Husband and wife duo Greg Fishman and Judy Roberts will perform at a Tucson Jazz Society concert on Sunday.

One of the things we know for sure, if more musicians had as much fun as Judy Roberts does playing for an audience, jazz would be a lot more popular. This energetic Chicago pianist, vocalist and singer of scat is a bundle of irrepressible energy with a big Tucson fan base.

Roberts’ musical chops and decades in the business have earned her several Grammy nominations, as well as first-place awards, in jazz polls by Downbeat and Playboy magazines. Her discography lists more than 20 albums.

She had a popular jazz hit with “Señor Blues,” based on the Horace Silver tune. Her rapid-fire delivery of the lyrics to Dave Frishberg’s “My Attorney Bernie” is a total hoot.

But most amazing is how it is impossible not to like this straight-ahead jazz entertainer. Even a world-class grump would finally have to lighten up in her presence because Roberts would just keep on playing her sunny songs filled with dazzling virtuosity until she got a grin.

The Los Angeles Times said it more simply. “At the piano (Roberts) smiles and her joy is obvious. She is simply a woman in love with her work.”

This weekend Roberts returns to the Baked Apple in company with her tenor sax-playing husband Greg Fishman, for a full-blown concert in St. Philip’s Plaza, presented by the Tucson Jazz Society. They will be joined onstage by Tucson’s own tenor colossus, Brice Winston. The possibility of some saxophone shoot-outs are ample.

For Roberts’ many fans here, the concert has been a long time coming.

“Back in the ’80s I played a lot in Tucson, at the Doubletree Inn,” says Roberts on the phone from Phoenix. “That’s where I met Yvonne (Ervin, former executive director of the Tucson Jazz Society) who invited me to be in the first TJS Prima Vera celebration of women in jazz.

“After Yvonne left TJS, it just wasn’t the same there anymore. But I’ve always loved Tucson. My sister Hallie Loewy lives there. She’s a massage therapist.

“Greg loves it there. He has some students there and always says we picked the wrong city to move to.”

Last year Roberts and Fishman moved permanently from Chicago to Phoenix, where she has wintered now and then over the years. It was during those Phoenix winters that she would jump down Interstate10 for sisterly visits here and a string of very hot club dates, which were always packed.

“We had some incredibly successful shows at the Old Pueblo Grille,” Roberts remembers. Those were in more recent times. What kept eluding Roberts was a return to TJS’ big stage events like the Prima Vera showcase. Now she is coming back to town and expectations are high.

Roberts simply has the knack for engaging an audience and holding everyone’s attention. She says it all begins with the musicians.

“Communication is all about sharing. So the first thing I do is catch the eye of the other band members. When that happens and we are all communicating with each other, the audience instantly feels that, which makes the audience light up.” Roberts makes it sound so easy.

Choosing the right songs is also important. She begins with the Great American Songbook.

“That’s where the good stuff is,” Roberts insists. From there she adds bebop tunes (often with a scat line), Latin, blues and soulful ballads, stringing together play lists that stretch from “Route 66″ to “Take the A Train,” from “A Night In Tunisia” to “What A Difference A Day Makes.”

For sure, Roberts will spend her evening in Tucson slinging notes in all directions. But the one thing you can count on, she will be loving every minute of it.

Judy Roberts

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IF YOU GO

What: Judy Roberts and Greg Fishman in concert with Brice Winston

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: St. Philip’s Plaza, 4280 N. Campbell Ave., at East River Road

Price: $20 general admission, $15 members, $10 students

Info: 903-1265, www.tucsonjazz.org

Indie rockers Cloud Cult will bring their unique live show to Plush on Saturday.

A year after Cloud Cult’s indie folk-rock release “Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying through Tornadoes),” the Minnesota-based band continues to tour nationally, playing sold-out show after sold-out show.

But the band has announced it will take a break from touring after its string of spring and summer dates, including a Saturday show in Tucson.

On his time off, band founder Craig Minowa plans to bury his hands deep in the dirt on his organic farm between Hinckley and Sandstone.

“We really aren’t big-city people. We’re kind of quiet, rural people, so touring really takes its toll on us,” Minowa says the morning after Cloud Cult’s recent sold-out concert in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The band’s unique live show features two live painters, including Minowa’s wife, Connie.

