Bohemian Caverns, December 20

• For your avant-garde pleasure, there's the Tracie Morris Band at 8:00 PM at Joe’s Movement Emporium (3309 Bunker Hill Road in Mt. Rainier). Morris, a New York poet and performance artist, works with omnivorous guitarist Marvin Sewell and "Afro-Electronica" turntablist Val Jeanty. $15.
• For the fusion fans, a doozy: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension at 7:30 at the Birchmere (3701 Mt. Vernon Avenue in Alexandria). A major figure in the jazz-rock dimension, who also fuses in some electronica and Indian music, McLaughlin is an electric guitarist — quite literally jazz's answer to Jimi Hendrix. That should tell you all you need to know. $65.
• The mainstream jazz folk have another big one. The Kennedy Center presents Ramsey Lewis, a favorite of both KenCen and Setlist, at 7:00 PM (2700 F Street NW). Pianist Lewis, one of the music's last true hitmakers, has reinvented himself as an acclaimed composer and is performing a large-ensemble piece written for Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial, "Proclamation of Hope." $20-$65.
• If you're tuned in to local DC jazz, you may know Bruce Swaim, a longtime area saxophonist and a regular at the National Gallery's weekly Jazz in the Garden series. Swaim had a heart attack last month; he is making a full recovery, but medical expenses are predictably staggering, and his friends in local music have staged an all-day benefit on his behalf, starting at 3:00 PM at Bangkok Blues (926 West Broad Street in Falls Church). Among the musicians appearing will be Jon Ozment, Paul Carr, and Swaim's own quartet. $15 (suggested donation).

Other highlights from the week after the break.

Photo: Brian Callahan

Friday, November 12
If there's a single all-star bassist of the past two decades, it's Christian McBride. His virtuosity on the instrument is awesome, made more so by his gregarious personality and fearsome physical presence: the double bass is a gigantic instrument, and he looks like he could crush the thing in his hands. And if "virtuosity" means "ability to play anything," McBride seems determined to prove it. He plays funk, fusion, and even hip-hop rhythms and harmony on electric bass, and just as easily slips into mainstream, post-bop, and even free jazz on his acoustic. Slightly funky acoustic jazz is the order of the day in McBride's current band project, Inside Straight, which currently includes an impressive lineup of saxophonist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, pianist Peter Martin, and drummer Carl Allen (in the running for Busiest Drummer on the Planet). All are excellent, but none more so than McBride himself. Inside Straight performs at 8 PM at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, on the UMUC campus in College Park. $42.

Monday, November 15
Jazz is so much more than its music — jazz is also visual spectacle. Why do you think it's so important to see it live? That's also why jazz photography has developed into an important field of its own, and one of the field's greatest practitioners was William Gottlieb. It's Gottlieb's arresting black-and-white photographs that captured the "Golden Age of Jazz," the pre-WW2 peak of popularity, and in many, many cases became the icons of the era and of the people and places they represented. (When you think of New York's 52nd Street of the period, for example, you're thinking of Gottlieb's pictures.) You'll never find a person with deeper insights on Gottlieb and his jazz imagery than Larry Applebaum, the Library of Congress's jazz specialist and a walking encyclopedia on the music and everything in its orbit. Applebaum will be conducting a lecture on Gottlieb's photography as part of LOC's Monday Noontime Lecture Series; it takes place at noon (duh) at Whittall Pavilion in the library's Jefferson Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE. Free.

Tyner's current band features bassist Gerald Cannon and Eric Kamau Gravatt (Weather Report) on drums. It also frequently includes alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, another major figure and longtime Tyner collaborator who nonetheless gets "special guest" billing in most cases. A caveat, however: Tyner's live performances are inconsistent. He can transcend, he can electrify, and he can bore mightily; sometimes his playing says as pointedly as words "I'm just going through the motions." But if you're a jazz fan who has never seen this towering figure play before, that shouldn't deter you for a second.

The McCoy Tyner Quartet featuring Gary Bartz performs at 7:30 p.m. at Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $39.50.

Photo: sfweekly.com

Friday

• Al Green. DAR Constitution Hall. $70.

• Balkan Beat Box, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew. 9:30 Club. $20.

• Mambo Sauce. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Greg Brown, Justin Wilber. Wolf Trap. $30.

• The American Space Cadets, American Speedway, Sin 4 Sin. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• Matthew Ryan, Garrison Starr. IOTA Club & Cafe. $15.

• RAMZY, The Method, Bad Rabbits. Rock & Roll Hotel. $10.

• The Big Cheese. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Sing Swan Song, Kuan. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Tyrone Wells, Tony Lucca, Roy Jay. Jammin Java. $15-$22.

• Suckers, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers, Laughing Man. Black Cat mainstage. $12.

