D.C. Jazz Heroes Mural

D.C. Jazz Heroes Mural

During this bike ride, as I was leisurely riding around in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, I stopped to admire the mural on the side of the Right Proper Brewery, located at 624 T Street (MAP) next to The Howard Theatre.  Sadly, the brew pub was not yet open for the day.  But the mural made the ride worthwhile nonetheless.

As I would find out later, the mural is entitled D.C. Jazz Heroes, and was created in 2017 by artists Kate Decicco and Rose Jaffe with the sponsorship of Murals DC and the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities.  The colorful and vibrant mural combines painted wood cutouts on the painted brick wall, and features some of the significant jazz musicians who have shaped both the past and present of the city’s jazz scene.

In the piece Duke Ellington is pictured as a mentee – learning from the local jazz heroes Mahalia Jackson, Billy Taylor, Shirley Horn, Ron Holloway, Meshell Ndegeocello and Davey Yarborough.  The various musicians are depicted singing, or playing a piano, guitar, flute, and saxophone.  Interestingly, the mural is in the former location of Frank Holliday’s pool room, where future jazz great Duke Ellington spent much of his youth.

Sometimes researching what I saw on a bike ride is almost as interesting and fun as seeing it.  That was the case for this mural. And what I found out was that the artists behind the mural are particularly interesting.

Kate Decicco was previously based in D.C., but has sincere relocated to Oakland.  And murals have become a cornerstone of her practice, although she continues to have a multi-dimensional approach to her art.  She has said her work is “driven by [her] interests in equity, mental health, humor, community building and of course a passion for the activity of art-making.”  In addition to murals, she also participates in making art with people in locked spaces like mental institutions, prisons and juvenile detention centers.  She also works with young people.  But beyond just fostering their creative and artistic development, she sees arts education as a tool for coping, improving self-esteem, developing confidence and connection for those young people.  Decicco sums up her artistic approach and process by stating, “Any chance I have to support another person to discover their inherent creativity and the joy of making something with their hands brings me great satisfaction.”

Rose Jaffe remains local and loyal to D.C., and without any shade to Kate Decicco’s decision to relocate, she says, “I love D.C. and I think that we need artists to stay here.”  In addition to murals, her prolific career also specializes in ceramics and paintings while working in her Petworth studio.  But her studio provides her with more than just a space to work on her art.  She has sectioned off a large part of her studio and uses it as an events space.  This portion of her studio, which calls The Stew, has become an all inclusive art gallery, yoga studio, Zine workshop and whatever else she wants it to be.  And it is through both public and private events and get togethers at The Stew that she supports the local art scene and provides a space that can foster discussion about art.

Both Decicco and Jaffe purposefully connect with other people, both through their art, and the processes by which they create their art.  And I find that just as interesting as the mural they created together.

The Howard Theater

The Howard Theater

The Howard Theatre, which is located at 620 T Street (MAP) in the U Street Corridor of northwest D.C.’s historic Shaw/Uptown neighborhood, is an entertainment venue with a storied history of highs and lows since opening over a century ago. And that is the reason I decided to make it my destination on this lunchtime outing.

The Howard originally had a capacity of more than 1,200, and featured orchestra and balcony seats and eight private boxes, with a lavishly decorated interior. And the theater’s original exterior matched its lavish interior, combining architectural elements of the Beaux-Arts, Italian Renaissance, and neoclassical styles. However, it lost its original ornate facade in 1941 when it was redone in the then-fashionable Streamline style. And it has been reduced in size over the years, currently being able to seat only half of its original capacity.

After its initial opening in 1910, The Howard became known for its variety of acts, including vaudeville performers, plays, and even circuses. However, despite its early success which lasted through the 1920’s, the Howard was forced to close down at the onset of the Great Depression in 1929.

The building became a church for a short time, but was was able to reopen a couple of years later under new management, and this time became a venue devoted to discovering and hiring only the best in black talent. Though The Howard did not discover, Duke Ellington, a native Washingtonian, it was responsible for launching many other careers, such as Ella Fitzgerald’s. The astounding success of The Howard resonated throughout the East Coast as it energized the debuts of other black owned theaters, such as The Apollo in Harlem, The Uptown in Philadelphia, and The Royal in Baltimore, or, what was known at the time as The “Chitlin’ Circuit.”

Over the next couple of decades, many notable Jazz performers headlined at The Howard, including Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, Nat King Cole, “Moms” Mabley, and hometown favorite Duke Ellington, bringing along with them an unparalleled level of fame and prestige to The Howard. Other types of performers were intermittently mixed in with these acts during this time. These acts included performers like Danny Kaye, Abbott and Costello and Cesar Romero, as well as Pearl Bailey, who made her debut at the Howard.

Then in the 1950s and 60s, The Howard became a venue for rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues, including such artists as Sarah Vaughan, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Lena Horne, Lionel Hampton, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, and Marvin Gaye, to name but a few.

After the riots which followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, coupled with societal changes brought about by desegregation, brought about unrest and disturbances which served to debilitate the area, drive out many locals, and eventually cause degradation of the once vibrant neighborhood. This made it difficult for The Howard to attract patrons, and in 1970 it was forced to close down once again.

