The DC Jazz Festival is upon us! This edition of This Week in Jazz will give readers a chance to mark their calendars and secure their tickets for shows of their choice. The festival starts in earnest next week but there are warm up events taking place this weekend that are worthy of attention. We highly recommend checking out the full schedule to see what suits your fancy, but here are the performances that stood out to DCist.
June 5:
>> Jazz Night in Southwest is hosting a warmup to the DCJF that will feature several local musicians that will be performing throughout the week. Drummer extraordinaire Lenny Robinson will lead a group of D.C.’s finest, including saxophonist Elijah Balbed, pianist Mark Meadows and vocalist Alison Crockett. 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets $5.
June 6-7: Jazz n’ Families Fun Days
>> The Phillips Collection opens its doors for one weekend during every DC Jazz Festival to present events aimed at the entire family. In addition to an instrument petting zoo and on-site art activities, the weekend will be filled with first rate performers. On Saturday, bassist Herman Burney will lead a group of youngsters from the Sitar Arts Center and will also lead a group that will play musical interpretations of artwork in the Collection. Allyn Johnson, arguably D.C.’s finest jazz pianist, will also lead a trio that afternoon. Sunday’s performers include groups led by saxophonists Charles Rahmat Woods and Paul Carr, as well as pianists Mark Meadows and Eric Byrd. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Free.
June 8:
>> Local saxophonist Elijah Jamal Balbed leads his go-go inspired band, the JoGo Project, on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. 6 p.m. Free.
June 9:
>> Christie Dashiell is one of the District’s most gifted vocalists, and she first made a splash as a soloist with Howard University’s Afro Blue as they made an impressive run on NBC’s The Sing Off. She is June’s artist-in-residence at Bohemian Caverns and will lead her group on Tuesday through 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. sets. Tickets $10 in advance/$20 at the door.
June 10:
>> James King has been one of the area’s first-call bassists for years. He will play in an intimate string duo in the gorgeous setting of Tudor Place this evening. 6 p.m. Tickets $15-$20.
>> Braxton Cook is a talented young saxophonist who is now based out of New York, but is a local native who maintains strong ties to D.C. He has teamed up with the band, Butcher Brown, for an EP and the collaboration will celebrate the recording’s release at Bohemian Caverns. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. sets. Tickets $20 in advance/$20 at the door.
>> The DCJF’s stellar lineup at The Hamilton begins tonight with a performance from legendary guitarist John Scofield. He will be performing with his Uberjam Band, featuring Andy Hess, Avi Bortnick, and Tony Mason. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $28-$38.
June 11:
>> Gretchen Parlato is one of the more dynamic and out-of-the-box vocalists working in contemporary jazz. She has a classic tone, but does not limit herself to standards or jazz cliches. Similarly, Lionel Loueke has forged a unique sound on the guitar by blending jazz harmonies with the rich traditions of his roots in West Africa. The two will perform as a duo at Bohemian Caverns June 11 (7:30 and 9:30 p.m. sets) and June 12 (8 and 10 p.m. sets). Tickets $28 in advance/$33 at the door.
>> Latin jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera served as the DCJF’s Artistic Director for its first several years of existence. While he no longer serves in that capacity, he continues his relationship with the festival and will perform on Thursday at The Hamilton. Edmar Castaneda, who takes the harp to a whole new universe, will be a featured guest. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $38-$53.
>> Saxophonist Brad Linde has put together a fantastic big band for this show at the Atlas. His band includes Monk Competition winner Jon Irabagon, local trumpeter Joe Herrera and many other first class musicians. They will be performing music by Elliott Hughes, a trumpeter and composer based in Melbourne, Australia, whose work combines interests in jazz, contemporary classical chamber and orchestral music, and electroacoustic music. 8 p.m. Tickets $20-$28.
>> For the 5th year in a row, CapitalBop is curating an edition of its D.C. Jazz Loft for the DC Jazz Festival. The series of three concerts begins tonight with a “trio of trios” led by three musicians with strong connections to Baltimore: bassist Kris Funn, pianist/vibraphonist Warren Wolf and saxophonist Gary Thomas. All three shows will take place at the Hecht Warehouse (1401 New York Ave NE). 8:30 p.m. Tickets $20.