• KC Jazz Club: An Evening with Delfeayo Marsalis. Kennedy Center Terrace Gallery. $25.

• Ghost Town, High Off Life. Jaxx. $10 in advance, $12 day of.

Saturday

• STS9, Two Fresh. 9:30 Club. $22.50-$40.

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Cirque de la Symphonie. Strathmore. $30-$90.

• King Giant, The Resurrection Sorrow, Crimson Electric. The Red and the Black. $8. 21+.

• Rustbuckit, X-MC. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• Here We Go Magic, April Smith & Great Picture, Show, Glass Ghost. Rock & Roll Hotel. $10 in advance, $12 day of.

• Crimestoppers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• The Sounds of Kaleidoscope, Kohoutek, Gondola, Inzinzac. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Girlyman. Jammin Java. $18.

• National Symphony Orchestra. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$80.

• W.A.S.P., Rain, Hate the Toy, After Therapy. Jaxx. $24.99 in advance, $28 day of. 21+.

Sunday

• Signature Sings: 2000-2004: Ladies Choice: Priscilla Cuellar, Lauren Williams, Bligh Voth, Bayla Whitten. Strathmore. $28.

• The Very Best, Ninjasonik, Tabi Bonney. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15.

• Wolf's Blues Jam: Hot Rods and Old Gas, Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Kind Nugget, Blvd. B, Tarica June, A.I. Love You. Velvet Lounge. $7. 21+.

• An Evening with Red Molly. Jammin Java. $15.

• The American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.

• Cyberstrike, Spectral Vision, Envy's Eye, We Have the Summer, Tiik with G.U.T.S., The Blackshire, Li[n]es, La Coterie, The Cliched, Borderline. Jaxx. $8 in advance, $10 day of.

• Foreign Born, Free Energy, Clovers. DC9. $12. 18+.

Garrison Starr photo by Jeremy Cowart, via MySpace.

Friday

• State Radio, Big D and the Kids Table. 9:30 Club. $20.

• Justin Trawick. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Christian Tetzlaff Trio. Wolf Trap. $35.

• Powder Kegs, The Torches. The Red & The Black. $8.

• Juniper Lane, Melodime. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• US Royalty, Phil Ade, Poor But Sexy. Rock and Roll Hotel. $12.

• Curbfeelers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Screen Vinyl Image, Last Tide, Dead Leaf Echo, Ceremony. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Mid-Atlantic Band Battle: Commodore Koko, B-Film Extras, Dub City Renegades, Elements of Addiction, HeLo, Redshift. Jammin Java. $10.

• Laura Tsaggaris, Paul Michel, Bellman Barker. Black Cat mainstage. $10.

• KC Jazz Club: Jonathan Batiste Quintet. Kennedy Center Terrace Gallery. $15.

• Boys Will Be Boys, Escape the Armada, We Have the Summer, Tomorrow's Ours, Rosy Likes Red, What A Night. Jaxx. $6 in advance, $10 day of (or $8 with flyer.)

Saturday

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven & Mozart with a Twist. Strathmore. $25-$80.

• Eric Brace & Last Train Home, Peter Cooper. Wolf Trap. $18.

• Honor By August, The Influence, Jones Street Station. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• V.P.R., Wake Up Cold, Stout, Common Enemy, Tsuchigumo. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Rival Tribe. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• T-Model Ford, The Shirks. Velvet Lounge. $12. 18+.

• Wild Beasts, Still Life Still. Black Cat mainstage. $13.

• KC Jazz Club: Carl Allen-Rodney Whitaker Project. Kennedy Center Terrace Gallery. $25.

• Nouveau Riche. DC9. Free before 10 p.m., $8 after. 21+.

• Seasons After, Bitter, Seelow Hights, Ethereal Genocide. Jaxx. $10.

Sunday

• Gretel. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• School of Rock: Best of Season Show. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Wolfs Blues Jam: Hot Rods and Old Gas, Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• lowercaseletters, mgl. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Beth Rinaldo, Scott Holland & Friends, The Honey Dewdrops. Jammin Java. $8.

• Off With Their Heads, The Scare, Tiny Bombs. Black Cat backstage. $10.

• Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. $45.

• Electronic Saviors Benefit Concert – Industrial Music to Cure Cancer: Jim Semonik, DJ Kangal, DJ Blue Vampire, DJ Noir, Cyber Strukture, Xuberx, Sonik Foundry, Boole, Interface, Deviant UK, I:Scintilla, Ego Likeness, Terrorfakt. Jaxx. $15 in advance, $20 day of.

Justin Trawick photo by Thomas Van Veen Photography, via MySpace.

The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet—really a sax quartet plus a drummer—brought its eclectic mix of jazz, world music, and the avant-garde to An Die Musik in Baltimore last night. The all-female group named after Billy Tipton, the biologically female saxophonist who spent his career and adult life identifying as male, played two sets of music far more whimsical and fun than what most might expect from an experimental jazz group.

