Federal Jazz Commission at Colonel Brooks' Tavern

by Alan Greenblatt

Some of the greatest pleasure in living in a major urban area is provided by musicians with steady gigs around town who you know will give you a good show. In tribute to that idea on Tuesday, I skipped local performances by the likes of Etta James, B.B. King and John Hiatt to hear the Federal Jazz Commission, which was celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Tuesday night gig at Colonel Brooks' Tavern in Northeast Washington.

The band has been written up in this space a couple of times -- I've probably gone once out of every six or eight weeks for the last four years or so. As their name suggests, many of the musicians in the band are or have been employees of the federal government. Collectively, they have a large repertoire of tunes associated with jazz from the early days, Dixieland numbers and Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton tunes and standards such as "How About You." They do some songs anyone might recognize, such as "Maryland, My Maryland," and obscurities that only become familiar to some of us through repeated exposure at Colonel Brooks, such as "Coney Island Washboard."

Many of the toasts made by regulars on Tuesday night were to the effect that the current incarnation of the band -- Marty Frankel, cornetist and leader; Henning Hoehne, clarinet and sax; Steve Welch, trombone; Donn Andre, banjo; Tom Gray, bass; and Sonny McGown, drums -- is as good as any lineup in the band's long history and, perhaps, as good as any traditional jazz outfit going. Those assessments, I think, are both right.

This is not my favorite jazz idiom, but, as a friend of mine said on hearing them for the first time, "they have that 'ping' of quality." Some nights they are more inspired than others, which is normal. They are always competent and confident, but at times the mix of collective improvisation gets them sparking off of each other in the true spirit of jazz, their energy level and inventiveness growing with the passing hours of their usual three sets (8 pm to 11).

It's music you can zone out to over a beer, music that rewards careful attention to the soloists' ideas and the interplay between the fellows, music you can dance to. In short, to recall the wisdom of Armstrong, if it sounds good, it is good.

Congratulations to the Federal Jazz Commission on a long run of quality.