Warm Days, Musical Nights: 9.30 – 10.6

Well, the leaves haven’t popped just yet: the days are warm and the nights require a jacket. But soon we’ll be in the midst of full-fledged Fall, thinking about keeping warm. You can do so by clapping and whooping it up for the musicians enriching your lives through their performances. We have a week featuring lots of different artists plying jazz, blues, roots, and world music, and even a performance with a painter creating to music. Get out and support creativity in its many forms. Music lifts the spirit.

Jazz

Wednesday, September 30

Steve Hobert and Dean Magraw @ Jazz Central, Minneapolis. 8:30pm ($10 Suggested Donation) The ever-imaginative pianist Steve Hobert teams up with the ever-creative guitarist Dean Magraw for a special evening of music.

Thursday, October 1

Jayanthi Kyle and Miss Pennie’s Microphone @ Jazz Central, Minneapolis. 7:30pm ($10 Suggested Donation)  Kyle is an up and coming vocalist who has been heard in a number of different groups in town, including the gospelized Black Audience, the R&B-ish Bain, and others. She’ll be accompanied by David Crittenden on classical guitar and Bryan Nelson on violin.

Friday, October 2

Pete Enblom Sextet @ Jazz Central, Minneapolis. 8pm ($10 Suggested Donation) Enblom is a 40 year veteran, having played lead trombone, for the Buddy Rich band, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. He currently is lead trombone for the Brian Setzer Orchestra, and has played behind such legendary artists as Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, and Frank Sinatra. Tonight he leads the following: Bob Bowman, bass; Clay Pufahl, sax; Jake Baldwin, trumpet; Peter Schimke, piano; and Mac Santiago, drums.  

Dark Blue Quartet: Live Painting Experience @ The Nicollet Cafe, Minneapolis. 9pm ($10 Suggested Donation) A combination of performing and visual arts as Tim Nyberg paints while the Dark Blue Quartet plays. Dark Blue is a quartet of relatively young players: Dylan Nelson, guitar; Alex Burgess, drums; Thomas Strommen, sax; and Jason McLean bas.

Saturday, October 3

Saturday Night Jazz @ The Blackdog Coffee and Wine Bar, Saint Paul. 7pm  ($10 Suggested Donation)  Opening at 7pm: Debut performance of a group of young players to watch: The Jordan Anderson Group with Adam Astrup, guitar; Ben Beyene, drums; Isaac Ash, bass; and Jordan Anderson, piano. at 8:30pm: The Deconstruction Zone playing an evening of deconstructed jazz standards and a few original compositions. Anthony Cox, bass & cello; Bryan Nichols, piano; Davu Seru, percussion, Steve Kenny, brass; plus special guests.

JazzMN Orchestra w/Wayne Bergeron @ Hopkins High School, 2400 Lindberg Drive, Hopkins. 7:30pm ($34) Trumpeter Bergeron is popular with this Orchestra and its audience. His featured solos can be heard on a number of films and TV shows.

Sophia Shorai @ Crooners Lounge & Supper Club, Fridley. 7:30pm (No cover) The lounge at Crooners may prove to be a perfect setting for the sweet vocals of Ms Shorai, who is likely to include some of her own pop-oriented originals in her program tonight.

Bob Bowman & Michael Shults Quartet @ Jazz Central, Minneapolis. 8pm ($10 Suggested Donation)  Bowman, from Kansas City, is a bassist who has played with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, and with singers Carmen McRea and Karrin Allyson. He’s been coming up here quite frequently to play with Laura Caviani as well. Michael Shults is a first-call saxophonist in Kansas City, and is a featured soloist on the well-received Bobby Watson CD, The Gates BBQ Suite from 2010. They’ll be joined by Dan Leahy on piano and Mac Santiago on drums.

Sunday, October 4

Solomon’s Sessions @ Bedlam Theater Lowertown, Saint Paul. 7pm – 10pm ($5) Trumpeter Solomon Parham and cohorts from MacNally Smith and elsewhere hold forth at the Bedlam, jamming on jazz standards, playing an original or two, and inviting select friends to join in at various times during the evening. Here’s a brief preview.

Tuesday, October 6

Butch Thompson @ Crooners Lounge & Supper Club, Fridley. 7pm (No Cover) Tables will be placed on the dance floor to turn the lounge into a listening room so the audience can fully appreciate Thompson’s piano playing. He’ll tell stories of early jazz and perhaps play his clarinet as well. Here he is, in case you’ve never heard him.

Steve Kenny Quartet @ Vieux Carré, Saint Paul. 8pm (?) Once again, veteran brass player Steve Kenny joins up with players who are his junior by 20 years or more: Javi Santiago, piano; Ted Olson, bass; and Miguel Hurtado, drums. This trio regularly plays together, so the addition of Kenny on FLUMPET™ should cause some very interesting musical sparks.

For a comprehensive listing of Jazz, go to the Twin Cities Live Jazz Calendar. KBEM provides a calendar of jazz and roots music. For further commentary on jazz in the Twin Cities, check out these blogs: Jazz Police, Jazz Ink, and Bebopified.

