DC Jazz festival

A brief hiatus - for which I apologise. A few words on music today.

Washington DC, the home of Duke Ellington, is currently awash with jazz men and women as part of DC Jazz festival. As a classical pianist trying to teach himself the jazz language it's great to go out and see people do it so effortlessly, and there are plenty of great musicians performing this week and next.

So here's a little on what I've been to and what's coming up.

The National Gallery of Art, located just off Constitution Avenue is running a series of free concerts in the sculpture garden, one of which I went to last week - to see a Brazilian 4 piece called Origem. Looks can well deceive as what was purported to be Brazilian jazz turned out to lack any of the pulsing syncopation and brilliant harmonic inventiveness you find in the good stuff. Instead a fairly tame exposition of some very middle of the road jazz ensued, deflating stuff. It didn't really matter too much, as nobody seemed to be listening anyway. Indeed such is the nature of these events, make it free and they will come, and come they did in their droves. Blankets carpeted the grass and pretty soon you couldn't move for pots of humous, strawberries and half empty bottles of Prosecco. It is safe to say the jazz was playing second fiddle, so not an event for the aficionados, snobs, keen amateurs or indeed anyone with a vague interest in jazz.

However there is plenty else on offer, a few big hitters and some lesser known groups in the smaller clubs. Outside of the festival DC has a very healthy jazz scene, so its pretty geared up for jazz musicians descending en masse. There is also jazz happening in some interesting and unexpected places. The Phillips collection, a private gallery near the Dupont metro,  is hosting a range of different events, one of which I went to yesterday. Called 'Phillips after 5' the gallery puts on jazz, drinks, and food and you can mooch around gawping at the collection. It draws a pretty mixed crowd, and testament to DC's transient reputation, lots of young people. This time it was the Matt Winkler Trio, a three piece led by a talented 16 year old pianist. The music? Ok, well executed but lacking drive and focus. I was in two minds really - you can either marvel at how accomplished a pianist is at 16 or wait until he's in his 30s, hope he doesn't fall off the rails, and see what he has to say then. That's a long time to wait.

So no doubt I've labelled myself as a grumbling snob, not true! Outside of the festival I saw an outfit called Ramzy and The Brothers Handsome at Twins Jazz on U street last week. A really tight group led by Ramzy Suleiman, a brilliant pianist and resident of DC who mixes blues, bop, jazz and funk into a style uniquely his own - definitely worth seeing.

To continue forays into the DC Jazz festival there are a few options for tonight - a band called the Brass-a-holics are playing at the French Embassy, another unusual venue for jazz music. Well perhaps so but the french are somewhat at the forefront of cultural endeavor in DC, more on them in another post sometime soon. Otherwise there are a plethora of options, I'll blog on anything of note.

For those with a vague interest more can be seen on the DC Jazz festival website and If you intend on being in DC in the next week or so take a look and get ready to shake your jazz hands.

If you do take a look on the site and you're wondering who Bobby Mcferrin is, know the tune 'don't worry be happy'? well that's him and yes, he's here too.

Chin Chin.

What is past is prologue.....

So perhaps a little contrary to my original brief of what this blog would focus on - today, something  little different.

I've been informed that my blog has now come into a much wider readership. Fame and adulation must surely follow; two followers! Those of you who are regular readers of my brother paddy's blog, Pozdrowienia z Ursynowa might have read a rather erudite post about our family, it's history, and and introduction to me. My thanks to him.

Looking back at how our one side of our own family came to be in England really does give you the sense that they didn't really know what they were doing. Was it a risk? Most definitely - and out of that risk grew a life, a home, and children, and then grandchildren; my brothers and I. In making my own move to the States I often thought about others who might have made similar decisions, motivated by a myriad of different reasons. Those who have taken such a leap are almost always faced by challenge - language (thankfully not in my case....not too much), adjusting and settling in, finding work, making a home and so on. Yet those challenges bear their own rewards, perhaps not immediately apparent - but looking back you may well be able to dot those I's and cross those T's. Oh no, this is starting to sound suspiciously like Steve Job's commencement address, Jobs! I'm a fraud.

