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Washington, D.C. has been home to many prominent musicians and is particularly known for the musical genres of hardcore punk, bluegrass, and a local hip hop-dance music hybrid called "go-go". The first major musical figure from D.C. was John Phillip Sousa, a military brass band composer. Later figures include jazz legends like Duke Ellington and soul singers like Roberta Flack.
The city is home to the Washington Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, the National Symphony Orchestra (founded in 1931 by Hans Kindler), and the DC Youth Orchestra Program, (founded in 1960). The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a nationally important venue for a variety of musical performances, many of which are presented by Washington Performing Arts Society, an independent, non-profit organization founded by impresario Patrick Hayes. Washingtonian magazine maintains a Washington Music Hall of Fame. The United States Marine Band, based in Washington, D.C., is the oldest musical group in the United States (formed in 1798, before the city's founding). The Marine Band's most famous conductor is undoubtedly John Philip Sousa, who composed many of the most famous American marches, as well as several musical comedies.
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Music history
The earliest music of Washington, D.C. can be traced to the foundation of the U.S. Marine Band. Some fifty years later, in 1851, the city's first choral society, Washington Saengerbund, was formed. Other 19th century musicians included the minstrel singer and songwriter James Bland ("Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny"). In 1872, the Coloured American Opera Society formed.
Washington native John Philip Sousa was conductor of the U.S. Marine Band from 1880 to 1892. He wrote 132 marches including "The Washington Post" and "Stars and Stripes Forever". Sousa formed his own band after leaving the Marine Corps that performed 15,623 concerts worldwide.
Later groundbreaking musicians included James Reese Europe, ragtime musician Claude Hopkins, Lithuanian immigrant and vaudeville performer Al Jolson and Lillian Evans Tibbs, who became the first African-American opera singer to perform in a foreign country. The most widely renowned musician from 20th century D.C. is undoubtedly Duke Ellington, a jazz pioneer. Later D.C. jazz musicians included Charlie Rouse (saxophonist, with Thelonious Monk), Billy Hart (drummer), Ira Sullivan (tenor saxophonist) and Leo Parker (bop baritone saxophonist). Ahmet Ertegün, a Turkish-born jazz fan, came to D.C. at age twelve and later went on to found Atlantic Records. Todd Duncan was a D.C.-born singer who made history by being the first to play the lead of the opera Porgy and Bess; he later became the first black man to play Tonio in I Pagliacci. D.C. was also a home (and recording stop) for blues legend Jelly Roll Morton, country legend Jimmie Rodgers and rock & roll legend Bo Diddley. Local stars of the early part of the century include the singer Pearl Bailey.
In 1957, Elizabeth Cotten recorded for the family that employed her, which included a number of composers and musicologists. One song, "Freight Train", became a folk music legend. Charlie Byrd, a D.C.-based jazz musician, recorded an innovative album in 1962 called Jazz Samba with Stan Getz, helping to launch the bossa nova craze. By the middle of the 1960s, D.C. had begun to produce some major stars, like soul singer Marvin Gaye. Other musicians included John Fahey, one of the first "folk" musicians to gain national appeal, Peter Tork (of The Monkees), underground legend Tim Buckley, guitarist Link Wray, pop singer and songwriter Billy Stewart, country singer Patsy Cline, guitarist Danny Gatton, doo wop bands The Orioles (based out of D.C., though from Baltimore) and The Clovers, Scott McKenzie (known for "If You're Going to San Francisco"), R&B singer Ruth Brown, and country star Roy Clark.
During this period, Washington began to develop its own music scene, with a number of styles evolving by the end of the century. Some popular singers from later decades include Roberta Flack ("Killing Me Softly with His Song"), Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band ("You Broke My Mood Ring"), singer-songwriter Tori Amos, Herb Fame (of Peaches & Herb), Van McCoy (disco producer, "The Hustle"), Toni Braxton, Ginuwine, Mya, Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters), Starland Vocal Band ("Afternoon Delight"), Joan Jett (rock singer) and Nils Lofgren (guitarist for Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Neil Young).
Washington is also home to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, founded in 1974 and part of the DC public school system. Some other notable music education organizations which are located in Washington include the DC Youth Orchestra Program, founded in 1960; the Blues Alley Jazz Society, founded in 1985; and the Levine School of Music, founded in 1976.
Musical genres
Opera
The first established opera company in D.C. was the semi-professional Washington National Opera active from 1919 through 1936; it performed in venues ranging from local school auditoriums to DAR Constitution Hall.[1] The present, entirely unrelated company of the same name, resident at the Kennedy Center, was known simply as the Washington Opera until 2000; a thoroughly professional organization under the direction of Placido Domingo, it has, among other achievements, been a rare advocate for zarzuela in the United States.[2] Among other, smaller-scale companies in the D.C. metropolitan area are the Washington Concert Opera, which specializes in unstaged presentations, Opera Lafayette, which specializes in French Baroque Opera, and the Opera Theater of Northern Virginia.
