Jon Faddis (insert) and others will pay tribute to Miles Davis at NJPAC, Nov. 12.
This year’s TD James Moody Jazz Festival, taking place at NJPAC and other Newark venues, will begin this week and last through Nov. 22. The first three shows are:
• Sitarist Niladri Kumaar will pay tribute to his late friend and mentor, and frequent collaborator — the late tabla player Zakir Hussain — in a concert at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. He will be joined by tabla player Satyajit Talwalkar, keyboardist Agnelo Fernandes and drummer Sambit Chatterjee. (The same show will be presented at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, April 11.)
Kumaar and Hussain performed together, in a duo format, in the 2017 documentary “The Space Between the Notes.” Hussain died in 2024, at the age of 73.
• The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars — led by Gillespie’s longtime bassist John Lee and featuring musicians such as trumpeter Diego Urcola, saxophonist Don Braden, pianist Alex Collins and drummer Karl Latham — will present a tribute to the musician whom the festival, saxophonist and flutist James Moody, at Bethany Baptist Church, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. Moody (1925-2010) was a member of Gillespie’s band in the ’40s, and then again in the ’60s and early ’70s.
• In honor of Miles Davis 1026 birth, Jon Faddis & Friends will present a “Miles @100” concert, featuring music from Davis’ albums Birth of the Cool (1957) and Kind of Blue (1959) at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Trumpeter Faddis will be joined by Erena Terakubo (alto saxophone), Gary Smulyan (baritone saxophone), Steve Turre (trombone), John Clark (French horn), Bob Stewart (tuba), Mike LeDonne (keys), Todd Coolman (bass) and John Riley (drums).
Here is a roundup of other major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Nov. 12.
Beat will perform at NJPAC in Newark, Nov. 9.
MUSIC
• BEAT, co-founded by former King Crimson bandmates Adrian Belew and Tony Levin in 2024 to play a “creative reinterpretation” of music from the period when they were both members (1981-1984), is continuing this year with a new tour and a new lineup. Guitarist Steve Vai is still in the group with singer-guitarist Belew and bassist Levin. But drummer Terry Bozzio — who has previously played with Frank Zappa and the bands Missing Persons and U.K. — is replacing Danny Carey of Tool, who is busy with that band.
The band will perform at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m.
Click HERE for a recent interview with Belew.
• Rick Steves, host of the public television show “Rick Steves’ Europe” and the public radio program and podcast “Travel with Rick Steves,” will host New Jersey Symphony concerts titled “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey,” Nov. 7 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Newark; and Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. The State Theatre in New Brunswick.
Nicholas Hersh will conduct the orchestra, and the music will be accompanied by film footage highlighting various European countries. According to a press release, “The concert begins at home with ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ then heads across the Atlantic. At each stop, from Austria and Germany to Norway and France, Steves sets the historical and cultural scene before the orchestra plays music that captures that nation’s spirit, as footage from the country fills a big screen behind the musicians. Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy,’ the official anthem of the European Union, closes the European leg before Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever brings the journey home.”
Among the other composers whose music will be heard in the show are Johann Strauss, Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Giuseppe Verdi and Edvard Grieg.
Puss n Boots (from left, Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper).
• Puss n Boots — featuring Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper — has existed as a side project for these three New York-based singer-songwriters since 2008, and they have released three albums under this name. But they rarely tour, and New Jerseyans will have a rare chance to see them in concert when they perform at The Newton Theatre, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.
• Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega promises a “career-spanning” setlist, including songs from her 2025 album Flying With Angels, when she performs at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. She will be backed by guitarist Gerry Leonard (who has worked with David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright and many others) and cellist Stephanie Winters (who has released albums as a solo artist and as a member of the duo The Nudes).
Click HERE for a new interview with Vega, whose Oct. 20 concert at Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair was postponed to March 20.
• Choir! Choir! Choir!, based in Toronto and led by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman, specializes in shows in which they teach those in attendance various songs, and everyone is encouraged to sing along. They will present a show titled “Hallelujah: An Epic Anthems Sing-Along!,” Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. at The Outpost in the Burbs series at First Congregational Church in Montclair.
This year’s EF4 Fest will take place in West Long Branch, Nov. 5-8.
• The second EF4 (Everything Fab Four) Fest, taking place Nov. 5-8 at Monmouth University, will offer, among other things, a deep dive into The Beatles’ 1966 album Revolver — featuring songs such as “Eleanor Rigby,” “Got to Get You Into My Life” and “Taxman” and regarded by many as one of the band’s greatest achievements. It is, of course, the album’s 60th anniversary, this year.
