"Front Row Jazz — an independent visual media platform celebrating jazz culture, history, and legacy through photography, stories, and the moments that make this music timeless."
DC Jazz Festival -Emmet Cohen -Photo © Eva Kapanadze - Front Row Jazz
Jazz on the Waterfront: A Weekend at DC JazzFest 2026
By Eva Kapanadze | Front Row Jazz August 8, 2026
When the lineup is this strong, the hardest part of a festival is choosing. DC JazzFest 2026 filled The Wharf and its surrounding stages with so much music at the same time that no one person could hear it all. Front Row Jazz was there on Saturday and Sunday, September 5 and 6, and while we could not be everywhere at once, the sets we caught were enough to remember the weekend for a long time.
Washington has always been a jazz city, and the festival wears that history with pride. By the water, with the late-summer light moving across the stages, the music felt connected to the neighborhood around it: open, generous, and full of people who came simply to listen.
Inside the Vanguard: James Brandon Lewis Quartet Brings Omni Home
Front Row Jazz was in the room on Sunday, July 5th — closing night, 8:00 PM show — as the James Brandon Lewis Quartet wrapped a historic run at the Village Vanguard. The band took the stage at the legendary basement club to present music from their new album, Omni, released on Intakt Records, and the set felt every bit like the celebration it was billed to be.
By Eva Kapanadze | Front Row Jazz July 5, 2026
Every August, New York remembers how to listen. For one weekend, two parks become sanctuaries — Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park and the East Village's Tompkins Square Park — and the whole city seems to lean in. This year marked the 34th edition of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, honoring one of the greatest musicians in jazz history, in the very streets where he once lived and played. Front Row Jazz was there for both closing days, and what we witnessed felt less like a concert series and more like a conversation stretching across generations.
Bird Still Sings: Charlie Parker Jazz Festival 2026
By Eva Kapanadze | Front Row Jazz
Village Vanguard - Aruán Ortiz, James Brandon Lewis, Brad Jones, Chad Taylor | Photo © Eva Kapanadze | Front Row Jazz
Ravi Coltrane at Charlie Parker Jazz Festival — Photo © Eva Kapanadze for Front Row Jazz
Jazz is more than a genre — it is a visual language of motion and rhythm, a living archive of human expression that transcends time and borders.
We celebrate the cultural impact of jazz across generations. Every frame is a testament to the moments that make this music timeless.
This is not just photography. This is jazz history, told one image at a time.
Joe Lovano & Marilyn Chrispell | Photo © Eva Kapanadze | Front Row Jazz