I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Now that we have officially made it to the holiday season, our Columbus Jazz Calendar offers many yuletide-spiced shows to celebrate in style. The Columbus Jazz Orchestra’s five show run of their Home for the Holidays program started tonight, and continues with shows on Thursday (7:30pm), Friday (8pm), Saturday (8pm), and Sunday (3pm). This festive event features a double-billing of vocal talent, with Dallas-based Bruce Wermuth joined by Columbus ex-patriate Kelly Crum Delaveris returning home from Pennsylvania. Tickets are available here. For a more intimate affair, the Dave DeWitt TRio (DeWitt on piano, Derek DiCenzo on bass, and Aaron Scott on drums) will play their annual Christmas Party at Bungalow Jazz on Friday, December 4th, at 7:30pm. Enjoy food and cocktails (BYOB) along with the best in local live jazz, including special guests that will join the trio. Call 614-397-5540 for more information.
Shows To See This Week
Thursday, December 3rd (8pm – 12am): Brahja Waldman at The Mothership, 973 E. Broad St., Olde Towne East. This new house show venue is getting off to a bang with this varied bill headlined by this intriguing touring quintet. “Together since 2008, Brahja Waldman is a Montreal/New York-based jazz conspiracy dedicated to the transmutation of swing and timeless soul.” The group includes Brahja Waldman (saxophones), Shadrach Hankoff (piano), Martin Heslop (bass), Daniel Gelinas (drums), and Adam Kinner (tenor sax). They have released a handful of albums since their inception, with the newly released wisdomatic displaying a very enjoyable blend of soulful jazz textures with some elements of free improvisation. The show starts at 8pm with a solo noise set from Mark Van Fleet (Sword Heaven) and a performance by Ryan Jewell’s psych/kraut/prog rock project Mosses. Cover is $5 to pay the artists. BYOB. The venue is on the top floor of the building – use the back entrance.
Friday, December 4th (9pm – 12am): Urban Jazz Coalition at Notes. Having played there first in the venue’s earliest days, Columbus’ internationally-recognized proponents of contemporary jazz return for their second go-round at this new Brewery District hotspot. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding in 2015, UJC includes bassist and bandleader Phil Raney, percussionist Hector Maldonado, keyboardist Brandon Howard, saxophonist Richard Randolph, guitarist Duane Tribune, and drummer Rich “Rico” Adams. The band draws big crowds wherever it goes, so get your tickets now!
Wednesday, December 9th (8pm – 11pm): Danny Bauer at Brothers Drake. Bauer always seems to seize the opportunity to present special music in his Jazz Wednesday appearances, and this gig is no exception. The band for the evening will be a new quartet of Bauer on Fender Rhodes and Moog, Alex Burgoyne on alto sax, Ryan Folger on drumset and Zakk Jones on guitar. As Bauer told me, “The band will be playing some funky stuff and some free stuff, consisting of a lot of originals and some crazy arrangements of some jazz tunes!”
Have a great week! Here’s a taste of these upcoming shows: