Last night Yo and I went to Twins Jazz club on U Street with our hip hop dancing, filmmaker friend, Zohar. It seems crazy we’ve never been there before being that it’s about a 10 minute walk from our pad. I guess Bohemian Caverns had our full attention until it closed last year. It was the Kenny Rittenhouse R&B quintet that got us up and out. Great band, great music.

R&B Jazz Quintet

Twins is one of those intimate, upstairs city venues with crowded tables and enthusiastic fans, some of whom have been going there for a decade – maybe two. If there’s a seat at your table, someone’s going to be joining you. Next to us was an unlikely duo – a black man in his 60s who has followed jazz in DC his whole life, randomly paired with a young woman from Argentina who is a Doctor at Children’s Hospital. Neither had much in common, except their love of jazz.

Herman Burney and Kenny Rittenhouse

The band played some high energy be-bop, mixed with sultry ballads. They played an alt-rhythm version of C Jam Blues and an original composition called 9 to 5, using “9” chords in a 5/4 time signature. They were joined by tenor sax player, Grant Langford, from the Airmen of Note, and a pianist, whose name I can’t locate, who dominated the keyboard, singing along with his improvised notes.

Kenny Rittenhouse

Outside the window by our seat was one of many colorful murals in DC. There is a long tradition of murals in the jazz corridor which has spread across the city. I couldn’t find an explanation for this one, although we think it’s a scene from Columbia, referencing the menacing AUC, a paramilitary drug trafficking militia. If someone out there knows the story, please let me know.

Alley Mural