Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music and Concert News
Jimkata, Eberwine & Friends, PAUSA art house, UB Music School Faculty, Riff City and more
A shout-out is in order for Melissa White, violinist, Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo, and a Grammy winner this year for Passion for Bach and Coltrane, a far-reaching and daring hybrid credited to the Harlem Quartet, of which White is a founding member. A 7-movement composition for wind quintet, string quartet, jazz trio and narrator, the piece, written by Jeff Scott, took the Best Classical Compendium trophy, and is White’s second win with the Harlem Quartet.
We’ll be able to hear this incredible music live on April 25, 2025, when the ensemble comes to Slee Hall on the UB North Campus for a show.
UB recently announced that composer Scott will join the UB faculty as a member of the Music Department in the Fall of this year.
Scott will add to what is already an incredible staff of professors in the UB Department of Music. In addition to White, that roster includes luminaries like trumpeter Jon Nelson, pianist George Caldwell, conductor Jaman Dunn-Danger, drummer John Bacon, Jr., composer Jonathan Golove, visiting Professor of Music Su Lien Tan, bassist Sabu Adeyola, and many other able educators and instrumentalists.
The addition of Scott will make the UB Music Department’s faculty one of the most impressive in the state. The effects this could have on our broader music scene are manifold. Some significant civic pride is appropriate here..
In other scene news, the team behind Elmwood Village music beacon Jack Rabbit have been making noise in the Chandler Street neighborhood of Black Rock with Riff City, their new live music-driven venture in the space that formerly housed Tappo Pizza @ Thin Man Brewery. The long-term plan is to make Riff City a stop for touring bands in addition to the full menu of Buffalo-area music, but in the meantime, Josh Mullin, Kevin Sampson and crew are stocking the roster with a cool variety of indie rock, tribute ensembles and jam-based fare, including this Saturday’s Strictly Hip gig, which kicks off at 8 p.m.
Here’s a bit of what’s happening around town this week…
Jimkata with Eberwine and Friends
Saturday February 17, 8 p.m. at Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo, NY.$15/$20
It’s been interesting to witness the growth and development of Jimkata over the past 20 years, as the trio evolved from an Ithaca College jam-tronica party band into an entity capable of releasing an album with the depth and substance of of 2021’s Bonfires, a danceable blend of indie rock, pop hooks and grandiose jam tropes.
The September release of new single ‘As It Comes’ suggests there’s plenty of gas left in the creative tank, too. For the current tour, the Jimkata trio will be augmented by bassist Cooper Casterline, and the buzz about the new addition’s contributions is considerable.
For this Buffalo Iron Works stop, Jimkata will be joined by Todd Eberwine and his Eberwine & Friends lineup, this time around featuring keyboardist Scott Molly of Lazlo Holyfield, bassist Evan McPaden of Aqueous, drummer Packy Lunn and guest vocalists Evan Friedell, Vin DeRosa and Jon Marc Johnson.
PAUSA art house
Lot’s of action down on Wadsworth Street these days, as the Allentown venture known as PAUSA art house revels in the health of the Buffalo jazz scene - a scene the club had a hand in kicking into overdrive over the past several years.
It’s heartening to see an adventurous undertaking like Friday’s No Quarter: The Led Zeppelin Jazz Project, selling out in advance. Under the leadership of bassist Joe Goehle, who penned the arrangements for a host of Zeppelin epics, the LZJP plans to bring a hard bop and free jazz sensibility to bear on the music. Drummer Alec Dube, guitarist Jared Tinkham and saxophonist Nelson Rivera will be lending their considerable talents to the gig, which I pray will be more than a one-off engagement.
Also this week, PAUSA is presenting the return of Mary Ramsey & Friends on February 22, and Star People playing the music of Miles Davis on February 23. Tickets remain available for both of these shows, through pausaarthouse.com.
There’s more. Of course there is…
Love the jazz at Pausa! But, man.. that Allentown parking….