The Connie Han Trio, featuring Eric Harland & Reuben Rogers
It remains to be seen if playing up her sex appeal will benefit or hinder Connie Han’s quest for major jazz stardom.
But there is no doubt this virtuoso pianist has upped her game since making her area headlining debut at the Loft at UC San Diego in May 2023.
She was accompanied at that gig by bassist Ryan Berg and drummer Bill Wysaske, two accomplished if lesser-known players.
When Han returns to La Jolla Sunday for two shows at The JAI, she’ll be performing alongside drummer Eric Harland and bassist Reuben Rogers, a powerhouse team best known as one half of saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s internationally heralded quartet.
Harland has also drummed with such jazz legends as McCoy Tyner, Betty Carter and Dave Holland, as well as with such disparate artists as Steve Miller, rapper KRS-One, and — together with bassist Rogers — Willie Nelson. Rogers’ credits include multiple albums with Joshua Redman, Dianne Reeves, San Diego-bred vocal star Gregory Porter and more.
Harland and Rogers elevate any musical setting in which they are featured, so they can be expected to light a fire under Han.
The Los Angeles-bred pianist has released three albums since 2018 and earned praise for her dizzying technical prowess and high-octane performances.
Han has also earned attention for her sexy stage attire — which gives classical piano superstar Yuja Wang a run for her money — and such statements as: “I add some sexy to (jazz). I flaunt what I’ve got.”
5 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The JAI, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. $50-$65. theconrad.org
Beat Farmers, with Kimmi Bitter
San Diego’s most acclaimed and longest-lived roots-rock band, the Beat Farmers have persevered through the death of its founder, singer/drummer Country Dick Montana, extended hiatuses and multiple lineup changes.
What has remained constant since its inception in 1983 is this award-winning band’s earthy, no-nonsense music and celebratory performances. In Jerry Raney and Joey Harris, the Beat Farmers have two of the best singer-guitarists San Diego has produced, along with a crack rhythm section, and several decades worth of choice songs. Kimmi Bitter, a 2024 San Diego Music Award-winner who is opening the show, is worth arriving early to hear.
4 p.m. Sunday. Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $25 (must be 21 or older to attend). casbahmusic.com
Puddles Pity Party
Can a 6-foot-8 baritone singer dressed as Leoncavallo’s forlorn clown in the opera “Pagliacci” find success by performing slow, forlorn, quasi-operatic lounge versions of songs by everyone from Black Sabbath and Lorde to Sia and the Poway-bred pop-punk band blink-182?
And can he do so without ever speaking to his audiences — apart from singing to them — while sometimes confronting, or giddily collecting some of their cell phones and then randomly re-distributing them to other audience ?
Puddles (real name: Mike Geier) has been doing just that for the past 25 years. He has also fared well by deconstructing and combining different songs, as evidenced by his Led Zeppelin-meets-TV-sitcom mashup, “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island.”
For the record, this concept is not new.
Back in the mid-1980s, San Diego musical satirists Jose Sinatra & The Troy Dante Quintet memorably performed the early Elvis Presley hit “Hound Dog” to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence.”
New or not, Puddles has built up an international following through his solo tours and through his collaborations with such disparate rock bands as A Perfect Circle, Tenacious D and Primus.
Next year will find Puddles opening nearly every show on “Weird Al “Yankovic’s summer tour, except at the Shell in San Diego. His 2024 winter tour brings him here next week for a solo show in El Cajon.
6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Magnolia, 210 East Main St., El Cajon. $25.25-$91.45. magnoliasandiego.com
