The Peerless Rens Club is excited to welcome The JoGo Project, a WAMMIE Award-winning jazz and gogo band from Washington, DC, created by Saxophonist and DC jazz stalwart Elijah Jamal Balbed (aka EJB) in 2014 during a residency program at Strathmore. Now celebrating 10 years of JoGo, the band has become a consistent force in the DMV area, having performed at Blues Alley, Kennedy Center, and DC Jazz Festival, and recently expanding to the Mid-Atlantic and Southern U.S. In 2018, JoGo made history as the first gogo band to perform in Russia on a cultural diplomacy tour on behalf of the U.S. State Department. From 2021-2023, JoGo maintained a monthly residency at the legendary jazz club Keystone Korner called #BMORELOVESGOGO, a series co-produced by club owner and NEA Jazz Master Todd Barkan.
In addition to their high-energy live performances, JoGo Project has consistently been in the studio since 2016 - having released their debut EP in 2017 entitled "One For Pops" on The Beat & Path Records, and many singles since then - consisting of almost entirely original music. Most recently, the band released their newest original single '(That) JoGo Groove' on the label Growroom Productions - an upbeat dance track featuring Bravo Reds and Greg Boyer that inhabits the pre-gogo sound of Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, while pushing hard The JoGo Project's message of universal groove. In December 2023, JoGo Project released 'Baby Fever' - an original pocket beat song by JusPaul, chords written by EJB. The song was nominated for the 2024 WAMMIE Award for Best Gogo Song, and was also featured in "Bring the Beat" - a documentary about gogo music put together by the U.S. Embassy The Hague and the Forum for Cultural Engagement. In 2019, JoGo won the WAMMIE Award for Best Go-Go Song for their original song 'Dear Draylen' - a dedication to Draylen Mason, a 17 year-old bassist from Austin, TX who had been accepted into Oberlin Conservatory but was tragically killed in a package bombing - which was determined to be a hate crime. In 2018, members of JoGo created 3 original gogo songs that were featured on the video game "Tom Clancy's The Division 2.”
The JoGo Project maintains a regular performance schedule, as well as doing workshops and masterclasses for schools - an opportunity to pass down knowledge learned from years of performing as well as giving the students something to look up to and be inspired by. For more information, go to www.jogoproject.com or follow on socials @thejogoproject. Music and merch can also be found at jogoproject.bandcamp.com.