Musical on Gospel Star Mahalia Jackson at Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, February 4-20

An inspiring musical play on the life of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson opens at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center on Friday, February 4 and runs through Sunday, February 20, 2011.

The performances, presented by Mixed Magic Theatre, take place Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m.  Tickets to the show are $15-25 and can be ordered online. Group discounts for 15 or more are also available by contacting the Box Office.

Described by Little Richard as "the true queen of spiritual songs," Jackson's musical journey from New Orleans to Chicago, and her friendship with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, are lovingly depicted by writer and director Jonathan Pitts-Wiley. 

For a list of upcoming performances at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, located at 41 Second Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts click here. 

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotical! performs at Club Passim in Cambridge on Sunday, January 30

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotical! led by Boston percussionist Brian O'Neill, is performing at Club Passim in Harvard Square, Cambridge, on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets to the show are $12 and can be ordered online.

The 21-piece big band, created by Mr. O'Neill, is devoted to the "space age bachelor pad" sounds of Juan Garcia Esquivel, often referred to as Mexico's version of Duke Ellington.

For an upcoming schedule of events at Passim's, click here.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com.

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

Marcus Monteiro Organ Trio Performing at New Bedford's Whaling Museum on January 28

The Marcus Monteiro Organ Trio performs this Friday evening at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Admission is $5 for museum members and $10 for non-members.  Must be 21 years old.  For more information contact 508 997-0046.

Montiero is a saxophonist who plays throughout the New England area and up through Quebec City.  The band combines jazz, funk, rock, fusion, blues, and dance.

The Whaling Museum is a world-renowned museum that depicts the important history of the whaling industry and New Bedford's role as a premier port.  It located at  18 Johnny Cake Hill in New Bedford.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com

Michelle Cruz Show at Cafe Tatant in Boston Postponed Due to Weather

Concert Postponed until April 21, 2011

The Michelle Cruz concert taking place at Cafe Tatant in Roxbury on Thursday, January 27, 2011, has been postponed due to the winter storm coming to Massachusetts.

The concert is being rescheduled for Thursday, April 21, 2011.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

Cryogenic Renaissance Orchestra Performing Jazz at Shalin Liu Hall in Rockport

Rockport Music is presenting trumpeter Greg Hopkins and his nine-member Cryogenic Renaissance Orchestra in a special concert at the new Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center in Rockport, Massachusetts on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets to the concert are $18, $24 and $32, and can be ordered online.

The Orchestra is performing standards and original compositions influenced by jazz greats like Miles Davis, Gil Evans and Herbie Hancock.

Hopkins is a professor of jazz composition at Berklee College of Music, and has performed with Frank Sinatra, Joe Williams, Lena Horne and Dizzy Gillespie.  

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com

Singer Michelle Cruz Performing at Cafe Tatant in Roxbury on Thursday, January 27

Singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist Michelle Cruz is appearing at the new Cafe Tatant supper club at the Roxbury Center for the Arts on Thursday, January 27, 2011.  The Providence-based singer, nominated for a New England Music Award, blends jazz, rock, folk and blues.  Her debut album, The Recovery, is available on Nevaeh Recordings.

The doors at Cafe Tetant open at 6:00 p.m for cocktails, dinner is served at 7:00 and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $12 for the show, $28 for the meal and show, and $54 per couple for meal and show combo.  Tickets are available online.   Food is provided by Ethnica Gourmet Catering.

In addition to her promising career as a singer/songwriter, Cruz received a fellowship from the Rhode Island Fellowship to explore the music of her ancestral roots in Cape Verde, where she collected songs from different islands and met with musicians there.  And she is founder of a non-profit group, The Lost Chord, that provides free music lessons and instruments to children in Rhode Island.

Located at 184 Dudley Street at the newly refurbished Hibernian Hall in Dudley Square, Cafe Tatant launched its new supper club in November, offering local residents and visitors a chance to enjoy great music in an intimate, relaxed listening lounge in the heart of Roxbury, one of Boston's most historic neighborhoods.

For a schedule of upcoming events at Roxbury Center for the Arts, click here.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com.

For tourism information, visit MassVacation.com.

Irish musicians and poets performing at Berklee College in Boston on January 27

A line-up of great Irish traditional musicians are performing at the David Friend Recital Hall at Berklee College of Music in Boston on Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.  Admission is free.

Berklee instructor and champion mandolin player John McGann leads an all star line-up that includes Sean Gannon, All-Ireland champion on the button accordion.  Born and raised in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, Sean learned his music from his father John, who comes from Connemara, Galway.

Joining McGann and Gannon are George Keith and Oisin McAuley on fiddles, Matt Heaton on guitar, Shannon Heaton on flute and Maeve Gilchrist on harp.

Joe Nugent, professor of Irish at Boston College, will read Irish poetry and selections from Finnegan's Wake by novelist James Joyce.

The evening is presented by FUSION: A Magazine of Literature, Music, Art and Ideas.  For more information contact Joseph Coroniti, editor-in-chief, at ljcoroniti@berklee.edu.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For year round Irish music in Massachusetts, visit IrishMassachusetts.com.