Many attempts were made to revive The Howard in the years that followed. One attempt occurred in 1975, and attracted many stars and received significant publicity, both from the audience and performers. Acts such as Redd Foxx and Melba Moore were among those featured at the reopening. Later in the decade, Go-Go bands played the venue, including the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, another native Washingtonian, along with The Soul Searchers, also performed at The Howard. Despite this success, this run lasted only five years. The venue failed to regain its former glory or financial viability, and closed down once again in 1980.

Most recently the theater, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was reopened after a 32-year hiatus and a $29 million multi-year renovation project. After being listed by the D.C. Preservation League as one of its Most Endangered Places in the city in 2002, groundbreaking for extensive renovations of the theater was held a couple of years later, and The Howard finally reopened in 2012 with a grand re-opening gala and benefit concert hosted by Bill Cosby and Wanda Sykes.

Today the reopened theater honors the glory of the past while ushering in an exciting future. Through the addition of state-of-the-art acoustics, and video and recording capabilities, The Howard is able to retain the intimate feel of its classic space for traditional audiences, while expanding to include new digital-age audiences as well. It is open six days a week, year-round, with dining amenities

     
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Bohemian Caverns Jazz Club

Bohemian Caverns Jazz Club

On this bike ride I went by Bohemian Caverns, a legendary jazz club located in the U Street Corridor at the corner of 11th Street (MAP) in northwest D.C.’s Shaw/Uptown neighborhood.

The club started out in 1926 as a small basement venue named Club Cavern, and was one of the spots where many prominent musicians of the day, including native Washingtonian Duke Ellington, came to relax after local shows to enjoy after-hours jazz.

In the 1950s, the club’s name was changed to Crystal Caverns and then to Bohemian Caverns, during which time it became the premier jazz venue in D.C., hosting such famous artists as Miles Davis, Shirley Horn, John Coltrane, and Ramsey Lewis.

During the late 1960’s business at the club began to decline, and as a result of the destruction of many nearby business during the riots that following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the club suffered additional financial difficulties and was ultimately forced to close its doors in September of 1968. Three decades later, as re-development of the U Street Corridor was underway, the club reopened and returned to its earlier prominence.

Bohemian Caverns is one of the few clubs from the 1920s to have survived, and despite some periods of shutdown, it remains one of the premier jazz hot spots of contemporary D.C.

Duke Ellington’s “Encore”

Duke Ellington’s “Encore”

On this bike ride I rode to Ellington Plaza in the Shaw/Uptown neighborhood’s “U Street corridor” in northwest D.C., to see a statue entitled “Encore.”  Located in front of The Howard Theatre at Florida Avenue and T Street (MAP), the 20-foot stainless steel statue on a granite base depicts Edward Kennedy Ellington, better known as “Duke” Ellington, who was a native Washingtonian.  It was created by sculptor Zachary Oxman, also a D.C. native, who was commissioned to complete the piece by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.  The statue depicts Ellington sitting on a giant treble clef while playing a curved piano.  The site where the statue is located was chosen because Ellington spent his childhood and the early years of his career in the neighborhood.

Ellington got his nickname when childhood friends noticed that “his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman.” and then began calling him Duke.  Ellington credited his friend Edgar McEntree for the moniker, stating, “I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. So he called me Duke.”  The title stayed with him for the rest of his life.

It was not until his teen years, when he began hanging out at Frank’s Billiards next door to the Howard Theater, that Duke Ellington really focused on a musical career that would eventually lead to him being considered one of the best  American composers, pianists and jazz orchestras bandleaders of all time.

In New York, jazz musicians were in demand and by 1923 The Duke moved to Harlem, and formed his first band, the Washingtonians.  Once his career took off, he not only played local venues including the Cotton Club and Carnegie Hall, but toured and played internationally, including Europe, South America and Australia.  But even after achieving success and national recognition through recordings, radio broadcasts, and film appearances, Ellington continued to return many times to D.C. to perform.  One of his most important trips was to give a boost to the re-opening of the Howard Theater that had fallen on hard times in the late 1920s.  At the Howard, beginning on September 29, 1931, Ellington was the top headliner and played to standing-room-only audiences for an entire week.  It was this commitment and dedication to the neighborhood and the Howard Theater that makes it an ideal location for this fitting tribute.

       

Duke Ellington’s Birthplace

Duke Ellington’s Birthplace

The Duke Ellington Building at 2121 Ward Court (MAP) currently stands on the northwest D.C site where Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born in 1899.   A plaque denoting Ellington’s birth was installed on the building in 1990, and a mural recognizing Ellington’s connection to the city was added in November of 2011.  The building now houses a branch of the U.S. Postal Service.

Born to parents who were both musicians, Ellington began playing the piano at the age of seven. However, despite taking piano lessons, Ellington was more interested in playing baseball than tickling the ivories.  He enjoyed playing with other boys in his West End neighborhood, and once recalled that “President Roosevelt would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play.”  Later on, Ellington’s first job was selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games.  Had Ellington chosen to continue to pursue baseball instead of music, the world may not have remembered him.  But by pursuing music, Duke Ellington became known internationally as one of the most pivotal figures in the history of jazz.

However, Ellington himself did not categorize his music as “jazz.”  Rather, he embraced the phrase “beyond category” and referred to his music as belonging to a more general musical genre which he called “American Music.”  Ellington eventually went on to originated over a thousand compositions during a career that spanned over 50 years, taking him to New York, and tours of Europe.  But he always continued to return to where it all began, right here in D.C.

[Click on the photos to view the full-size versions]