1950s doo-wop singers The Duprees will grace the Drew U concert Hall stage Sunday Feb. 16 at 3:00 in the afternoon. Sixty years on, they still sound good. Such songs as “You Belong To Me,” “My Own True Love,” “Have You Heard” and “Why Don’t You Believe Me” are such timeless classics that they deserve to be heard in a live setting; and Tommy Petillo (46 years in), Jimmy Spinelli (since 1989) and Shawn Stevens (the new guy) are just the voices to do it.

Wanna hear some Billy Joel? They’re called We May Be Right and they’ll be belting out the Billy Joel on the Drew U Concert Hall stage Feb. 15 in Madison at 8:00 p.m. Piano Man vocalist Karl Dietal leads this crew featuring saxophonist Perry Andrews (a Rutgers grad), Berklee College of Music grad Derek Davodowich, funky bassist Luke Kessel and drummer-engineer-arranger Andy Janowiak.

Pianist Chris DeVito, sax man Greg Grispart, singer Audra Mariel, drummer Gavin Davies and bassist John Lenis will brighten up Stirling Road in Watchung at the Arts Center at 8:00 p.m. when these great jazz musicians coalesce in honor of something the world needs now.  

Keyboardist-Singer-Songwriter Felix Cavaliere and Lead Guitarist Gene Cornish are keeping the Rascals flame burning bright 60 years on since their 1965 start in Garwood (Union County). (That’s Felix pictured on the left and Gene next to him.) The Newton Theatre on Spring Street, with its good acoustics, is a fine place to go and hear music.

The heart and soul of ZZ Top since the ‘60s, the legendary Texas Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famer bluesman Billy F Gibbons is always a crowd pleaser. His solo band traverses blues, hard rock, funk, soul, old-school pop, rockabilly, gospel, Western Swing and African motifs all spearheaded by the kind of guitar he plays that puts him with the elites. From his wicked sense of humor, to his larger-than-life onstage persona, Billy F Gibbons is an American Treasure.

As part of the Northvale album release show in Teaneck Feb. 8 at the Debonair Music Hall with 5ever, and Jam Poetry, All Systems Go, after playing 140 gigs in eight states and building up a healthy following, will perform in celebration of its own new EP, Finding Closure, due Feb. 19. The delicious pop-punk single—“Everything Going Well Is A Bad Thing, Right?”—is already out.

It's always a whole lotta New Orleans in New Jersey whenever The Gumbo Gumbas get down with their earthy combo of Pops, Prima and the plethora of pulsating percussion that permeates Crescent City culture. They will also be performing at a fundraiser for Downtown Freehold on Feb. 28 at The Hotel Mardi Gras, as well as March 1 in Lebanon at a pre-Mardi Gras Party at the Sunken Silo with food from the Metropolitan Seafood Gourmet.

New York City sax man Tim Armacost will lead his quartet in Teaneck on Cedar Lane at Brvsh Cul7ur3 at 7:00. His 40-year career has been highlighted by collaborations with Wynton Marsalis and Randy Brecker. He’s toured throughout Europe, Japan, India, Australia and China. Is Teaneck ready for him?

February will be a really jazzy month at the Rustica Lounge in Cliffside Park on Gorge Road. Alan Chaubert is a multi-instrumentalist (Piano/Trumpet) and oftentimes plays both simultaneously. Influenced by Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, and, of course, Miles, he’s played all over the world. He’ll be entertaining—with drummer Tony Jefferson and bassist Cameron Brown—as patrons fine-dine on locally sourced Italian cuisine. Shows are every Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons from noon to 3:00.

Rio The Messenger is Emily Turonis, the daughter of longtime Hoboken light Gene D. Plumber. Her Heart Vision debut full-length comes out the day before this album celebration on Feb. 1 at Green Space Studios in Union City. She shares the night with Bergen County’s Alexander Yearns who will be celebrating his Live! Jersey City NJ album, available to stream now. Rio sounds soulful and jazzy. Yearns veers Dylanesque.

It’s free. Head downtown to Market Street to hear Sheila Jordan sing in church live right in front of your eyes and ears. This will be something to remember. The bebop vocalese pioneer, 93, will surely scat Sunday solid with standards at 6:00. 

Mike Ham has invited the two Marks from Weird NJ (Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets) for a special live edition of his Radio Garden State at Obal’s Inn in Bloomfield on January 30 from 4:00 to 6:00. As Ham says, “we’ll be swapping stories, playing tunes and having a beer or two so come hang out with us.” 

Supporting Trapped Under Ice, the newly signed Gridiron (Blue Grape Music) will celebrate the release of its “Talk Real” video with a loud set at Blackbox within the Williams Center in East Rutherford. Their 2022 No Good At Goodbyes was a buzz-worthy entry but their new album, not due until springtime, should be even better.

Sure, Ella Fitzgerald has been dead for 29 years and Duke Ellington has been dead for 51 years. But not really. Both artists are as alive as the sounds they made, the sounds that continue to resonate within our souls. Jazz Journalist Will Friedwald, 64, will narrate a filmed historical overview of the time Ella spent in Duke’s orchestra. The Metuchen Borough Public Library on Middlesex Avenue will host the event in the afternoon of Sunday, January 26, from 2:00 to 4:00.

Once but a mere Sublime tribute band (for no less than 22 years), Badfish, from Rhode Island, comprised of bassist Joel Hanks, drummer Scott Begin, vocalist-guitarist Pat Downes and horn man-keyboardist-guitarist Danny Torgersen, have their own feel-good vibe in full flower. It will be on display Jan. 25 in Sayreville at Starland Ballroom. “F You Pay Me” is the new original, the follow-up to their “High On You” debut. You can bet they still do up Sublime like not even Sublime itself can do.

