All That Jazz, Georgetown – March 2025
By • February 26, 2025 0 354
By Mark Edelman
“It might as well be Spring,” Sinatra crooned. And you might as well take in a jazz concert or a couple of sets at a DC area club offering great music. Check out some of these fine musicians, working area rooms in March:
Sharon Clark
Saturday, March 1
Laporta’s
Fans of D.C. jazz have just one night to hear one of the DMV’s best loved songbirds, Sharon Clark, who leaves town after her regular Saturday night gig at Laporta’s in Alexandria in March. Lucky jazz fans in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Alaska will be basking in the glory of her sweet, smooth sounds until July, when she returns to our town for more great performances.
Looking back on her own D.C. jazz roots, Clark explained, “ jazz was always playing somewhere in our house during the ’60s and ’70s. My father kept a transistor radio constantly floating out great classic jazz. My music teacher Jack Murray taught us the Ellington, Gershwin, and Porter songbooks and those tunes have transported me all over the world.”
Starting out as a singing Bottle Cap for Coca Cola with twin sister, Sharee, Sharon got her first significant jazz gig at King’s Dominion. Since then, she’s distinguished herself at top clubs like Blues Alley and the sadly-missed Twins Lounge here in D.C., as well as Sweet Basel in New York City. With influences like Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Hartman, Ella Fitzgerald and Doris Day, maintains a healthy performance schedule between jazz, blues and gospel venues.
A stalwart of the just-completed Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival, Clark counts among her favorite gigs her tribute to fellow chanteuse Nancy Wilson at the 2019 DC Jazz fest. Her tribute to another great jazz vocalist, D.C.’s Shirley Horn, is entitled “Dot It Again” and showcases Ms. Clark’s amazing chops with long time sidemen Chris Grasso on piano and Lenny Robinson on drums.
March at the Clubs:
Blues Alley in Georgetown picks up steam in this, its 60th year, with sets from trumpet player Nicholas Payton March 6 and 7, followed by jazz fusion greats the Yellowjackets on March 8 and 9. Jazz pianist Vijay Iyer leads his trio March 13-14, followed by the D.C. farewell performances of vocal heavyweights New York Voices on March 15 and 16. Korean alto saxophonist Pureum Jin fronts the all distaff sax quartet the Empress on March 24 and the month winds up with horn man Eddie Henderson joining trombonist Steve Davis’s Quintet 27 and 28.
Besides the aforementioned Sharon Clark gig March 1 at Laporta’s, the Alexandria spot’s usual lineup includes Jim West Monday nights, Straight Ahead Jazz with pianist Antonio James on Tuesday, the Ken Kilpatrick Trio on Thursday and Walt Johnson Sunday, all from 6-9 p.m.
Mr Henry’s welcomes the Bob Schwartz Quintet for a special Mardi Gras party on Tuesday, March 4. Electric violinist Dave Kline’s combo takes the stage with special guest Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) on vocals and blues harp Thursday, March 27—this besides the room’s celebrated Capitol Hill Jazz Jams every Wednesday night, now 10 years old and counting.
Jazz pianist Peter Edelman fronts a trio and special guests Thursday thru Sunday at 9 p.m. at the Green Island Café in Adams Morgan. Zinnia in Silver Spring welcomes guitarist Dave Manley and guest every Friday at 5 p.m. You can also catch Manley with sidemen Matt Bowie on bass and Tyler Leak on drums bass at Divino Ristorante Enoteca every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Glover Park Hotel. Takoma Station offers up its own jazz jam Tuesday nights at 7:30, so you’ve got no excuse to miss the music that night of the week. And speaking of Takoma Station, they’ve got horn man Thad Wilson on Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
Lost Brewing Company in Eckington plays host to french horn master Abe Mamet Saturday nights at 7:30. Haydee’s Restaurant hosts a jazz jam Sundays at 6:30 p.m. Jojo Restaurant and Bar plays host to keyboardist Colin Chambers fronting a combo on Friday nights and guitarist Sol Roots’ Trio on Sundays. The historic Tabard Inn offers a romantic setting for some great jazz duos on Sundays and Mondays from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Keystone Korner in Baltimore rounds out the month with two great women of jazz—bassist Meshell Ndegeocello on the 26th and vocalist Nneena Freelon on the 30th.
March in Concert:
Things get going at Songbyrd Music House in Union Market as MARS Arts DC kicks off its season with Akua Allrich, celebrating the sounds of Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba and other women in jazz on Wednesday, March 5. The Center for the Arts on the campus of George Mason University hosts the Jazz Big Band Showdown on March 31. Strathmore welcomes Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Orchestra for a performance on Saturday, March 1, while Guitarist Max Hatt and vocalist Edda Glass team up for a show at the Mansion at Strathmore on the 27th. The Kennedy Center offers up vibraphonist Joel Ross on March 15. The intimate lobby venue Millenium Stage hosts Portugese jazz with ALMO and Julio Resende on the 28th.while tenor man Joe Lovano leads a combo featuring guitarist Julian Lage for two shows the same night in the Ken Cen’s Terrace Theatre.
The writer has been a member of the Jazz Journalists Assn since 2010. Prior to moving to the DC area, he was publisher of JAM Magazine and executive produced 12th Street Jump, public radio’s weekly jazz, blues and comedy jam.
