NEW SOUNDS The collective trio Fly come to the Regattabar April 17. |
The jazz business is never easy, but Boston has always been blessed with plenty of DIY spirit from its artists. Which makes CREATIVE NATION MUSIC's fifth-anniversary celebration a particularly sweet harbinger of spring (Cambridge Family YMCA Theater, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge; March 28-29; //cnmpro.com). The brainchild of guitarist Eric Hofbauer, CNM has released a clutch of vital CDs from Boston's progressive-jazz scene, and the two-day festival will celebrate recent releases with performances by the duo of Hofbauer and fellow guitarist Garrison Fewell, the Ayn Inserto Orchestra (with special guest George Garzone), the Quartet of Happiness, and Hofbauer's Infrared Band, plus the saxophone duo Ronald Regan, noise-quintet Scurvy, and New York bassist Moppa Elliott's Mostly Other People Do the Killing.One of the more exciting bookings at the REGATTABAR this season is the collective trio Fly, with saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Jeff Ballard, April 17, on the heels of their ECM debut Sky & Country. Other highlights at the R-Bar (Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge; www.regattabar.com): violinist Jenny Scheinman (March 28); John Scofield's Piety Street Band of New Orleans all-stars John Cleary, George Porter Jr., and singer John Boutte (April 3-4); Boston retro-jazz-and-swing vocalist Miss Tess (April 7); Chris Potter and his free-bop funk outfit Underground (April 8); the "Soul Queen of New Orleans" Irma Thomas (April 9-13); young Boston alto-sax phenom Grace Kelly (April 16); drum goddess Cindy Blackman (April 28); world-traveled local faves the Either/Orchestra (May 1); fusion guitar monster Mike Stern with drummer Dave Weckl (May 12-13); pianist Laszlo Gardony (May 14), and Bill Frisell's sublime 858 quartet with Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts, and Jenny Scheinman (May 21-22).
Across the river at SCULLERS (DoubleTree Guest Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Rd, Boston; www.scullersjazz.com), booker Fred Taylor brings in Louisiana singer/pianist Marcia Ball (April 3); Boston singer Semenya McCord (April 8); veteran Hammond B-3 man Dr. Lonnie Smith (April 17); pianist Kevin Harris (April 22); New Orleans trumpet monster Nicholas Payton (April 23); piano star Cyrus Chestnut (April 24-25); the freakishly exciting Colombian harp master Edmar Castañeda (April 29); jazz-classical fusion pianist Donal Fox (May 2); saxophonist/arranger Travis Sullivan's wild and wonderful Björkestra (May 13); flutist Dave Valentin and his Latin Jazz Project (May 21); tap-guitar master Stanley Jordan (May 22), and pianist Hiromi (May 23).
RYLES (212 Hampshire St, Cambridge; www.ryles.com) brings in its usual mix of jazz and world music: Brazilian drummer Rodrigo Bonelli's Two Worlds Orchestra (April 1); guitarist Bruce Bartlett's trio (April 7); Brazilian saxophonist Felipe Salles's quintet (April 8); saxophonist Florencia Gonzalez's exciting 24-piece big band (April 15); trumpeter Frank Vardaros and the Ryles Jazz Orchestra celebrating its 12th anniversary (April 18); and the crazed Armenian-Latin fusion Black Sea Salsa Band (May 8).
In other jazz concert news: bad-boy trio the BAD PLUS come to the Berklee Performance Center celebrating their new "vocal" covers album For All I Care (Heads Up) with singer Wendy Lewis (April 3, 136 Mass Ave, Boston; www.worldmusic.org). The pianist and composer FRANK CARLBERG plays his suite of settings of the poetry of Robert Creeley, The American Dream, with his band and singer Christine Correa, at the Lily Pad (April 24, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge; www.lily-pad.net). For details on the upcoming citywide JAZZ WEEK (April 25–May 3) blowout, make sure to check in with www.jazzboston.org — always a good source for jazz-event info.
Editor's Note: In a previous version of this article, the Ryles Jazz Orchestra was said to be playing on April 17, the correct date is April 18, and the correction has been made above.
