Spring arts preview: Jazz
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A look ahead at the spring season in jazz.
Jim Hall Quartet
Though the Jazz Bakery has found a site in Culver City for a new permanent home, its roving “Movable Feast” concert series continues to impress with this show celebrating guitar great Hall’s 80th birthday. Teamed with a fiery band that includes Greg Osby on saxophone, Joey Baron on drums and bassist Steve Laspina, Hall should have plenty of room to flex his ageless technique, which has influenced just about every musician who has pursued the jazz guitar.
Musicians Institute, 1655 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles., 9 p.m. March 26, $35. www.jazzbakery.com
Christian McBride & Inside Straight
The L.A. Phil’s Creative Chair for Jazz for four years (Herbie Hancock took over in 2010), McBride has credentials in contemporary jazz that are practically unmatched. Though he’s flirted with a variety of jazz styles including stints with Chick Corea and John McLaughlin’s Five Peace Band and a keyboard trio with the Roots’ drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, this show will find him leading a wily quintet pursuing the “straight-ahead” swing of vintage post-bop.
Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, March 24-27. $22-$35. www.catalinajazzclub.com
ROVA Saxophone Quartet
Founded in the Bay Area in 1977, this uncompromising brass ensemble and not-for-profit arts organization has collaborated with a dizzying array of players from the heart of the jazz avant-garde, including Wadada Leo Smith, Sam Rivers and most recently the Nels Cline Singers on a full-length album. The group’s latest recording, “Planetary,” captures the searching energy of Sun Ra and the World Saxophone Quartet with a restlessly expressive flair.
The Blue Whale, 123 Astronaut E S. Onizuka St., Suite 301. May 14, $15. www.bluewhalemusic.com
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— Chris Barton
