Weekend Ideas: November 20, 2015

Wynton Marsalis floats “A Love Supreme” with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

An advance taste of Lake Street Dive’s next album, Side Pony, due in February on major imprint Nonesuch, suggests the ex-New England Conservatory friends are ready to go down smooth with more modern production for their jazzy soul-pop. But the foursome fronted by singer Rachael Price returned to its roots this week and follows two shows at Club Passim with one Friday at the Lizard Lounge, where Lake Street Dive cut its teeth like this in many a residency. This Memory Lane Tour’s a sold-out warmup for a March 23 date at House of Blues.

Another Boston-born outfit, Kingsley Flood promises a blend of charismatic, Clash-like rock and spry Americana in its return to the Sinclair on Friday, standing up for The Good Fight, its third in a series of notable recent EPs. Jazz fans keep busy too. The same night, Wayne Shorter’s all-star backup of pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade fly on their own as Children of the Light at Sanders Theatre with 12-year-old piano phenom Joey Alexander opening, while spirited Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza fronts a quintet that includes guitarist Lionel Loueke and harp virtuoso Gregoire Maret at the Regattabar. And on both Friday and Saturday, Scullers Jazz Club hosts sax great David Sanborn, who’s graced countless albums with his smooth yet pungent tones as a session musician (that’s his sax you hear on David Bowie’s “Young Americans”). It’s also action time for electro-pop sirens at the Paradise Rock Club with Grimes on Friday and Lights on Saturday.

But the weekend’s biggest shows come Friday and Saturday with My Morning Jacket slipping into the Orpheum Theatre for two shows expected to sport deeply different setlists based on the Kentucky-bred band’s current tour. My Morning Jacket was fabulous this past summer at the Newport Folk Festival, where they backed Pink Floyd icon Roger Waters, yet the group seemed a bit off its game when it rocked Boston Calling in May. However, the Orpheum’s more cozy atmosphere and acoustics should perfectly fit the jammy, soaring threads of orchestral folk-rock and space-prog that the clarion-voiced Jim James’ crew conjures behind recent album The Waterfall.

Sunday’s a whole other experience when trumpeter Wynton Marsalis leads the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a big-band arrangement of John Coltrane’s landmark suite A Love Supreme in a 5 p.m. Celebrity Series show at Symphony Hall. And singer/guitarist Christian McNeil resurrects a version of his excellent former rock band Hybrasil with J. Geils Band drummer Tom Arey and guests stepping forward in a benefit for drummer Jeff Berlin (who has suffered a series of strokes) at in the back room of Somerville Irish bar the Burren. Also on that Sunday evening bill are Vapors of Morphine, Club d’Elf (with Duke Levine), Jimmy Ryan and Bow Thayer.


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