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Lovers of live jazz in Boston face tough decisions this fall: How to choose among the many shows featuring numerous first-rate performers?
From the very famous to the well-known to those up-and-coming, the city has an unusually rich, nearly pre-pandemic musical season this year. Lots of small venues are offering audiences a chance to listen in and engage with the music, but four venues have cornered the market.
The Regattabar hosts vibraphonist Joel Ross on Oct. 10 for two shows on one night only. The prestigious Blue Note label released “nublues,” Ross’s fourth recording, earlier this year, featuring Ross’ studio band Good Vibes, with Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums. Original tunes are on the album as well as bold covers of John Coltrane’s “Equinox” and “Central Park West” and Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence.”
For the Regattabar show, the lineup is the same except for the saxophonist: It will be Maria Grand on tenor saxophone.
If you have the time and money to see jazz two nights in a row, head to Scullers Jazz Club on Oct. 11 to enjoy the Elvin Jones Lighthouse Project. Gene Perla on bass, Ravi Coltrane on saxophone, Ryan Devlin on saxophone and Adam Nussbaum on drums will honor the repertoire of Jones, the legendary drummer in John Coltrane’s quartet. Few drummers are as explosive and yet disciplined as Jones, who died in 2004.
Vocalist Madeleine Peyroux plays City Winery on Nov. 9. PHOTO: EBRU YILDIZ
A third show that stands out is at City Winery, where guitarist John Scofield appears on Oct. 21. A musician who has played with jazz greats from Miles Davis to Robert Glasper, Scofield’s music defies categories. Best known for playing on three albums with Miles Davis, he continues to bring sounds of funk and soul into his work.
City Winery also hosts Madeleine Peyroux on Nov. 9. Peyroux, who can sound like Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday, has her own unique voice. She broke into the mainstream in 2004 with “Dance Me to the End of Love,” a Leonard Cohen tune, and, like Cohen, combines a vernacular streetwise sensibility with immaculate, Sinatra-like phrasing.
Tough call, but on the same night, Nov. 9, saxophonist Walter Smith III will be at Regattabar with Jason Moran on piano, Harish Raghavan on bass and Eric Harland on drums. Chair of the woodwind department at the Berklee College of Music, Smith is a composer, teacher and mentor. The energy at this show, enhanced by the renowned band members, is sure to
be intense.
Sorry to say, but there is a third notable show on Nov. 9, making decision-making hard for jazz fans: Cyrus Chestnut is performing at Scullers. Chestnut, whose piano-playing goes from ragtime to melodies to more unpredictable rhythms, has a control of tempo that only the greats possess.
Award-winning singer Jazzmeia Horn plays City Winery on Dec. 1. COURTESY PHOTO
Speaking of greats, you really should try not to miss South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim at the Berklee Performance Center on Nov. 16, part of the Celebrity Series of Boston. At 90 years old, Ibrahim continues to add to a body of work that is genuinely the framework for aspiring artists. He is inimitable.
December continues this busy season of first-rate music. On Dec. 1, vocalist Jazzmeia Horn will be at City Winery. Her new album, “Messages,” features the single, “You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me.” Horn’s fearless social activism and soothing voice are instrumental in creating change.
On Dec. 7, you can hear trumpeter and composer Marquis Hill at Regattabar. His latest recording, “Composers Collective: Beyond the Jukebox,” released by the Black Unlimited Music Group, demonstrates his wide range of musical appreciation. Is it jazz? Hip-hop? R&B? Neo-soul? If you know, you know.