The national successes of Cloud Cult throughout the past seven years are gratifying, Minowa says, but the limelight can sometimes be too glaring.

“On the positive side, it’s really great to see how the positive message is coming across. There’s a lot of people sharing really touching stories about how the music has helped them through tough times,” Minowa says. “That’s where I’m really able to find the purpose behind this.”

Cloud Cult has been around since 1995, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the band really broke out of its shell.

Minowa and company’s first taste of national fame was “They Live on the Sun,” an album written after the unexpected death of Minowa’s 2-year-old son. The disc went to No. 1 on the college radio charts by 2003.

At the rate of about an album a year, Cloud Cult continued to pick up steam and in 2007, The Denver Post ranked “The Meaning of 8″ one of the top 10 best albums of the past decade, alongside bands like Modest Mouse and Radiohead.

By the time “Feel Good Ghosts” came around, the band gained the attention of Rolling Stone magazine, which dubbed Cloud Cult a “breaking band.”

“It takes a lot of energy to be … in the public eye when we prefer to have our hands in the soil and be quietly weeding away in the gardens,” Minowa says.

Cloud Cult is one of the pioneering “green bands” of the indie rock scene.

“The entire Cloud Cult process has been really developed along organic premises from the songwriting to the actual production of the products to our stage shows,” Minowa says.

Cloud Cult’s products are 100 percent postconsumer recycled and all but one of Cloud Cult’s CDs have been recorded and produced at Minowa’s environmentally friendly farm studio.

Minowa’s Earthology Records has been an eco-consultant to national acts and music industry heavies such as Universal, MTV and ASCAP.

Even while the band is touring, Minowa works from the road with the Organic Consumers Association doing nonprofit work.

“The big trick is touring around the farming operation. We’ve got chickens that require care while we’re away,” Minowa says. “We typically try to schedule the tours so we’re home for the first planting of the year and build the fall tours around the first frost.”

While the group takes a touring break, Minowa will write, with plans to release another CD in 2010.

“I feel like there might be some closure coming in on the live show level,” Minowa says. “Connie and I really are just going to focus on family and the farm and our Earthology Institute.”

This year’s big project was releasing the feature-length documentary “No One Said It Would Be Easy,” a film that follows Cloud Cult’s rise to fame. The movie hit stores in April.

Even though Cloud Cult has become a prominent name in the indie music scene, Minowa has no intention to hang up his farm life to be a full-time musician.

“When we’re back at the farm, that’s really the true joy,” Minowa says.

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IF YOU GO

What: Cloud Cult in concert

When: 11:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Plush, 340 E. Sixth St.

Price: $10

Info: 798-1298, www.plushtucson.com

Fast-paced Calle Debauche drives you to move, but curves slam brakes on dancing

Calle Debauche is Dave LeGendre, tuba; Chris Halvorsen, marimba; Mohadev, guitar; Fred Malter, drums; and Guillem Sarlé, tenor sax.

Local instrumental band Calle Debauche – listing such influences as Frank Zappa, ’70s avant-garde rock and eastern European folk – plays music that is impossible to squeeze into any one genre. It’s also impossible to dance to.

“You want to dance, but you can’t,” says guitarist Mohadev. “Sometimes, people dance because it has danceable elements, but then it’s constantly changing. As soon as you start dancing we’ll go into a noise thing where it’s unclear how to dance.”

“But if somebody is up for the challenge . . . ,” marimba player Chris Halvorsen dares.

Calle Debauche was formed in 2006 as a guitar, bass and drum trio but has since replaced bass with tuba, saxophone and marimba. Mixing horns with rock influences, Mohadev found tuba player Dave LeGendre and sax player Guillem Sarle through their listings on craigslist. LeGendre was looking to play in a small classical band while Sarle was trying to start a funk band of his own. Instead, they both wound up contributing to the eclectic stylings of Calle Debauche.

Mixing horns with rock influences, Calle Debauche – translated as “street debauchery” or “debauchery street” – sounds a bit like an orchestra gone wild.

