9/13--Fabulous extravore pianist Jason Moran & his Bandwagon @ Duke Performances: He's my favorite modern jazz pianist.
9/14--Modern Jazz Quartet Tribute at Sharp Nine: Ed Furtick's planned this for years. Don't let him down. Fill up the place!
9/14: Jason Moran competes with Ed Furtick with a Fats Waller Jazz Party @ Duke Performances: There's enough of an audience for both, I hope. Beware of Jason's Fat's Waller head.
9/16--NCJRO Swing Dance at Kenan Music Bldg: All part of the NCJRO's 25th anniversary. It will swing in all ways possible.
9/21--Zen Poets' CD release party at Sharp Nine: This band has a just plain different sound that's worth hearing. Be there then.
10/5: The NCCU Faculty jazz band makes what I think is its first Sharp Nine performance: They are usually only heard 1-2 times a year on campus. Another opportunity to hear them.
10/5: The Branford Marsalis Quartet @ Duke Performances competes with the NCCU faculty: I'm pretty sure this gig was scheduled before the S9 gig, but it does create competition.
10/6: Venerable, ancient extravore saxist Lee Konitz @ the Carrboro Art Center: He started in the '40s & has keep going, adapting to changing musical times.
10/19: Localish vocalist Carol Sloane joins the Duke Big Band at Baldwin: A nice pairing by John Brown, & a chance for those like me who missed her in Raleigh this summer.
10/27: Extravore bassist Iris Ornig @ Sharp Nine: Last year she charmed us with arrangements of the often in-jazzable Bert Bacharach. I expect more charm this year.
11/2: Saxist Steve Coleman @ Duke Performances: Coleman has his own forms of music, well worth hearing.
11/9: Extravore drummer Ralph Petersen brings his group to Carrboro's Arts Center: The AC has gotten jazzy this fall!
12/3-9: Duke Performances' Vocal Fest: Seven of the best female jazz vocalists over seven nights: All your jazz vocal yayas in one week!
12/8: Local resident pianist Joey Calderazzo's quartet at the Carrboro Arts Center: Sorry, Rene Marie, I have to skip the Vocal Fest for this.
12/11: Wynton Marsalis makes his annual visit to Carolina Performing Arts: An orchestral break between the vocalists.
12/14: Extravore vocalist Ann Hampton Calloway @ Sharp Nine: She coulda been part of Duke's Vocal Fest, but adds to its spirit with two sets of "Diva Power" here. I've seen her before; now I'll see her again.
That enough?
This Week: I only have energy left for random hightlights...
Monday: Gregg Gelb brings younger players (from the TYJE?) into the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra at the Pittsboro Roadhouse 7p.
Wednesday: Vibraphonist Steve Hobbs at C Grace 9p.
Thursday: The annual semester-opening UNC jazz faculty @ Moeser Auditorium 7:30p. I'll be there amid students with computers & phones.
Friday:
- The Onyx Club Boys bring gypsy jazz to Chapel Hill's Café Driade 7p.
- Bassist Lance Scott promised me he'd be playing something different at Durham's Beyu Caffe 7 & 9p.