7:30 PM, JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
For better or worse, it was an intimate evening at the Goldman Theater - less than 20 people in attendance. “Isn’t it terrible? I’m competing with Sarah Palin!” chanteuse Yardena lamented with a grin. Indeed, it was so uncrowded that the profanity from the tech booth echoed through the room. (”I was good with this shit, man! What the fuck?!”)

Yardena killed anyway. She drew from her unique repertoire: 500-year-old Sephardic folk songs with Latin jazz arrangements. Her clear, steady alto and impeccable rhythmic phrasing alone built a compelling performance, but Yardena’s onstage charisma is something else again. It’s difficult to describe: sultry and magnetic, but in a more sophisticated, mature sense than those words might suggest. The key lay in her control: On “Noches, Noches” and “La Vezina Catina,” she pulled off melodrama without exaggeration–a skill so difficult, it never occurred to me that it even existed.

Her sextet was (mostly) aces: Bassist Pedro Girando played with great sensitivity; trumpeter Jonathan Powell’s lovely, flamenco-like solos had a languid, liquid tone (particularly on the torch-ish “Adio”); and Tony De Vivo and Neil Ochoa’s percussion had a canny grasp of both subtlety and power. The weak link was pianist Pablo Vergara, whom Yardena called “my favorite.” Though he had great chops, he was a bit to anxious to show them off and did so without regard to taste or propriety. Speedy harmonic whirlwinds are great…but in the middle of the sad love song “Yo Me’namori D’un Aire”? It doesn’t play.

10:00 PM, BLUES ALLEY
Monty Alexander is an underappreciated pianist: He has a heavy, percussive touch; a love of thick chords; and a vast rhythmic sense encompassing swing, funk, and the Caribbean islands (Alexander is Jamaican). But last night at Blues Alley he was practically a sideman in his own trio.

His drummer was Herlin Riley, a New Orleans native and alumnus of Wynton Marsalis‘ bands. And on the Georgetown bandstand, he was a star. On the first song (which Alexander didn’t name), Riley drove the trio—also featuring Hassan Shakur on bass—through a stormy swing that soon dissipated into firm reggae–and back again–with crisp, precise sound. Then he let loose with a thunderous flood of drums. It was a performance by what Miles Davis would call “a bad motherfucker.”

It didn’t stop there. On “Hope,” he shivered the cymbals on the minor-key melody, then tattooed the funk break with bass-drum heartbeats. “No Woman, No Cry” got a soft march; by the closing number, an unnamed blues, Riley was doing tricks to great applause, twirling one stick on the offbeats and never missing the ons.

Not to take away from Alexander, mind you—he played beautifully, in particular a winning rendition of Tony Bennett’s “Good Life.” Shakur was a monster, too, dueling with the others on grooves of his own design and laying down nice solos on the opener and “No Woman, No Cry.” But Riley had the crowd in his hands; it was his night and everybody knew it.

The Monty Alexander Trio will play two shows nightly (8 and 10 pm) to October 5 at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $27.50

So just in case you’re at your computer…post-debate…wondering whether or not to show up fashionably late for tonight’s second French-American Jazz Quintet performance at Bohemian Caverns: don’t.

Though the DEJF schedule had announced shows at 9 and 11, in fact they went down at 8 and 10.  I showed up at 10:55 to find the bar dead and the band packing their bags.

So stay in, rest up, listen to something like this, and get ready for tomorrow’s lineup (highlights forthcoming).

I’ll be at the 9:30 Club checking out La Timbistica & Chopteeth.  Assuming all goes according to plan.

After Paquito d’Rivera’s phenomenal set at the Inter-American Developmental Bank, I hurried over to Blues Alley to catch Jamie Broumas‘ second show. It’s hard to imagine a better home for Broumas than Blues Alley, and easy to imagine the scene in black and white—3 a.m. drunks slumped astride their chairs with their ties loosened and their hats tipped back, watching this beatific chanteuse through tired eyes, remembering (if they can) the one that got away.

