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Potomac River Jazz Club - Celebrating Over 50 Years!
All PRJC events and ticket sales are listed on our EventBrite Page
PRJC Educational Discussion: Stride Piano, Keys to Harlem's Renaissance
featuring Tom ROberts
February 10, 2025, 7-8:15pm
ONLINE via Zoom
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Our 2024 PRJC Jazz Talk series starts out with Tom Roberts and The Hot Club of Pittsburgh for a guided listening adventure, “The Keys to the Harlem Renaissance”. You'll hear early recordings directly from the original 78s, with narrative by Tom about the performers and the music.
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During the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 20th century on the East coast of the United States of America, a most miraculous and thoroughly new American music was created and reached maturity. The effects of this music were profound and influenced the course of music for the next generation.
This music was based on the first great creation of free black Americans: ragtime, and incorporated the finest virtuosic techniques of the greatest European concert pianists. These men were born in the latter part of the 19th century, from all across the Eastern Seaboard: Philadelphia, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goshen, New York, Princeton New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Baltimore Maryland. But they all settled in the hub of black culture: Harlem.
This music is now known to us as Harlem Stride Piano.
The Hot Club of Pittsburgh was formed during the pandemic at the insistence of record producer, radio personality, and curator of Jazz at Lincoln Center: Phil Schaap who inspired me to create a listening option to counteract the abysmal local radio scene.
Tom Roberts is acknowledged as one of the premiere exponents of early jazz piano and has performed across the globe including performances at The International Stride Summit in Zurich Switzerland and multiple appearances at the prestigious “Jazz in July” at Manhattan’s 92nd St Y with Dick Hyman. To learn more about Tom, visit his website at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Roberts_(pianist)
This session will be held virtually via Zoom. Login information will be sent two hours before the start of the program. Although we offer these monthly talks for free, the PRJC is always happy to have donations to offset the costs. Learn more about out organization, become a member, or contribute by visiting www.prjc.org.
Admission: The event is FREE!
Registration required by 5pm on the day of the event:
Zoom Registration
You can support the PRJC, our monthly Educational Talks and PRJC Concerts
using the Paypal link www.paypal.me/PotomacRiverJazzClub
PRJC Mardi Gras concert featuring:
Orleans Express
February 23, 2025, from 1:30pm-4:00pm
Rosensteel Knights of Columbus of Silver Spring, 9707 Rosensteel Avenue, Silver Spring, MD Directions
The Potomac River Jazz Club will be starting 2025 by celebrating the Mardi Gras season on a Sunday featuring the Orleans Express of Maryland Jazz Band. You don't have to fly or drive to New Orleans to experience an afternoon of entertainment, we'll have it right here for you in Silver Spring.
We invite you to listen, dance to the rhythms, and march to a variety of music fitting for the Mardi Gras season right here in Silver Spring. In addition to New Orleans style jazz, the band's repetoire includes several Tin Alley tunes such as Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me and I'll See You in C.U.B.A. Wear your favorite Mardi Gras accessories such as masks, hats, boas and beads -- and don't forget those parasols!
The band members consist of Les Elkins on cornet and vocals, Halley Schoenberg on reeds, Greg Williams on drums, John O Brien on banjo, John Stewart on trombone, with Willie Clark subbing on tuba.
The Potomac River Jazz Club (PRJC) has been bringing live New Orleans/Trad style jazz to the DC area for over 51 years. We host our concerts at Rosensteel Hall as it has ample parking, is a few blocks from the metro (red line, Forest Glen), has plenty of seating and dance floor space, and a nicely priced cash bar. Come on out and hear some great live music while supporting local musicians!
Admission:
PRJC members ($20), General admission ($25; $22.50 in advance), youth with valid student ID (Free).
Ticket Purchase
The Conservatory Classic Jazz Band
and the PRJC Jam
Mar 9, from 2:30-5pm
Location: Alfio's La Trattoria, 4515 Willard Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD. Ph: 301 657-9133
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The Conservatory Classic Jazz Band opens and closes the music, with a Jam Session in the middle. All are welcome to sit in or just sit back and enjoy!
The Conservatory Classic Jazz Band was formed in 2003 to present the sounds of traditional jazz to Washington DC audiences. A seven-piece group, they play New Orleans style, Chicago style, small-group swing, and mainstream.
CCJB members include Dave Robinson, leader/cornet/trumpet, Brian Priebe on trombone, Gary Gregg on clarinet/sax, Dan Hall on bass, Jeff Reynolds on guitar/banjo, Brian Alpert on drums. Note: Alfio's has valet parking, street parking, and a full dinner menu available.
Visit the band's website at ccjazzband
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Advanced Tickets are available from the PRJC EventBrite site:
Tickets
Admission: Jammers and students get in FREE - no charge if you play or sing. Members of the PRJC pay $10, and non-members $15. A single membership is only $25 a year - support the organization and get a discount on events!
