![The JoGo Project with Spinkick [CANCELED]](https://dromnyc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ceg-afro-quintet.jpg)
Description
The JoGo Project is a WAMMIE Award-winning jazz and gogo band from Washington, DC created by Saxophonist Elijah Jamal Balbed in 2014 while completing his residency 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. Most recently the band has expanded to new territories with The JoGo Big Band – combining elements of Go-Go Music and Big Band Jazz.
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”.
SpinKicK is a band created by Norman Paul Edwards Jr. The band blends Dance, Funk, Hip Hop and Jazz into feel good melodies and slamming grooves.
The music is influenced by artists such as Earth Wind and Fire, Jamiroquai, Herbie Hancock and Prince. It brings the party, and the artistry of music while having a connection to the people.