Weekly Music Picks: Is it Fall Already?

Fall seems to have set in, at least for now. the temperatures are dropping and people all over the metro have been forced to put their flip-flops away for some more sensible footwear. At least until it gets warm again in another week. Or so we hope. Music abounds again this week and we're listening.

Tuesday, 9/12
Branford Marsalis Quartet Braggtown CD Release Concert
Berklee alum Branford Marsalis created Cambridge-based (and Rounder distributed) Marsalis Music for "artists who want to be musicians, not marketing creations." Among the label's artists are Jimmy Cobb, Miguel Zenon, and Branford's friend and fellow New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. (who, along with Branford, has been extremely active in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts). Unlike his neo-conservative brother Wynton, Branford has experimented with a diverse array of influences and styles, ranging from his heralded interpretation of Coltrane's A Love Supreme to his great jazz/hip-hop/R&B project Buckshot LeFonque (which featured DJ Premier and DJ Apollo). The quartet's new, high energy album Braggtown draws off everything from Native American Warriors ("Black Elk Speaks"), 17th Century English composer Purcell ("O Solitude"), and classic Japanese sci-fi ("Blackzilla," which interprets Akira Ifube's 1953 Godzilla soundtrack). Catch Branford and one on the best working jazz quartets featuring Joey Calderazzo (piano), Eric Revis (bass), and Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums).
Stanford Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts
$40 - $96, 7:30pm
website | purchase

Esperanza Spalding
Esperanza is a 22 year old bassist, vocalist, and jazz phenom. A Berklee alum, she was also the youngest faculty member in the history of Boston's famed College of Music. Her new album Juno, recorded for Spanish label Ayva, features breezy Brazilian and Latin jazz. Esperanza's often wordless vocals are reminiscent of Flora Purim's early '70s work with Airto and Chick Corea. Quite impressive. Check this rising star at Scullers where she will play two sets. The first set will be a Juno release party featuring that CD's trio with Aruan Ortiz on piano bass and Francisco Mela on drums. The second set features Esperanza's quintet with Christian Scott (trumpet), Mike Tucker (sax), Rick Peckham (guitar), and Lynden Rochelle (drums).
Scullers
$16, 8pm
website | myspace | Berklee profile | purchase

Zero 7 with Sia and Jose Gonzales
The downtempo soul duo Zero 7 (Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns ) takes a road trip across the pond from the UK to play a show up in the Hub. The current tour with Sia and Jose Gonzales is well received by fans and newbies alike. Their latest album, Garden, is spot on mate. We're sure this live show will soothe the soul.
Avalon
$17, 8pm
Zero 7: myspace | Futures (feat. Jose Gonzales).mp3

Wednsday 9/13
Boris, Pearls & Brass, Ocean
Indie Classic Rock? It's not a genre yet – but if Boris or Pearls & Brass have anything to do with it we might all be listening to this sound with great regularity in the near future. Some say psychedelic, some say stoner rock, some just say 'Grandfunk.' The triple bill at the upstairs promises to be one of the wonderful smaller venue shows that you forgot you knew about – but were oh so glad you saw.
Middle East Upstairs
18+, 9 pm, $12
Boris: website
Pearls and Brass: myspace

NEMO Musicmaker Competition Finals
The Snowleopards, Sarah Borges, Corin Ashley, Cat & Mouse, Jon Hope, Jason Myles Goss, Jordan Kelly, Ian Thomas, Jabe, Tim Blane, Emilia Dahlin all take stage at the Paradise Lounge in the lead up to NEMO later this month. Jabe plays the HeyLetsGo party at Fenway later this week. The Snowleopards put on a great show (and we heard this show will feature the duo version, not the four piece band).
Paradise Lounge
18+, 9 pm, $7

Thursday 9/14
The Gossip
There seems to be no good way to describe Gossip concisely. Direct from their website: " We are interested in art, change, the underground, dancing, fashion, punk history, crime and movements. We will nvr die. We are artists, poets, cooks, writers, feminisits, designers, musicians & djs." Beth Ditto brings vocals to the stage that are well formed wonders in themselves.
Middle East Downstairs
18+, $12
Gossip: website | Ain't it the Truth.mp3, Sweet Baby.mp3

