Jazz88 KBEM Minneapolis St. Paul

Since moving to the Twin Cities from the East Coast a handful of years ago, Abinnet Berhanu has become an essential part of the Twin Cities music scene. He's spent time supporting touring artists, playing countless jam sessions around the city and celebrating the music of Ethiopia with his group Andanet. This Saturday he brings an impressive group of players including Omar Abdulkarim and Joe Strachan to Elliot Park in Minneapolis for a 2pm Jazzclectic Concert. This outdoor series is family friendly and free of charge. Sean from Jazz88 caught up with Abinnet to find out about his musical endeavors in general and his plans for this concert in particular.

Jazz88's Peter Solomon spoke with documentary photographer Walter Griffin and painter and designer Patrice Goodall Abbe about "Jazz 'n' More," an exhibit of photographs and paintings on display at Dow Art Gallery June 6th - June 29th. Dow Art Gallery will host an event celebrating the exhibit featuring the Walker West Jazz Ensemble on June 13th.

Celebrated vibraphonist and visionary Stefon Harris is making his way back to the Twin Cities for a headlining performance on the Jazz88 Mainstage at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. In anticipation of his set of Friday June 21 Harris was kind enough to connect with Sean McPherson from Jazz88 and discuss his career, his purpose and his background.

Erin Schwab learned how to personalize a song from Bette Midler and this weekend at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis she and an all-star band are exploring Bette Midler's songbook. Schwab also brought along James Scott from the Capri to talk about their Capital Campaign and the upcoming Legends season.

Jennifer Grimm sings many types of songs and her husband, joe Cruz has played many types of guitars in his career. The duet presents original songs, and delights in giving refreshing new spins to older ones. They bring it all to the Umbra in Minneapolis, Friday and Saturday June 7 and 8 from 7 till 10pm. When Joe and Jennifer talked with Phil Nusbaum, Phil asked how, with the differences in their musical histories, their duet meshes so well.

The Cedar Avenue Big Band. After 25 years, it’s still a leading Twin Cities Big Band. Why do they do it? They just love playing big band music, and big band fans love what they do. Steve Devich is the leader of the band, and also bass trombonist and arranger. When Steve talked to Phil Nusbaum about the group, he started out telling about some of his training.