Hot Weekends

Jon Pemberton Quintet (February 4-5, 9 pm). Trumpeter Jon Pemberton has an eclectic career, including performing with Skatet, a 7-piece traditional ska band with heavy jazz influences, and playing trumpet for the Paul Renz Quintet, Shangoya, and George Avaloz. Pemberton is also dedicated to private teaching (tuba!) through the Hopkins School District, and leads his own band, the Pembertones, in addition to his quintet. The JPQ includes some of the finest jazz musicians around town—veteran saxman Gary Berg, AQ owner/drummer Kenny Horst, first-call bassist Tom Lewis, and the sublime pianist, Chris Lomheim. This weekend gig is a tribute to the great hard bop trumpter Lee Morgan, a Coltrane alum best known for his 1963 recording, The Sidewinder.

Dean Magraw Trio (February 18-19, 9 pm). Dean Magraw has been wowing audiences with his fleet fingered plucking and creative compositions. Said Steve Tibbetts, "It's guitar, but it's so liquid, lyrical and effortless that it's like listening to a dancer." Starting out on bugle, St. Paul native Magraw studied classical guitar at the University of Minnesota and Berklee College of Music in Boston. For many years, Magraw was half of a popular partnership with mandolin virtuoso Peter Ostroushko. Straddling jazz, folk and bluegrass, he has performed with and/or recorded with Ruth McKenzie, Claudia Schmidt and Greg Brown, among others; he has explored his Celtic heritage performing with Celtic accordionist John Williams. Magraw's first solo recording, Broken Silence, won the NAIRD 1994 Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year. With bassist Jim Anton and percussionist J.T. Bates, expect great tunes infused with Magraw's impish humor.

Happy Apple (February 25-26, 9 pm; February 27, 8 pm). Together now for nine years, this Twin Cities avant-garde trio is know for its "loud, fast, and bursting music—a little electronica, a little Coltrane, a little Cobain" (The Rake). The threesome includes bassist Eric Fratzke, a veteran of such projects as Casino Royale and Zebulon Pike; multi-reedist Michael Lewis, also known for his work with Fat Kids Wednesdays; and the raging bull of percussion, Dave King, who splits his time among Happy Apple, FKG, and of course the Bad Plus. Influenced by classic Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, Happy Apple also reflects the electronica-infused childhoods of the musicians. The group released 4 private label recordings before hitting it big with aptly titled Youth Oriented (Sunnyside, 2002). Their new release, The Peace Between Our Companies (officially due February 1) is further testimony to the versatility and cross-generational appeal of the trio. Noted Chris Riemenschneider in the Star Tribune, "The original compositions by drummer Dave King and bassist Erik Fratzke range from the moody and elegant ‘Let's Not Reflect' to the wonderfully spastic ‘Paulie's Quick Temper Has Gotten Him Into a Few Jams,' wherein sax man Michael Lewis blows like a hurricane."

Lucia Newell and Departure Point (February 27, 2:30 pm). A Sunday afternoon special, this Twin Cities Jazz Society "Jazz J to Z" show features local diva Lucia Newell with Pete Whitman's long-standing sextet, Departure Point. From Los Angeles to Mexico City to Rio de Janeiro, as well as locally at Orchestra Hall, the Artist's Quarter, and the Dakota, Lucia Newell has performed Brazilian samba, French ballads, and bop melodies; she has sung with the great Billy Eckstein, the Rio Jazz Orchestra, and Oscar Castro Neves. On her latest recording, Steeped in Strayhorn, she was accompanied by Departure Point, and this afternoon gig promises to feature many selections from this acclaimed release. These musicians know each other well, and their simpatico collaboration will make this a must-see event.