Terri Lyne Carrington >> Bay Area chanteuse Jacqui Naylor has garnered rave reviews across the country. Tonight she'll be at Blues Alley for 8 and 10 p.m. sets. Tickets are $20 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge. >> New York based pianist Ted Kooshian leads his acoustic jazz quartet, Standard Orbit, tonight at Twins Jazz. Their 2008 self-titled release features a collection of jazz re-workings of famous television and movie themes. Call 202-234-0072 for set time and......

Ron Trent Wednesday: >> As far as we can tell, Janet Jackson intends to show up for her concert at the Verizon Center. She'll be joined by LL Cool J. $49.75-$129.75, 7:30 p.m. Friday: >> Howard alum Eric Roberson is in town for a special homecoming show at the intimate Bohemian Caverns. Joining him will be rising soul star, Algebra. $20 in advance, 8 p.m. >> Go-go godfather Chuck Brown will be performing at......

Vivian Girls are at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Sunday. MONDAY >> On "Africa to Appalachia," Canadian banjoist Jayme Stone, Malian kora player Mansa Sissoko, and various others stick to mostly traditional Malian-style arrangements. It works as Sissoko's harp-like sound is gorgeous and Stone takes the banjo back to its African roots. They will be at the St. Mark Presbyterian Church, 10701 Old Georgetown Rd., in Rockville, at 7:30 p.m. >> North Carolina's......

The Syrcacuse sextet Ra Ra Riot has blown up this year after the release of their first full-length album, The Rhumb Line, which has received sweeping praise from music critics. The album’s title is a nautical term that refers to a path of constant bearing. Formed as a college band, they became serious about their music after graduation and further narrowed their focus after the unexpected death of their drummer last year. The album’s title......

Gregg Gillis studied biomedical engineering in college. He's also been playing music since he was a teenager. Combining that interest in breaking things apart and seeing how they work with his love of music, maybe it's not all that surprising that Girl Talk was the result. Girl Talk, as anyone who's been to a dance party in the past few years probably knows, is Gillis' stage name; he mixes samples of dozens of songs......

Jacky Terrasson >> Smooth jazz superstar David Sanborn sets up shop tonight at Blues Alley, where he will be playing daily 8 and 10 p.m. sets through Sunday. Tickets are $60 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge. >> Dutch trumpeter Eric Vloeimans has been a regular on the European circuit for some time now. This month marks his first tour of the U.S., during which he will be performing with his trio, Fugimundi, along with Anton Goudsmit......

Written and photographed by Martin Locraft When listening to Matt Nathanson's studio albums, one might assume that his live show is typical singer-songwriter - guy with a guitar, a backup musician or two, relatively mellow – but last night's crowd at the sold-out Sixth and I Historic Synagogue quickly learned that this certainly isn't the case. The San Francisco native resident, known for maintaining a Storytellers-esque vibe on stage, revealed throughout the evening that he's......

This was the wrong show to have forgotten to bring earplugs. Scotland's newest highly hyped export, Glasvegas, are not afraid to be very, very loud. They've got fuzzy shoegaze guitar riffs that would make their countrymen in The Jesus and Mary Chain proud, and the audience-filling charm that would make bands like the amazing but overlooked Twilight Sad jealous. Even those of us with throbbing eardrums found the band magnetic enough to overlook the pain......

MONDAY: >> Welcome to the week of the sold out show! Oz’s favorite sons, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, sold out both dates of their 9:30 Club run months in advance, but there are still some pricey Craigslist options if you’re really kicking yourself for missing last night’s performance of moody, guttural rock 'n' roll. >> D.C.'s own John Bustine is at The Velvet Lounge. Yes, The Velvet Lounge hosts alt-country acts, too. In......

When a restless audience opens a sold out show with chants of, "Oh Ee Oh, Chromeo," you know you're probably in for a treat. And at their first ever show in D.C., Chromeo killed it. Chromeo is Patrick Gemayel and David Macklovitch, boyhood friends who describe themselves as, "the only successful Arab/Jewish collaboration since the beginning of time." In addition to their ethnic differences, the pair is also visually... distinct. Macklovitch, the lead singer,......

These United States just released their second album, Crimes, and are celebrating that event Saturday night at the Rock and Roll Hotel (doors at 8:30 p.m., $12, with Evangelicals). Rather than reviewing the album, we sat down with the band and listened to the whole thing together. Take a look and get a glimpse of what it was like to make it and how they think things turned out. So where'd you record the album?......

Dana Leong (second from left) w/ Milk & Jade We first came across Dana Leong at opening night of last year's Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, an annual event currently running at venues throughout the city. He came to town again in the spring, performing as part of National Geographic's free concert series. That show featured his own band, Milk & Jade, which was performing after having completed an international tour as cultural ambassadors on......

It's hard to believe it's been over ten years since Stereolab released Dots and Loops, and 18 years since the UK-based lounge/post-rock outfit first formed. Through numerous line-up changes and the untimely death of one its former members, the songwriting team at the head of the band, Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, has remained, and the group showed the large crowd gathered at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday that they still know how to command......

Duke Fest artistic adviser Paquito D'Rivera It's an exciting time for jazz lovers as this week marks the 4th installment of the annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, which begins tonight and runs through October 7 (here's a look back at last year's event). Though still a far cry from the well-established festivals in New Orleans or the European circuit, Duke Fest has already become the serious jazz festival for the region and has the......

When we last saw Jacksonville's Black Kids, they were priming the Black Cat mainstage crowd for Aussie electro-pop sensation Cut Copy. This time, they sold out the Black Cat in their own right, despite their former tourmates playing a larger venue just down the street. If there were any questions as to whether the Black Cat crowd merely contained dance-hungry kids who couldn't get into the 9:30 Club show, they were warranted as even Black......

