Thursday, Jan. 19
Observers of the D.C.  jazz scene have been known to refer to the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra as "now-defunct" or "former." And that's not true. While the large ensemble doesn't appear with any regularity—or for that matter, with a consistent lineup—the trumpeter has continued his work as a big bandleader after the group's Bohemian Caverns residency collapsed in late 2009. "I'll always be doing something with big bands," Wilson said at the time, and while he's been increasingly busy as a faculty member at George Washington University, he has indeed kept the promise. Tonight, therefore, he takes a victory lap of sorts as the band celebrates its 15th anniversary in Washington. With him are veterans of the TWJO from its early (Allyn Johnson, Antonio Parker) and late years (Reginald Cyntje, Brian Settles), as well as fairly new-to-the-fold players like Blake Meister and Corey Wallace. And the best part? They're performing all original music. It goes down at 8 and 10 p.m. at HR-57, 816 H Str. NE. $15.

Saturday, Jan. 21
Alas—so far 2012 seems to be about goodbyes more than anything else. We have given fare-thee-wells to the city's most beloved record store, and to a charter member of the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra. This week it's to the Gold Leaf Studios venue, and correspondingly to its Red Door Loft, where the gang at CapitalBop has for a year been producing monthly showcases of local jazz talent. The "DC Jazz Lofts," as they're known, have been a popular and creative success from the outset, mixing freeform and experimental music with hard-driving swing and capping itself with a big ol' jam session each time: It quickly became a core element of D.C. jazz. All signs point to the lofts continuing at a new location, but in the meantime the scene is celebrating with one last big blowout at the Red Door. The roster includes Jazz Loft regulars Brian Settles, Elijah Balbed, and Tri-O, plus bassist Kris Funn, Brooklyn saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson, and melodic post-bop saxman Jonathan Parker. Kill the Red Door Loft in style, starting at 7 p.m. at 443 I Street NW. $10 donation requested (all money goes to the artists).

Sunday, January 22
Most players of the pipa—a Chinese string instrument similar to the lute—would not consider theirs the ideal instrument for the music of Thelonious Monk or Miles Davis. But Min Xiao-Fen is not most pipa players. Likely the world’s foremost practitioner of the instrument, Min is schooled enough in the tradition to have been the primary soloist in the Nanjing National Music Orchestra before moving to the U.S. in 1992. She’s spent the intervening years finding new contexts for the pipa, such as contemporary classical with the likes of John Zorn and Derek Bailey, and with jazz pathfinders like pianist Randy Weston and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith—spiritual heirs to Monk and Miles, respectively. For the forward-thinking Min, then, interpreting those giants isn’t so unusual; if anything, it’s fundamental. Min Xiao-Fen performs at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 11th St. NW. $20.

Thursday, Feb. 3
As jazz piano develops in increasingly abstract and specialized directions, it's becoming increasingly rare to find young, high-quality players who channel the spirit of, say, Bud Powell. Fortunately, Washington has one such player in Hope Udobi. He's a fresh-faced and hardworking musician who's got a tantalizing, deceptively light touch that has its fingertips in gospel and blues as well as the bebop heft you'll hear out front. He's excellent, and getting better—and he's landing more and more great gigs around town and elsewhere. (He was in Philadelphia last night, as a matter of fact.) Catch him here while you still can. The Hope Udobi Quartet with alto saxophonist Braxton Cook, bassist Stephen Synk, and drummer Warren Crudup III, performs at 8 and 10 p.m. at Twins Jazz, 1344 U Street NW. $10.

Friday, Feb. 4
Since Cafe Nema closed in October, The Young Lions' performances have been few and far between. It's a crying shame; the piano trio is one of the city's essential jazz ensembles, arguably the one that kick-started the U Street renaissance. Kris Funn is one of the best purveyors of the bass' current D.C. boom; Quincy Phillips is a skittery but unquestionably fine and eclectic drummer; and Allyn Johnson is the District's stand-in for Oscar Peterson. The band does aggressive, straight-ahead jazz, but also goes in exciting directions with funk, hip-hop, and avant-garde. They do it at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 11th St. NW. $15.

