Quiet Riot, Lita Ford, Dio Disciples, Jason Charles Miller, Billy McNicol, X-COMM and Eddie Trunk’s All-Star Band performed at the 2024 “Rock For Ronnie: Year Of The Dragon Concert Celebration” May 19 at the Lou Bredlow Pavilion at Warner Center Park in Woodland Hills California. The event raised over $80,000. SiriusXM 103 “Faction Talk” radio host Eddie Trunk again hosted the afternoon.

Circle September 14! The Morristown Green—a three-acre historical park located right smack dab in the center of town that used to be the site of public executions—will host headliner British blues-busting guitarist-vocalist Joanne Shaw Taylor, 39, (discovered by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics when she was 16) at 8:00. Before that, you can thrill to Louis Prima, Jr. & The Witnesses at 6:00 doing the songs of his legendary father (hope he does “Angelina, The Waitress At The Pizzeria”).

Fitting that we post Bobby Mahoney today on the first day of summer as the band’s new Wicked Cool Records record—’Another Deadbeat Summer’—should revitalize interest in this longtime Asbury Park attraction. The title tune’s video can be seen below. Dig that sax break! For the uninitiated, Bobby Mohoney is a band. It’s also the name of its lead singer.

Deep in the bowels of Hunterdon County, in a sleepy little hamlet called Clinton, resides the band known as Fear Of Falling. Indie alt-rockers to the max, the boys in the band—Steve, Bruce, Rob and Kimon—have locked themselves in a studio for the last 18 months and stand poised to show their five-song EP to the world. ‘Speak Low’ (Quark Records) is their first such project since 1996’s ‘Live.’

‘Skid Row—Live In London’ was recorded on October 24, 2022. That concert will mark the first live album/concert film from these Toms River, Ocean County, headbangers. So far, all we have is one song—“Slave To The Grind”—that you can see below. The complete package won’t be out until September 20, according to the band’s earMUSIC label.

“Horizon Sounds of the City” is returning for another season of FREE shows in Newark’s Chambers Park on the NJPAC grounds and this year, the lineup is energetic and filled with percolating percussion. Each night should be a funkin’ good time with emphasis on World Music. Shows begin at 6:00 p.m.

For the fifth year in a row, The Morris Museum—Six Normandy Heights Road, Morristown—will host outdoor concerts—“Jazz On The Back Deck” and “Lots Of Strings Music Festival”—starting tomorrow through September.

Maplewood drummer-composer-educator Scott Kettner is all over the map. Literally. He may be from Essex County but within the quasi-brilliance of his Nation Beat band, and their new album ‘Archaic Humans,’ the ear gravitates towards both Louisiana and Brazil. He’ll be celebrating its release at a Joe’s Pub party June 15 in New York City.

The Young Rascals came out fully-formed from Joey Dee & The Starliters in Garfield, Bergen County, to become known as “The American Beatles.” “Blue-Eyed Soul” was a popular description but they were so much more. You can see why when organist-singer Felix Cavaliere appears in the upcoming documentary, ‘The Jersey Sound.’ For now, though, we’ll just have to content ourselves with this stunning boxed set.

Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, Union County, in 1929. He is generally perceived as being the most influential piano player of the 1960s, as his brilliant use of impressionist harmony, block chording and innovative rhythmic complexity directly influenced Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and all who followed. Now pianist Michael Wolff, drummer Mike Clark and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey—known collectively as Wolff Clark Dorsey—have written ‘A Letter To Bill Evans,’ released on the Jazz Avenue 1 label.

Lala and Element 88 will strut their stuff onstage at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre on the campus of Monmouth University tomorrow, June 7 at 8:00 with Stringbean Sorenson opening. It is the second annual concert of the series known as “The Mississippi Delta Meets The Jersey Shore,” a joint venture of The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music (BSACAM), The Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation (JSJBF), The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and “Visit Clarksdale.”

Welcome to ‘The New Jersey Sessions’ (Jazz Note Records), by tenor saxophonist Sean Hong Wei and pianist Jeremy Monteiro, augmented by bass, drums and trumpet. Monteiro, 63, has long been known throughout Southeast Asia as “The King Of Swing.” Wei, 25, is the up’n’coming saxophonist from Singapore.

Lala and Element 88 will strut their stuff onstage at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre on the campus of Monmouth University tomorrow, June 7 at 8:00 with Stringbean Sorenson opening. It is the second annual concert of the series known as “The Mississippi Delta Meets The Jersey Shore,” a joint venture of The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music (BSACAM), The Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation (JSJBF), The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and “Visit Clarksdale.”

They teach and live in South Brunswick and Princeton. The Sky Caravan Duo—Ukrainian violinist Milena Dawidowicz and Russian pianist Elena Panova—will perform Roma music from Eastern Europe June 9 as part of ‘Unheard Voices: An Immigrant’s Dream’ as presented at The Greene Space in New York City by the Encompass New Opera Theatre

It’s all about the sound for Hudson County jammers U.L.T.R.A.S. (The band name stands for Universe Less Traveled Reveals Authentic Self.) These boys are constantly pushing their craft’s boundaries in zigzag ways, thus, their circuitous route is half the fun. Recorded live, as a unit, without overdubs or tracking, their unique presentation emphasizes exploratory forays into the unknown.

Girl has a chip on her shoulder. She calls herself Your Best Nightmare. Her album is entitled ‘Your Best Nightmare Presents: A Simple Solution for Toxic Masculinity.’ (We won’t belabor the point by offering spoilers.) The Hackettstown hellraiser used to be known for bubblegum punk and mastery of the ukulele. Now she writes horror-themed narratives with genre-defying musical prowess.

She’s out of Red Bank—has been writing music since she was 15—and she doesn’t look too pleased to be celebrating her 23rd birthday. After listening to David Bowie in her bedroom for years, she writes of her own life experiences. Now she listens to Missouri singer-songwriter Chapell Roan. “Cowboys” is the song that caught our ear.

The New Jersey Jazz Society will present the eleventh annual Jersey City Jazz Festival May 29 to June 2 with 37 concerts over five days at different Hudson County locations. Tenor sax man Jerry Weldon will perform May 30 at the Brennan Courthouse. Drummer Johnathan Blake will lead his band May 31 at the Nimbus Arts Center. The waterfront location will host vocalist Champian Fulton, pianist David Kikoski and tenor saxophonist Lance Bryant (pictured) June 1 plus tenor saxophonist George Coleman and vocalist Brianna Thomas June 2.

When it came time for Belgian jazz guitarist-composer-arranger-producer-vocalist Jeanfrancois Prins, 57, to record his loving tribute to the label that pioneered bebop, he had to come to New Jersey. He just had to. So he did. The Van Gelder Studio in Englewood, since 1959, had birthed the bop, literally. Before that, Rudy Van Gelder [1924-2016] recorded the greats in Hackensack. He ultimately recorded every Blue Note session from 1953-1967. That’s why ‘Blue Note Mode’ (Gam Records, France) reeks with tradition, and a real sense of history. Prins knows whereof he plays.

Paramus metal band Patriarchs In Black has completed its third album. Guitarist Dan Lorenzo of Hades and Non-Fiction with drummer Johnny Kelly of Type Of Negative, Danzig and Quiet Riot have always used different vocalists and bassists. Their third album, ‘Visioning,’ comes out July 19.