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

Charles Lloyd Quartet Performs at UMASS/ Amherst on Tuesday, January 25

Legendary jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd is appearing with his dynamic new quartet at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets to the concert are $25 and $15 general admission, and $10 for college students and youths under seventeen, and tickets can be purchased online.

The band consists of Lloyd along with pianist Jason Moran, bassist Rueben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.  The band played over the weekend to enthusiastic audiences at Regattabar in Cambridge, and was reviewd by the Boston Globe's jazz critic, Steve Greenlee.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com.

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

"Gary Burton's Arrival: Celebrating 50 Years" is being broadcast across the nation starting January 21

A live concert celebrating the 50 year career of jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton at Berklee College of Music, is airing this month on NPR's Jazz Set with Dee Dee Bridgewater.  The concert airs on 140 NPR affiliate stations nationwide, and on demand at NPRmusic.org and Real Jazz  at SiriusXM Radion.   In Boston, the concert airs on Saturday, January 22 at 10:00 p.m. on 89.7 WGBH radio.

The concert -- recorded in April 2010 at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston -- features musicians from Burton's seminal groups, including Chick Corea, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Steve Swallow and many more great players.

Burton arrived as a student at Berklee in 1960, and since then has helped define jazz's state-of-the-art for the past five decades.  He won six Grammy Awards and influenced thousands of musicians, students and music lovers during his illustrious career.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com

Fred Woodard Trio Performing at Cafe Tatant in Boston on January 20

Innovative guitarist Fred Woodard and his trio are performing at the new Cafe Tatant dinner show in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood on Thursday, January 20, 2011.  Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for cocktails; dinner is served at 7:00 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Born in Kansas City, Woodard attended Berklee College of Music, receiving his degree in jazz composition and arrangement.  He has performed extensively in Boston and on the international circuit, playing with R&B stars like Sam & Dave, William Bell, the Drifters and the Marvelettes.

Located at the Roxbury Center for Arts at 184 Dudley Street, Cafe Tatant opened last November as an upscale venue for listening and dancing to jazz, rhythm and blues and soul music every Thursday night.  The menu  is created by George Huggins of Ethnica Gourmet Catering. 

For year round information on jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

BeeHive Jazz Club in Boston Presents Singer Spotlight Series on Monday Nights

The Beehive Jazz Club in Boston's South End is introducing a Singer Spotlight Series every Monday at 8:00 p.m. 

This Monday, January 24, 2011 features singer Sarah Brindell, who teaches composition at the Berklee College of Music, and whose latest album is Dreaming Shoes.

For a full schedule of events at the Beehive, click here.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com.

For visitor information, go to MassVacation.com.

Shelley Neill kicks of 2011 Jazz Series at Cambridge's Multicultural Arts Center on January 21

Acclaimed vocalist Shelley Neill performs this Friday, January 21, at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge Massachusetts at 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 7:00 p.m.).

Neill is being joined by ace Berklee musicians Laszlo Gardony on piano, Ron Mahdi on bass and Yoron Israel on drums. 

Tickets to the show are $20 and $15 and are available online or at the box office window, which is open 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 Monday through Friday.

Neill's performance will include songs from her recent album, Irish Eyes Gypsy Soul, which was released a year ago on her birthday.

The concert is part of the Center's Jazz Club series, which has offered jazz fans a chance to hear great music in an intimate setting since 2004.  The Center is located at 41 Second Street in East Cambridge.

For upcoming concerts at the Center, click here.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

Eric Jackson's Jazz Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. on WGBH on January 17

Eric Jackson, host of one of the region's most popular jazz radio shows,  is paying his annual tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 17, 2011, starting at 8:00 p.m..

The tribute - which combines a variety of King's speeches and interviews alongside jazz from that era, can be heard on his nightly show, Eric in the Evening, which airs on 89.7 WGBH radio from 8:00 p.m.through midnight.

Reporter Lane Lambert did an excellent story on Eric in the Quincy Patriot Ledger which talks about Jackson's annual tribute to King.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com.

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.

Jazz Pianist Billy Taylor, Rest in Peace

Legendary jazz pianist, composer and educator Dr. Billy Taylor died on December 28, 2010 at age 89.  He was long admired throughout his career as an innovative musician who composed over 300 tunes.

Taylor had an illustrious career as a jazz pianist, getting his start with the Ben Webster Quartet in New York City, and was later the house pianist for the famous Birdland Jazz Club, sitting in Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and others.

Dr. Taylor has long been associated with the Music Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he got his masters and Ph.D in education.  In 1982, Billy helped found the Jazz in July program at UMass/Amherst, combining master classes, mentorship and live performances by esteemed faculty members and invited guests.

National Public Radio has a thorough tribute to Taylor, who was a longtime host of Jazz Alive on NPR stations.  The New York Times also wrote a feature story on Taylor's life.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.com.

For tourist information, visit MassVacation.com.