Saturday, Feb. 5
In between his faculty work at GW and his (ever more) occasional gigs with his quartet or big band, Thad Wilson has refocused his musical work on film score projects. For several months now, that's meant a commission by the Smithsonian Institution to write musical accompaniment for the 1925 silent film Body and Soul. It's an important piece of cinematic history, made by Oscar Micheaux—usually hailed as the first African American cinematic auteur—and starring Paul Robeson—universally hailed as the most important African American actor (stage or screen) of the era. Though Wilson is not unique in rescoring the film (trombonist Wycliffe Gordon has done so, as well), a Smithsonian commission is by definition an important project...and it receives its world premiere this weekend, courtesy of the once-again-reborn Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra, in this incarnation featuring (among others) trumpeter Joe Brotherton, pianist Allyn Johnson, bassist Michael Bowie, and drummer Lenny Robinson the screening and performance is at 3 p.m. at the National Portrait Gallery's McEvoy Auditorium, 8th and F streets NW. Free.

Wednesday, Feb. 9
The term "Young Lions" was originally applied to the cadre of early 20-somethings who conquered the jazz world in the early '80s: Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller. Oh—and Benny Green, who debuted in 1983 as pianist for the Betty Carter band, one of the major training grounds of the era. Green, who made his debut as a bandleader at age 25 in 1988, never quite became the big jazz star that he seemed so confidently poised to become in those days; he did, however, become a reliable and often dynamite pianist with serious hard-bop chops, and an adroit leader who gave breaks to some other jazz stars like Christian McBride and Russell Malone. Stylistically, he's a faithful follower of hard bop's most danceable and soul-minded players, like Bobby Timmons and Gene Harris, and could keep up with them at their best. A tremendous and reliable talent. Green plays at 8 and 10 p.m. at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. $25.

Friday, Nov. 5
Nobody will ever mistake Anat Cohen for any other clarinetist. She's got a full, round tone with a sensitive core that coasts over her accompaniment like a cork bobbing on the waves. Raised in Tel Aviv, Cohen is now the vanguard of a New York-based cluster of Israeli jazz musicians (she owns her own label, Anzic Records), and her home country's mix of European and Middle Eastern folk musics combines with the pan-global fusion that can only come out of The Big Apple to formulate her own eclectic styling, personal to herself and simultaneously a Unified Field Theory of jazz. At present, though, these seasonings are giving flavor to the music of Benny Goodman, whose centennial she celebrates on her recent album Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard, with performances backed by the all-star ensemble of Mulgrew Miller (piano), Peter Washington (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums). They perform at 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, 2700 F Street NW. $35.

Saturday, Nov. 6

Perhaps you've noticed the recent scarcity on these pages of Setlist favorite Thad Wilson. Well, that's because Wilson's been a fairly scarce figure on the scene recently. The seminal DC trumpeter/bandleader, who has a sweet, sentimental sound that owes a debt to Woody Shaw among others, is a faculty instructor at the GWU Department of Music, for one thing; he's got two small children that need his attention, too. That said, Wilson does play here and there; he's scoring a an old silent film for the Smithsonian (1924's Body and Soul); his big band has shown its face once or twice; and he's popped up leading smaller ensembles at HR-57. That's where he is again, at the head of a quartet that will no doubt shake the walls of the intimate little spot. The Thad Wilson Quartet performs at 9 p.m. at HR-57, 1610 14th St. NW. $15.

Wednesday, Nov. 10

He remains the most controversial jazz musician alive, as even CP commenters suggest: either he's "a godsend" or "sounds like a child set loose on a piano." Both statements are absolutely true. Yet Cecil Taylor, one of the primary architects of avant-garde jazz in the 1950s and '60s, is an absolutely riveting performer. He comes closer to ambushing the keyboard than playing it; he clashes head-on with the eighty-eights with both hands, interspersing it with flank attacks and aerial dive-bombs. (This after the 81-year-old has mellowed with age.) The result is noisy, confrontational, bizarre...and hypnotic. Even people who hate every note of it profess that they're unable to take their eyes off the pianist. Frankly, you may not even be sure that you're experiencing music—and you certainly won't be the first to say so. What you will unquestionably experience, though, is something entirely unique. Cecil Taylor gives a solo performance at 7:30 p.m. the Embassy of France (La Maison Française), 4101 Reservoir Road, NW. $45.

