It wouldn’t be the holidays in Albuquerque without the New Mexico Jazz Workshop’s Yule Struttin’ party. Way back since 1992, the state’s nonprofit jazz steward has decked the halls with shiny baubles, fine art, food, wine, women and song to put some sparkle in the holidays and a little coin in the organization’s cash box. No "Gift of the Magi" corollary here–Yule Struttin’ is a win-win for jazz in New Mexico.The honor of performing the year’s most esteemed gig goes to Cesar Bauvallet y Tradiciones, who’ll transplant the golden age of traditional Cuban music into the Albuquerque Museum. Also performing are The After Five Jazz Quartet (Douglas Cardwell on drums, Dimi DiSanti on guitar, Mark Tatum on bass and Lisa Lopez on keys); bluesman and my high school guitar mentor Stan Hirsch; and, of course, the The New Mexico Jazz Workshop Youth Honor Jazz Ensemble, lead by trombonist Ed Ulman.A catered buffet, a cash bar and a silent auction–including a 2009 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic and a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid XLT–gild the lily. Look hard enough and you might find a partridge in a pear tree.Yule Struttin’ steps off at 7 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Albuquerque Museum of Art (2000 Mountain NW). $65 tickets keep the NMJW and its projects alive and kicking. Buy yours at nmjazz.org or 255-9798.
Music To Your Ears Spectres@Arts Lab
Last month, UNM’s ARTS Lab (short for Art, Research, Technology and Science) added an experimental music series to its already large petri dish of creative-science projects. The monthly SPECTRE SERIES is helmed by William Fowler Collins, a dude about noise-town. Its point, according to the event’s blog, is to feature "composer-performers who work inside (and outside) the musical fields of electroacoustic, acousmatic, noise, and free improvisation."The second go-around is on Thursday, Dec. 4, when Martin Back and Father of the Flood perform. Doors open at 7, and the music starts at 7:30 p.m.You can find the ARTS Lab Garage at 131 Pine NE, just north of Central and one block west of University. Bring something to sit on and a $5 to $10 donation. Learn more about ARTS Lab at artslab.unm.edu and the SPECTRE music series at artslabmusic.blogspot.com.