PRJC Jazz Discussion: Stomp Off, Let's Go! The Early Years of Louis Armstrong
Presented by Ricky Riccardi
March 10, 2025, 7-8:15pm,
ONLINE via Zoom
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Ricky Riccardi returns to the Potomac River Jazz Club's Zoom Jazz Talk series to discuss "Stomp Off, Let's Go," the recently published third and final volume in his trilogy of biographies on Louis Armstrong. Riccardi will delve into the many discoveries he made and mysteries he had to untangle while researching the formative years of jazz's greatest genius.
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Ricky draws from rare unpublished materials, including tapes, manuscripts, letters, and oral histories. A few book teasers:
Celebrates Lillian "Lil" Hardin Armstrong as the architect of Louis Armstrong's career
Archival evidence settles inconsistencies in Armstrong's writings
Armstrong's musical style and personal values remained consistent throughout his career, dispelling narratives to the contrary
Unearths an unpublished 1973 interview with Beatrice "Mama Lucy" Armstrong
Features several musicians' reflections on Armstrong's mentor, Joe "King" Oliver
Ricky has been with the Louis Armstrong House Museum since 2009. He was originally hired as Archivist and now serves as Director of Research Collections. Ricky is the author of two critically-acclaimed, award-winning biographies on the legendary jazzman.
The Museum's 60,000+ piece Archives, that Ricky is the custodian of, are available for researchers around the world. He has been playing the piano since the age of seven and has sat in with various bands in New York and New Orleans, as well as leading his own small groups in New Jersey since 1999. He has a Master's Degree in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University.
Ricky has also written the liner notes for over a dozen Armstrong releases, including co-producing multiple reissues for Universal Music and Mosaic Records. In 2022, he won a GRAMMY for "Best Album Notes" for Mosaic's "Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966." Ricky initially encountered Louis Armstrong in 1995 when he saw him perform “Basin Street Blues" Ricky considers himself not just a historian but also an advocate for Armstrong’s values. He still feels the same sense of joy and wonder that moved him so much as a teenager.
The Potomac River Jazz Club has been bringing Trad Jazz to the DC area for over 52 years. We began hosting the Jazz Talk series in 2020, offering a variety of speakers including musicians, historians and authors on topics related to Trad/early Jazz. We offer tickets for free to the talk, but appreciate any donation tickets - even small amounts add up and help us keep offering this wonderful series. The Zoom link for the presentation will be sent out at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time the day of the event. Follow us here on Eventbrite so you'll be alerted to other events we host.
Admission: FREE
Although we offer the talk for free, there are also "donation tickets" to offset the cost of the series. We hope to see you on Zoom!
**Please register by 5:00 p.m. the day of the event. The Zoom link for this presentation will be sent by e-mail the day of the presentation.
Zoom registration link
You can support the PRJC or our Educational Talks and Concerts using the Paypal link www.paypal.me/PotomacRiverJazzClub
PRJC St. Patty's Bash concert with Heather Pierson and her DC All Stars
March 16, 2025, from 2-4:30pm,
at Rosensteel Knights of Columbus of Silver Spring, 9707 Rosensteel Avenue, Silver Spring, MD
Directions
PRJC is happy to welcome back Heather Pierson and Shawn Nadeau, the swinging jazz duo for our March 16, St. Patrick's Day Special Event at Rosensteel Hall. Silver Spring is a must-stop locale for Heather and Shawn. Hailing from far north Conway, NH, they have endeared themselves to PRJC audiences in previous appearances, so we are delighted they again carved out a spot on their Mid-Atlantic tour calendar for us.
Heather's repertoire is wide -- from folk to soft rock to the hot New Orleans style we sponsor. She’s so versed in "trad jazz" that she’s been invited to offer master level instruction at the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp. Imagine, the sometimes insular NOLA jazz community bringing down a New England girl to teach their brand of music! At PRJC, you'll enjoy her and local friends, with an impromptu jam to boot. And, if you give her some encouragement, she'll perform her pandemic-inspired viral hit, "The Toilet Paper Song." And, of course, a hot jazz version of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" to make St. Pat proud.
Here is a sample from last year's appearance with Heather Pierson at PRJC: "Exactly Like You"
Admission:
PRJC members ($20), General admission ($25; $22.50 in advance), youth/students with valid student ID (Free).
Purchase tickets
Rosensteel Hall
Directions:
From the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Maryland take Georgia Ave. (Md. Rte. 97) a short distance north to signal at Forest Glen Road (Md. Rt. 192).
Turn left and go west 0.4 miles. Turn right on Rosensteel Ave.
The Hall is at 9707 Rosensteel Ave. on the right, opposite a church and cemetery. Parking is in the back. * This location is metro accessible: FOREST GLEN METRO STATION is only 2-3 blocks away. Rosensteel phone is 301-588-3303.
Rosensteel Knights of Columbus of Silver Spring , 9707 Rosensteel Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910
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All That Jazz
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