June 12:
>> Yards Park will host a free lineup as part of this year’s DCJF. The New Orleans brass band, The Soul Rebels, will headline with local Latin jazz band Cubano Groove opening along with area vocalist Sharon Clark. 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
>> The Bad Plus‘s music has been described as “avant-garde populism,” meaning that it challenges the listener but offers a hook into deep sonic exploration. In recent years, the trio has hooked up with saxophonist Joshua Redman, who is among the most celebrated jazz musicians of the past 25 years. The quartet plays The Hamilton on Friday. 8:30 p.m. Tickets $48-$63.
>> CapitalBop‘s Jazz Loft series continues with Thundercat headlining on Friday night. A bassist who refuses to recognize divides between genre, Thundercat is at the center of an L.A. scene that bridges many currents of African American music. His collaborators include Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin and Erykah Badu. Local keyboardist/drummer Sam Prather will open with his Groove Orchestra. 9:30 p.m. Tickets $20.
June 13:
>> Local progressive hip-hop artist Christylez is just one of many performers participating in a series of shows exploring the music of the Billy Strayhorn, one of the great composers in jazz history. The series is presented in conjunction with East River Jazz. Visit the East River web site for the full schedule.
>> Tickets are going fast for the all-day lineup at Yards Park. Femi Kuti headlines a ridiculously awesome bill that includes Common and Esperanza Spalding‘s latest project, Emily’s D+Evolution. In the latter, Spalding has created a character around which the music is based, and the performance also incorporates theatrical and dance elements. Veteran area saxophonist Marshall Keys opens the bill. 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets $45-$150.
>> Jack DeJohnette is one of the greatest drummers in jazz history. The recordings he’s made with pianist Keith Jarrett are musts for anyone interested in this music. He has also played with Miles Davis and has led various groups for decades. DeJohnette will lead a trio with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and bassist Matthew Garrison at The Hamilton. 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. sets. Tickets $28-$43.
>> CapitalBop‘s Jazz Loft series concludes with a 50th anniversary celebration of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), an artist-run community organization that still operates strongly on Chicago’s South Side. Former AACM president and saxophonist Ernest Khabeer Dawkins will lead a 15-piece orchestra with local favorite Akua Allrich on vocals. Flautist Nicole Mitchell will join drummer Mike Reed and cellist Tomeka Reid in a trio, and multi-instrumentalist Jamal Moore, a Baltimore-based artist, will open. 8:30 p.m. Tickets $20. An afternoon of free workshops and panel discussions at Union Arts will precede the performance.
June 14:
>> Francisco Mora-Catlett played drums with jazz mystic Sun Ra in the 1970s. Building on this experience, he formed AfroHORN, an ensemble that seeks to unite musics from the African diaspora into a single stream, while incorporating free form elements. The band will play an afternoon show Bohemian Caverns. 4:30 p.m. Tickets $15 in advance/$20 at the door.
>> Virtuoso trumpeter Nicholas Payton was among a crop of gifted artists to come out of New Orleans in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Now an established veteran, he continues to carve out spaces that reveal the many facets of what he terms Black American Music. Payton’s trio will be at Bohemian Caverns for 8 and 10 p.m. sets on Saturday, June 13, and 7 and 9 p.m. sets on June 14. Tickets $28 in advance/$33 at the door.
>> Jazz infused funk will be the order of the day at The Hamilton with two groove oriented trios taking the stage. Drummer Stanton Moore carries on the rich rhythmic traditions of New Orleans with his band and the headliner is guitarist Charlie Hunter‘s trio. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $28-$33.
June 15:
>> Oliver Lake is a master saxophonist who has been in the jazz game long enough to be considered among its elder statesman. The Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, a gem of the local music scene, will welcome Lake as a special guest soloist at the historic club for this DCJF performance. 8 and 10 p.m. sets. Tickets $20 in advance/$25 at the door.
June 16:
>> Few ensembles have made as big a splash over the past five or ten years than the New York-based collective, Snarky Puppy. The lineup is constantly in flux, as its members collaborate with numerous other artists. The ground-breaking jazz/funk/fusion outfit will play two nights at The Hamilton on June 15 and 16. 8 p.m. Tickets $38-$53.