“We combine a lot of elements that the connection between them is not very obvious,” Mohadev says. “A lot of the stuff we play is really heavy, and I’ve never heard a band playing heavy music with a tuba instead of a bass player or with a marimba player.”

Based on the types of music each musician in the band prefers, this eclectic result is no surprise. According to Mohadev, drummer Fred Malter listens to Latin jazz, tuba player LeGendre prefers metal, Sarle favors funk while Halvorsen jams to folk music and ’70s rock. As for Mohadev, his eclectic tastes include Bulgarian wedding music, death metal and post punk among countless others.

Calle Debauche fuses this elaborate combination into one big genre-bending medley.

“A lot of our music is instrumentation and the blending of different styles in a very seamless way instead of just genre-hopping,” he says. “We combine different styles into the same songs or the same compositions.”

Calle creates these intricate songs using a composing program called Mozart. The program allows the musicians to write arrangements and then play the result back on their computer.

“It sounds like video game music,” Mohadev says.

From there, the musicians print sheet music and pass it to the rest of the band to learn how to play the songs.

“We don’t really know exactly what it’s going to sound like until we start playing it and interpreting what’s been written,” Mohadev says. “We make a lot of stylistic decisions on how to play the parts.”

May 21, Calle Debauche will have a party at Plush to celebrate the release of its first CD. The self-titled disc is a vast departure from the band’s 2007 EP “Potemkin Carnival,” Mohadev says.

“The EP was all over the place. Each song was in a different style,” Mohadev says. “The new one is a lot more focused.”

While audiences at the CD release party may have difficult time dancing to the music, they probably will never be bored, Halvorsen says.

“We try to keep the intensity up so the show is pretty fast paced. Just song after song, we jump from one to another.”

———

IF YOU GO

What: Calle Debauche CD release party with Flagrante Delicto and Chris Black

When: 9 p.m. May 21

Where: Plush, 240 E. Sixth St.

Price: $5

Info: 798-1298, www.plushtucson.com

The Houston rap scene made a big splash in 2005, pushing out numerous acts from Slim Thug to Paul Wall to Chamillionare. But the one who arguably led the uprising was Mike Jones, known for his repetitive boast “Who? Mike Jones.”

His popular phrase and knack for catchy hooks on songs like “Back Then” and “Still Tippin” helped him surge to platinum status on his debut “Who is Mike Jones?” And his strategic marketing scheme of giving out his personal phone number to the public also played a part in his claim to fame.

That worked four years ago. Now with his new album “The Voice,” Mike Jones returns with some premiere guests (Lil Wayne, T-Pain and Trey Songz) and producers (J.R. Rotem and Mannie Fresh), but his new disc falls short with subpar wordplay by the Houston emcee.

Though there’s decent production, Jones barely shows any growth since his last outing, displaying very simple rhymes and unappealing hooks on “Happy Birthday” and “Swagg Thru Da Roof.” He even brags during almost every song about selling 2 million records on his last CD. With material like this, it’s doubtful he’ll be able to make such boasts on his next record.

———

Mike Jones

“The Voice” (Swishahouse/Asylum Records)

Genre: rap

Grade: C-

Ciara’s latest album has all the right elements: good producers, catchy hooks and beats that bump with dance, pop and R&B flavors. But for some reason, “Fantasy Ride” isn’t as fun as the title suggests.

The 13-track set is mediocre at best, though it boasts production work by Polow Da Don, Danja, Dr. Luke and The-Dream, and has guest appearances from Chris Brown and Ludacris.

It’s not that the songs on the CD sound bad – tracks like “Ciara to the Stage” and “Tell Me What Your Name Is” show the singer at the top of her game. But the majority of the disc sounds just like what we’ve heard from the 23-year-old sensation before – and that’s not fulfilling.

The energy-charged “Work” featuring Missy Elliott sounds just like the 2005 hit “Lose Control,” Elliott’s song on which Ciara appeared. Most of the other tunes – “Like a Surgeon,” “Pucker Up” and “Never Ever,” for example – are enjoyable but show she hasn’t grown much as a singer since her last release.

Ciara shines, however, on the Janet Jackson-esque “Love, Sex, Magic” with Justin Timberlake and on “Keep Dancin’ On Me.”

