JazzMF

Jazz research on the Internet: a continuing saga

DC Jazz Encyclopedia

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Our nation’s capital has played an integral role in the development of jazz going back all the way to James Reese Europe.

The early career of Duke Ellington, the introduction of bossa nova to the United States, and the recognition of jazz as a national treasure all happened in Washington. There has also been a vibrant local scene with top-level players, only some of whom are known outside of the region. As pianist Marc Copland put it:

Our jazz musicians are as fine as any. I should know. I’ve played with a lot of great horn players, and I’d rate Buck Hill with anybody. I’ve played for a lot of great singers, and Clea Bradford can sing with anybody. Back in 1978, Harold Land and Blue Mitchell told me, Steve Novosel, and Bernard Sweetney: “You’re the best pickup rhythm section we’ve ever had.” In 1979, Steve Kuhn needed a drummer for an ECM record date and a national tour; he could have called any drummer in New York, but he called Mike Smith. Ella Fitzgerald could hire any bassist, but she calls Keter Betts.

This online encyclopedia is an attempt to document the people, places, and organizations involved in jazz in Washington, DC.

If you can contribute information, you are encouraged to do so.

Over the years, brief overviews of the DC jazz scene have been presented. Some of them are listed below.

Recently, the first book devoted to jazz in Washington, DC was published. I contributed the final chapter “Researching Jazz History in Washington, D.C.,” which looks at the institutions, archives, libraries, and collections in the area that are working to preserve jazz materials. This website may be considered an extension of the work begun there.

Harrington, Richard. “After Years of Singing the Blues, Jazz Is Swinging Again.” Washington Post, January 13, 1980.
Hodgkins, Barbara. “The Washington Scene.” Metronome, August 1951.
Jackson, Maurice, and Blair A. Ruble, eds. DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2018.
Opsasnick, Mark. Rock the Potomac: Popular Music and Early-Era Rock and Roll in the Washington, D.C. Area, 2019.
Piantadosi, Roger. “All That Jazz: The Music Stayed Cool, So It’s Hotter Than Ever.” Washington Post, August 22, 1986.
Sampson, Paul. “Washington Jazz.” Jazz New York, 1956.
Schaffer, Matt. “Washington Jazz: Radio.” Unicorn Times, January 1982.
Schaffer, Mark. “The Nightspots.” Unicorn Times, January 1981.
Scott, Allen. “Washington: The Good New Days.” Metronome, February 1959.
Tate, Greg. “Washington Jazz: The Clubs.” Unicorn Times, January 1982.
Weintraub, Boris. “Washington Gig Scene Sizzles.” Billboard, October 22, 1977.
West, Hollie I. “An Evening Out: Places Blacks Choose.” Washington Post, December 5, 1971.
West, Hollie I. “Can Jazz Clubs Survive?” Washington Post, April 2, 1978.
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Jazz For Moderns – 1958 timeline

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Celebrating a Jazz Master: Thelonious Sphere Monk, 1986

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A creme-de-la-creme cast of jazz stars pays tribute to Thelonious Monk. This was an inaugural event of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, now (a bit disappointingly) renamed the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. The concert took place on October 6, 1986 at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. (Local newspaper previews and reviews confirm this date. The December 2, 1986 date displayed prominently on the video is puzzling, since, as best as I can determine, it was broadcast on PBS in early March of 1987.)

True, it’s a bit Marsalis-heavy, as much of higher-profile jazz was at the time, but at least it’s not the later Marsalis-run kind of thing. Some of the players are a bit past their prime, but others, such as Roy Haynes (a mere 61 at the time) are full of energy.

One particular highlight is the rendition of “‘Round Midnight” performed by Gerry Mulligan with the Billy Taylor trio. It could easily stand as definitive (as could a number of other recorded versions). Another is “Listen to Monk” (aka “Rhythm-a-ning”) where Jon Hendricks (age 64) shows how far ahead of nearly all self-styled scat singers he was. Instead of relaxing in his comfort zone, he prods the other players and reacts to them, then develops melodic lines motivically in the way that instrumentalists do.

Taylor is one DC native who participated in the concert. Saxophonist Marshall Keys is another. Unfortunately cut from the broadcast were Washington guitarist Bill Harris as well as the Howard University Jazz Ensemble (they didn’t even get to play their whole planned program at the concert before they were shooed off the stage).

Urszula Dudziak doing “Well, You Needn’t” is a curiosity, perhaps intended to show global impact, to attract a certain demographic of donor, or to give white women some artistic representation, but unfortunately it’s too much of the same technology gimmick. I would rather have heard the Howard band.

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