Moving swiftly on - during our eldest brother Richard's wedding a week and a half ago, Paddy (my blogging brother) and I, as best men, attempted to give a speech that summed him up - in short, as a man without qualities. Amongst some rather blue and unrepeatable filth we both touched on our bond as brothers - how important this is to all three of us, and how it has provided the grounding in who we are and where we are headed. Hence the title of this post, what is past is prologue, a quote from the Tempest brought to my attention by a statue outside the National Archives here in DC: 'The Future' For me, now (not accounting for the existential despair in the Shakespearean context) that means: what has gone before prepares us for what is next, what we have learnt informs our future, whether that's moving abroad, changing your job, your life, whatever that next step might be...

Before my brother moved away to Poland I remember wondering what might be next for me. He flew off on his adventure just a few days before my wife came to visit the UK for the first time. Looking back, it was keeping an open mind that helped both of us make our choices, and thank god for that - why would you want to be any other way? Eulogising over and to humour we turn - to commemorate our year living together Paddy and I decided to toast to the future with a day of nonsense and tomfoolery in London, a few days before he skipped off to Polska. You can view the results via the following link: Being a Ney.

Here's to taking risks and honking on your vuvuzela! Enjoy!

Cheszt and Chin Chin. 

Is everything in America massive?

well.....I'll stop short of making massive generalisations for now, this is after all the birthplace of the microchip...and other...small things


But no smoke without fire and all that - there is commonly held perception that America = big. Big people, big cars, towering sky scrapers, ten gallon hats, (In no way a mutually exclusive list) and what's my experience of 'big is beautiful' so far? Well at my local market of course, Harris Teeter (on Kalorama Rd in Adams Morgan). 


Just check out the size of these onions...

Perhaps you're struggling with the perspective, believe me, these are fist sized


Or behold these apples: 

And yes, people do look at you strangely when you walk around taking pictures of enormous fruit and veg


Best thing about this market? Free samples; cheese, hot food, fruit, bread. Note to fellow Englishman - loiter and use charm, do the Hugh Grant foppery routine and you're pretty much guaranteed a free lunch, 'Can I er er er, perhaps, maybe, er try some of your cheese?' and you're gold.


Chin chin

Day 1 in D.C.

Greetings to all. So a little introduction to me - Jeremy, an staunch and stoic English emigree to the USA, here to pursue all manner of opportunity, fortune, misadventure, oh and to be with my wife who is American. I'm Just getting settled into D.C. life, and here to offer up a view of a new city to whoever eager to listen. 

So what on earth am I doing here? What could possess anyone to leave England's green and pleasant pastures for the east coast of America? Well to be honest, I'm at a bit of a loss. It all started back in August 2010 when I met my wife to be. A few visits over the atlantic, me here and her to London, and we were married in March - and I moved over here in May. That is the shortest possible version of events it's wise to give, you can draw your own conclusions as to my sanity, it never crossed my mind it might be an odd course of events.

So where am I now and what will I be blogging about? Well we live in an area of D.C called Adam's Morgan, famed for it's cultural diversity, victorian houses and busy nightlife. Right now I'm writing to you from a coffee house called Tryst on 18th street. I'm one of about 30 other macbook wielding young professionals tap tapping away, doing, well, probably much the same as me. I can't actually believe I'm becoming one of them - it's time to embrace! I'm currently opposite a danish family here for a weeks holiday, drinking coffee, eating pastries and apparently planning what on earth they are going to spend a week doing in D.C. The temptation to, as a resident, jump in with exciting suggestions is tempered only by the fact that I haven't a clue what you would do as a tourist with a week to kill here. Sounds like a challenge? what on earth is there in this town? Well, it's time to find out..

So watch this space, I'll be dropping in regularly to offer you perspectives of living in D.C. what's going on and what there is to offer. Forgive the basic format, that will all change very soon...

Chin chin!