Butcher Brown / Corcoran Holt / Marshall Keys and Soulful Path (DCJF)

About

Richmond-based Butcher Brown caught on to the post-Black Radio and -Robert Glasper shift in jazz’s sonic palette quicker than most in the Mid-Atlantic area. Since the quintet’s first release in 2013, the group has been mixing incendiary soloing with the soothing harmonic beds of silky soul-indebted sounds. Opening is bassist Corcoran Holt. He started his musical career in DC as a four year old, learning African percussion on the djembe. He later switched to bass but kept that deep feeling of groove; its brought him to share the stage with luminaries like Kenny Garrett. He’s now a respected veteran in the straight-ahead scene. Also opening is Marshall Keys, whose saxophone can sing the blues or swing to the rhythms of bebop with a laid-back sense of cool. A fluid, graceful player, Keys drapes his aesthetic over an ensemble with gentle authority. Presented as part of the 2026 DC Jazz Festival .