More photos after the jump.

This last, almost completely overlooked in the jazz world, was nonetheless the record of the year. Here it is, along with the next, oh, say, nine. Where applicable, I've quoted (and linked to) my own reviews of these albums.

1. Ramsey Lewis – Songs From the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey (Concord)
"In a word, astonishing. It finds Ramsey Lewis, after 50 years playing R&B- and pop-laced jazz piano, reinventing himself as a composer—hence the subtitle, Ramsey Plays Ramsey. The trio disc (Larry Gray, bass; Leon Joyce, drums) contains 12 straightahead tunes of extraordinary delicacy, lyricism and finesse, all sounding thoroughly fresh."

2. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society – Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam)

3. Rakalam Bob Moses – Father's Day B'Hash (Sunnyside)

4. Gretchen Parlato – In A Dream (ObliqSound)
"Recently, jazz has embraced some callow vocalists whose singing is a sideline for their instrumental pursuits. Fortunately, such artists have Parlato to show them how it should be done: with emotional depth, subtlety, and the kind of precise technical craft where even the breathing sounds matter."

5. Vijay Iyer Trio – Historicity (ACT Music + Vision)
"It may be hard to grasp Iyer’s statement, but it’s fun to try, and the unique conceptions of both originals and covers suggest clues aplenty. Yet it’s just as exciting to imagine that Historicity’s equation has no solution and Iyer, with this compelling, provocative work, is still writing his place in history."

6. Arve Henriksen – Cartography (ECM)

7. Steve Lehman – Travail, Transformation, and Flow (Pi)
"With Travail, Transformation, and Flow, alto saxophonist Steve Lehman makes a rare offering to the jazz world: a thoroughly alternative principle of improvisation. Lehman’s deeply compelling harmonies and textures sound noticeably different from anything before it, but the music doesn’t have the threat-to-everything-we-know-and-love trappings of prior upheavals."

8. Joe Lovano's Us Five – Folk Art (Blue Note)

9. Robert Glasper – Double-Booked (Blue Note)

10. Jeff "Tain" Watts – – Watts (Dark Key Music)
"Jeff "Tain" Watts' drumming style is not generally about understatement, and
neither is much else on the fantastic Watts. His quartet-saxophonist
Branford Marsalis, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and bassist Christian
McBride-is a supergroup's supergroup, and their mainstream jazz is
muscle-bound and always in hyperdrive."

Since 1982, the median age of jazz listeners has increased from 29 to 46 while diminishing in size by nearly a third, according to a recent National Endowment for the Arts survey. While some argue that those numbers aren't trustworthy, what's clear is that most music listeners consider jazz a relic, a link to the past, and not a vibrant, forward-thinking genre. It's no surprise that jazz music is virtually ignored by the mainstream.

In our Music in Review issue, Michael J. West looks at recent attempts by jazz musicians—like Darcy James Argue (above), Robert Glasper, Ben Allison and others—to broaden their exposure. He writes:

It’s once again death by circular logic: Jazz can’t get wider circulation until it shakes its stodgy reputation, but how can it shake its stodgy reputation until it gets wider circulation?

A frequent answer: Make a jazz album that purports to appeal to fans of other kinds of music. But as the following examples from this year show, lofting serious artistic intentions toward the mainstream is not easy.

Read the full feature here.

Some background:

Two and a half weeks ago, Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout set the jazz world a-buzzin' with an op-ed entitled "Can Jazz Be Saved?" The article referred to a recently published NEA survey of Public Participation in the Arts, which says that the number of Americans who have seen a live jazz performance is in freefall, while at the same time the median age of those live jazz attendees is skyrocketing. Jazz, Teachout concluded, is in dire straits unless it can get more listeners, and younger ones, fast.

In the time since, jazz musicians, journalists, and otherwise devotees have questioned the accuracy of the NEA's numbers based on context (e.g., aren't the recession and the Internet revolution being taken into account here?), semantics (how exactly are we defining "jazz" anyway?), geography (doesn't it count for something that people's access to jazz is severely limited outside a few big cities?), and anecdotal evidence (how come I see jazz clubs filled with young people?).

Teachout's response, stubborn but not unreasonable, has essentially been "Anecdotes are well and good, but they don't square off against numbers. If you have think the statistics are problematic, come up with better ones."

Howard Mandel, jazz critic extraordinaire and president of the Jazz Journalists Association, has thus proposed exactly that. His campaign is as described above: If you've seen live jazz recently, or will do so soon, say so on Twitter. In your 140-character allotment, say who you've seen, where and when you saw them, and include the hashtag "#jazzlives." The goal is to see how many people we can find that actually are seeing live jazz.

Game on, folks. Rack 'em up and hash 'em out.