"This is the song that’s made us whatever we are today," said Oxford Collapse singer/guitarist Michael Pace upon introducing "Please Visit Our National Parks." He then added, "I have no idea what that is." This sense of confusion over the Brooklyn trio's place in the indie rock paradigm is understandable. On the one hand, the band has a contract with "underground" behemoth Subpop Records and has played to sizable crowds, such as during the 2007......

It was an Australian electronic spectacular on Friday at the 9:30 Club, with Melbourne's Cut Copy and Sydney's The Presets taking the stage, along with Heartbreak from London. The crowd was sold out and in a dancing mood, and the bands served them well. The Presets, a duo, had probably the best sound set-up we've ever experienced, with crisp vocals, loud instruments and samples, and booming bass that could make your hair shake even when......

For those of us who spent our childhood (or adulthood) glued to oldies radio stations, reliving a mythical golden era, Martha Reeves is more than just a household name. Her years with the Vandellas constituted one of the most successful runs during Motown's halcyon days in the mid-'60s. You can't flip on BIG 100.3 FM or go to a wedding these days without hearing "Dancing in the Street" or "(Love is like a) Heat Wave",......

The Young Dubliners MONDAY >> The Young Dubliners -- well, youngish -- bring their Emerald Isle-by-way-of-the-Golden State nu-traditional celt-folk to the the Birchmere. Locals Scythian open. 7:30 p.m., $20. >> Can you earn a spot in the Weekly Music Agenda on the strength of your name alone? So it would appear: The Artist Formerly Known as Six Finger Satellite, now doing business as The Juan MacLean, is at the Black Cat. With Edie Sedgwick......

The Broken West Back in 2007, L.A.'s The Broken West seemed to make a point of stopping through D.C. on a weekly basis. In the space of a few months, they opened for The Walkmen, The Long Winters, and shared a bill with The Whigs. Each time I caught them they were pretty good -- never great -- but didn't quite live up to the tried-and-true California power pop of their proper debut, I......

Written and photographed by Martin Locraft Having never seen Ben Folds before, I didn't quite know what to expect heading into last night's show at Constitution Hall. I was told that "he always brings it live" and that I should "be ready to laugh," but neither of those things were necessarily going to turn a good show into a great one. Many acts "bring it live" on a regular basis, and sometimes inserting laughter into......

Fresh from a stay in the Catskills playing this year’s New York installment of All Tomorrow’s Parties, Built To Spill came to town last night with just one album in its repertoire for the evening. The trend of playing classic albums in their entirety continues to grow, particularly with ATP’s Don’t Look Back series initiating so many such shows for their festivals. And if you’re going to spend time rehearsing the whole record, might as......

Marcus Strickland, photo by Jimmy Katz >> Up-and-coming saxophone sensation Marcus Strickland lent his sound to Mos Def on Sunday night. Tonight, he'll be leading his own group through 8 and 10 p.m. sets at Blues Alley. Tickets are $20 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge. >> Minor Thoughts is a Washington, D.C. based band with a repertoire of straight ahead standards, post bop and Latin influenced jazz. They'll be performing on Thursday night at Twins Jazz.......

Written by DCist contributor Spencer Ackerman Courtney Taylor-Taylor promised he wouldn't talk about politics. As it turned out, he kept about 75 percent of his word. "Do we want an intellectual," asked the Dandy Warhols frontman last night, "or do we want someone who appeals to dumb?" The band let the question hang before opening its 9:30 Club set with "Mohammed," a drony number from its breakthrough album, 2000's Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. Longtime......

TUESDAY >> They've put out consistently good albums for the better part of two decades, but Built to Spill's 1997 album, Perfect From Now On, is arguably their best. They're playing the album start to finish (the hot trend amongst long-standing bands these days), and it'll be worthwhile for those who like their loose guitar jams and lo-fi indie sound (even for those who kinda wish they'd picked Keep It Like A Secret instead). They're......

Mos Def, photo by Terrence Jennings, Jill Newman Productions The projection screen at the back of the stage flickered to life with a giant from the District's past, when it truly was Chocolate City. The clip featured Petey Green, the legendary talk show host, who gave the audience his own inimitable thoughts on the proper way to eat a watermelon. Thus began Amino Alkaline--The Watermelon Syndicate, Mos Def's new concert production that teams the......

Written and photographed by Martin Locraft. If you've never heard of Xavier Rudd, do yourself a favor -- or humor me, at least -- and listen to a few of his tracks. Now do yourself another favor: close your eyes and think about how most of what you hear is being played by one man. Then, to take this one step further, imagine standing in a warehouse-like space, feeling the bass of the didgeridoo as......

Guess all that time spent on the road did David Berman some good, eh? Despite his reputation as a hermetic, troubled intellectual, Berman was in rare form when he performed with his Silver Jews at the Black Cat on Wednesday night. Sure, Berman might have had the stage presence of an English professor--what did you expect?--but he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself up there as he paced up and down the stage, dryly singing......

MONDAY >> At age 95, Mississippi born Pinetop Perkins is still hammering out the blues on his piano. He will be performing for free with the Nighthawks at the Kennedy Center Theater Lab (a Millennium Stage production). He may even be sneaking a smoke onstage, like he was when we saw him a few years back—doesn't he know that's gonna knock years off his life? Free, 6 p.m. TUESDAY >> We were mighty disappointed when......

It's written right here in subsection 218 of the "Sacred British Cows" chapter of the (Semi)Professional Rock Critics' Catechism and Field Manual that any discussion of former Jam and Style Council frontman and prolific rock-folk-soul journeyman Paul Weller must mention that he's Huge in the U.K. and more of an Anglophile footnote in the U.S. So did y'alls hear that? In the mother country, he's a Hyde Park-filling megastar; here in the colonies, he's......