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 four 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.

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 four 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.

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 four 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.

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.

Bassist Andrew Musselman leads his “Jazz on the Rocks” jam session in its newest Columbia Heights home. The session has traveled across multiple venues over the years, and provides space for adventurous musicians to explore the more groove-oriented, electric branches of the music.

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.