Lena Seikaly, photo by Nestor Diaz.

Though it is a club with a national reputation, Blues Alley regularly features local acts, particularly early in the week. For area musicians, the opportunity to perform in the historic club is a big deal, giving these players the chance to appear on the same stage as many a jazz great. Tomorrow night, the venue features vocalist Lena Seikaly, a rising star of the District’s jazz scene. A familiar name in these pages, we thought this would be an appropriate time to formally introduce DCist’s readers to this talented young musician.

Born and raised in Falls Church and of Palestinian heritage, Seikaly was immersed in the language, food and art of her Arab culture while growing up. Her musical parents enrolled her in piano lessons at age four, and then put her in a professional children’s chorus when she was eight. As her musical development progressed, they also encouraged Seikaly to pick up other instruments along the way. In high school, she started singing with the jazz band, but at that point was merely mimicking recordings, with little knowledge of the form itself. She went on to become a classical voice major at the University of Maryland, with intentions of becoming an opera singer. She continued to perform jazz, and it was not until halfway through college that Seikaly truly fell in love with the genre. Inspired by greats like Betty Carter and Shirley Horn, jazz became Seikaly’s artistic focus.

Since graduating, Seikaly has been performing regularly around the area, both with her own group and as a featured guest. She has acheived several career highlights in the past couple of years, being named an artist-in-residence at Strathmore, a participant in the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program, and releasing her debut album, Written in the Stars.

DCist asked Seikaly a few questions to get her thoughts on her career and D.C.’s jazz community.