Events are scheduled for The Woods Theatre, The Powell Soundstage at The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, and other locations on the West Long Branch campus. Documentary-maker and Beatles fan Ken Burns and filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who worked with The Beatles on several projects, will make appearances via Zoom. Bands will include The Blue Tins (Nov. 5), Blac Rabbit (Nov. 6), The Cyrkle (Nov. 7) and The Magical Mystery Girls (Nov. 7). Other festival participants will include singer-songwriter Nellie McKay (Nov. 6), Jack Petruzzelli of the Beatles band The Fab Faux (Nov. 5), authors Rob Sheffield (Nov. 7) and Bruce Spizer (Nov. 6), and photographer Roger Farrington (Nov. 5).
Tours of the Springsteen Center will be offered, and there will be talks and discussions about many topics, ranging from “From Rubber Soul to Revolver: A Data-Driven Look at the Beatles’ Creative Explosion” to “Surrender to the Void: A Medical Perspective on the Beatles’ Drug Use and Its Effects on Their Music.”
JON STEWART
COMEDY/MUSIC
• Jon Stewart will open for himself, in a way, at his 9 p.m. Nov. 6 show at Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. His band Church and State, for whom he plays drums, will contribute an opening set.
• “Only Murders in the Building” co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short will present a show titled “The Best of Steve Martin & Martin Short,” Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. at Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. The bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers and pianist Jeff Babko will also perform.
Martin and Short have been presenting comedy & music shows, with Martin playing some banjo and Short doing some singing, for more than a decade.
MUSIC/FILM
• In honor of the 50th anniversary of the film “Rocky,” a “Rocky in Concert” tour will feature a screening of the film with Bill Conti’s score played live, by an orchestra. New Jersey shows will take place at BergenPAC in Englewood, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.; and The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, Nov. 10 at.
Ted Neeley in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
FILM
• The 1973 film version of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” will screen at The Brook Arts Center in Bound Brook, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., with a live post-screening question-and-answer session featuring four of the film’s actors: Ted Neeley, Yvonne Elliman, Larry Marshall and Kurt Yaghjian, who played Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, Simon Zealotes and Annas, respectively
THEATER
• Centenary Stage Company will present comedian and cartoonist Phoebe Potts in her one-woman show, “Too Fat for China,” Nov. 5 at 7 p.m., Nov. 6-7 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. at The Kutz Theatre at The Lackland Performing Arts Center in Hackettstown. The shows are part of CSC’s Fringe Festival.
Potts has described the show as “a comic look at the agony of adoption” and “one woman’s heartbreaking and hilarious journey to acquire a tiny little baby, by any means necessary.”
WORDS
• Alan Sepinwall says of “The Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling that “the questions Serling was asking — about war and hate and life — are ones that are still, unfortunately, relevant.” Sepinwall, who has written about television for Rolling Stone and The Star-Ledger, will sign copies of his new book “Serling: A Journey Into the Twilight Zone With TV’s First Visionary” at the Words bookstore in Maplewood, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.
Click HERE for an NJArts.net interview with Sepinwall, about the book.
• Allan Pepper, who co-owned the famed nightclub The Bottom Line, will talk about his 2025 book “Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York’s Iconic Music Club, The Bottom Line,” Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at Little City Books in Hoboken. Co-author Billy Altman will also participate in the event, veteran radio DJ Jerry Treacy will moderate, and photos taken at the nightclub will be shown.
The Bottom Line was a staple of the Downtown New York music scene from 1974 to 2004, and hosted legendary shows by Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Laura Nyro, David Johansen, Harry Chapin, Flo & Eddie and others.
The special issue of Rock Scene Reloaded magazine featuring vintage Bon Jovi photos by Mark “Weissguy” Weiss.
OTHER
• Photographer Mark “Weissguy” Weiss — who did many photo shoots with Bon Jovi in the band’s early days of fame, in the ’80s — will show some of them at an exhibition at The Art Spot in Asbury Park, with an opening celebration, scheduled for Nov. 6 at 5 p.m., featuring acoustic music by Bon Jovi cover band Never Say Goodbye.
Then, at 8 p.m. the same night, the band will perform two electric set at the nearby Wonder Bar, with Weiss hosting.
The photo exhibition at Art Spot can be seen until Dec. 6. The photos can also be seen in a new issue of Rock Scene Reloaded magazine honoring the 40th anniversary of Bon Jovi’s breakthrough album, Slippery When Wet.
REVIEWS
“Hank Willis Thomas: LOVERULES — From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 20)
“Hank Willis Thomas Selects: NJ Arts Annual” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 20)
“Joyce J. Scott: Declarations,” presented by Princeton University Art Museum at Bainbridge House. (Through Jan. 10)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1)
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