This Sunday afternoon concert will feature student musicians like Princeton pianist Jasper Zimmerman, Wiliam Paterson University guitarist Sally Shupe, and vocalists Allison Jiang/Kyra Cioffi, performing with “seasoned industry professionals,” according to the New Jersey Jazz Society (NJJS) like pianist Caili O’Doherty, bassist Mary Ann McSweeney, drummer Karl Latham and trumpeter Ted Chubb, under the direction of NJJS advisor/musician/educator Don Braden.

The New Jersey Jazz Society presents a solo recital by Grammy-winning pianist Bill Charlap on a Sunday in church, October 4, at 3:00 p.m. Dude’s performed with the biggest and the best in his career including Tony Bennett and Wynton Marsalis, and is the current Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University in Wayne. 

It’s going to be a LOUD night on Bloomfield Avenue when Skillet and Escape The Fate bring the bombast to the Wellmont. Skillet should preview tracks off its upcoming After The Storm EP. The nine albums in its catalog are all either gold or platinum. As for the new EP, front man John Cooper says, “it reignites what we were always meant to do—help lift people out of dark times. I wrote these songs because I needed to be listed out of my own darkness.” 

Florida Alt-Rock mainstays Anberlin are supporting the release of their ninth album in 22 years, Currency, due November 11 on Equal Vision Records, by touring with San Diego’s Switchfoot. The bands will land at the Wellmont and new Anberlin singer Matty Mullins will no doubt sing the new “Gravity” single, of which, he says, “is about coming to terms with the fact that our time here is limited and choosing to live in a way that leaves nothing unsaid and nothing undone. It wrestles with the weight of mortality, but ultimately finds peace in letting go of fear and embracing the people, moments, and purpose that matter most.”

Montclair chanteuse Lily Vakili will grace the Woodland Stage within Marksboro Mills in Blairstown on September 26 performing songs from her Live Wire and last year’s Oceans Of Kansas. Guitarist Eric Burns, drummer Joseph Yount and bassist Drew Hartwill be with her because “what makes my music most compelling is when I perform it live with a band,” she says.

The second annual Bolero Block Party at the brewery on 20^th Street in Carlstadt will feature, among others, Head Automatica, the punk-garage-new wave-synth-heavy New York City band currently working on its third album. Formed in 2004, they took a 2012 hiatus but are back with singer Daryl Palumbo from Lockjaw and Dan The Automator from Gorillaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School. They wowed ‘em at Coachella, Riot Fest and Slam Dunk (UK) and opened for The Cure and Gary Numan. Guitarist Craig Bonich and drummer Chad Hasty round out this eccentric eclectic foursome.

Nigerian guitarist-singer-songwriter Mdou Moctar, 41, has taken what he’s learned from African legend Ali Farka Toure [1939-2006] and modernized it into a pastiche of worldbeat, blues, folk, rock and alt-pop singularly suited to his multi-talented presentation. He’ll be solo on this night so expect more blues than usual.

John Ondraski will bring his Five For Fighting String Quartet Tour to Newton Sept. 20, complete with musicians from the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge The Musical. Ondraski: “I'm excited to be returning to the beautiful east coast this fall, getting back up to Canada in December, and then on to the west coast in January. We look forward to sharing new songs, stories, and surprises along with the core tunes and special arrangements from my catalogue. The amazing Lace and Lee will be opening for us again and we all look forward to seeing Five For Fighting fans, old and new, in this intimate setting."

Guitarist Gary Lucas leads his Gods and Monsters trio into Teaneck on Sept. 13 at the Debonair Music Hall on Queen Ann Road at 7:00. Armed with bassist Ernie Brooks and drummer G Calvin Weston, Lucas will ramble from the far-reaches of Captain Beefheart and Blood Ulmer to the more comfortable Jeff Buckley. Three decades in, this psychedelic jazz-rock fusion power trio should blow your precious mind. 

Touring for the first time in over four years, the legendary Dion, 87, will bring his brand of blues and rock’n’roll to the Mayo PAC in Morristown Sept. 10. His latest album, Girl Friends, was one of 2024’s best. That was also the year he received the American Music Honors Award at the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University. 

Supporting their Rough Magic album, Bandits On The Run will participate at 7:00 p.m. in the free “Woodbridge Wednesdays” summer series at Parker Press Park. Their harmonies are exquisite. Their sound can be described as hovering somewhere between indie-pop to folk-soul to pure Americana. Native New Yorkers Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd and Regina Strayhorn admit to being influenced by The Mamas and the Papas, The Velvet Underground and Fleetwood Mac. Also on the bill will be the alt-folk of Buffalo Rose.

Simon Cifuentes is from Bogata but lives and works in New York City. Stradling the Latin and Jazz divide, he’s a singer who plays bass, guitar, piano, tiple (a 10- or 12-string Columbia guitar) and cuatro (a four-string Venezuelan guitar). An excellent interpreter of jazz standards, he also mixes it up with his originals.

Great triple-bill!  Colin Blunstone, 81, The Fixx and Peter Asher, 82, will share the stage in Red Bank on 9/4. The 1964 “British Invasion” of America included Blunstone’s band, The Zombies, as well as Peter & Gordon. The Fixx dominated in the 1980s. The Zombies (the subject of the Hung Up On A Dream documentary) followed The Beatles straight up the stateside charts with hits like “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No” and “Time Of The Season.” As his recent UK tour indicated, he hasn’t lost an inch on that otherworldly voice of his.

Playing selections from its totally hardcore The Standard (Spinefarm Records), the esteemed gentlemen from Southpaw FLHC—guitarist Alan King, drummer Harrison Linder, bassist Marc Laroche and dog-bark vocalist Daryn LaMontagne—will descend like locusts upon little Locals in Manalapan. In a press release, the band recently declared, “all gas, no brakes, driven by hunger, discipline and a relentless passion for the love of the game.”