Jamie and her band are very much the tight-knit combo, and—despite the late hour and inevitable second-show fatigue—few rough edges were on display last night. Marshall Keyes struck a delicate balance on sax, matching Jamie’s fluid grace with his muted, plaintive leads. Steve Rudolph, looking very professorial at the piano, spun out trillingly elegant solos and played niftily off Harold Summing’s high-hat patterns with silvery little cascades in the upper octaves. This classic quartet approach is eminently suited to Jamie’s voice, which sails (cf. “Small Day,” “Fair Weather”) with sophisticated ease over the group’s delicate swing.

Last night’s thrilling moments were always slow and deliberate—Jamie’s gentle triplets in “Come Fly with Me,” Michael Bowie’s syncopated double-stops, Keyes’ slow-mounting solo in “What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?” Their motion as a group rarely swerved off-center, and their center was the soft purity of Jamie’s voice—retreating always, at the end of the phrase, into the supple dreaminess of the mix. Her scats and ethereal high notes are the ribbon on the package, and if at times the package is a little precious, a little too clean, don’t despair: they’re sure to mix it up on “What a Little Moonlight Can Do.”

My favorite moment came at the close of the latter song, when a simple miscommunication sent half the band to the coda before the other half was ready. “A terrible way to go out,” Jamie laughed afterwards at the bar. But I loved it. Even while righting themselves, the band were smiling and laughing. It was a moment for which they hadn’t planned. And, during their stylish, giddy recovery, it became one of their best.

Tonight I’ll be at Bohemian Caverns to see the French-American jazz quintet. Read about it tomorrow.

With over 100 performances happening throughout the District from now until Tuesday, picking the best of each day isn’t easy. Still, here are two good bets for tonight:

Yardena has a hard time categorizing even herself: the vocalist was born in Israel and has performed the music of her homeland, but also mixes in Spanish folk songs, Middle Eastern music, Afro-Cuban jazz, and the American torch songbook. Her next album, she promises, will be “the fusion of Jewish, Middle Eastern music combined with Afro-Cuban rhythms as well as flamenco into what can be called true ‘world music.’” All you really need to know, though, is that she’s got a warm, rich alto voice that genuinely can handle anything. See for yourself tonight at the DC Jewish Community Center, 16th & Q Streets NW, at 7:30. $25.

At Bohemian Caverns tonight, American bassist Paul Steinbeck and French tenor saxophonist Pierre Menuau show off their aptly named French-American Jazz Quintet tonight. Inspired by Steinbeck’s research of The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s popularity in France, the Quintet has a similarly eccentric and diverse musical approach “ranging from free jazz to hip-hop, full of percussion and improvisations.” There are sets at 9:00 and 11:00, for a $15 cover.

Washington’s Duke Ellington Jazz Festival kicks off each year with a private gala and concert for the sponsors and friends of the festival. Last night’s, held at the Inter-American Development Bank, was one act, scaled back from last year’s triple-bill spectacular. But its size was more than made up for by the quality of its performers: clarinetist Paquito d’Rivera (the festival’s musical director) and the Turtle Island String Quartet.

Though they’ve got the standard classical lineup–two violins, viola, and cello–the “Turtles” concentrate on more diverse, contemporary genres, primarily jazz. They began the concert with tunes from their Grammy-winning A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane — starting with a sublime take on Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice” and capped off with a beautifully dissonant reading of Stanley Clarke’s “Song to John” (with a lovely violin solo from Mads Tolling). Despite the repertoire, this prologue had a conservatory-like seriousness about it.

Of course, that was all over the moment Paquito d’Rivera joined them onstage. Festival chair Charlie Fishman had noted in his introduction that he called d’Rivera “the Latin Dizzy Gillespie” for his clownish personality, and he played it to the hilt: “We started out as the Turtle Island Symphony Orchestra,” he told the audience after his first number. “This is what the Immigration Department has left us.”

Their set together was short, but magnificent. Highlights included a swooping arrangement of Frank Sinatra’s setpiece “Angel Eyes”; “Wapango,” a piece Rivera wrote for the Quartet, here featuring a ukulele-like pizzicato break on Tolling’s violin; and a fun Gillespie tribute that centered on “A Night in Tunisia,” but had d’Rivera frequently inserting a riff from Dizzy’s bebop classic “Salt Peanuts” and demanding the audience give the vocal response. The performance set an incredibly high bar for the rest of the festival.

Fortunately, there are other opportunities to see Rivera perform this week. He’ll be sitting in with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at the NEA Jazz Masters concert at the Lincoln Theater Saturday night, and with Conrad Herwig’s orchestra at the National Mall’s free concert on Sunday. (Full festival schedule is here.)

