I’ll start by saying, “I LOVE music”!! I most definitely love to hear it live and have had the pleasure of attending MANY music festivals and live events thanks to a wonderful mate who loves music just as much. For the past 3 years, we’ve spent the first weekend in June attending one of our favorite events called the Capital Jazz Festival. To ensure we get good seats, he buys the tickets more than 9 months in advance as it ALWAYS sells out. So when he is called to work in IRELAND for 2 weeks during this year’s concert, would it stop me from not attending? DEFINITELY NOT!! I couldn’t imagine missing a star-studded event as this so going solo wasn’t even a hesitation. I packed up, secured a hotel, drove and comfortably attended the Capital Jazz Festival by myself!
Each year in early June, tens of thousands of music lovers from throughout the country flock to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. to attend this weekend of cool jazz and soul — The Capital Jazz Fest. Started in 1993, this multi-day, multi-stage outdoor music festival, which attracts music lovers from 44 states, is more than just a concert, it's an event! It's a place to people-watch, eat, drink, shop, mingle, relax, soak in the rays, and of course hear some of the coolest music performed by artists whom you won't see anywhere else in the Washington-Baltimore area this summer.
In-between musical sets, enjoy fine art and crafts at the Festival Marketplace, culinary treats at the food court, plus artist workshops and meet & greets. And after the show, check out the late night after-parties.
The Capital Jazz Fest is held at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Located between Washington and Baltimore, in a lovely 40-acre natural wooded setting known as Symphony Woods, Merriweather provides a concert experience like no other. Fest-goers may enjoy the festival up-close and theatre-style in the open-air covered pavilion, or outdoors and picnic-style on the gently-sloping lawn.[1]
The talent showcased on both stages is like no other featuring over 30 well-known international and national artists to local favorites. To provide continuous music, the festival utilizes two stages set a part by a short walk to the other side of the pavilion. The main stage is a covered location with the more laid-back jazz artists performing while the outdoor stage is host to more of a local and R&B flair.
It was here on Sunday’s afternoon set I got to experience DC’s own local artists, Chuck Brown, also known as the “Godfather of Go-Go”. From the moment this 75 year old dapper dressed man hits the stage dressed from head to toe in a fedora, sunglasses, gold teeth, fine-tailored suit and alligator shoes with his guitar in hand, Brown commands and holds the audience at attention on their feet for the entire hour set! Joined by a band of 10-12 individuals from the percussions section of drums, bongos, congos and cowbells, to the horn section and keyboardist and backup singers, Brown truly lives up to his name.
Being in Washington, DC – the home of go-go made the experience even more memorable. As every city has its signature sound – house music in Chicago, blues in Memphis, salsa in Miami and the Motown-sound of Detroit, DC is proud to hosts and welcomes Brown with open arms and a standing ovation. Brown’s developed “go-go sound” is an undertone of continuous synthesis of mid-tempo calypso beats meshed with a rhythmic African / Caribbean flair over the voice of Brown or his on-stage disc-jockey chanting a series of leader-audience followed chants. The production is lively, immersing an audience so much so you forget you’re at a concert and feel more as if you’re in a basement party or on the dance floor of one of your favorite clubs. Everyone was one their feat moving, bouncing, nodding their heads and amazingly knew every repetitive call and response lyric repeated from stage to audience participation as if at a tennis match.
Although, I was first introduced to go-go and Chuck Brown in the early 80s while an on-campus student at UNC, I never felt its power or appreciated the authenticity until I was a part of its DC followers that afternoon. The way the audience embodied the repetitive percussion beats in movement through song after song was almost indescribable.
Live video I recorded and converted via digital cam.
Brown and his band led us through a variety of his best music from “I See the Light”, to “Overnight Scenario”, to even a sampling of the “Woody Woodpecker” theme each song exciting the audience more and more. It was nice to see him comfortable handing over the mic to other band members including his disc-jockey to his next generation of son, Chuck, Jr. and daughter, KK leading the audience in one of his greatest hits, Chuck Baby.
He ended the set with his greatest and most well-known hits, “Bustin’ Loose” which brought the remaining “five” audience members out of the hundreds to their feet as well. As he left the stage, you could feel the love they had for Chuck Brown and go-go music. Thanks you DC and Chuck for letting me be a part of it all! And it’s a promise, by the next Chuck Brown performance, I’ll be able to chant along with everyone else.
To give you the full effect as my camera pics and vids aren’t as good, here's a links of the go-go experience:
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