Club Watch
Club Chatter: Kathleen Edwards at Babeville, Pappy Martin Love Supreme Ensemble at Hallwalls
Edwards at Ani’s ‘Ward’
Kathleen Edwards was born in Ontario, grew up (courtesy of diplomat parents) in Korea and Switzerland, studied classical violin and generally fell beneath music’s sway from a tender age.
It was her older brother’s record collection, though, that did the most damage. Hearing Bob Dylan and Neil Young records set Edwards on her singer-songwriter path; receiving her very first record from that brother, a Tom Petty collection, pushed things along; catching on to Ani DiFranco’s irreverent art sealed the deal.
Fittingly, Edwards returns to Buffalo to perform at the Ninth Ward, located in the downstairs area of DiFranco’s Babeville building (341 Delaware Ave.) beginning at 8 p. m. Sunday. Doors will open at 7 p. m.; tickets are available through Tickets.com.
Chasing the ’Trane
Tuesday was John Coltrane’s birthday. The man whose figure looms so large over the history of jazz would’ve been 82.
His influence, most obviously, endures. Indeed, it’s actually flourishing. No mortal who picks up a tenor saxophone can do so without at some point dealing with Coltrane, who transcended the improvisational envelope of bebop to create work of truly spiritual dimensions.
No one could play the blues quite like Coltrane, and he could take a “standard” — “My Favorite Things” or “Chim Chim Cheree,” for example — and breathe the fire of the gods into it. But Coltrane may be most dear to us for the work he did outside of the lines of bop. “A Love Supreme” stands tall as a recording that can speak to the layman, the dyed-in-the-wool jazz musician, and the aspiring rocker alike. To hear it is to go to church, minus the dogma and guilt.
On Tuesday, a group of area jazz musicians, led by tenor man Chu Nero and bassist James “Pappy” Martin, will celebrate Coltrane’s birthday and mark his continued importance with a program of Coltrane music inside Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (341 Delaware Ave.) beginning at 8 p. m. The band is operating beneath the moniker the Pappy Martin Love Supreme Ensemble.
Gig picks
Say Hi and Jukebox the Ghost play Big Orbit’s Soundlab (110 Peal St.) at 8 p. m.
Saturday.
Phantom Planet, the Morning Light, the Rocket Summer and the Secret Handshake join forces inside Club Infinity (8166 Main St., Williamsville) on Sunday. Doors open at 6 p. m., and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
Next Friday, Club Infinity is presenting another multi-act, alt-rock bill with Protest the Hero, the Acacia S train, Unearth, W h itechapel, and Gwen Stacy joining forces.
King of the droll, laid-back Leon Redbone returns to his Buffalo home, the Tralf (622 Main St.), at 8 p. m. Sunday. Ticketmaster is handling the tickets.
Lazlo Hollyfeld — following a smoking show as part of Robby Takac’s Music Is Art festival two weeks back — arrives for a show inside Nietzsche’s (248 Allen St.) at 9:30 tonight.•