Blues
Early in the 20th century, D.C. was home to many bluesmen, such as Jelly Roll Morton and later rock & roll and rhythm & blues legends Bo Diddley and Roy Buchanan. In the 1960s, a number of white youths formed local blues bands, like the Northside Blues Band and the Nighthawks.
Bluegrass
In the 1950s, Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys became a noted bluegrass band that helped D.C. become known as the "Bluegrass Capital of America". Later bluegrass bands from the city included the Country Gentlemen. Seldom Scene eventually became the city's most prominent and longest-lasting bluegrass band.
Jazz
Washington has been home to many jazz pioneers, perhaps none better known than Duke Ellington, but also singer and pianist Shirley Horn, pianist Billy Taylor, and saxophonist Frank Wess. Ellington, Taylor and Wess each attended Dunbar High School with its prominent music program. Ellington's first group, The Washingtonians, featured drummer Sonny Greer. They left for Harlem in 1923.[3]
Jazz great Jelly Roll Morton came from New Orleans, but took up residency in Washington as a regular performer at a club called the Jungle Inn in 1935.[3]
Historic jazz club Bohemian Caverns launched many music careers, including that of R&B singer Ruth Brown. Pianist Ramsey Lewis recorded his The In Crowd album there in 1965.
Local singer Eva Cassidy, a native of Bowie, Maryland, died of cancer at the age of 33 but received posthumous international fame when several of her songs received BBC Radio airplay, though she was already well-known in the Washington area.[4]
Tenor saxophonist Ron Holloway is a Washington, D.C. native. He spent his journeyman years sitting in with local groups from every genre of contemporary music. In the mid 1970's, Holloway expanded his practice of sitting in and more and more he was heard sharing the stage with the likes of Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins and Dizzy Gillespie. In February 1982 Holloway joined Gil Scott-Heron's group. In June 1989, he left Scott-Heron to join Dizzy Gillespie's Quintet. Known for his versatility he has toured and recorded with a wide array of musical artists including Gillespie, Scott-Heron, Root Boy Slim, Little Feat, the Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. He has released five CD's under his own name.
Folk
In 1961, the first major folk venue in D.C., The Shadows, opened in Georgetown. A band called "the Mugwumps" formed, eventually splitting up. Two of the members, John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, became The Lovin' Spoonful, and the other two, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliott, formed The Mamas & the Papas. Later, in Georgetown, then-folk singer John Denver, Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff wrote a song called "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which launched Denver's career as one of the most popular singers in the country. Other popular folk singers include Mary Chapin Carpenter; the duo Fink & Marxer have been nominated for several Grammy Awards, for both folk and children's music.
Soul and funk
Washington D.C.'s Soul/Funk movement took shape during the mid 60s; about the same time the Doo-Wop craze came to a close, and "James Brown" became a household name. Artists such as Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, the “Maskman” Harmon Bethea, the DC Playboys, Sir Joe Quarterman, the Soul Searchers & the Young Senators (both known for their later go-go influences), impacted more than just the regional scene. Lesser known groups such as Brute, Aggression, 95th Congress, and Scacy and The Sound Service, topped the ever growing club circuit. Local venues such as the Howard Theatre, The Mark IV and The Room, were known for hosting Soul and Funk bands on the regular. Monumental D.C. Soul Labels included Shrine and Cap City.
R&B
The soul and funk scene set the stage for D.C.'s considerable influence in modern R&B. Besides Toni Braxton, D.C. is the hometown of mid-90's crooners Ginuwine, Mya, and Tank (raised in Clinton, MD), as well as the more current Raheem DeVaughn (who is from the neighboring Prince George's County, Maryland).
Go-go
The go-go sound developed during the mid-70s and began to take its current shape by the late 1970s. Its characteristic formula combined simple funk grooves with instrumental percussion and often rapping. Many Washington, D.C. soul & funk artists contributed to the characteristic go-go sound, but the main pioneers were the Young Senators, also known as "The Emperors of Go-go", known for their hit tune "Jungle", and Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, known for "Bustin' Loose", which became a surprise national hit. Later go-go bands include Rare Essence, Trouble Funk, Experience Unlimited, and New Entertainment and the Southeast go-go band Aggressive Funk.
Hip hop
The DC hip hop scene has always taken a backseat to the other more prevalent genres in the area. Even so, very influential groups have planted seeds in the city for future generations to follow. Groups like The Amphibians & Freestyle Union laid the foundation for artists like Diggz, Asheru, Wale and Low Budget to help put DC's hip hop scene on the map.
Electronic
Washington D.C. has a booming House music scene, with various parties happening at clubs and warehouses across the city.
D.C. is also the home to the group Thievery Corporation, who are well known in the electronic music community for their fusion of downtempo and trip hop with lounge music and Brazilian music such as bossa nova. They founded the label Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, which is also based in Washington, D.C.
