It hardly needs saying that Washington's jazz community is still mourning the loss last weekend of Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson. The much-loved drummer, singer, raconteur, and goofball is being mourned and celebrated all over town, but in particular at the HR-57 jam sessions he so often led. Last night's and tonight's jams are both being dedicated to [...]

It's a spectacular week for jazz, folks.
Thurday, June 23
It's been a long time—over a year and a half, in fact—since D.C. has seen a gig by the Cricket Fusion Quartet. The collective is the brainchild of Joe Brotherton, a trumpeter (and a hip one) with a taste for two things: spontaneous group improvisation and groove. [...]

Roy Hargrove is no stranger to D.C., making frequent appearances at Georgetown's Blues Alley and playing a headline engagement during 2007's Duke Ellington Jazz Festival (now the D.C. Jazz Festival). Sunday night, however, he took a surprise detour from his four-night stand at Blues Alley to hit the clubs of U Street.
Tenor saxophonist Elijah Jamal [...]

Oct. 1
1905 Restaurant sometimes gets labeled a speakeasy for its obscure location (the dimly lit second floor of a barely marked rowhouse at 1905 9th Street NW) and its absinthe-featuring drink menu. Like the classic speakeasies, it also regularly features some of the most interesting jazz on the local scene. The Cricket Fusion Quartet, led [...]

Unless I missed it, there was no lecture to be had from Peter Brötzmann at the Velvet Lounge last night. Instead he did two sets: one solo, one group improvisation with Chromatic Mysteries (featuring drummer/avant-maestro Scott Verrastro).
The solo was classic Brötzmann, requiring great intellectual energy to penetrate his harsh, often shrieky tone for the melody [...]