Tampa Calling

Dozens and dozens of acts will make it onto Tampa Bay area concert stages this summer. Here’s our best bets, in a wide range of genres.

Stanton Moore The bespectacled founder of NOLA funk purveyors Galactic is widely regarded as one of the best drummers currently drawing air. This show has him in a trio setting with estimable guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter. The small ensemble allows room for Moore to strut his Crescent City-honed skills. Expect expansive jamming and finely honed interplay. (Video: Stanton Moore Trio performing at Emerald Lounge in Asheville, N.C., Sept. 10, 2008.) (May 28, Crowbar, Ybor City) —Eric Snider

Sunday, May 31 WMNF Jazz Jam feat. Sam Rivers/PBS/World Afro-Cuban Ensemble/Infinite Groove Orchestra/Impromptu/Trio Vibe/others TBA Tampa Bay’s community radio station has been putting together more jazz events of late — thank you for that — this being one of the more ambitious. Saxophonist Sam Rivers, 83, was once a front-rank player on the New York (and thus international) avant-garde scene. He’s settled into legendhood well, living in Orlando and taking gigs as he pleases. A potpourri of locally-based acts rounds out the bill. (May 31, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) —ES Read the rest of this entry »

Swede pop trio Peter Bjorn and John is currently streaming their forthcoming release, Living Things, on MySpace. I’m only two songs deep and I’m already digging on it, though it’s not really at all what I expected nor does it remind me of 2006’s blissfully sublime Writer’s Block or 2008’s quirky Seaside Rock. It’s got more of a dark, minimal, dance music feel. The first track, “The Feeling,” has few lyrics, its vocals set against clap-clomp beats and out-there samples that create their own additional textures and percussive flourishes, while track two, “It Don’t Move Me,” continues with the clapping, but pairs it with heavy keyboard strokes and ’80s-style skating rink rhythms. To listen for yourself, click here.

Earlier this week, I posted a blog about the new forthcoming album from Swede pop trio Peter Bjorn and John, Living Thing. The band has seen fit to release the album cover, too, which probably wouldn’t have been worth another post except that it’s pretty cool. (Click on it to enlarge it.) To check out a couple of tracks from the album, click here.

Almost Gold Recordings/Startime International is due to drop the album in the U.S. March 31. The subsequent U.S. tour (if you can call nine stops a U.S. tour) doesn’t bring them anywhere near here, but if you like them enough to fly to see them live, here are the dates: Read the rest of this entry »