By Willard Jenkins, Artistic Director, DC Jazz Festival Last winter I was delighted to be selected as a Jazz Scholar for 2025.  In subsequent weeks leading up to my LOC talk on Wednesday, June 18 – as a pre-concert conversation to that evening’s performance by NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz – I spent some very valuable hours examining some of the LOC’s vast jazz Collections.  Here’s my report from that wonderful experience. As a Jazz Scholar at the Library Of Congress, I eagerly got busy...

By Jason Toney On trumpeter and composer Nicholas Payton ’s latest album, TRIUNE , Esperanza Spalding sings: “Jazz is a four-letter word. It’s not either or. It’s this and that and this and that and this and that.” Payton, a native of New Orleans and a GRAMMY Award winner, has dedicated his career to challenging rigid definitions of jazz, often referring to his work as "Black American Music." Spalding, a four-time GRAMMY winner and MacArthur Fellow, is celebrated for her extraordinary bass...

Jazz legends, hometown heroes, and next-gen stars bring the festival to more than a dozen neighborhoods citywide WASHINGTON, DC (July 29,...