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Nifty dogfights!

January 16, 2026: Delvon Lamarr Trio, Windmills, The Colony January 17, 2026: Jackie Venson, Antone's, Austin Delvon Lamarr Trio, Windmills, The Colony January 23, 2026: Al Dimeola, Kessler Theater, Dallas Ken Peplowski Quartet, Windmills, The Colony January 24, 2026: Jackie Venson, Antone's Austin Al Dimeola, Heights Theater, Houston Ken Peplowsi Quartet, Windmills, The Colony January 31, 2026: Jackie Venson, Antone's, Austin Hamilton de Holanda Trio, Windmills, The Colony Jason Moran (Ellington Tribute, solo and with UT Jazz Orchestra), Bates Recital Hall, Austin February 2, 2026: Ari Hoenig Trio with Tivon Pennicott, Drink and Think, Denton February 3, 2026: Ari Hoenig Trio, Parker Jazz Club, Austin February 4, 2026: Ari Hoenig Trio with Tivon Pennicott, Doc's, Houston February 5, 2026: Ari Hoenig Trio, JazzTX, San Antonio February 7, 2026: Quamon Fowler, Scat Jazz, Fort Worth February 17, 2026: Peter Bernstein Quintet, Parker Jazz Club, Austin February 19, 2026: Bruce Saunders Quintet with Peter Bernstein, Monk's Jazz Club, Austin February 20, 2026: Shemekia Copeland and Ally Venable, Granville Arts Center, Garland February 21, 2026: Shelley Carrol, Scat Jazz, Fort Worth February 22, 2026: Branford Marsalis Quartet, Wortham Theater, Houston February 24, 2026: Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart Trio, Parker Jazz Club, Austin February 25, 2026: Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart Trio, JazzTX, San Antonio February 26, 2026: Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart Trio, Scat Jazz, Fort Worth March 5, 2026: Pat Metheny, Charline McCombs Empire Theater, San Antonio March 6, 2026: Pat Metheny, Paramount Theater, Austin Jackie Venson, Windmills, The Colony March 7, 2026: Pat Metheny Side-Eye, Wortham Theater, Houston Jackie Venson, Windmills, The Colony March 13, 2026: T.K. Blue and African Rhythms Alumni, A Tribute to Randy Weston, Walton Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas March 20, 2026: Sarah Hanahan, Monk's Jazz Club, Austin March 21, 2026: Sunny War, Anne Harris, Sable Sisters (Kaia Kater), Buffalo Nichols, Jake Blount, Justin Robinson, Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival, Southside Preservation Hall, Fort Worth March 22, 2026: Sarah Hanahan, Eldorado Ballroom, Houston March 26, 2026: Pat Metheny Side-Eye III, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith Clone Row, Isaiah Collier, William Hooker Quartet, Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, Tennessee March 27, 2026: Chucho Valdes Royal Quartet, John Scofield Trio, Ghost Train Orchestra: The Music of Moondog, Jeff Parker Expansion Trio, Miles Okazaki Trickster, Nate Smith, Ned Rothenberg, Nik Bartsch, Sullivan Fortner Trio, Tim Berne, Thomas Fujiwara: Dream Up, Saha Gnawa, Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, Tennessee March 28, 2026: Darius Jones Trio, Either/Orchestra, Incerto, Marquis Hill Blacktet, Mary Halvorson, Miles Okazaki: The Compete Monk, , Nate Smith, Nik Bartsch Ronin, Patricia Brennan Septet, Shabaka, Yasmin Williams and William Tyler, Incerto, Electrical Field of Love, Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, Tennessee March 29, 2026: Brandon Woody's Upendo, Chicago Underground Duo, Dave Douglas Gifts Quartet, Either/Orchestra Plays Eithiopiques, Julian Lage Quartet, Marc Ribot, Matt Mitchell's Zealous Angles, Miles Electric Band, Nels Cline: Lovers, Openness Trio, Tom Skinner,, Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, Tennessee April 1, 2026: Samara Joy, Winspear Opera House, Dallas Pat Metheny Side-Eye III, Majestic Theater, Dallas April 2, 2026: Kaia Kater, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, Arkansas Samora Joy, Austin City Limits April 4, 2026: Samora Joy, Tobin Center, San Antonio Melissa Aldana, Bates Recital Hall, Austin April 10, 2026: Coltrane at 100 (Joe Lovano, Melissa Aldana, Ndudzo Makhathini, Matt Garrison, Jefftain Watts), Cullen Theater, Houston April 12, 2026: John Beasley's Unlimited Miles (John Beasley, Mark Turner, Sean Jones or Marquis Hill, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Williams, Terreon Gu)), Eisemann Center, Richardson April 23, 2026: Nicholas Payton featuring Butcher Brown Presents the Supreme Blue, Monty Alexander "Jamericana", Charlie Musselwhite, Kyle Roussel, Kenny Neal, Vieux Farka Toure (Mali), Nidia Gongora (Columbia); Yusa (Cuba), Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Jamil Sharif, Peter Harris Presents Firm Roots, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival April 24, 2026: Hiromi Sonicwonder, Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra featuring Andromeda Turre, Astral Project, Parlor Greens (w/Jimmy James), Tribute to Ragtime Piano Legends feat. Terry Waldo, Tom McDermott, and David Boeddinghaus, Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials, Sevana (Jamaica), Joy Clark, Wendell Brunious, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival April 25, 2026: Mahmoud Chouki, Louis Ford, Little Freddie King, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival April 26, 2026: Ron Carter Quartet, Catherine Russell, Roger Lewis and Baritone Bliss, Love Is Supreme: A Tribute to John Coltrane feat. Derek Douget, Trevarri Huff-Boone and Ricardo Pascal, Chris Thomas King, Tuba Skinny, People Museum, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival April 30, 2026: Isaiah Collier, Steve Masakowski Family Band, Sasha Masakowsti as Trash Magnolia, Helen Gillet, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival May 1, 2026: Terence Blanchard with Ravi Coltrane; Charlie Gabriel; Victor Campbell, Stephen Walker, D.K. Harrell, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Jackie Venson, Main Street Crossing, Tombull May 2, 2026: Dianne Reeves; Uptown Jazz Orchestra; Alexey Marti, Leroy Jones, Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers feat. Dr. Michael White and Shaye Cohn, Larry McCray, Leyla McCalla, , New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival May 3, 2026: Herbie Hancock; Jason Marsalis, Trumpet Mafia featuring Keyon Harold, Jackie Venson, Lila Ike (Jamaica), Doreen's Jazz New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival May 9, 2026: Hiromi's Sonic Wonder, Cullen Theater, Houston May 16, 2026: Chucho Valdes, Paramount Theater, Austin May 17, 2026: Lucia, Eldorado Ballroom, Houston

