Honestly, folks, the best thing jazz fans can do this week is help the good people at Melody Records unload their inventory so they can walk away from their venerable store with something to show for it. Even when the city was flush with record retailers, Melody was far and away the best for jazz, [...]

Thursday, March 24
You could be forgiven if his nearly 20-year association with Jay Leno made you think Kevin Eubanks was a mediocre hack, too—forgiven, but you wouldn't be correct. Before he Jaywalked, guitarist Eubanks (the second of three musical brothers from Philadelphia) was a member of the M-Base Collective, the Brooklyn-based pool of musicians who [...]

Friday, May 14
Terell Stafford is a sharp dude: suave, snazzily dressed, and with trumpet skills to spare. Stafford has strong D.C. roots, as well: He spent his formative years in Silver Spring and attended the University of Maryland, where he learned his craft before moving on to the New York scene. Stafford's no radical: He [...]

Nov. 5
Once upon a time it seemed that New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton was the reincarnation of Louis Armstrong, with his bright virtuosic phrases and Big Easy swing. Then came 2003's Sonic Trance and last year's Into the Blue, which transplanted Payton into slow, spacy fusion jams that had more in common with Bitches Brew [...]