Sunday Soul at Takoma Station

Washington-based crooner Raheem Devaughn's star keeps rising even though it's taken two years for Jive Records to finally release his "Love Experience" album. I guess that's what happens when you're stuck below the Pied Piper of R&B on the corporate priority totem pole.

One of the tools Raheem has used to aggregate the faithful has been his weekly Chocolate City Cotton Club jam sessions at Takoma Station on Sunday nights. If you've been missing out, we've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that this Sunday is the last installment until summer ends. The good news is that before it goes on hiatus, you can check out vocalist Sy Smith. Her roots are in Maryland but she went west to Los Angeles where she's gotten a lot of work behind the scenes. Smith backed up Vonda Shepherd for five seasons on "Ally McBeal" and toured with Whitney Houston, Macy Gray and Usher, to name a few. For her welcome-home set at Takoma Station, she'll share material from her new solo project, "The Syberspace Social," and will definitely join in on the tunes she co-penned with W. Ellington Felton on his most recent Crossrhodes release.

After the featured act, Raheem opens things up for the band and invited guests to sweat it out improv-style. Showtime is at 9 p.m. and the whole evening will cost you $10. Actually, you might have to listen to the proceedings from the sidewalk if you don't get there early; it gets packed pretty quickly.

-- Rhome