I have that one on CD with this cover.

Snow day! Hear ya, Jazzbo, we are getting slammed up here near Lake Erie. NP

The Bix Centennial All Stars “Celebrating Bix” Arbors cd This music in modern engineering is powerful!

Xanadu 174 - Joe Farrell " Skate Road Park" - rec. 1979 - Engineer: Arne Frager

More Shirley Scott: with Stanley Turrentine

Just got in from another bout of shoveling and am warming up my hands. There were about 3 more inches dropped since I was last out, and it’s still coming down gently. Sigh. I think it’s supposed to end. . . soon (?) Feels good to sit down in front of the system. Now playing Marcus Printup “Nocturnal Traces” Blue Note cd Bass – Ricky Ravelo Drums – Woody Williams Piano – Kevin Bales Trumpet, Producer – Marcus Printup Recorded January 24 & 25, 1998 at Avatar Studio C, NYC.

❤️ 👍

A good one!

There’s a record show every month in Wayne. Not jazz specific though.

Dear Friends, I regret to report that Barry Miller and I have decided not to run the Jazz Record Bash this June. It’s become more challenging to attract enough dealers and attendees to make the event financially worth holding. It’s been a great run for nearly half a century, with Ken Crawford, Art Zimmerman Henry Schmidt others and at the helm. Barry and I have been proud to continue the tradition for the past three years. Barry & I would be delighted if one or more of you would like to take the reins and continue The Bash for this year and possibly into the future. We’d be happy to provide you with assistance and advice on how to handle the hotel arrangements and other preparations. Please let me know if you’re interested or need more information. Take care, and many thanks for the memories. Best regards, Dave Weiner Well, that prediction went up in smoke.

The Jazz Bash, which is held every June, has decided that there won’t be one this year and thereafter. I received the following email: ”Dear Friends, I regret to report that Barry Miller and I have decided not to run the Jazz Record Bash this June. It’s become more challenging to attract enough dealers and attendees to make the event financially worth holding. It’s been a great run for nearly half a century, with Ken Crawford, Art Zimmerman Henry Schmidt others and at the helm. Barry and I have been proud to continue the tradition for the past three years. Barry & I would be delighted if one or more of you would like to take the reins and continue The Bash for this year and possibly into the future. We’d be happy to provide you with assistance and advice on how to handle the hotel arrangements and other preparations. Please let me know if you’re interested or need more information. Take care, and many thanks for the memories. Best regards, Dave Weiner” That’s a shame I always enjoyed going there and picking up something and talking to the dealers, including Scott from Mosaic

Very interesting, thanks. Hames did some good work.

