Musicians want to make D.C. a jazz mecca again.

Jazz singer Aaron Myers, left, and jazz saxophonist Herb Scott pose for a photo at D.C. jazz radio station WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

By Perry Stein April 16

A walk down U Street reveals relics of the strip’s jazz-rich history.

There’s the mural in the pizza shop alley that reads “Black Broadway,” a tribute to the hallowed corridor’s once well-known nickname. The Ellington apartment building is an ode to D.C. native Duke Ellington. And there’s the shuttered Bohemian Caverns, whose distinctive saxophone-adorned facade still stands.

But contemporary artists are realizing the city’s rich history isn’t enough to sustain jazz in a 21st-century Washington. They’re scrambling to save what has been called America’s original art form in a city where it’s fading from the culture. 

For a genre that sprung from African Americans telling stories of oppression, the musicians are seeking help from unlikely sources: D.C. government and city institutions.

Advocates are lobbying city agencies and the D.C. Chamber of Commerce to support the cause. They want vacant, city-owned space to be transformed into pop-up jazz venues and are pushing for subsidized housing for artists so the city can retain talent.

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