As the fates would have it, I was in the nation’s capital during this year’s DC Jazz Festival. Formerly known as the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, the event provided a lot of music during the first two weeks of June in a variety of locations, including the Lincoln Theater (next door to Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street)., Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, the Kennedy Center and the Carter Barron Amphitheatre. In addition to the music in the larger venues, there were sounds at a number of clubs such as the Bohemian Caverns and Twins both of which are located along a vibrant stretch of U Street which is like Five Points on steroids. 

  At the Caverns, I heard pianist Marc Cary who happens to be in Denver on Saturday performing at Dazzle, 930 Lincoln, with his Focus Trio that has David Ewell on bass and Sameer Gupta on drums and tabla. With its mixed bag of musical beats, Cary’s trio doesn’t fit into any neat category but it does rock the house in the most positive way. After listening to the band live, it’s easy to say that this is a group you definitely want to hear.

  Born in New York in 1967, Cary grew up in DC and he effectively incorporates the incessant beat of the district’s go-go sound into his eclectic sound – a sound developed with singers Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln, as well as with vibraphonist Stefon Harris’ Blackout band. Cary’s current CD is a live outing from 2009, and the pianist puts things into focus at 7 and 9 p.m. ($20/$15 students for the 9 p.m. show, 303-839-5100). The district’s go-go sound, which emerged in the 1970s, is largely associated with Chuck Brown; and another of its founders, trumpeter “Little Benny” Harley, sadly passed away at the age of 46 just before this year’s DC festival got started.

  A different kind of genre-jumping player also pulls into Dazzle this week. On Wednesday at 7 and 9 p.m., guitarist Nels Cline (the twin brother of drummer Alex Cline) is at the club on Lincoln with his trio called the Nels Cline Singers that has Scott Amendola on drums and Devin Hoff on bass ($18). Cline, born in Los Angeles in 1956, is both and an adventurous and a rocking guitarist who is equally comfortable with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, with free-form sounds and with the popular band Wilco. In the February 2009 issue of Down Beat, Cline, who has new CD titled Initiate, made it on a list of the “75 Great Guitarists” in the music. 

  Of course, if you are not in town this week, a great place to be is in Aspen for the 20th edition of Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) that starts on Friday with a sold-out concert by New Orleans-bred singer/pianist Harry Connick Jr. in the Benedict Music Tent. On Saturday, JAS continues with its all-star anniversary concert that has an imposing lineup made up of singers Dianne Reeves and Patti Austin, bassists Christian McBride and John Clayton, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, trombonist Fred Wesley, saxophonist Maceo Parker and guitarist Russell Malone plus a big band. The concert is at 8:30 p.m. ($40-$90, 970-920-4996). On Sunday in the big tent, it’s Pink Flamingo followed by singer Natalie Cole on July 3. 

  On Wednesday, a series of festival performances in smaller venue kicks off with singer Allan Harris in the Little Nell Hotel at 8 p.m. Trumpeter Nicholas Payton brings his quintet to the Nell on July 1 and pianist Monty Alexander performs there on July 9-10 ($30).

  At the same time that the festival in Aspen gets going, there’s also a festival at Copper Mountain that focuses on the crossover side of the music. Genuine Jazz offers concerts by saxophonist Paul Taylor on Friday at 9 p.m. and by saxophonist Eric Darius and keyboardist Jeff Lorber on Saturday night at the same time in the Cooper Mountain Conference Center Ballroom ($48, genuinejazz.com or 866-837-2996). There is also music on Saturday and Sunday starting at 11:30 a.m. along with a gospel concert on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Also on Sunday, Denver’s free City Park jazz series continues in City Park at 6 p.m. with drummer Manuel Lopez’s trio.

Normanprovizer@aol.com