Was just listening to the first disc of this last night. Right now:

Karen Stachel Norbert Stachel & LehCats Join Forces with Giovanni Hidalgo On "Live at the Breakroom," A 2-CD Set to Be Released March 20 On Purple Room Productions Jazz-Funk-World Fusion Band Led by NYC Multireedist Couple Captured with Legendary Conguero In a Hard-Driving, Groove-Heavy Performance of 10 Original Compositions   January 15, 2026 Omnivorous jazz fusion combo LehCats channels the awesome percussive power and ingenuity of conguero Giovanni Hidalgo with Live at the Breakroom, set for a March 20 release by Purple Room Productions. Captured on a night at the titular San Jose venue when Hidalgo was featured with the New York–based band led by husband-and-wife Karen (flutes, vocals) and Norbert Stachel (saxophones, flutes), the double-disc album is a superlative example of what can happen when spontaneity, unforced chemistry, and an energetic and receptive audience all converge. Crucially, none of the six musicians working together on Live at the Breakroom knew that the performance was being videoed and multitracked. The night of October 18, 2024, was the first of two nights of engagements in the San Francisco Bay Area, with LehCats (Stachel, spelled backwards) inviting Hidalgo—among the most acclaimed and in-demand conga players in the world—to join them as special guest. They did, however, know that the performance, featuring 10 original compositions by Norbert or Karen, was on fire—which made it a delightful surprise when they discovered that it was documented for posterity. “We realized that it was a great opportunity to produce and release a new CD,” writes Norbert Stachel in the album’s liner notes. “We felt the good vibes, and you can feel and hear great moments of high intensity and spirited interactions.” You sure can. LehCats’ polished but driving blend of jazz, funk, and Afro-Caribbean traditions oozes with the excitement and joy of inspired creation. From the raw-edged dance beat of the opening “Step On It” and the graceful Latin flow of “Sunshine” (illuminated by both Karen Stachel’s vocal and Matt Clark’s montuno piano), to Norbert’s sleek, brawny tenor marathon on “Power Tap,” to the Stachels’ dual-flute-led slow burn on “Soul Cha Cha” and the ferocious African polyrhythms (Karen’s stellar percussive flute solo among them) that charge the closing “Mandela,” the set is positively hair-raising. LehCats is a dynamic ensemble with shifting personnel—Bay Area pianist Clark and bassist Dan Feiszli here joining New York’s Stachels and drummer Dan Gonzalez—that builds a formidable Latin-spiced groove on its own. Yet Hidalgo’s presence on Live at the Breakroom sends that groove into hyperdrive, as heard in his dazzling solo intro to “Afrobaldi” and gritty lock-in with Gonzalez, Clark, and Feiszli on “Power Tap.” What the band thought was a one-time, ephemeral moment in San Jose instead stands as indelible proof that rhythm and music might be the most powerful unifying forces on earth. Norbert Stachel was born in Vallejo, California and grew up just outside of Berkeley in the town of El Cerrito. Gravitating to the saxophone as a teenager, he became a friend and collaborator of Bay Area jazz multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum, which led to a remarkable career as a sideman for the likes of Prince, Sheila E., Boz Scaggs, and Tower of Power, as well as Andrew Hill, Freddie Hubbard, and Roy Hargrove. Karen Stachel (nee Anderson) was born in Fort Lewis, Washington, the child of a military family that raised her in a nomadic base-to-base lifestyle. She began playing the flute in the third grade and became fascinated with jazz in high school, earning a jazz studies degree at California State University Hayward (where she studied and played with legendary bassist Chuck Israels) and a master’s in classical music at San Francisco State before founding the Karen Anderson Jazztet in the 1990s. Meeting and developing their relationship on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Norbert and Karen married in 1996 and moved to New York in 2002, where they nonetheless maintained separate musical and professional trajectories until 2015, when they and drummer Dan Gonzalez came together to launch LehCats. The next year brought their debut album, Out of the Bag. They followed it up with 2018’s Movement to Egalitaria, with the Stachels and Gonzalez joined by a rotating cast of 28 musicians in various combinations. The unplanned but inspired recording Live at the Breakroom is LehCats’ third album. Upcoming performances by LehCats include Sat. 1/17 (7:30pm-10:30pm), Vault 240, Hawley, PA; Tues. 1/27 (7pm-11pm), Arthur’s Tavern, 57 Grove St., NYC; Sun 2/15 (7pm-8:30pm), Paul Kares: The Room at Cedar Grove, Lewes, DE; Tues. 2/24 (7pm-11pm), Arthur’s Tavern, NYC. Photography: Chris Drukker    LehCats EPK  LehCats Website