In the 1890s, Congo Square, New Orleans, black slaves as individuals and small groups developed music to celebrate the culture of their ancestors. The genre evolved more and more outside the Baptist church and into the very personal improvised statements known as the "blues." In tone and style these melodies mimicked West African instrumentation and voice.

About the same time, another form of music arrived in New Orleans on the keyboards of black musicians from further up the Mississippi. With its origins in "minstrel" music, spirituals, European folk music and military marches, this very rhythmic music, called "ragtime," was injected with an extreme form of syncopation.

As a consequence of the Jim Crow laws, which culminated in the disenfranchisement of 99% of Southern blacks as well as reclassifying Creoles as black, many classically trained musicians were suddenly out of a job and thrust into the world of blues and ragtime.

There in the small spaces of clubs and bordellos, musicians formed small ensembles, combining the personal, improvisational and conversational aspects of the blues with the rhythms of ragtime. The result was jazz.

Jazz in DC

Home of Duke Ellington, singer and pianist Shirley Horn, pianist Billy Taylor, and saxophonist Frank Wess, the nation's capital is fertile ground for jazz.

Many of the great jazz musicians from Washington attended the city's Dunbar High School. There, Henry Grant, a renowned musical educator, taught students like Taylor, Wess, and Ellington. Grant is credited for organizing The National Association of Negro Musicians in 1919.

Duke Ellington is perhaps the most well known jazz musician to hail from DC. Born on April 29, 1899, he was raised in a middle-class home that valued the arts. He started taking piano lessons as a child, and by the time he was a teenager he was playing at many local functions and venues.

Ellington eventually led a group called The Washingtonians that included drummer Sonny Greer. They left Washington for Harlem in 1923, getting their big break at the city's legendary Cotton Club. Not surprisingly, Ellington became the role model for every developing jazz artist back home in Washington.

Even though, pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton came from New Orleans, he made history when he took up residency in Washington in 1935 at The Jungle Inn.

The Jungle Inn was on DC's historic U Street. During its heyday, U Street was called Black Broadway due to its bustling club scene. Just one block away was The 7th & T club, another major venue that provided opportunities for jazz artists like pianist and singer Shirley Horn.

Horn played at some of the finest venues in Washington and became internationally known when she played in New York, opening for stars such as Miles Davis.

Washington was a major tour stop for jazz musicians. Some players like saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young and trumpeters Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie made significant recordings in DC.

The nation's capitol is not associated with a particular style or sound with jazz like New Orleans, Chicago, or Kansas City, but it is known for it's tradition of producing great saxophonists like Frank Wess, Buck Hill, Andrew White, Ron Holloway, and Charlie Rouse.

One of Washington's most famous jazz clubs is The Bohemian Caverns. R&B legend Ruth Brown was discovered at the club and it was where pianist Ramsey Lewis' recorded his top-selling The In Crowd album, and the inspiration for the Earl Hines composition "Cavernism."

The U Street strip was devastated by the 1969 riots that ensued in Washington after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Rioters destroyed all the jazz clubs as well as other businesses on U Street and Georgia Avenue.

Now 40 years after the riots, U Street has revitalized into a thriving neighborhood, filled with clubs, restaurants, and boutique shops. However, the street still lacks the heavy jazz activity of its glory days.

Elsewhere in DC, contributions from Blues Alley in Georgetown and Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle as well as The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and other organizations ensure the return of jazz.

INQUIRY@BLACKFOXLOUNGE.COM   202.483.1723
1723 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW WASHINGTON DC 20009