As mentioned before, most of this first week's local-artist showcase for the DC Jazz Festival is par for the course in terms of the regular Washington club rotation. There are, however, some exceptions, and the Thad Wilson Quartet is one of them.

Wilson, a trumpeter with a busy schedule of teaching at GWU and raising a family in PG County, is medium-to-light on the gigging these days; he leads a combo roughly once a month at HR-57, pops up sporadically on the Westminster Presbyterian calendar, and has been spotted as both leader and sideman in and around Silver Spring. But he is a good draw for DCJF, and this year is leading a solid foursome on jazz standards at the Madison Hotel's bar in a set entitled "Miles, Monk & More at the Madison."

Actually, "solid" isn't a fair description. This iteration of the Thad Wilson Quartet swings so ferociously that "wild" is nearly the word for them. In addition to Wilson, whose shadowy, lyrical horn has never sounded better, the band includes Michael Bowie, arguably the District's most dexterous bassist (quite a mouthful in this bass-heavy town); Keith Kilgo, who may have the swingingest snare drum in the business; and Johnny O'Neal, a legendary Alabama-based piano virtuoso who played Art Tatum in the film Ray, and to whom Wilson refers as "My friend, my hero, and my mentor."

They work their way through the standard book in the ground-floor bar of the Madison Hotel, a swanky atmosphere with pretty good drink prices and fantastic acoustics. Sets are at 8 and 10 pm at the Madison, 1177 15th Street NW. Free (but buy something at the bar).

Friday, April 16
Two Washington jazz institutions converge herein. Thad Wilson remains a nonstop powerhouse in our fair city; he keeps busiest these days as a teacher at GW, and in the meantime composes, leads bands large and small, and works the clubs with his gorgeous, Woody Shaw-influenced trumpet sound. While his Ugetzu Big Band is re-formed and working, this week belongs to his quintet. Wilson is joined by Zach Graddy (tenor sax), Hope Udobi (piano), Kent Miller (bass), and Kermit Walker (drums) in a gig for the other DC institution: Jazz Night in Southwest, the weekly Friday night gathering at Westminster Presbyterian Church with great food and even better music. Westminster is at 4th and I Streets SW. $5 (free for children under 16).

Saturday, April 17
Speaking of convergences, Maryland Opera Studio has fused its specialty with ours—jazz—in the creation of ots brand new piece, Shadowboxer, an opera based on the life and career of boxing great Joe "The Brown Bomber" Louis. Written by Frank Proto (music) and John Chenault (libretto), Shadowboxer is an incredibly ambitious production. In addition to sets by award-winning designer Erhard Rom and large video screens functioning throughout the program, it features a full orchestra in the pit along with an eight-piece jazz ensemble onstage, complementing a 15-member cast and 12-member vocal chorus. The Saturday night performance marks its world premiere: 7:30 pm at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center's Ina and Jack Kay Theatre, University of Maryland Campus. $32 for the general public, $9 for students.

Monday, April 19
You've read about it; you've talked about it; you've waited for it. The debut performance of the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra is finally here. The new house big band for what has become DC's finest jazz venue will hold court every Monday night, led by trumpeter Joe Herrera and baritone saxophonist Brad Linde. Reports from their rehearsals to this point highlight pieces from the Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, and Maria Schneider—and promise that "you've never heard a band like this in DC before. Prepare to have your socks knocked off." This writer will be on hand to listen and review, but you don't have to take my word for it. The BCJO performs at 8:30 and 10:30 at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 Eleventh Street NW. $5.

Wednesday, April 21
Here in the Duke's hometown, we may downplay the importance of that other big band of Ellington's day: the Count Basie Orchestra. Coming out of Kansas City in the mid-'30s with a bluesy, riff-based sounds and loose arrangements that depended more on improvisation than complex orchestrations, Basie's band revolutionized both the rhythms and the very concept of swing. It also served as a breeding ground for some of the most important musicians in history, with Basie a formidable talent scout: among his alums were Lester Young, Jo Jones, Billie Holiday, and Buddy Rich. Though the Count died in 1984, his Orchestra has continued, still composed (mostly) of Basie's handpicked talent and charging through his swinging charts—a sound worth hearing and seeing. The Count Basie Orchestra performs at 8 and 10 pm at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue NW. $60.

