Mr. Swindle brings his circus to Mizner Park, Pink Talking Fish celebrates three iconic bands, and the Kravis offers a cinematic tribute to Black History Month. Plus, Digable Planets and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Delray Jazz Collective: Love Songs & More
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10, Boca Raton
Cost: $38-$43
Contact: 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com
“Love is like jazz,” in the immortal words of the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, and certainly jazz music has contributed, in its rich history, some of the most romantic contributions in the canon of popular music. But this concert, part of the Delray Jazz Collective’s monthly residency at Boca Black Box, will continue to explore forms of music outside the genre in its name. So yes, its first-rate arrangers and improvisers will play the iconic jazz standard “My Funny Valentine,” but they’ll also reimagine the Beach Boys’ baroque and immaculate “God Only Knows.” What else will these musical chameleons take on in their unique set? God only knows. They’ll be joined on guest vocals by Jill Lurie of Sunnyside Swing and Legends Radio personality Bob Merrill at various points throughout the show.
THURSDAY TO SUNDAY
What: The Great Mr. Swindle’s Traveling Peculiarium
When: Various show times
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: $52-$90
Contact: 561/393-7700, mrswindles.com
The circus is in town, and it’s so 19th century. Mr. Swindle’s Traveling Peculiarium, a traveling circus and vaudeville extravaganza, will bring all manner of shady characters, including an impossibly jointed contortionist, to Mizner Park audiences eager for a nostalgic change of pace in their entertainment diets—all of it presented under a climate-controlled big top tent. “We were always inspired by the old-fashioned shows, and we wanted to go back to what made those shows great,” Allison Blei, co-owner of Salto Entertainment, which produces the event, told Boca magazine. “Our inspiration was P.T. Barnum. He was a bit of a character we looked up to in the way he was able to show things, and it’s always with a funny flavor. It’s not just about a swindle; it’s more about having fun with it.” The Drink-Ory Garden, a beer garden inside the tent offering brews, wine, cocktails and chef-curated food, will open an hour before each performance. The production continues through Feb. 25.
What: African American Film Series
When: Various show times
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $15 per movie
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
The Kravis continues its annual celebration of African-American achievements in film, always a highlight of Black History Month. Folded this season into the PEAK programming, the series is presented as a mini-festival spread over four days. It opens Thursday with “The Beauty of Blackness,” focusing on the pioneering Fashion Fair, the first cosmetics brand created exclusively for Black women; and continues with “Losing Ground,” Kathleen Collins’ breakthrough 1982 indie feature; “Bright Road,” a 1953 drama with an all-Black cast that introduced Harry Belafonte to moviegoers; “Island in the Sun,” a 1957 landmark of Caribbean cinema, starring Belafonte, Joan Fontaine and Dorothy Dandridge, among others; “Ruby Bridges,” a 1988 biopic about one of the first Black students to attend an integrated public school in New Orleans; and “Daughters of the Dust,” independent director Julie Dash’s avant-garde 1991 masterpiece.
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
What: Pink Talking Fish
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Funky Biscuit, 303 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton
Cost: $30-$35
Contact: 561/395-2929, funkybiscuit.com
Its name may evoke a lost Dr. Seuss book, but Pink Talking Fish is actually a hybridized tribute band honoring the music of three iconic acts: Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish. On paper, it makes little sense. Trey Anastasio’s goofy jam-band noodling, David Byrne’s ironic post-punk precision and Roger Waters’ transcendent classic-rock bombast don’t seem to share the same musical sandboxes. But great live music doesn’t exist on paper, and this impeccably tight quartet is rising on the strength of its surprisingly effective mash-ups, whether it’s sandwiching Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” in between the intro and outro of Phish’s “You Enjoy Yourself” or discovering unlikely 20-minute medleys combining “Time,” “Ghost” and “Psycho Killer.” It takes a big-eared listener to love all three of Pink Talking Fish’s tributees, but their combiners’ imaginative concoctions make the bands sound like kindred spirits.
SUNDAY
What: Digable Planets
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Revolution Live, 100 S.W. Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $34.50
Contact: jointherevolution.net
With its copious samples from vintage jazz records—culled in large part from the extensive LP collection of vocalist Ishmael Butler’s father—the hip-hop trio Digable Planets set out to chart new sonic territory on its landmark debut Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space). Released in 1993, the album established the group as a major force in conscious rap and jazz rap, the latter all but nonexistent prior to Digables’ innovations, with “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” becoming a massive crossover hit. As a live band, the trio would prove to be just as dynamic, performing on acoustic jazz instruments, which melded with programmed beats for a sound that appealed to both hip-hop heads and jazz scholars alike. Digable Planets flamed out after just two albums but are finally—in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Reachin’—revisiting their back catalog for an extensive reunion tour. Like many visionaries, Digable Planets were, and are, ahead of their time. In the genreless world of today’s listeners, they fit in anywhere and everywhere.
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