Friendly experiencers,
Let’s just get this out of the way: jazz fans, the coming week is absolutely stacked. It’s so full of notable shows that it took two let’s call this posts to begin to cover it–and a third might not get to the bottom of the good stuff.
If the music calendar for the week were a dart board, you could close your eyes and hit a bullseye every time.
So as March goes out like a lion here’s your bulldog edition of Pull UP! Now have fun filling up that calendar.
You already know NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington as a masterly drummer, influential educator, influential bandleader and founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. But you might not know her as a composer of music for large ensembles. For her 40th anniversary in music, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, itself celebrating a 40th anniversary this year, is presenting an evening of the Grammy- and Doris Duke Award-winning Carrington’s compositions in a pulse-quickening program called “The Pulse of Progress.”
Cleveland Jazz Orchestra wsg Terri Lyne Carrington, Fri. March 28, 7:30 p.m., Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center, 1855 Ansel Rd., Cleveland, tickets $27.50-47.50 available here.
The music of Astor Piazzolla is a paradox for marketing types. Is it classical or folk music? High culture or low? The Argentine composer’s compositions inhabit many worlds simultaneously, and in the hands of The Oblivion Project, jazz is one of them. The ensemble is the brainchild of Cleveland cellist Derek Snyder and Ann Arbor-based violinist Gabriel Bolkosky but also includes jazz and jazz-adjacent players Joel Negus on bass, percussionist Anthony Taddeo and guitarist Daniel Bruce. “For me it’s wonderful because i get to fit into a high-level chamber group and then suddenly it’ll open up,” Bruce said of the sextet. “It’s really fun and musically very adventurous and playful.” Add to that seductive, hypnotic, emotional and when Buenos Aires-born Malena Dayen sings, muy autentico y apassionado.
The Oblivion Project, Fri. March 28, 7:30 p.m., Gartner Auditorium, 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, tickets $28–$45, CMA members $25–$40, available here
Stephen Philip Harvey‘s new big band recording will be titled Multiversal. It’s a nod to Harvey’s love of comics and superheroes, but it could just as easily be a reference to the man himself. A composer, teacher and recording artist, Harvey seems to be everywhere doing everything all at once, The Pittsburgh-area native has a soft spot for Cleveland as a scan of the local A-listers who populate his 17-piece Jazz Orchestra will reveal. On Saturday, they will play a book of seven new compositions for Multiversal, which will be recorded twice in two separate sets at BOP STOP. Come for one set or stay for both, and you can be an NPC in the SPH multiverse.
The Stephen Philip Harvey Jazz Orchestra, Sat. March 29, 7 and 9:30 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, tickets $20 for individual sets, $30 for both available here.
Over its 10-year run of presenting improvised music in northeast Ohio, the essential New Ghosts organization has presented presented Ballister more than any other artist, or group. From face-melting volcanic blasts to delicate pre-dawn lyricism, Chicago saxophonist, label head and scenemaker Dave Rempis, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and Norwegian drummer PNL (iykyk) always bring it, which is why managing general Ghost Matt Laferty brings them back again and again. A Ballister set is a full evening, but on Tuesday it’s two for one as Jason Adasiewicz will play compositions by Windy City titan Roscoe Mitchell arranged for solo vibraphone. Only a fool would miss this April 1 concert.
Ballister wsg Jason Adasiewicz , Tue. April 1, 8 p.m. doors 7 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, tickets $20 available here.
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?
NOTE: This article was written by a real human being. No artificial intelligence or generative language models were used in its creation.
Red beans and ricely yours,
jc