While Wilson disbanded his last iteration of the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra last fall, he said at the time that he intended to restart and rejuvenate the band with new musicians.

Indeed, as of today, the band's MySpace page declares that they "will be returning to perform in the DC area as part of the 2010 DC Jazz Festival." In addition, tenor saxophonist Elijah Balbed—a member of the BCJO—also confirms that he will be a part of Wilson's band when it resumes.

Thus there will be two big bands working in D.C. This is good news: Not only does it mean a richer soundscape, but both ensembles will likely work that much harder to be the best.

March 5
There's no stopping Thad Wilson. After a dozen years on the scene, the trumpeter keeps busy with regular quartet appearances at HR-57, teaching at GW, and a new project creating new scores for classic films (with a new one premiering next week). In the midst of all that, Wilson also makes occasional gigs around town playing standards; such is the case this weekend, with two sets at Bohemian Caverns. Wilson leads a quartet of some of D.C.'s finest, steadiest jazz musicians: pianist Hope Udobi, bassist Michael Bowie, and drummer Kermit Walker. Call it a trip through the basics with a deft and charismatic musician. The music is at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 11th St. NW. $15.

March 6
Like Wilson, the great local tunesmiths Saltman Knowles—that's bassist Mark Saltman, pianist William Knowles, and singer Lori Williams-Chisholm, among others—are mainstays of HR-57. Indeed, in reviewing their new CD Yesterday's Man a few weeks ago, I all but promised there'd be a CD release concert there soon. Well, here it is, right down to the tagline that the band will be celebrating the release of Yesterday's Man. It's a great excuse for a gig, and a great place for one; the intimacy of the staging should concentrate the richness of the melodies so that each will feel as though they're aimed directly at you. The concert is from 9 P.M. to 1 A.M. at HR-57, 1610 14th St. NW. $12.

March 8
Despite Art Blakey’s admonition that “jazz doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Africa,” musicians everywhere have never stopped trying to establish the link. Americans like Kahil El’Zabar usually think of African music in terms of traditional percussion and tribal rhythms; guitarist Lionel Loueke, who’s from Benin, fuses his jazz with melodic West African pop. That approach only further confounds the “authenticity” debate, but its primary effect is to generate music of startling beauty. The approach of Loueke's trio (featuring bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth) is melodic and intense, but gentle; it also builds a bridge between the disparate African and American legacies that even the most hardened cynic will delight in. That's surely why Loueke is fast becoming a major force in the jazz world, and one you can't miss. His trio performs at 8 and 10 PM at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Av. NW. $25.

Nov. 27
Antonio Parker is a smallish-built fellow, with dapper dress and a huge smile. His looks may leave you unprepared for his sound on the saxophone: 100 percent pure brawn. So much muscle is flexed in any one of his solos that his astonishing harmonic sense—trumpeter Kenny Rittenhouse notes how he "devours the changes"—can almost be overlooked. Not quite, though—the jazz repertoire is such easy prey in Parker's hands that one can genuinely see the devouring happen on the bandstand. The Antonio Parker Quartet performs 9:00 pm at HR-57, 1610 14th Street NW. $12.

Nov. 28
Though the Thad Wilson Big Band is shut down for now, Wilson remains a steadily working trumpet player in small groups. His Elevator to the Gallows performances, in which he and his band perform the Miles Davis score to the 1957 Louis Malle film noir, has proven so compelling that its third repeat performance is occurring this week. Wilson counts Miles as his first major influence on the trumpet, and his ability to emulate the great innovator is uncanny. His band, likewise, is comprised of brilliant accompanists; in particular, bassist Michael Bowie captures the fierce skill and dominance that Pierre Michelot brought to Davis on the original score. The bad news is that Elijah Jamal Balbed is unable to join the band this week—but the good news is that that means Wilson gets to play all his parts. The Thad Wilson Quartet performs 9:00 pm at HR-57. $12.

