Live Jazz in Washington, D.C.

Wed, Jun 10, 6:30 PM

Lyle Link Trio

Jojo Restaurant and Bar / U Street Corridor / Map

Lyle Link is one of the most versatile and consistently beautiful saxophone players around. With a lush and sophisticated sound, Link’s melodic flights can defy gravity. He’s been a mainstay of the D.C. jazz scene for well over two decades and a great collaborator with the likes of Michael Bowie, Todd Marcus, Kenny Rittenhouse and plenty more.

Tenor saxophonist Brian Settles can be found just about anywhere there’s jazz being played in D.C., comfortable at shaping the expansive vision of composers like Steve Arnold, leading the charged, Afro-Caribbean anthems of Reginald Cyntje or honking icy, haunting free music with Jason Moran or Michael Formanek. Settles’ own work as a leader is amorphous and pulsating, but surges with a kind of spiritual vibrancy.

Bonnie Vie Cafe and Bistro hosts a live jazz series with a rotating cast of local musicians and a special martini menu and French dinner pre fixe.

Trumpeter Thad Wilson has been a presence on the D.C. jazz scene, and a cornerstone of the straight-ahead jazz circles. He plays trumpet and flugelhorn in a highly lyrical, almost romantic style. He’s as comfortable weaving sonic portraits with a big band as he is playing out in the small combo setting.

Pianist/keyboardist Colin Chambers is an under-the-radar heavyweight in D.C. He’s a natural call for many U Street bandleaders, both for straight-ahead jazz and for fusion and R&B variations on the style.

Pianist Joshua Jenkins’ sound shouldn’t surprise you once you know he came up through the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and that rich D.C. jazz history. His own compositions draw in the airy ear-worms of soul and soul-jazz, grooving funk and chops solidly based in the tradition.

Reginald Cyntje is arguably D.C.’s greatest trombone player and one of the area’s most prolific and imaginative composers. His anthemic music often tackles issues of spirituality or social causes, weaving in elements of calypso, Afro-Caribbean and quelbe (a folkloric style of narrative music native to his home in the Virgin Islands) to the charged tunes.

The Sol Roots band operate on a wavelength that is somewhere between Nathaniel Ratliff and Dave Matthews: playing funky, bluesy rock that can slip into jamming. They hold it down at Jojo on U Street every Sunday night.