Jazz Jam Sessions in Washington, D.C.

Peter Edelman, the longtime pianist at the now-closed Columbia Station, has taken the party next door to the Green Island Cafe, leading a straight-ahead trio five nights a week. After an opening set, Edelman then opens the proceedings into one of the city’s most beloved jam sessions, at which everyone from venerated elders to young bloods can come cut their chops. Two separate sessions at 5 and 9 p.m.

While there are many formal and informal jams in and around the Beltway every week, the D.C. jazz jam is the flagship event for the city’s jazz scene. Organized by drummer Will Stephens, the jam becomes a hangout and classroom for cats of all levels of experience; now with a rotating cast of hosts among the city’s best musicians. Formerly hosted on U Street, the jam now holds forth in Mt. Pleasant.

Herb Scott is something of a symbol of the modern jazz cat: he can blow on his alto sax with the best of them, capable of burning down the house with Charlie Parker-style rapid-fire phrasing, or can pick up the mic to drop some bars as a rapper, or even try his hand at reggateton. He’s exploring all of his options, creatively and econominally, as a musician. He’s also a tireless champion of jazz in the District. A veteran leader of the Mr. Henry’s jam session, Scott here leads a drum-less trio for a weekly gig in the heart of the historic U Street Corridor.

Local musicians lead a jam session at Takoma Station, a bar that was a hotbed for the straight-ahead scene in the 1980s and ’90s.

The Gen Z Black artists collectivism Artivism hosts a jam session every Tuesday at Takoma. This is not the traditional jazz session calling tunes but more an attempt to build groove and melody organically. Musicians of all levels welcome.

Led by amateur vocalist Tibyron Quinn, the weekly jam at the Marx Cafe welcomes players of all stripes to sit in on Tuesday nights.

Saxophonist Elijah Jamal Balbed was born and raised in Silver Spring and is a consummate student of the D.C. music scene: He’s equally comfortable blowing some burnished, buoyant hard-bop as he is grooving in the pocket of a go-go band. He can often be found leading groups of some of the other younger statesman of D.C. jazz through originals and standards that swing just right. He leads a monthly jam session at the Hyattsville Busboys and Poets on behalf of the University of Maryland.

The Capitol Hill Jazz Jam (CHJJ) is a weekly jazz jam session held at Mr. Henry’s Restaurant in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington D.C. every Wednesday from 8-11 PM. The jam session, formed in February 2015 by saxophonist Herb Scott operates every week and has hosted instrumentalists, vocalists, tap dancers, poets, and many pillars of the local arts community. Each week, the house band rotates musicians which in turn has provided 50+ jazz musicians with a opportunity for performing at the jam session. Each week begins with our house band beginning the jam for the first hour and then opening the jam to musicians shoo would like to join in. There is a $15 cover per person added to tab and a $12 food and beverage minimum.