You could be forgiven for drifting off at Dream Feeder’s record release show this past Tuesday night at Rhizome. This is not because the music off of everything at once, the trio’s debut album, is dull or stultifying but rather because its very nature invites tranquility, mediation and an atmosphere of peace in our increasingly offsetting world. More than that, the trio, consisting of the prolific saxophonist Brad Linde, guitarist Nelson Dougherty and drummer Keith Butler Jr. – the latter two of whom are close collaborators across multiple projects including Butler’s own trio, Steve Arnold’s S ..read more

On a hot summer night in Baltimore’s Penn-North district, a leaderless sextet of auspicious local musicians offered an incredible performance for a packed gallery space within the main showroom of the Jubilee Arts community space. The ensemble, known as the Baltimore Jazz Collective, is a part of a long line of historic Baltimore jazz musicians and composers. Despite being steeped in the music’s history, the Collective represents the best of what jazz can accomplish. The Collective also represents some of the most influential movers and shakers of Baltimore’s jazz community. The crux of their ..read more

I hope you’re all staying hydrated as temperatures climb in the nation’s capital. I also hope as many of you as possible made it to Rhizome to see cellist Janel Leppin’s double album release — featuring her groups Janel and Anthony and Ensemble Volcanic Ash, respectively — late last month. If you didn’t, you can still listen to the albums (and read about them at the link above). Rhizome is hosting another record-release event this month as Dream Feeder, the ambient jazz trio of saxophonist Brad Linde, guitarist Nelson Dougherty and drummer Keith Butler Jr., celebrates its first album, everythi ..read more

Now that summer is in full swing, so is the season of outdoor festivals, bringing with it a breadth of artists from around the country and the Black American Music world. Capital Jazz Fest returns to Merriweather Post Pavilion June 7, June 8 and June 9 with a strong lineup of artists that exemplify the modern-day jazz world’s blurring lines between R&B, soul and hip-hop. Fans can expect to hear a number of jazz-informed but genre-diverse artists like trumpeter Theo Croker, bassist and vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello, trumpeter Keyon Harold, saxophonist and vocalist Braxton Cook, and vocalist ..read more

The mercury is rising and AC units have started to hum. It’s time to start figuring out how you’re going to spend the brightest moments of summer in the swampy capital city. Don’t sweat — we got you. Together with our friends at Home Rule Records and the Home Rule Music & Film Preservation Foundation, CapitalBop is excited to present the third annual Home Rule Music Festival, returning at the very start of summer: June 21 and 22. And this year, the festival returns in mid-summer for an unprecedented second free day of outdoor programming, on July 20. This year marks the 50th anniversa ..read more

D.C.-based flutist and composer Alex Hamburger believes passionately in the cross-section between advocacy and art, a conviction that drove her to start My Body, My Festival, which benefits the DC Abortion Fund (DCAF) and features various artists from in and around the District. The festival returns this week for its second straight year, bringing an eclectic range of music — with a focus on top-tier women artists based in the area — to three popular venues in Northeast D.C.: Pie Shop, Songbyrd and Metrobar. In April 2023, the single-day debut of this event raised over $5,000 for DCAF. With en ..read more

Rhizome DC, a venue that serves as home base for much of the city’s DIY and creative-music scene, has secured enough funding to purchase a new building, organizers said Wednesday.  The fundraising drive was launched at the end of March, with a goal of raising $250,000 through a mix of small, one-time donations and larger, community financing loans. The collective that runs Rhizome plans to combine the money raised through these efforts with a large grant from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, allowing it to purchase a one-story building at 7733 Alaska Ave. NW. The ..read more

AMP by Strathmore, a cozy, third-story venue that brought a supper-club feel to the North Bethesda performing arts center, will close at the end of June, Strathmore announced on Wednesday. The smallish venue has been operating since 2013 out of Pike & Rose, a tony, multi-story development with a mix of shopping and dining, located just north of Strathmore on Rockville Pike. Strathmore said in a press release that the owner of Pike & Rose had informed the arts center that the AMP space would be needed for a new commercial tenant. “After nine dynamic years, Strathmore will dim the lights ..read more

The D.C. scene has a fiery lineup of shows coming up in May to match the recent flash of premature summer heat. In particular, May 19 (Malcolm X’s 99th birthday) appears to be a day of cosmic alignment for otherworldly jazz offerings, and several shows that day could have made the picks list below, as easily as the one that did. Most prominently, George Clinton once again touches down in D.C. as he and Parliament-Funkadelic bring their super heavy, heady funk back to the 9:30 Club. Across the Potomac, the Birchmere will host the Sun Ra Arkestra just six days ahead of saxophonist and bandleader ..read more

New Orleanian musician Terence Blanchard is known for many things. Recently named a 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and appointed the artistic director of SFJazz, Blanchard launched his career over 40 years ago as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He served as the band’s music director until 1986, then established himself as a bandleader. Meanwhile, he began to work in the world of film composition, famously providing the soundtracks to many of Spike Lee’s masterpieces. Through it all, Blanchard has steadily maintained his presence as a forceful musician and educator ..read more