Blues, Roots, Other…

Wednesday, September 30

Burns, Hayes, & Hayes on KFAI and @ The 331 Club, Minneapolis. 5pm (90.3 & 106.7FM), 7pm (331 Club – tip Jar) Old school blues from three guys who have been at it in various groups since the dawn of the first blues revival. Harpist Tom Burns currently plays with Mississippi Driftwood, and in the past has played with the Joel Johnson Band, the Blue Diamonds, and with Queen Sylvia. Guitarist Larry Hayes was an original member of Lamont Cranston and went on to form the Tonearms. Brother Brian Hayes was with the Alley Katz back in the day, and currently performs solo. Tune in, and if you like what you hear, head to the 331.

Hannah Von Der Hoff & the Dangertones @ the Icehouse, Minneapolis. 10 pm ($6) Von Der Hoff is a soulful singer with serious pipes, who does a fine job updating 60s soul music from Aretha Franklin, et al, and then ups the ante with her own originals.

Thursday, October 1

Maria Muldaur @ The Dakota, Minneapolis. 7pm ($35) So, Muldaur is at a point where she can do the multi-media approach to regaling us with tales of her career while singing her hits and current faves.

Willie Murphy and Rena Haus @ The Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar, Saint Paul. 8pm (Tip Jar) Here’s a fun combination of singer/songwriters, with an emphasis on acoustic blues. Murphy is the legendary singer/songwriter/pianist/guitarist/producer who chose to continue to live in the Twin Cities rather than move to the coasts to record and produce after the 1969 release of Running Jumping, Standing Still with Spider John Koerner. Rena Haus is a singer/guitarist/songwriter who lives on a farm NE of the Twin Cities and comes to town to regale us with songs about chickens, mechanics, big business, and the vicissitudes of love.

Brian Gallagher Quartet w/Julius Collins @ The Icehouse, Minneapolis. 9:30pm (No Cover) Brian Gallagher, sax; Brian Ziemniak, piano; Pete Hennig, drums; Yohannes Tona;  bass. Julius Collins on vocals. Add this group to the list of performers to watch, as this is their debut performance. Each of the players all has scads of experience, in large part thanks to their imaginative playing. The addition of Collins, with his versatile voice, is icing on the cake. Here’s a clip of Collins.

Friday, October 2

Ginger Commodore & GCQ @ Crooners Lounge & Supper Club, Fridley. 7:30pm (No Cover) Vocalist Commodore has a resume that spans genres and is very long: Sounds of Blackness; the Minnesota Opera; Mixed Blood; Penumbra; The Chiffons; Moore by Four; and much more.

JW Jones @ Famous Dave’s, Minneapolis. 9pm ($7) This Canadian guitar slinger and vocalist tours constantly and with his singing and playing has earned praise from the Dan Ackroyd, and American Blues Revue magazine, in addition to his being nominated for a Juno Award (Canada’s Grammy). He’s released 8 albums, and his guitar playing has been compared to a combination of T-Bone Walker, Johnny Guitar Watson, and Clarence Gatemouth Brown.

Maurice Jacox @ Vieux Carré, Saint Paul. 9pm ($8) Well respected vocalist Jacox brings his smooth baritone to a program of Nat King Cole meets acoustic Motown with a shot of R&B to the basement club.

Davina & the Vagabonds @ Lee’s Liquor Lounge, Minneapolis. 9:30pm ($12) An increasingly rare opportunity to see Davina and the guys let loose for dancers.

Saturday, October 3

Vieux Farka Tourre @ The Dakota, Minneapolis. 8pm ($30) The connection between African music and the Blues may become evident when you hear Touré play the guitar. This Malian musician has earned gushing praise from both Rolling Stone and the LA Times.

The Good, The Bad, and the Funky @ The Narrows Blues Saloon, Wayzata. 8:30pm (No Cover) A chance for dancers in the Western suburbs to get down to funky horn bad.

The Swamp Kings @ Vieux Carré, Saint Paul. 9pm ($8) Let the Bon Tons Roulet! This trio is entirely appropriate for the New Orleans themed basement club, as they play a rollicking mix of Cajun, Zydeco, and New Orleans R&B.

Sunday, October 4

Viva Brazil @ The Icehouse, Minneapolis. 5pm ($10) sensuous rhythms, beguiling vocals, and spot-on musicianship from this septet of international musicians will have you dancing in your seat, if not on the dance floor.\

Afro-Cuban All Stars @ The Dakota, Minneapolis. 7pm ($50), 9pm ($45) Dazzling percussion and intricate rhythms explode wit excitement when it’s group takes the stage. No doubt there will be salsa dancing in the aisles

Tuesday, October 6

Fat Chance Jug Band and Friends @ The Driftwood Char Bar, Minneapolis. 6pm (Tip Jar) To say that jug band music is casual is an understatement. The combination of homemade and acoustic instruments is effective for a back porch jam, or in this case, a gathering of the always-reliable Fat Chancers and their like-minded guests in a friendly setting.

For a more comprehensive listing of Blues (and some roots) events, check out the MN Blues Society calendar. For a comprehensive listing of Cajun and Zydeco events, see the Krewe de Walleye calendar.