Live Jazz in Washington, D.C.

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.”

Saxophonist BJ Simmons’ music is heavily layered, bridging elements of jazz, hip-hop and soul. His compositions feature a mixture of spoken word, velvety R&B style vocals, rich improvisational melodies, abstract soundscapes and chilled syncopated beats. At D.C.’s jazz church, Simmons shows of his true bebop and classic sax-work chops by leading a tribute to one of Duke Ellington’s longest-tenured collaborators, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges. As Ellington said of Hodges at a famous performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958, “If you’ve heard of the saxophone, then you’ve heard of Johnny Hodges.” Simmons employs a strong band for this tribute: Donvonte McCoy on trumpet, Allyn Johnson on piano, Herman Burney on bass, and Tyler Leak on drums.