Breaking Benjamin just scored its ninth #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Something Wicked.” The band calls the tune “a quick look into our influences both musically and thematically. We challenged ourselves especially hard on this record. We pushed every boundary we’ve previously had as far as it will go, then pushed a little more.”

The new documentary film—The Making Of Sun City—will be screened and then talked about at The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, housed in its new digs, within Monmouth University in Long Branch, on September 1. The conversationists will be singer-songwriter-guitarist-activist-TeachRock Founder-Disciple of Soul Steven Van Zandt and the Center’s Founding Executive Director Bob Santelli.

No cover charge at the Triumph Brewing Company on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank where New York Blues Hall of Famer Regina Bonelli will do two sets. The explosive singer-songwriter-keyboardist blends rock, soul and blues into a heady spiral of escalating passion. With influences like Irma Thomas and Ann Peebles, she consistently wows ‘em at blues fests.

Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze have a new album out, Trixies, some half-century after they started together as Squeeze. They wrote a lot of these songs back when they were teenagers and it’s a testament to their melodic and harmonic magic together that they still sound vital and fresh in 2026. Left collecting dust on a shelf for decades, they’ve been reanimated by producer Owen Biddle (The Roots). No doubt “Tempted,” “Cool For Cats” and “Up The Junction” will also be performed. (Word has it they’re already writing for a new album.) Adam Ant and Haircut 100 will open.

Deadtronica is a collaboration between Aron Magner of Disco Biscuits and producer-guitarist Cloudchord—Derek Van Scoten—whose just-released Dream Beach is a two-disc doozy filled with Flamenco and Reggae amid its abundant electronica. His surf-rock instrumentals are couched with ambient soundscapes fit to sooth the savage beast in all of us.

Get there early if you’re going to see Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Orgy at PNC 8/16 because you won’t want to miss The Hu. The who? No, not The Who, The Hu. Got it? They’re the band with Mongolian strings and indigenous instrumentation. They’ll no doubt play their “Warrior Chant” that veers metal but with a fiddle.

The Argentine-American indie guitarist-vocalist-composer-educator will strut his considerable stuff onstage down the shore when he presents his multi-culti blend of Latin, Rock, Blues, Folk and Worldbeat on August 19.

Guess who was announced as the headliner for the FREE Morristown Jazz and Blues Festival? The Kingfish! This bad-ass dude won a Grammy for his 2021 662 album. Born in Blues Country (Mississippi), his string of albums for the last seven years puts him in a league of his own. His 8:00 set follows The James Langton New York All Stars at noon, Richard Baratta’s Gotham City Latin-Jazz Septet at 2:00, LaBamba & The Hub Caps at 4:00 and Dylan Triplett at 6:00.

Jeb Patton will lead his trio to Teaneck on August 15.  The Pianist-Composer-Educator earned his stripes in the band of The Heath Brothers. Mentored by Sir Roland Hanna, the New Yorker, 51, is also an accomplished classical player which he oftentimes weaves into his jazz.

Nashville’s Cimarron 615—with members of Poco and The Burrito Brothers—will introduce songs from their Same Sky (Blue Elan Records) due August 15. Their camp wrote to say, “One minute you’re riding shotgun with country twang and harmony-soaked California rock, the next you’re knee-deep in bluegrass, Memphis soul, blues-rock, reggae grooves, and a Cajun-fueled zydeco stomp.”

As part of the Metcalf Park Tennis Courts “Celebration of Tennis, Culture, Music & Food” from 2:00 to 8:30, Blues People—vocalist/guitarist Kelton Cooper, bassist Mike Griot, keyboardist Ron Thompson and drummer Gene Lake—will perform at 7:00. The band is from Orange in Essex County, and took its name from the 1963 Amiri Baraka book.

Celebrity chef David Burke resides over this classic venue’s “Live In The Bernie @ The Red Horse” series located within Bernard’s Inn, once a secret prohibition hideaway, now a music and comedy venue with a great wine cellar and local harvest dinners. Glenn is Glenn Alexander, the lead guitarist with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. He’s something of a Renaissance Man as his musical heritage includes soul, folk, jazz-rock fusion, Americana, pop and rock’n’roll. Oria sings so beautifully while Glenn goes mostly acoustic but—truth be told—there’s no telling what Glenn will pull out of his bag of trick on his debut here. 

As part of the Metcalf Park Tennis Courts “Celebration of Tennis, Culture, Music & Food” from 2:00 to 8:30, Blues People—vocalist/guitarist Kelton Cooper, bassist Mike Griot, keyboardist Ron Thompson and drummer Gene Lake—will perform at 7:00. The band is from Orange in Essex County, and took its name from the 1963 Amiri Baraka book.

DJ Major Taylor and Cult Objects will also be on hand when Ted Leo & The Pharmacists celebrate their 27^th year of existence at Crossroads in Garwood on July 31. They’ll perform tracks from their six albums filled with punk, indie-rock, almost-classic-rock, folk-rock and even reggae.

How much you wanna bet Extreme blows headliner Motley Crue off the stage? They’ll play selections from Six, their imaginatively-named sixth album, with current single “Here’s To The Losers.” Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, fresh off the Ozzy tribute where he performed Black Sabbath’s “Changes,” then was Musical Director for the MTV Video Music Awards, is more than ready to rock. Singer Gary Cherone says the new single is “as close to an anthem as we’ll get.”

To see the legendary Herbie Hancock? Damn, man, that’s like seeing Mozart or Beethoven! Dude’s 86.  Won 14 Grammys. Miles Davis once said of him, “Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has come after him.”