With her 2004 debut CD “Goodies” and 2006′s “The Evolution,” Ciara had lots of hits but few songs that stood the test of time; “Fantasy Ride” is no different.

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Ciara

“Fantasy Ride” (Jive Label Group)

Genre: R&B

Grade: C

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s homage to Cab Calloway, “How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway,” comes off accordingly upbeat, but the drama of the Cotton Club’s quintessential showmanship is nowhere in sight.

The band’s eighth album instead proffers musicianship over moxie. This approach is fine in some respects, since no one could imitate Calloway – the man. But Calloway was so acutely ingrained in his signature songs, comparisons are hard to escape.

Lead singer Scotty Morris tries in vain to summon the Calloway growls and wails on songs such as “The Old Man of the Mountain” and “Minnie the Moocher.” Morris’ lack of range renders him helpless when the vocals should have soared.

Where’s the volume? Was Morris afraid to wake the neighbors?

The band recorded the material at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles on vintage microphones and equipment. That’s a nice nod to the music’s era, but the recording sounds flat, lacking thrilling highs, barrelhouse lows and the requisite “oomph” that such a talented group of musicians should have delivered.

———

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

“How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway” (Vanguard)

Genre: swing jazz

Grade: C

Tucson's Fine Stream Gamelan, an Indonesian folk orchestra that is the brainchild of local composer Matt Finstrom, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Last Friday a small piece of Tucson history was made as the Fine Stream Gamelan delivered its 20th anniversary concert.

The gamelan is an Indonesian folk orchestra, consisting mainly of percussion instruments forged from metal and wood. Tucson’s Fine Stream Gamelan is the brainchild of local composer/percussionist/bamboo expert Matt Finstrom. Over the years, Finstrom has convinced dozens of people to join in pursuit of a local expression for Javanese and Balinese traditional music, as well as new works for those unique and dreamy sounding instruments.

Finstrom’s gamelan dreams have roughly coincided with my own time at the Citizen. I recall going to a party at Finstrom’s house roughly a year after I started with the paper, celebrating his forging of the group’s original great gong. After that he set about creating by hand the numerous kettle and metalophones that would make up early configurations of the gamelan. At the same time he was enlisting recruits to join the group and training them to read the numeric code that serves as a score to the interlocking musical parts.

I had numerous friends in the group over the years, and made many more. Their dedication to the music and Finstrom was serious, and the result was simply amazing, concert after concert. To Finstrom it’s all grown organically and in the right way – like a family. You could see that in the current crop of Fine Stream Gamelan players Friday night, not only in the cooperative spirit in which they bring this music to life but also in a more literal sense as the children of Finstrom and David Dettman have joined the group’s ranks. And out in the audience, almost the same number of former players as were onstage watched the current generation put its stamp on the music, joined by a contingent of about 100 gamelan fans.

The show was a major milestone, underscoring how far this group has progressed in two decades. Along with Finstrom’s handmade Balinese-style instruments there were a number of instruments purchased in Indonesia for the group. Likewise the costuming of the players was closer to traditional garb. And the playing has clearly progressed, with more challenging repertoire becoming the norm. Not that Finstrom ever cut his players any slack in that department.

Musically, the concert was a mix of traditional Indonesian fare and music written by Finstrom over the years, working from traditional styles. Among Finstrom’s contributions were the original composition commissioned from him for the group’s initial appearance 20 years ago, a piece he composed in imitation of shadow puppet music, a piece that won him the 1991 Arizona Composers Forum award, a work blending Javanese and Balinese drumming styles, and the piece FSG played at the 2008 All Souls Procession finale. The latter work was dedicated to the late Rofl Jordahl – an artist and art restoration expert who was a former member of FGS and a beloved member of Tucson’s visual arts community.

Finstrom’s “Swara Manis” (Sweet Sound) is online in its entirety, attached to this column at www.tucsoncitizen.com. There is no substitute for seeing and hearing this music made, so I highly recommend going online to see it.

