Of the many choices I could have made last night, going to hear the Ernest Turner Quartet play Monk at the Sharp Nine Gallery/Durham Jazz Workshop was a winner. Ernest had done a lot of research into Monk tunes not as often heard as others, & he & the band were great both echoing Monk & bringing him up to date. As I said last night, it's something that should happen again. Perhaps we should have Monkday celebration on his birthday?
Looking ahead, in addition to other gigs in the usual venues, Sharp Nine/DJW has two unique acts this week: French drummer & bass players, the Moutin Brothers, make a stop on an East Coast tour Wednesday evening. Just the fact that they're Euro jazz players is enough for me; we Americans don't always acknowledge how many good players (& fans) there are in Europe.
Then, on Saturday, Sharp Nine/DJW hosts Quintessence, a local "small band" playing the music of Marty Paich (spelling?). OK, not someone that well known, but why not see a group that spotlighting interesting music?
Looking ahead to the week of June 16-20, go to www.music.unc.edu/summerjazzworkshop. Every night that week there is a public jazz concert featuring both workshop instructors (many with Locavore Jazz links) & camp students. In fact one or two videos on the next page come from previous such performances!
And, the next week, on Monday June 23 the Beyu has pianist Laurence Hobgood--Kurt Elling's former music director & a fine pianist in his own right--& singer Ariane Reinhart bringing jazzy cabaret music to Durham. This gig & that of the Moutin brothers show that we're starting to attract out-of-town players beyond those coming to either university performing arts gigs or larger perform