Longtime trio partners Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and Zakir Hussain bring their quartet, now featuring Indian flutist Rakesh Chaurasia, to UPAC in Kingston, N.Y., tonight at 8pm. Drawing upon banjo legend Fleck’s roots-music background, bassist Edgar Meyer’s Western classical training, and tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain’s mastery of Indian classical music, the quartet plays an intriguing global fusion, where raga meets funk at a barn dance. (Fri, Jun 14)
Australian-born, Jamaica-based reggae artist Nattali Rize bookends our region with two concerts this weekend, bringing her activist lyrics and old-skool Jamaican rhythms to Hawks and Reed in Greenfield, Mass., tonight at 8pm, and to the Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., on Sunday at 8pm. (Fri, Jun 14; Sun, Jun 16)
Multiple Grammy Award-winning Latin jazz pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill leads his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) in a program of Cuban-influenced jazz at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm. ALJO’s 2023 release, Fandango at the Wall in New York, garnered the group its eighth Grammy Award, for Best Latin Jazz Album. In addition to O’Farrill’s own compositions, the group performs interpretations of music by Tito Puente, Frank “Machito” Grillo, Miguel Zenón, Dafnis Prieto, and that of Arturo’s father, the legendary Chico O’Farrill. (Sat, Jun 15)
Genre-defying English singer-songwriter Corrine Bailey Rae brings her blend of soul, pop, and jazz to the Egg in Albany, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. With elements of rock and folk also showing up in her latest album, Black Rainbows, Bailey Rae continues to break new ground in her soulful approach to popular music, which occasionally recalls that of Stevie Wonder. There can be no higher praise. (Sat, Jun 15)
Singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz began blending folk, pop, jazz, and blues nearly a decade before anyone had heard of Norah Jones, whom she counts as a friend, supporter, and sometime collaborator. Kurtz, who was named Female Songwriter of the Year in 1997 by the National Academy of Songwriters, boasts a husky, rich alto, which alternately purrs and explodes. Kurtz will be joined by her duet partner, Robert Maché, at the Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., on Sunday at 7:30pm. (Sun, Jun 16)
Also of note:
Hudson Valley indie-rock singer-songwriter Jack Manley and Turkish electronic musician Kadir Yucel play a double-bill at Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, June 14, at 8pm.
Kevin Moore aka Keb’ Mo’ has not garnered a closetful of Grammy Awards for no reason – the Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist cooks up a highly personal stew of blues, folk, country, and jazz and delivers it all as a well-seasoned, entertaining meal of a concert, at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, June 15, at 8pm.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Antje Duvekot brings her intimate folk-pop compositions to the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, June 15, at 8pm. Antje’s music should appeal to fans of Dar Williams and Lucy Kaplansky.
Alt-rockers Guster are in residence at Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., for two nights, Friday, June 14, and Saturday, June 15, both shows at 8pm.
Virtuoso vaudevillian Tomáš Kubínek brings his latest program, Miracle Man, to Sandisfield Arts Center in Sandisfield, Mass., on Saturday, June 15, at 7:30pm. After seeing him in 2009, I wrote, “Kubinek is a one-man circus and dramatic repertory company and band. This guy is so talented at so many different things he makes your average multitasker look like a sloth.”
The Django Festival Allstars bring the sounds of French swing to Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., on Sunday, June 16, at 4pm, in a concert presented by Berkshires Jazz.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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