Favorite (Jazz) Spot in Massachusetts? Nominate Your Choice

Wally's Cafe Jazz Club in Boston's South End

From Boston to the Berkshires, Cape Cod to the North Shore and everywhere in between, Massachusetts is filled with thousands of great places, and the state’s tourism office -Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism - is narrowing them down to the Top 1,000.

MOTT is seeking nominations for the 1,000 best places in the Commonwealth, drawing upon the abundance of exceptional historical sites, cultural venues and natural landscapes all over Massachusetts. According to the guidelines, all of the sites selected must be open and available to the public.

The nomination period closes this Thursday, April 1, 2010 and the winners will be announced in May.

MOTT has set up a website to accept nominations from the public: www.massvacation.com/1000/index.php.

MassJazz is urging jazz lovers from across Massachusetts to submit their favorite jazz club or historical landmark to this project!

Jazz on North Shore Today!

The North Shore Jazz Project is presenting an afternoon of Latin Music: Jazz & Gypsy Flamenco, at the Chianti Tuscan Restaurant in Beverly, MA.

The event features Maxim Lubarsky Quintet (pictured above), Alexei Tsiganov Quintet and Peruvian master guitarist D Rafael.

Show times are 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.. Tickets are available at the door for $20 ($15 for students with ID).

Chianti Tuscan Restaurant is located at 285 Cabot Street in Beverly.

For year-round details on jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.

Irish Film Festival features The Bass Player: A Song for Dad, on March 27

The 11th annual Irish Film Festival Boston is presenting The Bass Player: A Song For Dad by Irish filmmaker Niall McKay, at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, MA. on Saturday, March 27, at 2:30 p.m.

In this eloquent, witty homage to his father, McKay wrestles with his family's unsettling past to overcome his fear of commitment. As he helps his elderly father Jim, a jazz bass player, return home to Ireland, a parallel journey unfolds into an admiration for his dad and his innermost thoughts about love.

Tickets to the screening are $9 per person and can be ordered online here.

Governor Deval Patrick Donates His Father's Jazz Archives to Boston's Berklee College of Music

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is honoring his late father's musical and cultural legacy by donating the vast collection of jazz musician, composer, and arranger Laurdine Kenneth "Pat" Patrick to Berklee College of Music's Africana Studies archive. The historical Pat Patrick Collection comprises hundreds of scores, photographs, personal materials, and recordings.

Best known for his 40-year association with the avant-garde artist Sun Ra, Patrick also played with jazz greats John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington and many others, according to The Boston Globe.

The materials represent a treasure trove for musicians, educators and cultural historians, says Bill Banfield, director of Africana Studies at Berklee.

For details on jazz in Massachusetts year round, visit MassJazz.

Boston Jazz Club Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with Celtic Band

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day in America's most Irish city, the Beehive Jazz Club in Boston is hosting its third annual Irish celebration on Wednesday, March 17, from 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m, featuring Celtic band Tri.

Tri consists of award-winning bagpiper Matthew Phelps, fiddler Doug Lamey and guitarist Cliff McCann. They’ll be joined by step dancers Pamela Campbell and Christine Morrison.

Beehive Chef Rebecca Newell has created several Irish-inspired specials including corned beef and cabbage flatbread with sauerkraut and cheese, Finann Haddie Smoked fish & chips, and Grilled Lamb Chops with colcannon mashed potatoes.

There is no cover charge and dinner reservations are recommended.

The Beehive
541 Tremont Street
Boston MA 02116
beehiveboston

For more details on Irish music in greater Boston year round, visit IrishBoston.

For more details on jazz in Massachusetts year round, visit MassJazz

Toots Thielmans Playing at Sculler's Jazz Club in Boston, March 12-13, 2010

Toots Thielmans - regarded as the world's greatest jazz harmonica player - plays at Sculler's Jazz Club in Boston on Friday and Saturday, March 12-13, 2010.

He is performing with Kenny Werner and Oscar Castro-Neves.

In 2009, Mr. Thielmans was named an American Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more details, visit Sculler's Jazz Club.

For a complete list of jazz in Boston and throughout Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.

Cape Cod Honors Singer Patti Page with Her Own Street

Jazz and popular singer Patti Page, whose rendition of the song, Old Cape Cod, was a hit in 1957, now has a street officially named after her on Cape Cod.

The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Barnstable unveiled the Patti Page Way sign at Shoot Flying Hill in Centerville, Cape Cod on February 26, which was also officially declared Patti Page Day on the Cape.

Ms. Page attended the ceremony and was there to greet fans and admirers of the song.

Tourism officials say the song Old Cape Cod accentuated the many charms of the Cape and helped make it a tourism destination over the last 50 years.

Cape Cod has long been a jazz haven, with summer festivals in Provincetown, Chatham and Falmouth, and year round jazz clubs and concerts throughout the Cape.

For more information on jazz on the Cape, visit MassJazz.