Click to watch

An excerpt from "Birth of the Blues" performed by Whit Smith's Hot Jazz Caravan

Jazz Manouche, or Gypsy Jazz, is a genre that is enjoying a lot of popularity these days—as much for its sophisticated soloing a la Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli as for its energetic rhythm. Whit Smith’s Hot Jazz Caravan marries this musical strain with the dexterous and driving sound of Western Swing—made famous by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and arguably the wildest stuff ever to land in the Country & Western bin. The Austin, TX band—comprised of Whit Smith (guitar and vocals), J.D. Penley (guitar), Mike Montgomery (fiddle), Jake Erwin (bass) and Jon Doyle (clarinet and sax)—plays a mixture of originals and snappy covers that include the 1926 chestnut “Birth of the Blues” and the 1936 Johnny Mercer hit for Bing Crosby “I’m an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande”. Smith and Erwin spent seven years playing in the Hot Club of Cowtown—a trio similarly devoted to jazz and swing —and opened for Willie Nelson (a well-known Django devotee) and Bob Dylan on their 2004“Field of Dreams” Tour This is a rare area performance, en route to the Rochester Jazz fest, at the Sportsmen’s Tavern, Friday (June 9) at 9:30pm. —buck quigley

The local music scene will burn a bit hotter when one of its brightest stars—Gretchen Schulz—lights up the night fronting The Morvels at The Sportsmen’s this Sunday (June 11) at 7pm. After a six-year (!) hiatus following the birth of her third child, local audiences will have the chance to hear one of the most soulful vocalists this town has ever produced—and I include Aretha Franklin in that group (she lived here briefly as a child). The band consists of local ringers Doug Morgano (guitar) Nick Veltri (bass) drummer Mike Phelps, and special guest Jim Whitford on pedal steel guitar. They’ll be running through all kinds of cool R&B, Motown and Soul by Gladys Knight, Al Greene, Little Milton and more. You can also catch Gretchen on Monday (June 19) at 9pm at Nietzsche’s for an acoustic set of original material, part of Mike Meldrum’s great, ongoing, Singer- Songwriter series. —buck quigley

Click to watch

Howlin' Rain performs "Roll On the Rusted Days"

Howlin’ Rain is an incarnation of classic southern rock. Like a strong drink, the sound is a mixed concoction of blues, country, and jam with a shot of noise. It is smooth at first, and then finishes harsh -kinda like prized southern whiskey. The trio, comprised for Ethan Miller (guitar & vocals), John Molony (drums) and Ian Gradek (bass guitar & banjo), came together with the simple intention of making good old American rock music. Their debut album, the self-titled Howlin’ Rain (Birdman) features windy strings with raspy vocals and brings back memories of backyard barbecues on the 4th of July. In this era of extreme genre bending, Howlin’ Rain is a refreshing reminder of what true rock is supposed to sound like. On Monday (June 12), they'll play The Mohawk Place with opening act Warmer’s Milk. The show starts at 8 pm. —brian w. wright.

Although their unfortunate name suggests a frat party band, the music of Holy Fuck is anything but typically inane. Vowing to create contemporary electronic music without relying on pre-programmed laptops, Holy Fuck embraces dirty spontaneity and the use of live instruments, including drums, bass, toy keyboards and oddly, a 35mm film synchronizer. The resulting dancefloor cacophony mixes lo-fi electronic noise and solid grooves drawn from funk, rock, electronica and disco. From the start, audiences raved about the group’s notoriously spontaneous live shows, but Holy Fuck’s big break came when Beans, MC of the experimental electro-funk hip-hop group Anti-Pop Consortium, tapped them as his back up band. Catch Holy Fuck’s homemade disco-punk Thursday (June 15) at Soundlab. Opening is Mark Webb and Fourem/Rainbowmaker (featuring members of the Sleeping Kings of Iona), at 9pm.

Click to watch

Ken Vandermark of the CINC Trio performs "Universal Funeral"

An all-star assembly ofmusic veterans, the CINC Trio continuously crosses the established boundaries of music. This is the most recent of many musical projects for Ken Vandermark, who has devoted his 20-year career to exploring the possibilities of improvisation, so it is not surprising that the CINC trio takes listeners to undiscovered musical terrain. Accompanying Vandermark, who plays reeds, is percussionist Paul Lytton, who began performing during the London improv’ scene on the early seventies, and Philipp Wachsmann, playing violin and electronics, who has appeared on over seventy recordings, some dating back to 1973. This blend creates a unique sound that is melodic at times and confusingly cluttered at others. The unpredictable nature of the music is what produces the excitement — a breathtaking element of surprise. The trio will spend the summer on a short tour through North America and Canada, and appears at Hallwalls next Thursday (June 15), at 8 pm. —michael a. colucci

In the ever-soulful twelve-bar realm of the blues, musician Duke Robillard has earned himself a place among the stars. Robillard has built an incredible repertoire over the last four decades pairing himself with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jay McShann, John Hammond, and Robert Gordon, also replacing Jimmy Vaughan as lead guitarist of The Fabulous Thunder Birds. His wailing guitar riffs and heartfelt combination of rock, jazz, swing, R&B, and the blues have made him a music icon, referred to by legendary blues musician B.B. King as “one of the greatest players.” On Wednesday (June 14) at 8pm, join Robillard at Nietzsches when he brings his passionate and well-seasoned brand of the blues to Buffalo for a night. —kat brady