We all have spring fever! Or maybe by now it is just summer fever? Whatever is going on with our climate, we can’t complain about the jazz climate in the Twin Cities. This week is no exception.
Highlights This Week
March 23: About a year ago I first encountered a group of student musicians from UW-Eau Claire working as the Tyler Anderson Quintet. Leader and saxophonist Tyler not only had a lot of musical talent, but sufficient entrepreneurial spirit to land a few gigs in Twin Cities clubs despite his youth and limited experience. A few months later, he returned to the Twin Cities with a quartet dubbed The Coriolis Effect, winning over fans at the Artists Quarter and Jazz Central before taking his fellow UW-EC students on the road, visiting
March 23-24: No matter how often Bruce Henry returns to the Twin Cities (and he was scheduled for at least three gigs in March), I never tire of his marvelous baritone energy and creative twists on songs from swing to bop, from Gershwin to Coltrane, from hip to gospel. But for all of his return visits since relocating to
March 24: The Midtown Global Market may have had its ups and downs, but these days the indoor feast of international food and crafts is bustling, and on Saturday afternoon, you can usually hear live music in the Atrium while you ponder that African stew, tamale plate or giant cookie. This afternoon, catch pianist Mary Louise Knutson (hot off her tour with Doc Severinsen) as she brings some joyful bop and original fare to the Market. And if you miss her in the afternoon, you can enjoy her in good company in the evening (10:30) at Vincent's, in the loft above the bar with Le Jazz Cool All-Stars, featuring the MN Orchestra's Charles Lazarus on steamy trumpet.

March 25-26: Maturing into her 30s but maintaining the youthful energy and boundless imagination that has marked her career for the past decade, pianist Hiromi returns to the Dakota with her Trio Project. Actually her career has largely focused on trio magic, with the addition of guitar yielding her quartet SonicBloom. In the past few years she has also stepped out in duo with Chick Corea, as sidewoman with Stanley Clarke, and alone with her 2010 solo tour and recording. But last year she reconstituted her trio, recording with Anthony Jackson (bass) and Simon Phillips (drums).

Never a night without jazz in the Twin Cities! Check online
live jazz calendars propelled by Bebopified; also posted on Jazz Police. More
ideas for the week:
·
Friday,
March 23: Joann Funk and Jeff Brueske
in the Lobby Bar (St Paul Hotel); Benny Weinbeck Trio at D’Amico
Kitchen (Le Meridien/Chambers Hotel); Joel Shapira at Ingredients Café; Lila
Ammons Trio at Three Crows (Delano); Patty Peterson and Friends and
Family (School II Bistro); Maud Hixson and Rick Carlson at the
Cannon River Winery (Cannon Falls)
·
Saturday,
March 24: Joann Funk and Jeff Brueske
in the Lobby Bar (St Paul Hotel); Benny Weinbeck Trio at D’Amico
Kitchen (Le Meridien/Chambers Hotel); Patty Peterson at The Lexington; James
Allen and Tom Pieper at First Course Bistro; Tanner Taylor/Graydon Peterson/Matt Edlund at Jazz Central
·
Sunday,
March 25: Patty and the Buttons, brunch
at the Aster Café; Zacc Harris Trio at the Riverview Wine Bar; U of
M Jazz Combo at the Artists Quarter; Charmin Michelle and the Jerry O’Hagan
Orchestra at Cinema Ballroom
·
Monday,
March 26: Charmin Michelle and Denny
Malmberg at Fireside Pizza; Adam
Meckler Orchestra at O’Gara’s; Adi Yeshaya at Jazz Central
·
Tuesday,
March 27:Cory Wong Quartet
followed by weekly invited jam session; Frankhouse at Hell’s Kitchen; Alden
Ikeda Quartet at the Black Dog; Laura Underwood at The Nicollet; Nova
Jazz Orchestra at the Shorewood
·
Wednesday,
March 28: Joel Shapira at Hell’s
Kitchen; Charmin Michelle and Denny Malmberg at Fireside Pizza; Steve Kenny and the Bastids followed
by the Brian Grivna Quartet at the Artists Quarter; Todd
Clouser’s Love Electric at the Nomad World Pub
·
Thursday,
March 29: Eau Claire Jazz Festival with
John Patitucci and Andy Martin (through
April 1); Jana Nyberg at Hell’s Kitchen; Sophia Shorai at The Lexington
Coming Soon!