Watching the show, so many memories came back to me. I recall crowding into the tiny rehearsal space in Finstrom’s house where the players sat packed as close as atoms in a hunk of lead, painstakingly hammering metal bars with one hand while damping the previous bar with the other to keep its tone from clashing with the new sound. I recall when Finstrom’s wife, Holly, was pregnant with their daughter Ariel, now a beautiful 12-year-old who plays with the group. I remember most vividly the night that the father of the gamelan in America – classical composer Lou Harrison – and his partner, Bill Colvig, came out to Finstrom’s house during one of the rehearsals and jammed with them on traditional tunes all knew. Harrison was very impressed, both with the group and the instruments Finstrom created.

I’ve known Finstrom for about 25 years. We met when he was playing a variety of world percussion instruments and jamming with one of my former teachers, Larry Solomon. Over the years I’ve watched Finstrom take on more and more complex chunks of the global sound, through FSG and Sruti – Finstrom’s ensemble for the performance of East Indian music. Always an adept and highly informed player, Finstrom has organically grown as a composer and group leader, creating beautiful works and empowering community members to learn how to play this special music. I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Lumie Award. He deserved to be so recognized for the powerful contribution he’s made to this community.

It was nice to see his troupe honor him with its first “Gammy” award after the show and acknowledge the patience and perseverance he’s shown over the years. And even better to bask again in the beautiful sounds his labors have produced.

Congratulations, Matt, and many more decades to follow.

Matt Finstrom

These Dolls are antiques now, but they’re priceless.

Formed in 1971, The New York Dolls helped launch the glam-rock movement along with Kiss, David Bowie and Alice Cooper, yet they imploded long before any of their peers, breaking up in 1977 after two seminal albums.

Reformed in 2004 with original members David Johansen (vocals) and Sylvain Sylvain (guitar), the Dolls’ second album since then defies easy categorization. The title track blends Ron Wood-ish guitar riffs with a snarling punk sensibility. “Better Than You” evokes The Ramones’ cover of “Needles And Pins,” and Johansen even sounds like Joey Ramone on the track.

“Lonely So Long” revolves around country steel guitars, while Johansen whistles the main melody line of “Temptation To Exist” over a cha-cha beat. And if drunken staggering had a soundtrack, it would sound exactly like “This Is Ridiculous,” in which a down-and-outer bemoans his lot in life.

“Drowning” blends a Stones-like “Paint It Black” mysticism with Johansen’s own “We Gotta Get Outta This Place” vibe. The album also includes a ska remake of “Trash,” which was on their 1973 debut disc.

“Exorcism of Despair” closes the album with flail-and-wail guitar and drums fury.

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The New York Dolls

“‘Cause I Sez So,” (Atco)

Genre: rock

Grade: A

Edmonson

PHOENIX – Travis Edmonson, a folk music singer and songwriter of the 1950s and ’60s who was considered a pioneer by artists such as the Kingston Trio, has died. He was 76.

Edmonson died Saturday at a Mesa hospital, said longtime friend Mike Bartlett. Although Bartlett did not know the cause of death, he said Edmonson, who had a stroke in 1982, had suffered from numerous health problems.

Bob Shane, founding member of the Kingston Trio, was in college when he first saw Edmonson perform in San Francisco. Edmonson became his idol.

“He was probably the finest solo entertainer I’d ever seen,” Shane told The Associated Press from his Phoenix home. “He had a command of the stage that was just unbelievable.”

Shane said he and fellow band member Nick Reynolds were inspired watching Edmonson, who at the time was a member of the Gateway Singers.

“When we were seniors, we used to drive up and catch the Gateway Singers quite often. I’d say he definitely had an influence on the Kingston Trio because we enjoyed watching what they did as a group. But we decided not to use a girl which they had. So we cut it down to the trio.”

Edmonson was born in Long Beach, Calif., and spent his childhood in the border town of Nogales. His family’s proximity to Mexico helped to shape his passion for Latin music.

Bartlett said as a boy, Edmonson would sleep outside by the border. After dark, he would go to Mexican restaurants to watch mariachi musicians.

While studying at the University of Arizona, Edmonson won an amateur performing contest and decided to pursue a career as an entertainer. He formed a folk music duo with Bud Dashiell called Bud & Travis. The two recorded eight albums between 1959 and 1965. After they split, Edmonson sang solo and then joined Shane, who had split from the Trio.

