Find what is happening tonight, tomorrow, and this week across D.C. jazz rooms and the wider DMV scene, with ticket status and neighborhood context first.
Michael Foster is a New York City-based saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist whose artistry bridges improvisation, noise, free jazz, performance art, queer theory and graphic and video notation. His work aims to subvert the traditional roles of saxophone, amplifying his horn with a range of unconventional tools, including objects, balloons, drum heads, vibrators, tapes and samples. His newest album, Selections from the Gutter , was released in May 2026, using improvised music to explore themes of history, form and drama. Here he leads his Ghost ensemble, featuring Joey Sullivan on drums and Zach Rowden on bass and tapes.
Fusion of traditional Korean music with modern jazz Noli Korean Jazz Ensemble, based out of the Washington, D.C. area, plays a unique fusion of jazz and traditional Korean folk music. Performing original compositions, the group combines Korean samulnori rhythms with jazz melodic and harmonic sensibilities for a sound that is both innovative and authentic to the traditions it draws from. While many groups pair jazz with East Asian instruments, what sets Nori apart is how they use the rhythmic cycles that form the basis of traditional Korean music to inform their harmonies and improvisational systems. In the group’s performances, you will feel the drums carry you with their earthy textures to the madong – the field where traditionally communities come together in drumming and dance to celebrate the harvest. Noli is comprised of some of the most sought-after performers in the DC area from both jazz and Korean traditions. Sebastian Wang and Robin Ghertner perform Korean percussion instruments, Alfred Yun plays keyboards, and Bobby Muncy plays the reeds. Co-Presented with the Embassy of Korea
Multi-instrumentalist Laura Feibelman plays standards, blending the delicacy of classical keys with the rhythmic grooves of swing jazz. She plays flute and piano every Wednesday at Bourbon Boulevard in Chantilly, either solo or as a trio alongside Avi Walter on bass and Brandon Austin on drums.
Vocalist and pianist Eric Byrd sings in a silky croon that’s not too far from Nat “King” Cole – but with more soul and gospel influence. He performs regularly with his trio, featuring Alphonso Young Jr. on drums.
Trumpeter Kenny Rittenhouse has led ensembles of various sizes around the DMV for two decades, and is a member of many others (including the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra). Rittenhouse specializes hard-bop a la Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers under Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan and his groups deliver swinging takes on the standards and the members’ originals. He leads a strong quintet – Grant Langford on alto saxophone, Allyn Johnson on piano, Kris Funn on bass and C.V. Dashiell on drums – to celebrate the release of his new album “Anthem for the Elders.”
with Lorin Cohen, Bass and Jason Brown, drums Born on June 6, 1944, Monty Alexander belongs to a generation of modern jazz piano heroes. From a multicultural, multi-ethnic universe, somewhere between jazz and reggae, he’s a true champion of the Great American Song Book and the world’s finest avatar of Jamaican jazz. Monty’s music combines the rhythms of his native West Indian Caribbean land with North-American harmonies and forms. At 16, he was already expert in all the dance musics of the day: cha-cha, merengue, calypso... “It was music with a beat, and depending how you attack the rhythm, how fierce the rhythm would get, people would want to dance and clap their hands. The music came up with that certain identifiably Jamaican accent or rhythm, the way people talk walk or drive,” he remembers. Exposed to all types of music at dances, he also developed a passion for rhythm’ n blues as well as for Nat King Cole or the inventors of bebop, who he heard on the radio and sought to play be ear. Monty also took part in the early days of ska in the Kingston studios that arranged his first engagements. At 17, he moved to the United States, where he didn’t take long to be noticed by a certain Frank Sinatra, who eased his rip-roaring entry into the big league of the jazzmen of the day. Monty accompanied the great figures of be-bop including Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Griffin and Benny Golson. To this day he carries on the tradition of the full orchestral swinging pianists started by Nat King Cole (in his turn influenced by Earl Fatha Hines), and continued on by Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal and Wynton Kelly, all of whom he forged close friendships with in the early 60’s. He recorded for Pacific Jazz for the first time under his name at the age of 20. Alexander The Great was and is a supercharged album that introduced the world to the young prodigy. Critics spoke of “accessible jazz, joyous swing, effusive, without histrionics”. These early years left Alexander with an indelible impression of a wide-open window onto an eclectic world. Armed with an intransigent spirit, a total commitment to his art and incredible musical intuition, he has since developed an instantly recognizable style and has recorded over 75 albums to date. As with many jazz giants, Europe in the sixties, seventies and eighties was a fundamental haven for Alexander and it was also where his international stature grew. A documentary about his life is currently in the works. After a career spanning over 60 years, he’s still writing musical history today.
with Lorin Cohen, Bass and Jason Brown, drums Born on June 6, 1944, Monty Alexander belongs to a generation of modern jazz piano heroes. From a multicultural, multi-ethnic universe, somewhere between jazz and reggae, he’s a true champion of the Great American Song Book and the world’s finest avatar of Jamaican jazz. Monty’s music combines the rhythms of his native West Indian Caribbean land with North-American harmonies and forms. At 16, he was already expert in all the dance musics of the day: cha-cha, merengue, calypso... “It was music with a beat, and depending how you attack the rhythm, how fierce the rhythm would get, people would want to dance and clap their hands. The music came up with that certain identifiably Jamaican accent or rhythm, the way people talk walk or drive,” he remembers. Exposed to all types of music at dances, he also developed a passion for rhythm’ n blues as well as for Nat King Cole or the inventors of bebop, who he heard on the radio and sought to play be ear. Monty also took part in the early days of ska in the Kingston studios that arranged his first engagements. At 17, he moved to the United States, where he didn’t take long to be noticed by a certain Frank Sinatra, who eased his rip-roaring entry into the big league of the jazzmen of the day. Monty accompanied the great figures of be-bop including Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Griffin and Benny Golson. To this day he carries on the tradition of the full orchestral swinging pianists started by Nat King Cole (in his turn influenced by Earl Fatha Hines), and continued on by Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal and Wynton Kelly, all of whom he forged close friendships with in the early 60’s. He recorded for Pacific Jazz for the first time under his name at the age of 20. Alexander The Great was and is a supercharged album that introduced the world to the young prodigy. Critics spoke of “accessible jazz, joyous swing, effusive, without histrionics”. These early years left Alexander with an indelible impression of a wide-open window onto an eclectic world. Armed with an intransigent spirit, a total commitment to his art and incredible musical intuition, he has since developed an instantly recognizable style and has recorded over 75 albums to date. As with many jazz giants, Europe in the sixties, seventies and eighties was a fundamental haven for Alexander and it was also where his international stature grew. A documentary about his life is currently in the works. After a career spanning over 60 years, he’s still writing musical history today.
The SK Jazz Group specializes in straight-ahead jazz standards. It features Steve Kaufman on horns trumpet and flugelhorn, Edward Plant on bass, Phil Heliliger on piano and Chris Allen on drums. They perform every second Saturday at Bourbon Boulevard in Chantilly.
