Street Sounds

Why Musicians Around Town Take Their Songs To the Sidewalk

There's a song waiting for you at the top of the escalator.

A sax player is perched there, watching commuters pour out of the Farragut North Metro station as he honks on a Coltrane-inspired version of "My Favorite Things."

Or maybe it's an old Beatles tune courtesy of the bespectacled dude brandishing the electric guitar.

Or some Bach. Some blues. Maybe a little go-go.

For many of Washington's street musicians, rush hour is showtime. They select the tunes, and we supply the beat: a cadence of loafers and pumps marching in and out of the workaday world.

They provide a soundtrack for our weekends, too. Outside bars, in parks, at farmers markets and on busy street corners, they're strumming, bleating, crooning and thumping along to the sounds of the city.

And while they appreciate our pocket money, these musicians are ultimately after something else: our respect. We caught up with five performers who have brought their sounds to area streets over the years.

The Veteran

JAMES "KENYATTA" PALMORE, 67, of the District is a retired music teacher and Vietnam veteran who has been playing music on sidewalks outside Metro stations and stadiums for more than 25 years.

When did you start playing saxophone?

Oh, about 30 years ago. I did eight years in the military and took my G.I. Bill and decided that that's what I wanted to do. I listened to the greats: Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Ramsey Lewis, Bud Powell, Dizzy [Gillespie]. They got stuck in my head.

How did you learn to play?

I took lessons at the University of the District of Columbia, and I had some very fine professors. [One] professor told us that black sax players are a dime a dozen. "Get a flute or a clarinet, and I'll give you a sax lesson here and there." So in order to get the saxophone together, I had to study classical music on the flute. And I fell in love with it.