Friday, June 6 The U Street Jazz Jam has been a bit of a nomad recently, but it seems to have found a new and permanent home as of last week. Where? Why, at Bohemian Caverns, which just can’t help but get continually more awesome for D.C. jazz. By now, the Friday night jam is surely crystallized as being a fantastic piece of the Washington scene; every week it packs the house wherever it goes, often with young kids you’ve never heard of who all want to develop some serious chops (and, from the sound of things, are doing quite the job at that). By all reports, the kickoff that was held last week was a tremendous celebration of jazz and the District—-and there’s more to come. This week, the jam session will be led by a smash D.C. trio of pianist Mark Meadows (a veritable pianist-on-the-rise in our fair city), bassist Ameen Saleem, and drummer Quincy Phillips. It begins at 11:30 p.m. at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 Eleventh Street NW. Free.
Sunday, June 8 Once upon a time, Adegoke Steve and Iqua Colson were scheduled to perform an October 2013 show at Bohemian Caverns. Then, oops! A car crashed through the kitchen of the U Street club, and the show was rescheduled for this weekend. It’s as worthy now as it was then. Both members of the fabled Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians avant-garde collective, Steve Colson is a piano player whose music might at first throw you, because it often doesn’t sound avant-garde at all, but quite tonal and straight-ahead. Then he’ll take a complete curveball trajectory and push into uncompletely unknown sonic territory. (He made his name in David Murray’s 1980s octet, which plotted a similar course.) Iqua, his wife, is a vocalist—-a unique one, enough so that it’s difficult to describe exactly what she does. Suffice to say she is a highly original stylist, and together they are bold musical explorers. To further that point, they’ve got the powerful backing band of guitarist Kelvyn Bell, bassist Mark Helias, and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. They perform at 7 and 8:30 p.m. at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 Eleventh Street NW. $15 advance, $20 door.
Tuesday, June 10