched in the licks [...]
Here beginneth the 2011 DC Jazz Festival. But, as usual, it's an incredibly low-key beginning. The headliners and special events are yet to ramp up; by and large, tonight is the usual lineup of local musicians who make up the "Jazz in the Hoods" arm of the festival. There is, however, an act that has [...]
If you've been paying attention, you know by now about this year's big innovation at the DC Jazz Festival. The CapitalBop Jazz Loft, six months old and already an indispensable staple of the city's jazz landscape, will be presenting a series of four double-billed concerts throughout the festival this year, mixing local favorites with cutting-edge [...]
One of these days someone will write a comprehensive history of jazz in the District of Columbia, and 2010 will have a volume all to itself. Or at least a very long chapter. It's simply been a spectacular year for the scene; not always "spectacular" in the positive sense, but momentous and monumental no matter [...]
Hey, kids! You may remember Roberta Flack, that '70s singing sensation who got her start in D.C. and went on to make big hit records ("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," "Killing Me Softly"), was the headliner of this year's DC Jazz Festival Lisner Auditorium Concert. She held her own quite fearsomely against [...]
Looking back at my wrap-up of last year's festival, a number of the extraordinary circumstances that applied then still apply today. The economy tightened the budget last year, and did so even more this year. Last year, as this year, the fest sacrificed signature concerts (in 2010's case, at the National Mall). And last year [...]
