MONICA HOOPER
mhooper@nwaonline.com
As the weather warms up, so does the jazz in Northwest Arkansas.
Guitar virtuoso Ted Ludwig and his super quartet of Pat Bianchi, Paul Carr and Steven Pruitt perform at 7:30 p.m. June 15 at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. Bianchi’s Hammond B3 provides the perfect catalyst for Carr’s big tenor sax and Ludwig’s guitar pyrotechnics. With drummer Steven Pruitt driving the ensemble, this will be a “must-see” event for lovers of straight-ahead jazz.
On June 30, Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist Eddie Gomez brings his trio to Northwest Arkansas for the first time. Gomez has performed with the likes of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Goodman, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. For this show, he will be joined by Stefan Karlsson and Steven Pruitt. The concert starts at 7 p.m.
Both concerts are presented by Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society in the Starr Theater at WAC. Tickets are $30-$45 and are on sale at waltonartscenter.org, by calling 443-5600 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. weekdays or in-person at the WAC Box Office.
This month, you can also catch Jazz on the Mountain at Mount Sequoyah with Backbeat Jazz featuring Nick Plumlee on guitar, Connor Abbot on bass, Conor Knaup on saxophone and Arden Warr on drums. The concert starts at 6 p.m. May 23. The free event is part of Artosphere festival. Registration is required.
BENTONVILLE
Meteor Guitar Gallery — TRAPT, 7 p.m. May 26; Afroman with R3altalk, Paris Wilds, Kountry Boy Kev, Lil Mickey, Scoobie Dundee and John Jethro, 6 p.m. July 11; Beach House on the Hill with Will Kimbrough, Jim Hoehn and Even Keel Beach Band, 5 p.m. July 20; Ian Moore, Sept. 20; TAJ Farrant, Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice and Special Guest Jezel Farrant, 6 p.m. Sept. 21.
Undercroft — Jeff Gray and the Forte Quartet, 7 p.m. Tuesdays; Randall Shreve, 7 p.m. Wednesdays; Vinyl Nights with Bentonville Radio, 7 p.m. Thursdays.
Crystal Bridges — Ambient electronics from Go Find Water, June 9.
The Momentary — John Legend, 7 p.m. June 1; Portugal. The Man, 7 p.m. July 6; Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on July 14; Lake Street Dive on July 17; S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival with Slash; Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Robert Randolph and ZZ Ward, 6 p.m Aug. 16; deadmau5, Aug. 24; TLC and Shaggy, Sept. 6; Gary Clark Jr. Sept. 7; Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight, Sept. 13.
EUREKA SPRINGS
Wanderoo Lodge and Gravel Bar — 96 Miles, 7 p.m. May 24; Cherise Carver & Crimson Road, 7 p.m. May 25; Sprungbilly, 7 p.m. May 27; Los Roscoes, 5 p.m. May 30; Jake Reno, 7 p.m. May 31; GeminiiDragon, 7 p.m. June 1; ADD Trio, 5 p.m. June 2; Justin Larkin, 7 p.m. June 7; Statehouse Electric, 7 p.m. June 8; Alyssa Galvan, 7 p.m. June 14.
Missy’s White Rabbit — Buddy Shute and Mark McGee, 9 p.m. May 31.
The Aud — Sonny Landreth and special guest Seth Lee Jones, 7:30 p.m. May 31; Ian Moore, 7:30 p.m. June 1; Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, 7:30 p.m. June 28; The Creek Rocks and Ozark Mountain Daredevils, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6; The Elders and Matt the Electrician, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7.
Gotahold Brewing — Buddy Shute & Mark McGee, 5 p.m. June 2.
New Dehli Cafe — Buddy Shute & the Motivators, 6 p.m. June 1.
FAYETTEVILLE
Kingfish — Red Oak Ruse, 9 p.m. May 24; MoonShroom, Jake Keegan Band and Lily B. Moonflower, 9 p.m. May 25; Lucas Parker & Jessica Paige, 4 p.m. May 26; Nate Hancock and The Declaration, 8 p.m. May 30; The Kory McKelvey Band, 9 p.m. May 31.
George’s Majestic Lounge — Happy hour with Jed Clampit, 6 p.m. and HopHaus with DJ Girlfriend, Stepmom, Rockelle, Modeling and Susie Q, 9 p.m. May 24; NEWCO with Magnolia Brown and Taylor Smith, 8:30 p.m. May 25; CANCELED Tinnitus 3 with Nightspake, Grand Inquisitor, Power Tool Ninja Pyrocratic, Angel Flesh and Ghost Hollow, 7 p.m. May 26; Free Show with The Big Sad, Not the Sun and The Idioms, 8 p.m. May 30; happy hour with Jesse Dean, Brother & the Hayes, 6 p.m. then Monk is King with Lemons and Mildenhall, 9 p.m. May 31; Jason Boland & the Stragglers with ake Stringer & Better Than Nothin’, 8:30 p.m. June 1; NLE CHOPPA, 8 p.m. June 3.
Folk School of Fayetteville — Dad Jam, 7 p.m. May 25; Soldier Songs & Voices Gathering, 2 p.m May 26; Irish Jam, 6 p.m May 27.
Mount Sequoyah — Chamber Music on the Mountain Summer Festival, June 14-15.
JJ’s Live — C-Kan, Neto Pena, Yoss Bones, and Toser One, 8 p.m. Aug. 4; Bowling for Soup: 20 years of ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve,’ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 5; Faye Webster, 8 p.m. Sept. 17; La Santa Grifa and Dharius 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 & Sept. 23; King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13; El Alfa, 8 p.m. Nov. 21.
Cork and Keg — Jazz Sundays, 6 p.m. every Sunday.
Fayetteville Public Library — March to August, 2 p.m. May 26; violinist Er-Gene Kahng + Khemia Ensemble, June 23.
Faulkner Center — Aldo López-Gavilan, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18.
Smoke & Barrel — Mammoth Caravan, Stash Hag, Fight Dream and Tao of Lucy, 8 p.m. May 31; Redwitch Johnny, Direwolf and Protohive, 9 p.m. June 21. Gravehuffer, Dissonant, Possession and Grand Inquisitor, 8 p.m. June 23;
Six Twelve Coffeehouse & Bar — The Velvet Crowns, 7 p.m. May 25; Piano Man JR, 7 p.m. May 30; Mike Oregano, 7 p.m. May 31; Cherise Carver, 5 p.m. June 4; Riley McGill, 6 p.m. June 6; Peter Rexford, 6 p.m. June 6; Michael Bewley, 7 p.m June 8; Latin Dance Night, 6 p.m. June 9; JerGriffin Jam, 7 p.m. June 13.
Fayetteville Beer Works — Beau Stephens, 7 p.m. May 25; Robin Bibeau, 7 p.m. June 8.
LAMPE, Mo.
Black Oak Amphitheatre — Brett Young, 7 p.m. July 13; Aaron Lewis, 7:30 p.m Aug. 3; Flo Rida, DJ Skribble and NicDanger, 7 p.m. Aug. 10; Josh Turner, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16; Hairball and Paralandra, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 31; Casting Crowns, 7 p.m. Sept 21.
LOWELL
Tom Thakkar, May 24-25; Jon Lovitz 7 pm. May 31; Podcast taping with Jon Lovitz and Charlotte McKinney, 2 p.m. and Jon Lovitz, 7 p.m. June 1.
PRAIRIE GROVE
Old Friends Farms — Old Friends Music Festival with Bayard Blain Trio, Creekbed Carter Hogan, The Creek Rocks, Dylan Earl, Fritz Hutchison Band, Hemlock, Jude Brothers, Little Marzan, Mary Elizabeth Remington, Sage & Aera, Star Charger, Still on the Hill, True Lions, Trevor Reichman and Mike Dillon, artist at large, May 24-26.
RIVER VALLEY
Riverfront Park — Levitt AMP Fort Smith Music Series starts at 6 p.m. with Mariachi America on May 30; and Kings & Associates on June 6.
Hero’s — Grand Inquisitor, Blind Oath and RANT, 8 p.m. May 31; Chrono Wizard, The Salesman, Coffee From Kansas and Rant, 8 p.m. June 22.
King Opera House — William Lee Martin, June 8; Allan Hurt and The Music Showmen, 7 p.m. Sept. 21.
The Bakery District — Chris & Lolly, May 30; Escape Tones, 7 p.m. June 6; Jazz Jam, 7 p.m June 13; The Crumbs, 7 p.m. June 20; Sonic Katz, June 27.
TempleLive — Gideon, 7:30 p.m. May 24; Zach Rushing, 7:30 p.m. May 31; Jim Breur, 8 p.m. June 7; Todd Rundgren, 8 p.m. June 11; Shane Profitt, 8 p.m. Aug. 3; The Wallflowers, 8 p.m. Sept. 21; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, 8 p.m. Oct. 4; John Michael Montgomery, 8 p.m. Oct. 12.
Majestic Fort Smith — Trapt, 7 p.m. May 24; Kody West, 8 p.m. May 25; Josh Meloy, 8 p.m. June 15; Velcro Pygmies, 7 p.m. July 26; Samantha Fish, 7 p.m. Aug. 8.
Neumeier’s Rib Room & Beer Garden — Music starts around 6 p.m. with Borrowed Money, May 24; Sons of Turner, May 31; Troy and the Remedies, June 1; Rain Kings, June 7; Livewire, June 8; Sons of Turner, June 14; Robert Rauch, June 15.
ROGERS
AMP — HARDY with Kip Moore, Travis Denning and Stephen Wilson Jr., 7 p.m. May 3o; Hootie and the Blowfish Collective Soul & Edwin McCain, May 31; Maggie Rogers and The Japanese House, June 3; Dierks Bentley, Chase Rice and Zach Top, 7 p.m. June 8; Styx & Foreigner with John Waite, June 19; New Kids On The Block with Paula Abdul & DJ Jazzy Jeff, June 26; Bert Kreischer’s Fully Loaded Comedy Festival with Whitney Cummings, Ralph Barbosa, Big Jay Oakerson, Dan Soder and Matt McCusker, June 27; Pixies & Modest Mouse with Cat Power, 6:30 p.m. June 28.
The Victory Theater — Victor Wooten and The Wooten Brothers, June 27.
The Creamery — Untight album release show for “Fair,” 7:30 p.m. May 30; Kelby Clark & Jack Bird present violin and banjo improv, June 20.
The Music Depot — Derrick Dove & The Peacekeepers, 7 p.m. May 24; Smokey & the Mirror, 7 p.m. May 31: NWA Jazz Orchestra, 7 p.m. June 1; Akeem Kemp, 7 p.m. June 7; The Blue Underground, 7 p.m. June 14; Earl & Them featuring Jesse Dean, 7:30 p.m. June 15; The 1Oz Jig, 7 p.m. June 22; Michael Fields, 7 p.m. June 28.
Railyard Park — Brick Fields with Dawn Cate Band, May 25; Funk Factory with Dane Ervin, May 30 and Members Only, May 31; Rodney Block, 8 p.m. June 1; Reggae Fest featuring Rochelle Bradshaw & Hypnotion, The Irie Lions and DJ Inversion, 7 p.m. June 7; Funk Fest with The 1Oz Jig, Crescent City Combo and Monk is King, 7 p.m. June 8.
SPRINGDALE
The Medium — Pura Coco and Avery Bruce, June 12. Groundwaves open mic every second Tuesday of the month starting at 6 p.m.
Black Apple Cider — Mo Alexander, May 30; Mo Mitchell and Emily Davis, June 6; Aditya Shankar & Dillon Krause, June 13; Neil Rubenstein, June 20; Aaron Scarbrough and Madi Stancic, June 27.
Turnbow Park — Shannon Wurst Band and Taylor Smith, Mark Harmony and WAIPA dancers, June 27; Brick Fields and March to August, July 25; The Sons of Otis Malone and Shiloh Old Time Pickers, Aug. 29; Funk Factory Goes to the Church with Arkansas Gospel Chorale, Sept. 28.
Tontitown Winery — Sip and sing starts at 6:30 p.m. with Old Dime Box, May 24; Rumours, May 25; Dr. Choice & The Bad Decisions, May 31.
Send your music events to Monica Hooper at mhooper@nwaonline.com