Joe Lovano’s Paramount Quartet
Grammy Award-winner Joe Lovano is the only tenor sax great extant whose credits range from Lady Gaga, Paul Simon and rapper Lil Rowdy to such jazz giants as McCoy Tyner, Woody Herman and Abbey Lincoln, as well as conductor Simon Rattle and The City of Birmingham Orchestra.
If Lovano’s newest ensemble, the Paramount Quartet, was a rock band, it would rightly be hailed as a super-group.
But he, guitar wiz Julian Lage, Panamanian-born bassist Asante Santi Debriano and ace drummer Will Calhoun are not rock musicians, although Calhoun is the co-founder of the hard-rocking Living Colour. And the term “super-group” is rarely invoked in jazz, since it is not unusual for band leaders to team up for concerts and recordings as of the same group.
By any standard, Lovano has led more talent-rich bands over the past three decades than most other jazz luminaries.
He acknowledged as much in a 2004 San Diego Union-Tribune interview, saying: “Every situation you are in filters into the next. That’s why I have many ensembles and play with many musicians of different generations and multicultural backgrounds. Because it all keeps building into something new.”
Lovano is the Paramount Quartet’s oldest member at 72. Lage is its youngest at 37.
Julian Lage exults in twangy guitar virtuosity and grooves that shine
Both have headlined here on their own in the past and each is a master of their respective instruments. Whether playing original compositions, reinventing jazz classics or creating new music on stage in real time, they are sure to inspire when they perform here with Debriano and Calhoun.
7:30 p.m. Friday. Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. $55-$95. theconrad.org
The Army, The Navy, with Aggie Miller
How big a buzz is there for The Army, The Navy?
No, we’re not referring to one of college football’s most storied rivalries, but to Marin County-bred singer-songwriters Maia Ciambriello and Sasha Goldberg.
The two former Loyola University music students have been performing together as The Army, The Navy since 2022. Tickets for this talented duo’s Wednesday concert here in House of Blues’ intimate Voodoo Room have a “verified resale” price of $147 on livenation.com. That’s a mark-up of nearly 900 percent from their $15 face value.
At either price, The Army, The Navy has much to offer, with songs that should appeal to fans of such like-minded troubadours as Adrienne Lenker, Dora Jar and Helena Deland.
This enterprising duo’s enchanting, carefully constructed songs address matters of the heart, everyday life and existential angst with a winning combination of earnestness, wit and hand-in-velvet-glove vocal harmonies.
The ethereal “Vienna (In Memoriam)” is a touching elegy to a deceased pet rat.
The fuzz-toned “40%” includes such memorable lines as: “Say my name / Say it again / I wanna hear every consonant / I’m greedy.”
And the melancholic “Gentle Hellraiser,” which deftly evokes the wistfulness of Simon & Garfunkel, boasts such wry couplets as: “I leave my front door open / Because I’m just so inviting / I’ll be the best damn hostess / If you feel like dying.”
8 p.m. Wednesday. Voodoo Room, House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., San Diego. $147. livenation.com
Black Belt Eagle Scout, with UC San Diego professor Julie Burelle
Katherine Paul, who performs as Black Belt Eagle Scout, grew up on the Swinomish Indian Tribal reservation in her native Washington.
Her imioned songs are by turns soft and animated, inviting and edgy. They explore such themes as love, family, community and the rich heritage of indigenous peoples. She delivers them with the dedication of an unbent survivor, which is all the more fitting following her diagnosis of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis last summer.
Black Belt Eagle Scout will perform a solo set here after being interviewed on stage by UC San Diego Performance Studies and Theater & Dance Professor Julie Burelle. It should be a doubly intriging evening.
7 p.m. Monday. The Loft at UC San Diego, 3151 Matthews Lane, La Jolla. Free (first come, first served). artpower.ucsd.edu/event/black-belt-eagle-scout/
