Jazz

In the 1930s and 1940s, Baltimore had a rich, flourishing jazz scene. Today, live jazz and devoted jazz clubs are scarce. But the owners of a new club located in a threadbare West Baltimore commercial district are hoping to help rekindle the city's once-dynamic jazz legacy. "We think Baltimore can be a major city for jazz," said Errez Segman, co-owner of the forthcoming venue, Back Alley Jazz. "We want our club to be a household name for live jazz and fine dining, and we think Baltimore's the right city for that."

Avicii, Kid Cudi and the Shins headlined the Sweetlife Music Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday. Reporter Vivienne Machi reviews the event. If the Sweetlife Festival were an actual sweet, I'd vote for a lemon bar: smooth, luscious, with only a few chunks of sour, yet on the whole thoroughly enjoyable. For the second year in a row, music lovers from around the state and beyond gathered through rain and patches of sun to celebrate some of the biggest names in dance and electronic music, and, to a lesser degree, sustainability, environmental consciousness and all that jazz.

A classic game of switcheroo greeted listeners of Baltimore's 104.3 FM yesterday morning, as the radio station prepared to change its format from classic rock to smooth jazz. For two hours before the switch was made at 10 a.m., the station played artists as varied as Christina Aguilera, Frank Sinatra and Metallica while teasing: "B104.3. What will it be?" "The stunt worked," said Scott Lindy, operations manager for the station's owner, Clear Channel Baltimore. Or at least it got attention.

The all-instrumental Novo Festival just announced dates for its 2012 and third edition. The festival, a showcase of voice-less, all-instrumental music, ranging in genre from post rock and jazz to experimental, is scheduled for March 9 and 10 at the Wind-up Space. It began  in 2010 . Last year , the Out of Your Head collective, Of the West, Susan Alcorn, and Big in Japan , among others, performed. While in the past the festival spread over five days, organized scaled it back to two this year.

CHESTERTOWN'S SECOND annual Jazz Festival featured three days of jazz performed by internationally renowned jazz vocalist Ethel Ennis; Stef Scaggiari, keyboardist; Paul Hildner, drummer; Keter Betts, bass player; Sherry Winston, a Grammy-nominated flutist; vocalist Sue Matthews; pianist Dick Durham; the Hometown Rhythm Section and the Lee Howell Trio.The festival is a dream come true for its founder, Dr. Mel Rapelyea, chairman of diagnostic imaging for Howard County General Hospital.Rapelyea fell in love with the Eastern Shore after working several days a month in the Kent and Queen Anne Hospital.

The concert series opens April 18 at the Other Barn, 5851 Robert Oliver Place, with vocalist Kristine Key. Showtime is 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at door. Information, 410-730-4510 or brownpapertickets.com/event/103954.

Robert Edmund Haynes, who owned a popular Gwynn Oak jazz and sports club and was a former Maryland State Lottery commissioner, died Nov. 12 of stroke complications at the Veterans Hospital in downtown Baltimore. The Northwest Baltimore resident was 81. Born in Clarksburg, W.Va., he was the son of the Rev. Egbert Adolphus Haynes, a Methodist pastor, and Margret Delena Jackson, a teacher and homemaker. He moved to Baltimore in 1947 after graduating from Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. He earned a degree at Morgan State University and belonged to the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

A jazzy crowd gathered at Coppin State College to meet and greet the legendary drummer Max Roach at a VIP reception at this year's Intergenerational Jazz Lovefest. The reception and a separate concert featuring the master percussionist were co-sponsored by the Coppin/Peabody Jazz Society and the Eubie Blake Jazz Institute.The evening's attendants included Camay Murphy, Jazz Lovefest chair and also chair of the Eubie Blake Jazz Museum, and her husband, John Murphy, former publisher of the Afro-American; honorary Jazz Lovefest chair Bernard Berkowitz; and Coppin State College President Dr. Calvin Burnett.

In early fall, LIVE plans to publish a roundup of fall/winter jazz concerts sponsored by jazz clubs and other organizations. If you have information about such events -- single concerts or a series -- and would like it published, please send a press release to Karin Remesch, LIVE section, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21278, or fax it to her at 410-783-2519.

