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.

Berklee Teaching Jazz in Dublin, Ireland in April 2010

Boston's Berklee College of Music is returning to Dublin, Ireland, April 5-11, to conduct improvisation workshops and to hold auditions for aspiring student musicians seeking scholarships to the prestigious university.

The program, now in its second year, is taking place at the Newpark Music Centre in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. Students must apply online for the workshop by March 19.

Participating Berklee faculty members include Greg Badolato, Jim Kelly, John McGann, and Ken Zambello, along with Ronan Guilfoyle, artistic director of the Newpark Music Centre.

For more details, click here.

For year round jazz in Massachusetts, visit MassJazz.

New Jazz Series at Boston's Historic Wilbur Theatre

Boston’s historic Wilbur Theatre, renovated and revitalized by Bill Blumenreich Presents, has initiated a new series of jazz, world music, Latin, blues and other related music.

The series is being produced and developed by Boston jazz entrepreneur Fred Taylor.

Upcoming concerts include

Sunday, February 28 at 4:00 p.m.

John Pizzarelli (image above) and The Swing Seven

Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Tower of Power

Thursday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Lizz Wright
Opening Act: Yoko Miwa Trio

For more information visit thewilburtheatre.com/.

For information on year round jazz throughout Massachusetts visit massjazz.com/