Jazz In Baltimore: Week of October 21, 2019

Monday, October 21

I don’t know that anyone who has heard Theljon Allen play even a little bit could doubt his status as one of the greatest trumpeters going. Like uncounted trumpeters before him (and after), Allen was first inspired to play by Clifford Brown…but not for a single note could you now say that he sounds remotely like that ancestor. His style is harmonically daring, piercing, and gives you the distinct feeling that if you’re not careful, radiant splashes of sound will end up plastering you. That’s to say nothing of what he does with the band surrounding him. He calls his quintet Universal Language, and it’s the kind of neo-fusion that brings in hip-hop, neo-soul, funk and straight-ahead but progressive jazz under a single spectacular roof. Glorious as Allen sounds on the horn, he sounds even better with a saxophone (usually either tenor saxophonist Nathan Hook or alto saxophonist Issa Lambson) and a rhythm section around him. You can’t be entirely sure where they’ll take it, but what a spectacular journey it will be. The Theljon Allen Quintet performs at 7 and 8:30 p.m. at Keystone Korner, 1350 Lancaster Street. $10

Tuesday, October 22

A quick glance at the Keystone Korner website will tell you that the Baltimore Jazz Collective, the usual vibrant and free-floating assemblage that holds down Tuesday nights at the East Inner Harbor club, is dark this week. There’s a reason for that. Trumpeter Sean Jones, the head daredevil of the adventurous collective, is also the head of the jazz department at Peabody Institute, the conservatory arm of the Johns Hopkins University, and this week sees the regular performance night for the student jazz combos within that department. Jones will be busy doing in the academic setting what he does most weeks in the bandstand: shaping and polishing a new generation of Baltimore jazz musicians, many of whom will not stay in Baltimore but who are illuminating the city and the scene during their stay here. Jazz is unique in its nourishing of young talent as a coequal part of the musical community…but the plus side is, in this case that nourishment comes with free admission. The Peabody Jazz Combos begin performing at 7:30 p.m. at Peabody’s Cohen-Davison Family Theatre, 1 East Mount Vernon Place. Free             

Thursday, October 24

What’s immediately striking about Christine Tobin is just that—it’s immediate. Direct. Two words into whatever lyric she happens to be handling when you first see and hear her, she’s already gotten to you. With her husky contralto voice and phrasing that draws from jazz technique, but also folk rawness, Tobin is her own secret weapon. You don’t expect to be hit quite so hard by her…or really by anybody. She’s just got something incredibly powerful in her arsenal and she isn’t shy about deploying it. (It must be her native Irish temperament.) With that kind of impact, she doesn’t really need much beyond a bare bones accompaniment to keep things going on the bandstand: Hence her partnering here with naught but guitar and bass. As it happens, however, the guitarist (Phil Robson) and the bassist (Dezron Douglas) also happen to be at the top of their game. Which, when you think about it, really gives you no excuse for not being there. Christine Tobin performs with Phil Robson and Dezron Douglas at 9:30 p.m. at An Die Musik, 409 North Charles Street. $10-$20

Sunday, October 27

Jazz in Baltimore loves when we get the chance to turn the spotlight on the hyperlocal: neighborhood happenings. Like, for example, the Federal Hill Jazz & Bues Festival, which takes place in the titular neighborhood. It’s a hip spot located just south of Baltimore’s downtown area, and a great place to catch some live, outdoor music at a neat little pavilion just for the occasion. The show opens with Jazz is Phish, the nationally renowned but locally based ensemble led by Baltimore’s own Chase Brothers who find and exploit jazz and jam-band musics’ natural affinities (which are legion). It closes with Annapolis’s Naptown Brass Band, a clutch of high-polish musicians who adapt the street brass band tradition of New Orleans to their own jazzy, funky, earthy, groovy tendencies. In between are statements in blue by the Kelly Bell Band, The Nighthawks, and Lowercase Blues. What else could you possibly ask for? Food, craft beer, and play space for your kids? Oh, yeah, they have that too. The Federal Hill Jazz & Blues Festival begins at noon at the corner of South Charles and Cross Streets in (duh) Federal Hill. Free