James "Biddy" Wood, a retired music promoter and well-known personality in Baltimore's Pennsylvania Avenue jazz scene, died of respiratory failure Friday at Harbor Hospital Center's hospice unit. He was 87 and lived in Bolton Hill. Born in Lexington, Ky., he was the son of Francis M. Wood, an educator who was director of segregated, or "colored," schools in Baltimore, and Nellie Hughes, a home economics teacher. The family lived in Catonsville and "Biddy," as he was known because he was a small child, graduated in 1940 from Frederick Douglass High School.

Listen to the jazz sounds of the Chris Vadala Quartet , Fri., Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Montpelier Arts Center, 9652 Muirkirk Road. Saxophonist Chris Vadala toured for many years with Churck Mangione and now heads the jazz studies program at the University of Maryland. Tickets are $20 per person; $18 for members and seniors. For tickets, call 301-377-7800. Help kickoff the Ryan Odelle Mance Memorial Scholarship Foundation's inaugural 5k walk fundraiser, Sat., Sept. 17. Check-in and donation submission begin at 8:15 a.m., with shotgun start at 9 a.m. at Riverfront Park, off Main Street at Avondale Street.

Richard Lyle Daniel, a retired Baltimore County public school music instructor who played with and led several jazz bands, died Monday of heart failure at Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, Pa. The longtime Finksburg resident was 79. The son of a paper mill worker and a homemaker, Mr. Daniel was born and raised in West Point, Va., and graduated in 1950 from West Point High School. He served in the Air Force until 1951, when he was given an honorable medical discharge.

Concerts Outdoor sounds' swan song The Columbia Village Centers Courtyard concert series wraps up this week with three concerts. The Bay Jazz Project performs jazz Thu., Aug. 18, 6 p.m., at the Dorsey's Search Village Center. Invasion will play British rock Fri., Aug. 19, 6 p.m., at the River Hill Village Center. Finally, the Sidleys will perform a mix of R&B and rock Aug. 19, 6 p.m., at the Harper's Choice Village Center. Go to http://www.columbiavillagecenters.com . The live music series at Columbia's Lake Kittamaqundi lakefront will close out the season this weekend with a performance by the Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition , which plays Thu., Aug. 18, 8 p.m. The Carl Filipiak Group plays guitar-based jazz Sat., Aug. 20, 8 p.m. Also at Lake Kittamaqundi, vocalist the Mango Project mixes contemporary jazz, R&B, funk and smooth jazz, and can be heard Sun., Aug. 21, 6:30 p.m. Legendary Washington guitar slinger Tom Principato stops in at the lakefront Wed., Aug. 17, 8 p.m. Go to http://www.lakefrontfestival.com . Staines at Baldwin's Veteran folk singer Bill Staines will perform Thu., Aug. 18, 8 p.m., at Baldwin's Station & Pub (7618 Main St., Sykesville)

Live 'n' local Fractal Cat fever Columbia native Miles Gannett will perform with his band Fractal Cat Sunday, July 24, 6:30 p.m., at Gallery 788, located at 788 Washington Blvd., in Baltimore. Fractal Cat is a six-piece ensemble that evolved out of Gannett's home studio efforts. The band infuses its original compositions with a variety of instrumentation and offers a fresh, melodic take on pop/psychedelic music. The group will perform as part of a multimedia event called "Instant Gratification," as staged by photographer Philip Laubner . Fractal Cat's newest track, "Foxfire," can be heard by accessing its Facebook page (facebook.com/fractalcatmusic)

On May 28, after a three-month absence of major jazz concerts in downtown Annapolis, local music enthusiasts celebrated the appearance of major jazz artists at a new venue, O'Callaghan's Hotel, where the vocal jazz quartet Mad Romance played to a capacity audience, filling all seats at every table. In setting up the show, legendary bassist Joe Byrd, who retired from performing in December 2008, continues to keep jazz alive in Annapolis with his wife, jazz entrepreneur Elana Byrd.