We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
“Post-jazz” sounds like a meaningless critical buzzword, and it usually is. When it comes to a musician like Marco Benevento, however, it’s the only term that pinpoints what he does. He’s got a basic piano-trio configuration—keys, bass, drums—and much of the language and interplay of jazz. But Benevento has other tools in his arsenal. He uses electronics for texture, and plain old weirdness; he also likes to use the endless vamps more associated with funk, hip-hop, and EDM. Those styles also describe his trio’s rhythmic vocabulary: They groove, all right, but with loud—often vicious—repetitive figures designed first and foremost to make you move. It’s when you fall under the spell of all this that he lobs the complex harmonic colors and melodious flourishes at you, apparently from the future. If there’s a better description than “post-jazz,” let’s hear it.
Marco Benevento performs at 7:30 at The Hamilton, 600 14th St. $17–$19. (202) 787-1000. thehamiltondc.com.