CONCERTANTE
In classical music, there is a time, a place and a score for everything.
Just as listening to a full symphony orchestra can be a sumptuous aural banquet, the music of a string quartet - chamber music at its most simple and elegant - is the equivalent of a light lunch: A little here, a little there, not at all heavy on the sauces.
Which leads us to Concertante, performing Friday, March 12 for the Savannah Concert Association. The New York-based ensemble is a string sextet - in other words, something in between, delivering (with nuance and delicacy) the greatest chamber music ever written. It's not a sweet little quartet, and it's not a fill-the-room orchestra. More of a tasty buffet.
The six members of Concertante met as students at the Juilliard School of Music, and each enjoys a career as a professional soloist. But it's when they're together that they make a sound the New York Times praises for its "intensity and sheer beauty."
The musicians are Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; Ara Gregorian, violin and viola; Zvi Plesser, cello; Ittai Shapira, violin; Rachel Shapiro, viola; and Xiao-Dong Wang, violin.
The Savannah program includes Richard Strauss, Capriccio, Op. 85; Dvorak String Sextet in A Major, Op. 48 (1978); and Brahms String Sextet in B flat Major, Op. 18. Listen & learn: www.concertante.org.
At 8 p.m. Friday, March 12 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts, 32 Abercorn St. Tickets $12.50-$35 at www.scadboxoffice.com.
TUBBY LOVE
We have four chances this week to catch this Boston-based roots-reggae band. The singer, songwriter and guitar player is, of course, the one and only Tubby Love, a native and longtime resident of Savannah who's currently in his last semester at the Berklee School of Music in Beantown, studying songwriting. "I threw a group together, and we all moved into a sweet four-story house," he tells me. "But that band is now ever-changing. I'm actually in an eight piece dub reggae band called Buffalo Soul. We've been bustin' and grinding, opening for amazing acts. And some of the guys from Buffalo Soul are playing with me Tubby Love when I come down south. But everybody down there knows the name Tubby Love, so we're going with that." It's Spring Break at Berklee, and T.L.'s trip home is tied in with workshop/retreat called Songwriter's Soul Kitchen in McRae, Ga. "You go, and you hang all week long, there's a bunch of studios set up and you record, you write and you meet new people. And you eat awesome soul food." Listen & learn: www.myspace.com/tu33ylove (that's not a typo).
At 10 p.m. Thursday, March 11 at the Rock House Tybee, 1518 Butler Ave. At 10 p.m. Friday, March 12 at Live Wire Music Hall, 307 W. River St. At 10 p.m. Saturday, March 13 at Loco's, 301 W. Broughton St. (with Domino Effect). At 9 p.m. Sunday, March 14 at Huc-a-Poos, 1213 E. Highway 80, Tybee Island.
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JOSH TURNER
April and May are all booked up for country singer Josh Turner - he's opening a string of cross-country dates for megastar Alan Jackson. That's all in a day's work for this South Carolina native, who made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2001 and hasn't looked back (he was formally inducted into that exclusive Nashville club two years ago). Turner's had a trio of chart-topping singles - "Your Man," "Would You Go With Me" and, just last month, "Why Don't We Just Dance." That song is from the album Haywire, which entered the Billboard chart at No. 2. In a genre where cookie-cutter baritones come and go like so much hay in the ol' corral, this guy seems to have a lock on longevity.
Listen & learn: www.joshturner.com.
At 8 p.m. Thursday, March 11 in the Johnny Mercer Theatre, Savannah Civic Center, 301 W. Oglethorpe Ave. Tickets $27.50-$42.50 at www.etix.com.
BITCH
Singing, songwriting fire-lounge performer Bitch - once known as half of Bitch and Animal, who recorded for Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records - started life as a classical violin prodigy in her native Detroit. She's got a pop sensibility and a hip hop soul - rather like DiFranco, without the heavy-chorded acoustic guitar - and she's also fiercely independent (like Ani), starting her own record label (Short Story) and soliciting contributions from fans to fund Blasted, her strong new solo album. This is the first date of the cross-country Blasted tour. Listen & learn: www.bitchmusic.com.
At 10 p.m. Thursday, March 11 at Tantra Lounge. 8 Broughton St.