The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival has annually featured an NEA Jazz Masters Concert, headlined by its newest inductee. In the case of 2008, that was to be Ramsey Lewis, the gospel-drenched pianist who scored a huge hit in 1965 with “The In Crowd” (recorded at D.C.’s Bohemian Caverns).

Alas, no more. Lewis, who was scheduled to play the concert on Saturday night, October 4, at the Lincoln Theatre, is having some health concerns and has had to withdraw from the festival. It’s a terrible shame, particularly if you were unable to attend his wonderful concert at the Kennedy Center this spring.

On the brighter side, however, this does free up the NEA concert bill to include the new-fangled Duke Ellington Orchestra. Or, if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can see Monty Alexander at Blues Alley; Sonny Fortune at Twins; or up-and-coming cellist Dana Leong at Busboys and Poets, all happening on October 4 as well. Yay jazz festival!

Terence Blanchard sure does spend a lot of time in D.C. The New Orleanian trumpeter has, since August, appeared at Blues Alley to promote his album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), at the Kennedy Center for a presentation of his music for Spike Lee’s films, and at Strathmore as part of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 50th Anniversary Ensemble.

Not that that’s any reason not to see him again this week. He’ll be at Blues Alley from Thursday through Sunday night, with two sets each night priced at $27.50 per set.

Blanchard also has big plans for D.C. in 2009, if you can hold out for it: the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival has announced that their ‘09 lineup will feature Blanchard and his band, and very possibly a full orchestra, performing the Tale of God’s Will in its entirety.

Saturday night at the Lincoln Theatre’s jazz concert “Duke, Ella, and Beyond,” Charlie Fishman, founder and executive producer of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, announced the lineup of the 2008 festival.

This year’s festival will be held October 1-7. It will be the last autumn festival; beginning in 2009, DEJF has been given a permanent slot in the first two weeks of June on the city’s event calendar.

The lineup, with other performance information where available:

• Monty Alexander (performing at Blues Alley)
• Dee Dee Bridgewater (performing at the National Mall)
• Edmar Castaneda
• Chopteeth Afro Funk Big Band
• Anat Cohen
• Benito Gonzalez
• Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side Project
• Ramsey Lewis (2008 NEA Jazz Master recipient)
• Taj Mahal
• Christian McBride
• Jeremy Pelt
• Grady Tate
• La Timbistica
• Turtle Island String Quartet (performing at private opening gala)
• McCoy Tyner (performing at the National Mall)

Tickets go on sale May 1.

Charlie Fishman, founder and executive producer of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, will host a birthday concert for the late, legendary Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, featuring local jazz talents, at the Lincoln Theater on Saturday, April 26.

The concert features three acts: Jam on U All-Stars (featuring frequent U Street jazz luminaries such as saxophonist Antonio Parker and drummer Nasar Abadey, with conductor Bobby Felder); Will Smith and the W.E.S. Group with Special guest vocalist Cynda Williams; and the DC Bass Choir, featuring Herman Burney, Jr. and Steve Novosel.

At the concert, Fishman will also announce the theme and lineup for the 2008 Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, scheduled to take place October 1-7.

Tickets are $20 and available at the Lincoln Theatre box office at 1215 U Street, NW. (202) 328.6000.

Anat Cohen is one of the fastest- and highest-rising stars in the jazz world; the Israeli reedist is a rare breed, specializing in both tenor saxophone and clarinet. The former makes her an even rarer breed: female saxophonist. Cohen headlined a show at Bohemian Caverns with her quartet on Saturday night, and was a member of the United Nations Orchestra, which played at the National Mall’s Sylvan Amphitheatre on Sunday. That morning, we discussed her career trajectory over breakfast and Starbucks coffee.

How did you first encounter jazz?
Actually, there are a few elements to the answer. My father and my mother loved the American songbook, and in Israel there was always some hours that you could hear some of the old songs on the radio. It wasn’t necessarily jazz, but just the songs, the American repertoire. So I already loved the songs. And when I was about 12 or 13, before I played the clarinet, I played the organ–we didn’t have a piano in the house. And you don’t play, really, the classical repertoire on the organ, so my teacher got some songbooks that were like “Have You Met Miss Jones” and all kinds of songs that later on I realized were actually standards, again from the American songbooks.

