Duke Shields

Nashville has Willie Nelson; Washington has Duke Ellington. Well, technically, had Duke Ellington as the jazz great "passed" as the Yanks would say, some years back. Which is why this week the Chocolate City (so called because it's America's blackest, not because it's the home of Hersheys) is paying tribute to its legendary son with the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival.

Jazz festival and baby might sound tautologous but we managed to find the week's one baby-friendly - an open-air concert on the Mall, in the lee of the Washington Monument. Our motives were twofold: as well as having fun, Louis was anxious not to be outdone by his Daddy, who called last night from a field in Nashville with the strains of country star Willie Nelson in the background. Plus today was his four-month birthday and a chap's got to celebrate after all. 

In practice, jiving with a baby under an unfathomably hot October sun was trickier than anticipated and we didn't see much of the action as had to both try and hide beneath the meagre shade of Louis's Bugaboo parasol. But he did have a little baby boogie to bassist Christian McBride's group, which you should be able to watch. (Note Louis's Obama nappy bag, because when he dirties his diaper, it's time for change.)