Their act, Shane & Travis, lasted only four weeks before Shane opted to start the New Kingston Trio.

“We had a lot of fun but, as I said, things were happening quite quickly from the singing. . . . We had some differences but not things we were upset about,” Shane said. “He wanted to go one way, and I wanted to go another. So, we said, ‘See you later.’ ”

Some of Edmonson’s signature songs included “I’m a Drifter” and “Malaguena Salerosa.”

In the 1970s, Edmonson moved back to Tucson where he continued to perform and advise younger musicians such as Linda Ronstadt. Shane said Edmonson was often thought of as an ambassador of music in the Tucson area.

The stroke left Edmonson paralyzed on his left side. He was unable to perform, but he still liked to write songs and meet with other musicians. Bartlett said Edmonson always cared about helping struggling, younger artists.

“Big people didn’t necessarily impress him, but the little guy was the one he always had his eye on,” Bartlett said.

He is survived by his wife, Rose Marie Heidrick, and one son and five daughters from previous relationships.

Funeral services will be private with a public memorial planned for a later date.

Sunnyside mariachi director Cuco Del Cid directs practice for students (from left) Dulce Lopez, Gabriela Valenzuela and Genesis Mora Delhoyo.

Sunnyside High School’s Noche de las Estrellas, an annual event for nearly two decades, almost fell dim – and silent – this year.

“With the economy the way it is, we talked about not having it,” said Cuco Del Cid, the mariachi director at the school. “But the students from mariachi groups from schools all over town who perform here said, ‘That’s impossible. We wait for this all year.’”

So the 18th annual two-day event, which celebrates mariachi music and traditional Mexican folklórico dance, will go on.

It begins Friday with a pageant and talent contest from 6 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium at Sunnyside High, 1725 E. Bilby Road.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, “Plaza Garibaldi” will feature performances by student mariachi and dance groups from elementary, middle and high schools around the city and from Mexico.

Admission is free. There will be carnival games and booths with traditional food and drink

The Noche de las Estrellas concert will be held from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium. Admission is $10. The headliners are Folklorico Tapatío; Sunnyside High’s mariachi, Los Diablitos; and Desert View High’s Mariachi del Desierto. They will perform along with Sunnyside Assistant Superintendent Jeannie Favela, a former professional singer. The groups and Favela recently recorded the CD “Una Familia.”

Del Cid said the event is “a lot of work, a lot of work, but we enjoy it very much and it helps teach many kids the most traditional Mexican music.”

Del Cid, a professional mariachi for years in Mexico City with Mariachi los Camperos, has taught at Sunnyside for 16 years.

He loves preparing students for performances and for their future.

College is of utmost importance to Del Cid. “Of course, I tell my kids to go to college.

“When I came to work here, I told the principal I would do it on one condition – that we teach them the music, the instruments, but we don’t want just mariachis.

“I want them to become lawyers, doctors, pharmacists and other professionals who also know how to be mariachi musicians.

“They can and should still play in groups or play as a hobby when they grow up, but be a doctor for a living.”

Proceeds from the event go to college scholarships for the district performers.

Scott Weiland says songwriting has helped him cope with "romantic torture."

BURBANK, Calif. – Scott Weiland, famed frontman for two rock supergroups, has discovered solo work’s prize and penalty: liberation and loneliness.

“I’ve been recording in between periods of romantic torture, which is the concept of this album,” says the singer, whose divorce from his second wife, Mary Forsberg, informs several anguished lyrics on second solo album “Happy in Galoshes.”

“Writing these songs has been my saving grace. I have felt in the past like a marionette. This album is my freedom.”

Weiland, 41, is smoking and impeccably attired as usual when he takes a seat in the control booth of his Lavish Studios, a former machine shop transformed into a dim sanctuary with candles, recording gear and red lanterns hanging from a velvet-draped ceiling.

He sounds by turns defiant and wounded as he recounts the events leading to this pivotal juncture. His career is rebooting, but his personal life, littered with arrests, substance abuse and rehabs, has sapped him. In 2008, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and his brother suffered a fatal drug overdose. He’s especially distraught over his split from Forsberg.

