Spyro Gyra
Friday, August 11, 7:30 p.m.
Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St., Kent (tickets)
Are they jazz? After 49 years, it’s kind of a moot point. OG saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and his bubbly, rhythm-happy crew have making heads nod and feet pat for a lot of folks–probably more than a few hardcore jazz stans among them. This summertime music should fill the house at Kent Stage.
Chris Coles / Bobby Selvaggio Quintet
Saturday, August 12, 8 p.m.
BLU Jazz+, 47 E. Market St., Akron (tickets)
Old fashioned cutting sessions might be a thing of the past, but Chris Coles and Bobby Selvaggio are a couple of players who won’t back down from any challenge. They’re also old friends and former colleagues on the Kent State faculty. So while good feelings and camaraderie will abound, don’t be surprised if sparks fly.
Barbara Rosene and Rock Wehrmann
Monday, August 14, 6:30 p.m.
Paris Room Bistro, 7 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls (cover)
On Monday evenings, Chagrin Falls magically transforms into Manhattan—at least the small corner of the East Side suburb that is the Paris Room Bistro. It’s hard to think of a better catalyst for the restaurant-to-cabaret alchemy that vocalist Barbara Rosene, who has worked some of New York’s toniest boîtes in her peripatetic career. She knows a lot of tunes and so does Rock Wehrmann. It should be fun to hear what they call.
I couldn’t live without Jim Szabo’s essential, weekly Northeast Ohio jazz calendar , NEO’s most complete list of jazz and jazz-adjacent events. If you haven’t visited it lately, what are you waiting for?
