Quality versus quantity.
It’s easy to find a performance with one or the other, but harder to get one with both.
Tucson just so happens to have three in one weekend.
The Tucson Jazz Society, the Southern Arizona Blues Heritage Foundation and the Rhythm Industry all have bang-for-your-buck shows in store on Saturday or Sunday. Here is what to expect:
The Rhythm Industry Quarterly Review 7 p.m. Saturday at the Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, 1013 S. Tyndall Ave. Cost: $10 suggested donation.
As far as variety goes, the quarterly review has a little bit of everything. The Industry is a collective of the artists who occupy the Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, formerly known as Odaiko Sonora’s Odaikospace. Its eclectic ranks are made up of some of the most interesting and unique groups in the city. Among its residents performing Saturday: a Japanese taiko group, Odaiko Sonora; a pyrotechnic theater troupe, Flam Chen; a Brazilian percussion ensemble, Batucaxé; Thom Lewis Dance; the Movement Salon; and the Theatrical Mime Theater. The evening will kick off a series of quarterly events that will include factory regulars and other city arts groups such as O-T-O Dance, Funhouse Movement Theater and New ARTiculations Dance.
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The Tucson Jazz Society Superjam 6:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Philip’s Plaza. Cost: $20, with discounts available, through the Tucson Jazz Society, 903-1265.
High-profile jazz and blues acts from all over the city have been invited to the Superjam, kicking off the Tucson Jazz Society’s annual “Jazz Under the Stars” concert series at St. Philip’s Plaza. The Hot Club Trio, Brice Winston, Matt Mitchell, Amilcar Guevara and Orquestra La Unica, the High Notes, Angel Diamond and the Blues Disciples, Jazzwerx and the Arizona Jazz Academy’s Ellington Big Band will all gather to play and honor longtime sax player Bud Shank, who will receive a Tucson Jazz Society Lifetime Achievement Award. Shank is a veteran “West Coast” jazzman with more than six decades in the business. The 82-year-old Shank is also scheduled to perform.
The Southern Arizona Blues Heritage Foundation Blues Challenge 1 p.m. Sunday at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Cost: $5 cover, 622-8848.
In recent years, the SABHF’s Blues Challenge has been a good way to see some of the city’s lesser-known blues talent. Contestants compete over the course of two weekends for an opportunity to represent the foundation at the International Blues Challenge, held annually in Memphis, Tenn. The foundation’s challenge tends to bring in a healthy mix of acoustic and electric musicians playing in styles ranging from Piedmont to Delta to Chicago blues. This year’s event will feature Tucson bar-circuit regulars Lefty Larry and the Blues Avengers, Mojo Gumbo, the Chain of Fools Blues Band and others. The event runs throughout Sunday afternoon.
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