Cumbia music originated from the rhythms and folkloric dance traditions of Latin America. Chuck Prophet originated in San Francisco, singing, composing, producing and playing guitar. In support of his Wake The Dead album on Yep Roc Records, Prophet has turned his attention towards Cumba music. He’s always been a searcher and a collaborator with such artists as Lucinda Williams, Warren Zevon, Cake and Alejandro Escovedo. He’s also a helluva bandleader. 

If you’re at least 21, you can treat yourself to some laughs at Crossroads in Garwood on January 22 when Plainfield-based Rich Vos will host the “Real Talk Jersey Comedy Show” with his guests Paterson-based Monique Latise and Princeton-based Vishnu Vaka. 

What could be more fun on a cold January night in Garwood than hopping on down to North Avenue before losing one’s self in the dark room of Crossroads before the lights explode into Led Zeppelin action as Black Dog mounts the stage? Zep’s music is too damn good not to be enjoyed live. Black Dog’s acoustic set—dig that mandolin!—sets the scene for the bombast to follow. The several long extensions of jam-happy trippiness—dig that Theramin!—completes the scene. 

Wisconsin’s Pete McCann has been a go-to New York City jazz guitarist for three decades backing Manhattan Transfer, Patti Austin, The Mahavishnu Project and many more. Currently, he’s in seven different groups and four orchestras. Yet he still finds time to record commercials for CNN, the BBC, IBM and Sesame Street, and his quartet has him soloing madly atop piano/bass/drums.  Teaneck will swing with post-bop smarts on this night!

This special 3:00 in the afternoon show—presented by the New Jersey Jazz Society—with twins Will (alto sax, clarinet, flute) and Peter Anderson (tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet) featuring guitarist Adam Moezinia will be at the Madison Community Arts Center on Kings Road on January 5 where they will interpret the American Songbook of Jimmy Van Heusen, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen and Hoagy Carmichael.

Supporting Trapped Under Ice, the newly signed Gridiron (Blue Grape Music) will celebrate the release of its “Talk Real” video with a loud set at Blackbox within the Williams Center in East Rutherford. Their 2022 No Good At Goodbyes was a buzz-worthy entry but their new album, not due until springtime, should be even better.

This looks like fun. The Hal Crystal Players traverse swing, oldies, rock’n’roll, disco, R’n’B, Latin and have a particular love of Motown.  This 10-piece band has keyboards, vocals, bass, drums, guitar, extra percussion, brass, alto sax, tenor sax and bari sax. It’s a dance party and while you dance you can chow down on pizza. Who wouldn’t like that?

A True American Treasure, Steve Forbert, who came in Alive On Arrival in 1978, and 20 albums later is living on Daylight Savings Time (Blue Rose Music), his best album in years, will grace the stage for two nights in a row in Tuckerton at the Lizzie Rose Music Room December 27 and 28.

It should be a raucous night of downhome Bluegrass, Jamgrass, Pure Americana and Southern Rock action when Nefesh Mountain supports its terrific new “Milestoned” single with what they’re calling the “Love & Light” tour. These wild crossfire genre-busters will definitely kick out the jams on December 15 at South Orange’s Performing Arts Center in advance of the January release of Beacons, which should be an early 2025 Top 10 contender.

Kelton Cooper, Gene Lake, Mike Griot and Ron Thompson are Blues People. They were nominated in the Blues Blast 2024 Music Awards as “Best New Artist.” On Friday, December 13, they will perform for free on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank at the Triumph Brewery. Nine days later, December 22, they’ll be at The North Jersey Blues Society’s “Holiday Hang” at the Montclair Brewery on Walnut Street. (A $10 donation is suggested.) On New Year’s Eve, they’ll be at Shanghai Jazz on Main Street in Madison. And in January, they’ll be headed to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge.

Sleep Theory—singer Cullen Moore, guitarist Daniel Pruitt, bassist Paolo Vergara, drummer Ben Pruitt—broke big last year. They’ll open for Daughtry 12/10 in Sayreville at the Starland Ballroom and no doubt play their “Paralyzed,” “Fall Out,” “Numb” and “Stuck In My Head” nu-metal anthems. Epitaph Records released their Paper Hearts debut EP and it has amassed over 182 million global streams. Work on their highly-anticipated 2025 full-length has started. They just might blow Daughtry off the stage.

The gal can blow! She’s got the kind of pipes that mere mortals can only dream of. Nicholas F. Mondello, writing in All About Jazz, says, “her improving style is such that melodic and rhythmic surprises lurk behind and leap from every corner.” She’ll be supported by pianist William Schwartzman and bassist Ben Feldman. The absence of drums gives the music more room to flow and ascend upward with no rhythmic constraints.

Reportedly, vocalist Gesenia has the endorsement of three of Linda Ronstadt’s former band members. Her versions of “When Will I Be Loved,” “You’re No Good,” “Blue Bayou,” “Perfidia” and “Desperado” are just the tip of what Gesenia can do:  she covers all aspects of Ronstadt’s one-of-a-kind multi-genre career, both in English and Spanish.

A special 1:00 p.m. show at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center will take place before that night’s Ronstadt Revue concert.  Four New York actors—Joe Pearce, Lloyd Diamond, Kristi Coombs and Jesse Posa—recreate the music, the laughs and the overall vibe of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.—known collectively as The Rat Pack. Plus, none other than Marilyn Monroe herself makes a special guest appearance.

The single is called “Unfck You.” Born in Jamaica, raised in Queens, NY. His “Higher Life” tour stops in Englewood December 7 at the Bergen PAC. He’s been a dancehall phenomenon since 2014. Dancehall is a jam-happy genre unleashed in the late 1970s that reduces reggae “riddims” to its bare essentials. His uncle, Screw Driver, was a dancehall pioneer, and now Kranium is inspiring a new generation.