The Washington DC Jazz Festival was founded by renowned jazz producer Charles Fishman and his wife, attorney Stephanie Peters in 2004. Initial planning for an annual Washington, DC Jazz Festival, which was originally called the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, began and a Gala Sneak Preview concert took place in Fall 2004 at the Lincoln Theatre in the heart of DC’s historic U Street corridor.

The First Annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival premiered in the District of Columbia on September 28, 2005. This mostly free, five-day festival attracted 30,000 attendees and featured an eclectic representation of artists in the jazz tradition, including National Endowment for the Arts jazz masters Dave Brubeck and Wayne Shorter, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band from New Orleans, Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and Wallace Roney Sextet. Programs were presented in 18 venues, including the Lincoln Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and 11 clubs and restaurants, establishing DCJF’s citywide presenting tradition. The festival highlight was a free, all-day concert at Sylvan Amphitheatre on The National Mall.

The inaugural Festival included a Congressional resolution in support of the Festival and participation by 100 Members of Congress on the Honorary Congressional Host Committee. The first Duke Ellington Festival Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dave Brubeck by Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, Co-Chair of the Honorary Congressional Host Committee, at an opening Congressional Reception on Capitol Hill. Mr. Brubeck and Joshua Davies, a Duke Ellington School for the Arts student, performed on that momentous evening.