Hello jazz fans! I hope everyone is surviving another heavy winter here in Columbus. I want to open this week with some info on live shows this weekend on the fringes of jazz. Guitarist Aaron Quinn, who moved to NYC in late 2014, is back this weekend for two shows on Saturday, February 21st. First, starting around 5pm, Quinn is hosting a showcase of new works by mostly local composers entitled New Music for Percussion and Guitar. At least some of the material will be jazz, but the overall range of styles should be quite wide. Quinn lists the composers, compositions, and performance lineups here, and scroll through the rest of his recent blog posts for his unique insights into the composers involved.
For his second show of the evening, Quinn will unite with his bandmates in surf-rock supergroup Hypnotide (formerly Surf’s Up Hose Down) at Dick’s Den around 10pm for the Digital Download Release Party for their debut album, Landlocked. Download cards will be sold for $10, which will tide (pun intended?) you over until the band has vinyl copies to sell, hopefully in May. Though surf-rock is the official genre of the evening, the quartet of Quinn (guitar), Larry Marotta (guitar), Brett Burleson (bass) and Joe Nelson (drums) churns out plenty of tunes that a jazz fan will love, as I observed when I saw them live in October. Hopefully you can check out one or both of these shows, in the middle of a thick Saturday jazz schedule, and welcome Quinn back to town.
Shows To See This Week
Thursday, February 19th: Linda Dachtyl Quartet: Works in Progress at McConnell Arts Center. Veteran B3 organist Dachtyl recently finished recording her latest album, entitled A Late One, the culmination of a two-month recording process. While she prepares the new album for a late summer/early fall release on Summit Records, Dachtyl is presenting a program that mixes new material with tunes from her previous releases Blue Bop and For Hep Cats, two albums I greatly enjoyed (you can find a “vintage” review of For Hep Cats here). Her quartet will include Mark Donavan on tenor sax, Don Hales on guitar, and Cary Dachtyl on drums, and the band will surely put on a show that demonstrates her contributions to the great lineage of soulful organ jazz in Columbus. Ticket info is available here.
Sunday, February 22nd (5 – 7pm): Dave Powers and Louis Tsamous at T.Y. Fine Furniture, 106 East Moler Street. This duo performance kicks off the 2015 Merion Village Music Series, four strong shows that will bring a variety of jazz (and beyond) to the South Side neighborhood. The shows will be presented in a furniture showroom, which should provide an intimate gathering place for fine local music. This pair of veteran entertainers will delve into the Great American Songbook for a program that should swing hard. Click here for advance tickets and more info.
Sunday, February 22nd: Cory Henry (of Snarky Puppy) at Woodlands Tavern. While his 2014 Grammy Award-winning jazz band takes a rare break from touring, keyboardist Henry has taken his own band on the road for a winter jaunt. While his solo albums have covered various styles in the realms of soul, gospel, and jazz, 2014’s First Steps shows Henry putting his own twist on the smooth electronic jazz jam style of his main gig. Fans of virtuosic, soulful jazz should check this out. Tickets are available here.
Have a great week! Here’s a sampling of Henry’s solo work: