Red Rose Jazz: Music is in bloom at Longwood

By RAY GRUNNERT, Correspondent

Player-composer Joe Lovano's winning streak of 23 albums for the venerated Blue Note label has reached a peak of sorts with his current Us Five band. Lovano's quintet, a fair successor to the perennial poll-topping Dave Holland quintet, will perform at Longwood Gardens Saturday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45.

In addition to Grammy-winning saxophonist Lovano, Us Five includes four younger players with diverse careers.

Lovano's bassist, Esperanza Spalding, wowed a Long's Park summer Sunday crowd in 2010 with her mini upright bass and a batch of enthrallingly airy compositions that already marked her as one of the music's freshest triple female talents as a singer, songwriter, instrumentalists. The busy session players, pianist James Weidman and dual drummers Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III round out the rest of the Us Five band.

Also coming to Longwood Gardens on Feb. 23 is actress Molly Ringwald (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink), now reinvented as a jazz singer. The performance is at 8 p.m. and tickets are $42. Singer Tierney Sutton will perform at Longwood on March 16 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45.

• The Dave Wilson Trio will perform at The Pressroom, 26 W. King St., Saturday from 8-11 p.m. There are three good reasons to attend this gig: Bassist Steve Meashey's gorgeous maplewood upright bass tones, a chance to hear York pianist Matt Hochmiller in the home of piano trios, and an occasion to check out Wilson's thoughtful saxophone soliloquies in the Pressroom's airy acoustics.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/799243_Red-Rose-Jazz--Music-is-in-bloom-at-Longwood.html#ixzz2H0lAdeXb