Blue Notes

Occupying space on your calendars should be several shows from the Johns Hopkins Club jazz series. Gary Thomas—who has served more than 10 years as the founding director of Peabody’s jazz studies program over the summer—is joined by drumming legend Jack DeJohnette in late April. (Tickets are on sale now.) In late May pianist Chick Corea—yes, that Chick Corea—will play two solo concerts, and tickets for those shows are on sale starting Feb. 10.

The new year looks to be treating Warren Wolf well. Wolf, a man who is as good on the vibes as he is on drums or piano, has already played a show at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with the Todd Marcus Nonet. On Feb. 16, Wolf will be at the Baltimore School for the Arts. He’ll play vibes with the Tim Green Quintet for the release show of Green’s latest album, Songs from This Season.

Also on the album release front: Baltimore-bred and Peabody-educated saxophonist Russell Kirk just released his second effort, To Journal Square, in January. He’ll be playing two shows at An die Musik on Feb. 16.

Chef Mac’s on Harford Road plays host to a damn fine band Feb. 2. Headed by saxophonist Greg Thompkins, Jazz Explosion also features pianist Lafayette Gilchrist, bassist Amy Shook, guitarist Carl Filipiak, and Robert Shahid on drums. Show time is at 7:30 P.M.

A tip of the hat here to the late jazz guitarist Charles von Nordeck, who studied music at Towson State (before it was “University”) and passed away Dec. 25. Von Nordeck, who later in life became a wine salesman, was a regular performer at Fells Point bars, including Cat’s Eye Pub and Bertha’s. He was 66.

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