In the past 5 years local recording artist Fort Knox Five has been highly successful with a string of solid releases on their own label, Fort Knox Recordings, many notable remixes and most recently their full length album Radio Free DC.
Electro-industrial band Chemlab formed in Washington D.C. in 1989. Up until this point, frontman Jared Louche had been a part of the D.C. hardcore scene (see below).
Hardcore
Washington is known for its contribution to hardcore punk, particularly bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat, and labels like Dischord Records, but it had a vibrant musical community prior to hardcore's arrival with bands like the Razz, Slickee Boys and The Penetrators, putting out records on local independent labels like Limp, O'Rourke, and Dacoit.
Emo
In the mid-1980s, veterans of the hardcore scene created a new punk subgenre called "emo", meaning "emotive hardcore." The most renowned D.C. area emo bands were Rites of Spring and Embrace.
Mod/Soul
The Ambitions, led by former Checkered Cabs singer Caz Gardiner, are at the forefront of the mod/soul type bands drawing their inspiration from late 60s soul bands to 1970s British mod revivalists.
Punk
In the 1980s, Washington, D.C., was rich with punk and new wave music. Bands like The Slickee Boys, Urban Verbs, Tiny Desk Unit, Mother May I, Insect Surfers, Tru Fax & the Insaniacs, and Black Market Baby were popular at places like the 9:30 Club, The Psychedeli, dc space, Madam's Organ, The Bayou (in Georgetown). See also: Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Henry Rollins.
Post-hardcore
In the 1990s, bands taking heavy influence from the DC hardcore scene and the local go-go phenomenon contributed to the post-hardcore scene. Important players in this scene were The Dismemberment Plan, Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses, and Q and Not U. Currently, important post-punk/indie/dance-rock bands like Supersystem (formerly El Guapo), Medications, Metrorail, Maritime, Edie Sedgwick, Mass Movement of the Moth, and Beauty Pill hail from DC. Ian MacKaye continues his involvement in the DC music scene with his two-piece rock group The Evens. Record labels like Dischord, DeSoto Records, and Exotic Fever have been and remain to be a crucial means of distribution for DC bands.
Garage revival
As of late, DC has been home to a growing scene of musicians who take inspiration from the primal stomp of the 60's garage rock movement. Eschewing the more esoteric stylings of their art-school peers, bands like Soul Lip, the Hall Monitors, the breakUps, the Have Mercys, and the Points, mine a more primitive vein of rock 'n' roll, finding inspiration in fuzzed-out chords and grooves.
The Wammies
The Washington Area Music Awards, also known as the Wammies, was founded in 1985 by Michael Jaworek and Mike Schreibman, and is committed to raising the profile of the Washington area's diverse music community. Its membership embraces music styles including classical, bluegrass, go-go, R&B, reggae, jazz, rock, folk and electronic.
Performance venues
The Washington area has many venues large and small for music performances. The Verizon Center hosts many major concerts. The Kennedy Center is home to the Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia hosts many performances and the Wolf Trap Opera Company. The Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland and Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia also host many national touring musical acts.
Licensed venues in Washington, D.C. include and included:
- The Bayou (1965-1998)
- Blues Alley (From 1965)
- Black Cat (From 1993)
- Bohemian Caverns
- The Cellar Door (1960s-1980s)
- DAR Constitution Hall (From 1929)
- Corpse Fortress (Since 1986)
- DC9
- Fort Reno Park (From 1967)
- Lincoln Theatre (1922-1968, reopened 1994)
- Madam's Organ
- 9:30 Club (1980-1996) / Nightclub 9:30 (From 1996)
- The Red & the Black
- Rock and Roll Hotel
- Warehouse Next Door
References
- ^ McPherson, Jim, "Mr. Meek Goes to Washington: The Story of the Small-Potatoes Canadian Baritone Who Founded America’s 'National' Opera," The Opera Quarterly, volume 20, no. 2, Spring 2004.
- ^ Holland, Bernard, "NATIONAL OPERA REVIEW; Domingo Applies His Personal Touch to an Operetta's Familiar Tale," The Washington Post, November 9, 2004.
- ^ a b Murphy, Molly. "Jazz Profiles from NPR: Jazzed in D.C.". National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/jazzindc.html. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- ^ Johnson, Mary (August 28, 2008). "A voice silenced in 1996 is brought back to life". Baltimore Sun. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-ar.eva28aug28,0,7544971.story.
- Washingtonian
- TTED Records, over 200 titles released to date of go-go, funk and soul originating from Washington D.C. since 1981.
- DCSoulRecordings.com, "Preserving the History of DC & MD Funk, Soul, & R&B Music"
- MusicDC.com, "Source for information on local artists, venues and news"
- DC Music Atlas
- DC Punk Scene
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