The third annual Middlesex County FREE Jazz Festival will take place September 24 to 28 in four towns. It kicks off in in Parker Press Park on Rahway Avenue in Woodbridge September 24 at 7:00 p.m. with the Woodbridge High School Jazz Choir under the direction of Lisa Romero before Brass Queens will undoubtedly blow everybody away at 7:30 for an hour.

The Dollyrots from Florida, a punk trio, has added some balls to an already defiant song. Their version of Leslie Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me,” on Stevie Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool label, came out June 27 b/w an original, “Get On This Ride.” They’ll be playing both songs when their current tour wraps up in Atlantic City at the Anchor Rock Club. 

“Over You Under You,” the second single from Eric Roberson’s 18^th studio album, Beautifully All Over The Place, has been released. The album comes out tomorrow. Composer-Arranger-Educator-Producer-Vocalist Roberson, 48, is from Rahway in Union County.

Over 300,000 people attend shows every year at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank. Erected in 1926 as Reade’s Carlton for Vaudeville and Cinema, it now also houses the Vogel nightclub and the Grinn Arts Education Building, with an adjacent movie theater. Over 20,000 students annually learn there and at other locations.

The Beautiful Lies of Eric Sleeper’s debut has him losing his mind. Indeed, the Morris County rocker, fearful of losing a relationship that has proven itself to be toxic, coupled with the hardships of a working musician, has resulted in his “Losing My Mind” single.

One of America’s greatest voices, Newark’s Connie Francis, who sold upwards of 100 million records internationally, dominating the American charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, died July 16 at 87.

One of the strongest female-empowering—and gay-empowering—anthems of all-time is easily Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” It sounds as fresh and vital today as it did upon its 1978 release to shoot straight to #1, revitalize disco music, and add deep layers to her celebrity.

In the old Greek myth of “King Midas and the Golden Touch,” Dionysus, The God of Revelry,  grants the King the power to turn everything he touches into gold. Bergen County producer Jack Antonoff—he of the nine Grammy Awards and three years in a row as “Producer Of The Year”—has spun straw into gold with his knob-turning for Taylor Swift, Lana Del Ray and his own band Bleachers. Enter Texas singer-songwriter Maren Morris.

By all accounts it was a stunning night:  80 minutes of pure jazz artistry from three Grammy winners. Bassist Christian McBride, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Marcus Gilmore convened April 13 before a sold-out house at The Gilmore in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to perform mostly Mehldau originals plus covers, the results of which can be seen here.

By all accounts it was a stunning night:  80 minutes of pure jazz artistry from three Grammy winners. Bassist Christian McBride, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Marcus Gilmore convened April 13 before a sold-out house at The Gilmore in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to perform mostly Mehldau originals plus covers, the results of which can be seen here.

Melanie lives on! Although she died last year at 76, the hippie icon, who flower-powered her way to stardom at the Woodstock fest in 1969, is the subject of the new live album, From The Banks of the River Effra:  Crystal Palace 1972 from Cleopatra Records.

They’re out of Sussex County and they’re called Hundreds of AU. Their fourth album, Life In Parallel, drops August 22 (Iodine Recordings). The first single, “Scorched Earth Harvest,” is already out.

When Mike Ham started Radio Garden State (RGS) on the Internet in the tradition of off-shore free-form pirate radio stations unencumbered by corporate dictates and dedicated to the proposition on keeping The Garden State LOUD, he didn’t even know if a year later he’d still be in business. That was July 1 of last year. Well, here we are and now he has a crew of 19 still cranking out Jersey noise 24/7 “and we’ve only just scratched the surface,” he tells us.

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka held a press conference on Juneteenth (6/19) at Harriet Tubman Square Park downtown Newark to announce a partnership with Festivals United Newark (FUN) to present a multi-genre lineup of free cultural events.

This Friday, July 11, the debut Jewels Gold single will be released by TikTok’s music division, SoundOn.

The oldest settlement in Atlantic County down the shore is Somers Point, settled by Europeans in 1693. For the last 31 years, the Annual Somers Point Beach Concert Series has been free at the William Morrow Beach in Municipal Beach Park on Bay Avenue between Higbee and New Jersey Avenues.

The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center For American Music (BSACAM) on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch will hold a four-day symposium in celebration of the album that made Bruce a star. The events will be held September 4, 5, 6 and 7 with a conference, an art exhibit, and a screening of previously-unreleased footage shot during the making of the album in 1975.

The Wentworth Art Gallery in Short Hills, Essex County, will host System of a Down singer-songwriter-producer-multi-instrumentalist Serj Tankian, 57, and his collection of original musical paintings, mixed-media works and augmented reality art on August 24. Serj has been a visionary in music, poetry, visual art and political activism for the better part of three decades.

The three performances of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra should prove fun as conductor Lawrence Loh will have to sync up the orchestra live in-concert as the Hollywood film How To Train Your Dragon explodes on the big screen behind them. Thus, the epic adventure film’s humor and fire-breathing action will be brought to stunning life.

The New Jersey Hall of Fame has announced its 2025 inductees. As always, they come from the fields of Arts & Letters, Enterprise, Performing Arts & Entertainment, Public Service and Sports. The induction ceremony will take place November 21 at The Rink @ The Arena of American Dream, its sprawling new facility erected last year off Route 3 in East Rutherford.