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Sometimes the cure for the summertime blues is jazz mixed with a pinch of soul, a hint of classical and a dash of funk. Sometimes the cure for the summertime blues is the blues. Either way, the Outpost Performance Space (210 Yale Blvd. SE) has got you covered this month starting this Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. with a celebrated band from right here the Land of Enchantment. Doug Lawrence y sus Nuevos Mexicanos kicks off a stellar spring season of cool music that will get you swingin’ and groovin’ in the university area.
“It’s gonna be a great season with a lot of terrific shows so it’s hard to pick highlights,” Outpost Performance Space Executive Director Tom Guralnick says. “There’s enough variety in the acts so I’m equally interested in all of them.”
Doug Lawrence was born in Louisiana and raised in New Mexico, so naturally, his signature jazz sound is peppered with Latin flavor. Since 1996 Lawrence has been the tenor saxophone soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra and he has has performed and recorded with legends such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Benny Goodman just to name a few. For over 20 years he’s been collaborating with the hottest names in the industry and he still keeps it fresh with projects featuring stars including Lady Gaga and Peter Bernstein.
“[Lawrence] has played with everybody in the in the world,” Guralnick says. “And this is his ‘local band.’ They’re all, top musicians in the scene here.”
The Nuevo Mexicanos are Steve Figueroa on piano and organ, Paul Gonzales on trumpet, Milo Jaramillo on bass, Ricky Carrido playing the congas and David Flores on drums.
Lawrence says the music is “sure to have the audience dancing in their seats. I guarantee they will be leaving our performance with a smile on their face and a song in their heart!”
On March 13, the season heats up with the Gordy Johnson Quartet featuring Albuquerque’s own Rob Wilkerson. There’s a chance you’ve heard Johnson’s bass grooves if you caught jazz shows during the ‘70s and ‘80s when he toured extensively with artists such as Gene Bertoncini, Roy Buchanan, the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Doc Severinsen and the Paul Winter Consort. Or maybe you heard him play bass on hundreds of recordings and film scores or his five studio albums.
Saxophonist, UNM graduate, and participant in the Outpost Youth Education Program, Rob Wilkerson toured the world for 17 years with Michael Buble. He obviously knows jazz, playing with bands such as the Darcy James Secret Society, the Alan Ferber Big Band or the Jihye Lee Orchestra, but his classical accomplishments are also impressive. He was featured with The Chelsea Symphony in NYC and performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2018
The Gordy Johnson Quartet also includes Bob Fox on piano and John Trentacosta on drums.
On March 21, The Outpost welcomes the Avishai Cohen Quartet with Yonathan Avishia on piano, Barak Mori playing bass and Ziv Ravitz on drums. A world-renouned trumpet player, Cohen has toured as part of the Mark Turner Quartet, the SFJAZZ Collective and the 3 Cohens Sextet with his brother and saxophonist Yuval Cohen and his sister Anat Cohen on clarinet and saxophone. In 2024, Cohen released his newest album, Ashes to Gold, featuring the same quartet joining him for this March Outpost performance.
The Bad Plus continues the month of spectacular jazz with a performance that blends contemporary genres on March 25. The “piano-less quartet” is comprised of founding members Reid Anderson on bass and Dave King on drums, and features Ben Monder on guitar and Chris Speed on tenor saxophone.
“They achieved a lot of crossover success, in a sense, because they have elements of rock and avant garde and jazz, of course,” Guralnick says. “They’re quite well known and they’ve been here a few times, but not this particular configuration.”
Rounding out the month with some jazz harp on March 30 is the Brandee Younger Trio, a group that adds elements of soul and funk to the spring jazz concert series. Younger won a 2024 NAACP Image Award for her award winning 2023 release Brand New Life and her song “Beautiful is Black” was nominated for a 2021 Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition.
“You don’t hear the harp that much in jazz,” Guralnick says. “Brandy is young and talented and was here once actually with Ravi Coltrane who is Alice and John’s son. They were doing the music of John and Alice Coltrane but this is her trio, and it’s not strictly about that.”
If you’d like to get an in-depth look at exactly what goes into keeping a nonprofit like the Outpost operating and how the performance spot fits into the arts and jazz scene, attend Guralnick’s informational session called How Outpost Works (H.O.W.) on Zoom Saturday, March 15, 11:00 a.m. It’s free!
For tickets, a complete schedule of events, or to reserve your spot for the Zoom event, visit www.outpostspace.org.
Doug Lawrence y sus Nuevos Mexicanos
March 8, 7:30 p.m.
Outpost Performance Space
210 Yale Blvd. SE
$30, $20 for Outpost members, $15 for students with a valid ID