Dec. 2
The A&R men at Prestige condemned Sonny Rollins to a perpetual nickname in 1956, when they titled his seventh album Saxophone Colossus. But if Rollins is tired of the moniker, he has only himself to blame for earning it over and over again for half a century. At 79, Rollins hasn’t lost any of his boundless energy or capacity for invention on the horn. Even hoary old standards become new again at his command, and his own compositions—often little more than glorified riffs—continue to yield new ground for his hefty rhythmic attack and muscular harmonies. At your first concert or your 50th, the sheer force of his musical will is simply astonishing. When they measure Rollins up for the final tally of great jazz saxophonists, even “colossus” may turn out to be an understatement. Rollins performs at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall, 2700 F Street. NW. $35-$78.

"The band basically mutinied on me, so I shut it down," Wilson explained during a set break. "The bottom line? Money fucks up everything. The gigs just weren't there. But I also felt like the discipline just wasn't there with a lot of people. They didn't get the hard work and rehearsals that come with a big band, and they weren't into the ensemble work either. It was more an attitude of 'Hey! I can solo in this band!'"

The ensemble, variously billed as the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra or the Ugetzu Big Band, had been a staple of the Washington scene since January 1998. It had become something of a required course for D.C. jazz musicians, with players from Nasar Abadey and Reginald Cyntje to Bowie and Jamal passing through its ranks over the years.
"That's disappointing," says Dustin Mollick, until recently a tenor saxophonist in the big band (and the only recent member available for comment today), of the breakup. "I haven't been in the band for 3-4 months now...but I hadn't heard about it from anyone."

Mollick does suggest that there had for some time been dissension in the ranks. "Lots of people in the band had problems with the way Thad ran the band and rehearsals," he says. "Especially the fact that we played the same charts so many times when we had a great opportunity with that group to play new music."

Wilson intends to rebuild the band from the ground up. "I will always be doing something with the big band configuration," he says. "I have some of my core players who are still willing to work with me. And I'm looking at bringing down some cats from New York." He adds, however, that this version of the band will gig much less frequently than its famous weekly gigs at Bohemian Caverns: "I think part of the problem was that I overexposed us. You see us all the time, it's less interesting."

No word on the fate of the band's long-delayed second CD, Movin' On (for which your humble correspondent wrote liner notes).

In the meantime, Wilson—who also teaches music at GWU—promises to remain active in smaller group configuration. He also announced from the stage last night that his Movie Nights (i.e., playing the score of a film as it is screened) will now be a monthly feature at HR-57.

Oct. 10
Forward-thinking bassist Dave Holland leads arguably the hippest quintet in progressive jazz, with unconventional approaches to form, harmony, and interplay between the musicians. Chalk it up to Holland's uncanny ability to spot and coordinate talents–certainly it lends promise to any other combo he happens to be a part of. Take the Overtone Quartet: It includes Holland and saxophonist Chris Potter, two fifths of the Holland Quintet, but places them onstage with two jazz adventurers, pianist Jason Moran and drummer Eric Harland. The quartet played their first-ever gig in September, meaning their work here is sure to be fresh and exciting. The Overtone Quartet plays Saturday night at the Kennedy Center, $35.

Oct. 10-11
The Thelonious Monk International Competition, one of the most prestigious jazz contests in the world, has an uncanny track record of picking future stars as its winners (Marcus Roberts, Joshua Redman, Gretchen Parlato) and finalists (Joey DeFrancesco, Jane Monheit, Marcus Strickland). This year’s event has two separate competitions: One for bassists and one for composers. The bass competition will have two public events, the semifinal (at the Museum of Natural History) and final (at the Kennedy Center). Seeing either portion gives local jazz fans great odds for walking away with a story that begins, “I was there when he/she got started.”

Oct. 12
The jazz economy is struggling as hard as everybody else, and thus making the same cutbacks. Thad Wilson's Jazz Orchestra, the big band that largely forms the heart of the D.C. scene (since so many of the local players have passed through it), has winnowed their formerly weekly gig at Bohemian Cavernsdown to the second Monday of every month. Unfortunate, but there's a silver lining: It means that seeing TWJO play has become a special treat, and that much more worth leaving the house on a Monday night to hear them work through their book of novel arrangements and array of great soloists and ensemble players. Cover is $5, the music goes until midnight, and a better cross-section of DC jazz musicians you're not likely to find anywhere else.