Showboat's-A-Swingin'

Washington DC's Showboat Lounge hosted a vast array of ground-breaking talent from the '40s, into the late '70s. The establishment was located at the corner of Columbia Road NW and 18th Street, and owned by Pete Lambros, who maintained an all-jazz policy for many years. The DC Showboat built up the reputation as a mad-house type of scene, especially on the nights that Dizzy Gillespie would play. Other acts that graced the Showboat include Bill Evans, Shirley Horn, Earl Hines, Wes Montgomery, Herb Ellis, Marshall Hawkins, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Peterson and Gene Krupa.

The construction of the Capital Beltway made it easier for residents to be lured away from the cluster of shops and offices located in the downtown area. Before this, the jazz clubs of the city were less frequented than they should have been. The political turmoil constantly surrounding DC also seemed to sweep the entire arts scene under the rug, but the musical dent that it made, not to mention the players native to it (Duke Ellington, and Horn), credits the city for an ample slice of jazz history.

On any given night, one could catch co-bills at DC's Showboat Lounge, such as Vince Guaraldi and Bola Sete, Coleman Hawkins and Jimmy Witherspoon, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Carol Hedin among many others. The Showboat's many phases featured performers who would be welcomed back. Mose Allison, was among the last to play there before the club finally shut its doors in 1978. He recorded a live release there, Live 1978 (Liberation Hall, 2022), paying his respects to a ship that was about to sail away.

The Charlie Byrd Trio frequented the stage of the Showboat as well, having recorded three live albums there by 1960, and being scheduled eight months out of the year by '62. It would be renamed Byrd's Nest in '67, when it became jointly owned by the guitarist himself until the spring of '69. It then morphed into a revived version in Silver Spring, MD, on the first floor of the Villa Rosa restaurant. When it finally closed in 1978, only one jazz club was left in the Washington area, Blues Alley.

The legacy of the DC Showboat Lounge still lives on, with places like the Songbyrd Record Cafe (located at the original address) and Byrdland Records. Places like this help hold on to the history in a city that once provided a mad house for jazz. DC today has a vibrantly eclectic music scene, that's a hotspot for touring acts from all over the world, across all genres. Places like the Showboat Lounge helped to lay some of the groundwork for the diverse art scenes that now enrich the city.

Sources:

• Dinardo, Kelly. "The Celebrity Filled Past of H-Street." Washingtonian. 1 October, 2001.
• Pagones, John. "Showboat Just Keeps Rolling Along. Washington Post. 15 April, 1962.
• Segraves, John. "Suburbia Gets the Byrd." Washington Star. 12 September, 1967.
• West, I. Hollie. "Showboat: A Jazz Club Sails Away." 28 March, 1978.

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