Django Festival Allstars, with Veronica Swift
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a music critic is the opportunity to expose listeners to artists and styles with which they may have little or no familiarity.
In many instances, this is done by enthusiastically writing about a new recording or upcoming concert. In some cases, however, it is done in person when I invite very talented local musicians to accompany me to performances I think they will find especially enjoyable.
Over the years, some of my concert guests have included pianist Joshua White, guitarist-singer Anna Troy, singer-songwriter Peter Boland, guitarist Eric Wesling and the late violinist Jamie Shadowlight.
In 2016, I invited avocational North Park blues-rock guitarist Jim Vrakas to join me at the San Diego debut concert by France’s all-acoustic Django Festival Allstars at Scripps Research Institute Auditorium.
Jim was a newcomer to the “hot jazz” legacy created in the 1930s by Belgian gypsy guitar fireball Django Reinhardt and French violin standout Stephane Grappelli, whose music the aptly named Allstars salute and extend. I had been a “hot jazz” fan since first hearing a Grappelli concert in Germany when I was 18.
But no matter.
Jim was even more dazzled by the Allstars than I was. He repeatedly beamed and chuckled with delight throughout, especially when guitarist Samson Schmitt played exceptionally fleet lines and ingenious chordal sequences with joyous verve and improbable ease. “Wow!” Jim said repeatedly. Wow, indeed.
This time around, the Allstars will be joined by young American jazz vocal star Veronica Swift, who will presumably focus on selections from Reinhardt’s little-heard “Django With Vocals” album. Keeping up with the Allstars could be daunting for any singer, but the aptly named Swift should be up to the challenge.
Veronica Swift, a rising young jazz dynamo at 25, set for San Diego debut
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19. Athenaeum Jazz at Scripps Research Institute Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. $50-$55. ljathenaeum.org/jazz
Judy Collins will perform with Tom Rush in Escondido on Saturday. (Sam Hough)
An Evening with Judy Collins & Tom Rush
Devoted road dogs don’t come much more devoted than fellow singer-songwriters Judy Collin and Tom Rush, who are 86 and 84, respectively.
“I’m never retiring! Not if I can help it,” Collins told me in a late 2024 Union-Tribune interview.
True to her word, the luminous-voiced troubadour is doing about 100 concerts this year. Her latest album, “In Concert: Wildflowers At The Town Hall NYC,” came out in 2024, followed by a book of poetry.
Last year also saw the release of Rush’s most recent album, the charming “Gardens Old, Flowers New.”
He and Collins both sprang to the fore in the early 1960s as part of the same East Coast folk-music movement that produced Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, Carolyn Hester, Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil, Karen Dalton and Phil Ochs.
That Rush and Collins are still going strong, six decades later, is a testament to their talent and tenacity. The chance to hear them here together is a welcome one.
7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15. California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 North Escondido Blvd. $66-$108. 858-988-4253; artcenter.org
The Flamin’ Groovies’ Cyril Jordan is San Diego-bound with the latest edition of his 60-year-old San Francisco rock band. He is shown here performing on the Palomino Stage during the 2023 Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio (Jennifer Cappuccio Maher)
Flamin’ Groovies, with The Loons and DJ Meow Mix
I am usually reluctant to recommend veteran bands whose lineups now include just a single original member. San Francisco’s Flamin’ Groovies is a rare exception.
Formed in 1965, the group is still led by guitarist-singer Cyril Jordan, who continues to rock out at the age of 77 and has outlived a number of his former bandmates.
His group’s current lineup features drummer Tony Sales, bassist Atom Ellis and two new guitarists, Miki Rogulj and Sean Fitzsimmons.
Their setlists include such Flamin Groovies’ gems as “Jumpin’ in the Night,” “Slow Death,” “Teenage Head” and “Shake Some Action,” the 1977 power-pop classic that was memorably covered by Cracker in the soundtrack to the 1995 film, “Clueless.”
8:30 p.m. next Thursday, Nov. 20. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $36.60 (must be 21 or older to attend). casbahmusic.com
Also recommended
Friday, Nov. 14: Appreciating Patric Petrie, Templars Hall
Saturday, Nov. 15: Chris Pierce, Museum of Making Music
Sunday, Nov. 16: Special EFX, featuring Chieli Minucci & Rebecca Jade, with Lao Tizer, Joel Rosenblatt, Anthony Crawford, Lou Lou’s Jungle Room
Monday, Nov. 17: Eilen Jewell, Kimmi Bitter, Belly Up
Tuesday, Nov. 18: Chest Fever presents “The Last Waltz,” featuring featuring: Jerry Raney of The Beat Farmers, Jack Tempchin, members of Daring Greatly, The Wellsprings, Mike Stax, Ash Easton, Heather Nation, Murc McRee, Jess Roberts, Batya MacAdam-Somer, Bryan Barbarin and Chris Torrez, Belly Up