And when I started playing clarinet, it was in a Dixieland band in the conservatory. And I loved it! I loved the feeling of it: it was really bouncy and happy, and I didn’t have to know how to improvise because in the book they had written solos. So that was my first encounter, officially, with jazz. And after the dixieland, when I started to play tenor, I started to play in the big band, so I really got the traditions of dixieland and big band, then I went to small combos and started to open up the music.

Also, my brothers [Avishai and Yuval, also jazz musicians], when I was still playing more classical clarinet, they were playing saxophone and trumpet and going all the way with improvising. So it was kind of a family thing.

I was going to ask about that. Growing up with musical siblings, was it competitive, or did you play together?
It wasn’t a competitive thing, ever. It was more of an interesting balance - for one thing we played different instruments so there was no competition as far as that. We’d just play: we were in the same groups, we went to the same conservatory, we played in the same dixieland band, big band, youth orchestra. So it was something we just did, we all took the same path and was kind of just natural that we do it without thinking, “Oh, he’s better; he got a gig, I didn’t.” There were no thoughts like that at all. Each of us did what we did. I think it was very healthy that my parents actually put us together.

Growing up in Israel, with the klezmer and folk traditions, was it a cultural thing that you would gravitate toward the clarinet?
No. I basically went to the conservatory because my older brother Yuval was already in it, and Avishai and I arrived and they said, “Pick an instrument,” and I had no clue really. And they kind of helped me decide which instrument, because that’s what they needed in the Youth Orchestra. “Well, we need more clarinets, maybe you want to play this one!” I was familiar with the clarinet, and said okay, but I didn’t go to the conservatory because I wanted to be a clarinet player.

Do you have a preference for one horn over the other, personally?
Yeah, but it depends on the music! For different sounds, different styles, I prefer different horns. The clarinet is softer, it’s more articulate; the tenor is more gutsy. And it depends on how modern, how old the music is. I belong to a lot of different bands, and I play different kinds of music, and each one demands a different personality. And each instrument offers a different personality. And ideally, I’d like time to also focus on the bass clarinet and the alto saxophone, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to do everything. But I will!

On your new album Poetica, you play a number of Israeli folk songs. Is that something you did especially for these discs, or is it a direction you want to develop further?
Well, I can only say for certain that I’m interested in it at the moment. Obviously it’s something that’s developed in playing world music, but also from a lifetime of loving these melodies. For instance, the song “Hofim” that’s on the album, I remember that when I was at Berklee College of Music, I would practice by playing that melody in all the keys, just because I loved the melody. So it was with me all the way, and when it was time to record Poetica, I started to think of repertoire, and all of these songs came out; we figured out how to give them a little more modern edge, and also work within tradition. It was just something I wanted to do.

New York, where you live now, is the capital of the jazz universe, but do you ever think of moving back to Tel Aviv?
New York is the capital of jazz, in the sense that a lot of information is passing through that city constantly and very quickly. And the question is, how long can I endure that fast pace? Because you always want to challenge yourself, you always want to learn more and be part of what’s happening, what’s changing, the new information and new music. And in the life of a jazz musician, that never ends. So moving back to Israel is the same as asking, “When will I feel that I can continue it now at my own pace, on my own journey, without the constant stimulation?” Because the stimulation is very healthy, it keeps you on your toes. But Israel, on the one hand, is where I’m coming from; it would be an ideal place to raise a family; my parents are there; I miss it a lot. On the other hand, it’s a crazy place. The fast pace there is a different kind of fast pace from New York: They have other things that keep you on your toes. I’m not ready to make any decision yet.

So what’s next for you after this festival?
I’m going to play at an Arts & Music Festival in Bloomington, Indiana, at the end of September, and then in October I play the San Francisco Jazz Festival and in Seattle, then I’m playing a whole week in November at the Jazz Standard in New York City. There’ll be two nights with a Brazilian Jazz Quartet, then two days with my own quartet. Two more days with the Anzic Orchestra, some repertoire from a forthcoming album. And the last night, the three Cohens, Yuval, Avishai, and me, we’re going to celebrate our new CD release. It’s called Braid and it’ll be out November 4.