Ariel Pocock Quintet @ Sharp Nine Friday night: Releasing her new CD, Living In Twilight--well worth listening to--Ariel surrounded herself with musicians she could interact with: Keith Ganz on guitar, Al Strong on trumpets, Brevan Hampden on percussion, & James Suter on bass. Adding Dave Finucane on tenor, they concluded with an everyone-solos version of the Lambert-Hendricks-Ross tune "Centerpiece"--Brevan going on for 5 minutes or so, not losing us but heating the room.
Scott Sawyer & Bernie Pettaway duo-ing with Robbie Link & John Hanks at the Station Saturday afternoon: Every once in a while, expecting that a gig will be worthwhile, you run into something special. As much as I like Scott Sawyer, I had missed Bernie Pettaway over the years--& so had Scott! Saturday afternoon their 25 years of not playing together produced magnificent duo playing in the quartet. E.g. their version of "Some Other Time" alone was so good I could've left then & been totally satisfied, having been to a mountaintop.
(Kudos for the Station's Michelle Mercer for asking Robbie to put a gig together & Robbie for his great choice.)
This week: Local jazz "summer" may be here, with too much competition from warm-weather activities. First I can think of this week's outdoor gigs for those who want alfresco music:
The Brad Maiani Trio at the Looking Glass Tuesday 7p & the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra at Southern Village Thursday 7p.
Second--for those who remember why venues have air conditioning--there are plenty of regular gigs this week (as Annie Savoy said, "you can look it up"). Plus:
Drummer Donovan Cheetum lights up the Beyu Friday night 7 & 9p, & the Zen Poets are at Irregardless that night 9p. I'm thinking of the serious elder exercise of catching Donovan at 7 & the ZPs at 9.