Friday 9/15
John Scofield Trio (also Saturday)
Another Berklee alum comes back to town for two nights at the Regattaber. John Scofield is one of the leading jazz guitarists on the scene today. Perhaps best known for his soul jazz revival albums, ultra funky Uberjam project, and collaborations with jam and groove merchants Medeski, Martin and Wood, Scofield brings his more traditional trio to town featuring the great Steve Swallow (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums).
Regattabar
$25, 7:30pm & 10pm
website | myspace

Vashti Bunyan
After a thirty year hiatus from music the 60's Brit-folk rocker Vashti Bunyan decided that "forever" was over and her abandonment of music could end. She's doing something different this time around (this time around being 35ish years later) and actually coming to the US of A. Her first ever North American tour his the MFA.
MFA
7:30 pm, $23
Vashti Bunyan: website

Boston Lyric Opera Gala
The BLO kicks off their 30th season with a delightful mish-mash of arias from the operas Aïda, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Faust and more. A post-concert dance party will feature a "modern interpretation of operatic classics blended by disc jockey Kyung Min, a Music Technology student at Berklee College of Music."
8 p.m., $35-$85
Boston Lyric Opera:website
Kyung Min: website

Nouvelle Vague
French producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux recruited Brazilian and French chanteuses to record breezy bossa nova covers of classic post punk songs. For their first Nouvelle Vague release, the duo made sure the songstresses were not familiar with the songs they were covering so that the novel covers of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and the Clash's "Guns of Brixton" would sound as fresh and original as possible. And it worked. Surprisingly well. Nouvelle Vague just released their follow up album Bande a Part, which includes radical reworkings of Echo and the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon," New Order's "Confusion," and Heaven 17's "Let Me Go."
Paradise Rock Club
18+, 8 pm,
Nouvelle Vague: website

Don Preston's Akashic Ensemble
Best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970's, avant garde composer and electronic keyboard wizard Don Preston has worked with everyone from Elvin Jones, Carla Bley, and Yusef Lateef, to Lou Rawls, Robbie Krieger and John Lennon. Hear Preston, who "helped create the modern synth revolution" and "is still very much on the experimental tip" play vintage moog and other analog synths, along with his Macbook. With Andre' Cholmondeley (guitar, snyths, loops) and Cheri Jiosne (vocals, percussion, synths, samples).
Lily Pad (formerly Zeitgeist), Inman Sq.
All ages, $12, 10pm
myspace | wikipedia

Saturday 9/16
Mason Jennings
Singer/Songwriter Mason Jennings has been perfecting his music in the land o' lakes. He's infected fans with his honest and emotion across the states. Though he almost always seems to be on tour it's somewhat rare that he brings his music to Boston. We were actually surprised when we heard this show was playing the Avalon, rather that something a bit smaller. Well done Mason, bring the music.
Mason Jennings: website | Some Say I'm Not.mp3

Say Hi to Your Mom
Last time these guys rolled through town was before they released their latest album. Now they're touring to promote the release about vampires. Call your mom from the show. Say hi. Record the whole thing and drop it on their myspace page. We're sure they'll love it.
Say Hi to Your Mom: myspace | These Fangs.mp3

Sunday 9/17
Bach Cello Suites
In his Six Suites for Solo Cello, Johann Sebastian Bach cast a wide net: some movements are raucous, others gentle. Most are dizzingly complex and all are astonishingly memorable. Get enough melodies to see you through the week in this performance of all six by British cellist Colin Carr.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Suites 1-4, 12 p.m.; Suites 5-6, 3 p.m.; tickets $5-$25
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: website
Video of Anner Bylsma playing the Prelude to the First Suite on Luigi Boccherini's Stradivarius cello

C. Fernsebner, Matt Durutti, and Christina Linklater played an instrumental role in pulling together this weeks picks