Elijah Jamal Balbed

Elijah Jamal Balbed

 Elijah Jamal Balbed is one of the premiere Jazz Artists in Washington, DC. Winner of the 2020 DC Jazz Prix Competition, Elijah has also been named Best Tenor Saxophonist and Best New Jazz Musician by the Washington City Paper and has been featured in various publications such as Capital Bop, Smithsonian Magazine, OnTap Magazine (now District Fray), and The Washington Post. In addition to Jazz, Elijah has a deep love for DC’s indigenous music known as Go-Go. Elijah performed with The Godfather of Go-Go Chuck Brown from 2011 until Mr. Brown’s passing in 2012. During a residency at Strathmore in 2014, Elijah founded The JoGo Project - a Jazz / Go-Go fusion band dedicated to promoting and preserving the legacy of DC’s unique art form. 

Over the last decade, Elijah has established himself as an International Artist having performed in Japan, the United Kingdom, Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha (Qatar), and on the Capital Jazz Cruise which has taken Elijah all around the Caribbean Islands. In 2018 and 2019, Elijah led cultural diplomacy tours in Russia on behalf of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg, sponsored by the Forum for Cultural Exchange (FCE). Most recently Elijah performed at the 2021 Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival (#PAPJAZZ) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with Trinidadian Steel Pan virtuoso Josanne Francis. When Elijah is not traveling, he dedicates his time at home to education and passing down the knowledge he's learned to the younger generations who haven't had the chance to connect with the masters of this music the way Elijah has been fortunate to.

During the pandemic, Elijah stayed busy with remote recording sessions, private lessons, and livestream concerts, and eventually creating a pop-up concert series around town which came to be known as #JazzMobDC. The series was featured in The Washington Post, and as live music venues start to make a comeback Elijah is still dedicated to presenting the array of talented artists we have in Washington, DC at parks and other venues. In addition, Elijah was recently appointed Jazz Curator at The Kreeger Museum, presenting duo concerts for small, socially distanced audiences on the outdoor terrace at The Kreeger.

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