. March 30-31, Good Life at the Artists Quarter
·
March 31, Doug Little, Music of Roberto Fonseca,
Jazz at Studio Z
·
April 1, JaLaLa (Janice Siegel, Laurel Masse,
Laura Kinhan) at the Dakota
·
April 2, Interplay Workshop followed by John
Raymond Project at Jazz Central
·
April 6, Irvin Mayfield Quintet at Orchestra
Hall
·
April 6 & 13, Bobbi Miller and Rhonda Laurie, "Naughty Songs for Nice Girls"at Bryant Lake Bowl
·
April 6-7, Eric Kamau Gravatt at the Artists
Quarter
·
April 10, Cory Wong and Peña (TCJS Jazz From J
to Z) at Minneapolis
Southwest High School
·
April 10, Gary Smulyan and the McNally Smith
X-Tet at the Artists Quarter
·
April 13-14, Bill Carrothers at the Artists
Quarter
·
April 14, Legends at the Capri ,
tribute to Frank Sinatra with Jason Richards and the Rick Carlson Trio
·
April 14, Francois Rabbath at Antonello Hall,
MacPhail Center for Music
·
April 15, PipJazz Sunday with Solomon Parham,
Pippi Ardennia at Landmark
Center , Weyerhauser
Auditorium
·
April 15, MacPhail Center for Music Combo Festival
and Spotlight Concert featuring Adam Niewood, the Dakota Combo, and MacPhail
Jazz Faculty
·
April 19, KBEM’s REEL Jazz, “An Evening with
Both DeFlores” (Louis Armstrong) at the Trylon Microcinema
·
April 21, JazzMN Orchestra with Terell Stafford
at the Hopkins High
School Performing Arts
Center
·
April 21, Judi Donaghy, Jazz@ St Barney’s
·
April 22, Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education
Fund Raiser Brunch at the Dakota
·
April 22, Grace Kelly at the Dakota
·
April 22, Doug Haining Quintet, Tribute to
Cannonball Adderley (TCJS Jazz From J to Z) at the Artists Quarter
·
April 28, Bruce Henry Tribute to Marvin Gaye at
the Hopkins
Center for the Arts
·
April 29-30, Steve Tyrell at the Dakota
·
May 4, Tortoise and Twin Cities Jazz All-Stars
at the Walker Art Center
·
May 8-9, Poncho Sanchez at the Dakota
·
May 10, Dakota Combo at MacPhail
·
May 11, Evan Christopher with Lee Engele at Hopkins Center for the Arts
·
May 11-12, Zacc Harris Group CD Release at the
Artists Quarter
·
May 12, Evan Christopher at the Hopkins Center for the Arts
·
May 13, PipJazz Sundays at Landmark Center
·
May 14, Kenny Garrett at the Dakota
·
May 20-21, Ramsey Lewis Trio at the Dakota
·
May 26, Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Orchestra
Hall
·
June 22, A Love Electric/Adam Meckler Orchestra
at the Ritz Theater
·
June 28-30, Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Mears Park
(headliners Bad Plus with Joshua Redman; Delfeayo Marsalis Octet; Francisco
Mela’s Cuban Safari)
·
July 1-2, Bill Frisell at the Dakota
·
September 4-5, Pat Metheny & Chris Potter at
the Dakota
·
September 26-27, Chick Corea and Gary Burton at
the Dakota
·
October 30-31, Maria Schneider Orchestra at the
Dakota
Photos (top to bottom): Hiromi; Bruce Henry; Mary Louise Knutson; John Raymond (all photos by Andrea Canter)