New York pioneer Big Daddy Kane, the booming-voiced MC behind “Ain’t No Half-Stepping” and “Smooth Operator,” is another hip-hop legend playing a couple of jazz-supper-club gigs at the Dakota.
BIG DADDY KANE
APR 17 • 6:30 & 9PM
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Pat Metheny
The jazz guitar god is back with his first major studio album in six years, “Side-Eye III+.” His Side-Eye project finds him collaborating with an evolving crew of the next generation of jazz musicians. The new record features some compellingly fresh Metheny fusion-y adventures while mixing in some cutting-edge technology. The 20-time Grammy-winning guitarist is working with Los Angeles keyboardist Chris Fishman, who has played with Flying Lotus and Thundercat, and New Orleans drummer Joe Dyson, who has played with Nicholas Payton and Jon Batiste.
PAT METHENY SIDE-EYE III+
APR 18 • 6:30 & 9PM
APR 19 • 5:30 & 8PM
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Urban Classic
This all-star Twin Cities band features former NPG aces Michael Bland on drums and Tommy Barbarella on keys. On a night in which they will salute their ex-boss, they will be joined by one of the most dynamic singers Prince ever discovered, Liv Warfield. She can channel the Purple One and mix in her own ferocious funk-rock flavors.
URBAN CLASSIC PRESENTS: REVELATION
Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Prince feat. Liv Warfield
APR 20 • 7 & 9PM
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Using a new custom Stratocaster guitar called Foggy, the Serbian-reared, L.A.-based blues vet Ana Popovic created a guitar-driven dance record called “Dance to the Rhythm”.
ANA POPOVIC
APR 21 • 7PM
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Jorma Kaukonen
At 85, Jorma Kaukonen, formerly of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, is using semantics. “This is by no means a farewell; I am not retiring. I am calling this my cresting wave,” he told Relix.com last year. The gifted guitarist, who received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2016, is still going strong, eyeing a Hot Tuna date at the Newport Folk Festival in July. Meanwhile, he’s on the road, with compadre John Hurlbut, playing some blues, some Hot Tuna, some Jefferson Airplane and some Bob Dylan.