Dakota in the news this week

Pamela Espeland and MinnPost.com preview a few of our events this week.

Musical brunches for Easter Sunday

Dakota on Nicollet Mall. The downtown jazz club goes gospel for Easter, morning and night. The Gospel Brunch features the BKS Vine with vocalists Kathleen Johnson, Mocha Johnson and Rhonda Johnson. Chef Jack Reibel has cooked up a menu that includes fried chicken with waffles, which sounds strangely delicious. Later that day, the great guitarist John Scofield plays two sets with his Piety Street Band, fusing blues and gospel with modern jazz.

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Global jazz: This week’s picks

Here’s what’s happening in jazz closer to home this Easter weekend and beyond.

Saturday, April 11: Marco Benevento Trio.
It’s a cruel night when you have to choose between Andrew Bird (with our own Michael Lewis) and the fresh, fascinating, playful pianist Marco Benevento. Bird’s show at the State is sold out, so if you have a taste for indie/jam-band/experimental rock/circuit-bending/sound-sculpting with melody at its core (plus jazz), go to Benevento. Listen on his website or MySpace page. Watch a brief promo video here. Stick around for New York “stomprovisors” Gutbucket at the late-night show.

Tuesday, April 14: Lionel Loueke.
Growing up in the small West African country of Benin, Loueke had a chance encounter with a George Benson recording that made him a jazz musician. He studied in Paris and at the Berklee College of Music, then moved to Los Angeles and met Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard. You may have heard him on Hancock’s Grammy-winning “River: The Joni Letters.” I heard him at the Monterey Jazz Festival last September and he knocked me out. Rooted in African folk tunes and modern jazz, his music is intricate, rhythmically complex, and spellbinding. His trio includes fellow Berklee alums Massimo Biolcati on bass and Ferenc Nemeth on drums. (Biolcati is Italian, Nemeth Hungarian. Jazz is a global musical language.) Listen on Loueke’s website or MySpace page. See him solo here. This group deserves a full house.

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