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 participation in the Artist-in-Residence program at Strathmore.
Now celebrating 12 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 originally in San Francisco, now Baltimore Keystone Korner.
The series came to be known as #BMORELOVESGOGO, 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, The 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 “The Real Project 2025”, from the EP Keeping Faith Alive in 2025,
released on the label Growroom Productions.
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 were commissioned to create 3 original gogo songs, which would end up being
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.