MusiCal (April 2010)

 By Don Allred

Trombone Shorty

24-year-old Trombone Shorty, who also plays trumpet, sings, and composes, has been leading bands since he was 6. He’s a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, though his mixture of jazz, funk, rock, and hip-hop, performed with the five-piece Orleans Avenue, is never routine. Sonic visions of everything from “O Holy Night” to “Back In Black”could be awesome showstoppers, if Shorty’s show ever needed to stop.

04/03 @ The Lincoln Theatre, 769 E Long St.

8 p.m.

Major Lazer & Rusko

Major Lazer is the animated ally of DJs Diplo and Switch, who celebrate the restless surrealism of Jamaican dub (reggae's instrumental mutant) and dancehall, which expands notions of pop. Pledging allegiance to Jamaica's ravenously resourceful wizards, Diplo and Switch's Major Lazer tracks recruit audaciously appropriate sounds from around the world, including Brazil's favela baile funk trips, to ride cosmically club-wise wheels of steel. They're reinforced by DJ Rusko, whose dubstep style also pumps the future's groove.

04/06 @ The Bar of Modern Art, 583 E. Broad St

10 p.m.

Foxy Shazam

Cincinnati's Foxy Shazam get compared to Queen, but their rowdy, brainy theatricality also taps the flash and focus of early rockers like Jerry Lee Lewis. Especially when Vaughn White's footware romances his sci-fi keyboard, while Eric Nally's voice swoops through "Red Cape Diver", and the band charges like a bull. "A-h-h," he cries, "I don't wanna die!" Amen! Foxy Shazam's universal drama brings extreme pop sweetness, while burning those calories.

 04/07 @ The Basement, 391 Neil Ave.

6 p.m.

K’naan

K’naan found his international audience in 1999, when the 21-year-old rapper appeared at a United Nations conference, deftly delivering a critique of UN relief programs in his birthplace, Somalia. Living in urban America also provides cogent commentary for performances with the Roots and Mos Def, while his pop appeal comes though with Lenny Kravitz and Nelly Furtado. K’naan’s own traveling band blends hip-hop, reggae, rock and African elements, in purpose-driven propulsion. 

04/14 @ The Newport, 1722 N High St.

7 p.m.

Oakhurst

Denver’s Oakhurst combines flat-top guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass and drums into what they call “Rocky Mountain Guerilla Grass.” It's a mix of rock energy and showmanship with bluegrass and other inventive traditions, like jug bands, for example. They also consider bluegrass to be “hillbilly reggae.” Well, that’s one reason for having a drummer (definitely not a bluegrass tradition). Plus, he joins their sweet harmonies, as Oakhurst’s original tunes become airborne again.  

04/14 @ The Thirsty Ear, 1200 W 3rd Ave.

7 p.m.

Rick Springfield & These Guys Live

Rick Springfield still rocks the confessions and confrontations of his 1981 hits, "Jessie's Girl" and "I've Done Everything For You". It helps that he recharged his classic approach on 2008's Venus In Overdrive. This show benefits the National Hemophilia Foundation's Central Ohio Chapter. Columbus's These Guys Live will open, with a songlist ranging from Journey and Bon Jovi to AC/DC and Whitesnake.

04/15 @ The LC Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave.

7:30 & 8:30 p.m.

Summetown Road & Wildwood 

The 4th Annual Bluegrass Benefit features Kentucky’s Summertown Road and Columbus stalwarts Wildwood. Summertown’s banjoist, Jake Hicks, toured with Bill Monroe while still a teenager, and Grammy-winning mandolinist-fiddler John Rigsby’s performed with Ralph Stanley. This concert benefits New Life UMC’s provision of food, clothing and medical services to over 2,000 people each month. Admission is free with any donation. Dinner is served at 5 p.m, This event includes a silent auction. 

04/16 @ New Life United Methodist Church, 25 W 5th Ave

6 p.m. & 8 p.m.

The Godz

In the early 70s, when “heavy metal” was still mostly a fancy rock critic’s term, the Godz fed molten tonnage to the bikers of Columbus, and anyone anywhere who felt the need to drive anything. Singer-guitarist Eric Moore’s ever-combustible crew got a well-deserved overview on Twenty-Five Moore Years, but the Godz saga doesn’t stop there. We may get some new songs at this show; we’ll surely get re-fueled. 

04/16 @ The LC Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave.

7 p.m.

Lady Antebellum

Fledging Nashville trio Lady Antebellum got their big break in 2007, singing on Cleveland native Jim Brickman’s “Never Alone.” Lady A.'s own music has continued this crossover pop approach. Their strong, vulnerable voices and increasingly diligent, mostly self-written songs bring unpretentiously ambitious emotional traffic reports through the city and suburbs, with some off-road trips. Dark detours like “Hello World” make “Lookin’ For A Good Time” even more of a release.

04/23 @ Nationwide Arena, 200 W Nationwide Blvd

7 p.m

Jim Brickman with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra

Pianist Jim Brickman attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, then became a very successful Adult Contemporary and crossover artist. His fluid, focused hits include “Valentine,” with Martina McBride, and “The Gift,” with Collin Raye and Susan Ashton. Brickman’s also collaborated with everyone from Herb Alpert to “30 Rock” ‘s Jane Krakowski. With Albert-George Schram conducting the CSO, this concert includes Brickman’s tourmates, vocalists Anne Cochran, Mark Masri, and electric violinist Tracy Silverman.

04/24 @ Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 300 W Braod St.

8 p.m.

The Yellowjackets

The Yellowjackets were assembled by keyboardist Russell Ferrante and guitarist Robben Ford, who met while playing with the jazzy blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon. After Ford's departure, the four-man Yellowjackets got smoother, but their live albums can build on lyrically bluesy roots. The recent concert DVD New Morning tunefully rolls through progressive arrangements, while the current tour welcomes back drummer William Kennedy, who knows just when to swing, sling, syncopate, and tighten up.

04/28 @ The Lincoln Theatre, 755 E Broad St.

8 p.m.