“When you’re in love, you’ve found your soul mate, you think life is going one way, and suddenly it’s completely apparent it’s not. You have to rethink your whole purpose,” he says, adding haltingly, “She’s the love of my life, and I’ll always love her.”

He sits a little straighter and says: “This record has helped a lot. I was focused. I’m doing what I want to do creatively, and that’s kept me going.”

Weiland, who performs in Tucson on Tuesday, co-produced the new 13-track “Happy” for his Softdrive label with songwriting partner Doug Grean. Paul Oakenfold and members of No Doubt crop up, and Weiland covers The Smiths’ “Reel Around the Fountain” (on the two-CD deluxe edition) and David Bowie’s “Fame.”

“Happy” took shape during a tumultuous decade after the release of solo debut “12 Bar Blues” in 1998. In 2003, he left Stone Temple Pilots, the grunge-era giant that sold 35 million albums globally and spawned six No. 1 singles, including Grammy-winning “Plush.” In 2004, former Guns N’ Roses players enlisted Weiland to sing in Velvet Revolver, another hard-rock juggernaut that fired him last April after acrimonious exchanges.

“There were too many egos, and I’m not leaving myself out of the mix,” Weiland says. “It was a recipe for incredible success and disaster.”

The highly touted STP reunion tour followed, leaving fans clamoring for a new album. Weiland is on the fence.

“When you commit to a band that big that sold so many records and touched that many people, you can’t easily get out of it,” he says. “I’m finally on my own, at a place I’ve wanted to be for so long.”

Not surprisingly, “Happy” is as motley and unconventional as his lifestyle.

“It’s definitely eclectic,” Grean says. “He’s really breaking the mold people put him in as this heavy rock/grunge superstar. There’s country and jazzy and bossa nova stuff that redefines him. It was a fun, challenging, unpredictable experiment. The hardest part was carving out time. He kept doing things like getting into a superband.”

They formed a “trauma bond” 14 years ago when Grean’s brother, who is in rehab, “got a crazy new roommate in the middle of the night,” Grean says. “He had a mountain of baggage, I mean actual luggage. I wasn’t a huge STP fan, but we became friends.”

Weiland’s figurative baggage is substantial, too. He served a day in jail May 12, 2008, for a DUI arrest in 2007. He still drinks but points out he kicked heroin six years ago. In March, he completed a stint in rehab.

“When my wife was divorcing me, I relapsed on cocaine for three months, and I put myself in rehab without telling the band because I knew there would be manipulation for me to complete the tour,” he says.

It’s not the only reason he’s gun-shy about band duty.

“There’s a beauty in being part of a band, when there’s equality and trust,” he says. “But at this phase of my life, I want to write and not have to think about whether a song is going to be a hit. I want to explore the music that inspires me, and I don’t want to ape myself.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that I couldn’t see myself shaking my (butt) in leather pants when I’m 40. My goal in STP was to leave an imprint. That was done. I want to move forward and be in control of what I do musically. I have kids, and I don’t want to spend my life on the road.”

Noah, 8, and Lucy, 6, have altered his priorities and calmed a chaotic lifestyle. He’s considering a move from Los Angeles.

“On the veneer, it’s a lovely place, but the underbelly is dark and insidious. Everyone wants what everyone else has.”

Having experienced its dark side, Weiland no longer craves the veneer of rock stardom.

“I’m a disciple of David Bowie, and I see myself at that crossroad of ‘Young Americans’ and the Berlin records,” Weiland says, citing the Brit icon’s transition from 1975′s rock/soul hit to his late-’70s experimental trilogy.

“I want to surround myself with people who understand the music that inspires me. I don’t want to get battered from throwing myself around on stage. I want a performance style that’s more cerebral and emotional than physical. I want to be a creative artist, not a whirling dervish.”

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IF YOU GO

What: Scott Weiland in concert

When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.

Price: $25 advance, $30 day of show

Info: 740-1000, www.rialtotheatre.com

Tucson Jazz Institute students will play songs from the 1930, '40s and '50s at the Mother's Day Big Band Bash.

There will be a swinging side to Mother’s Day this year.

With three separate groups planning jazz events, moms with happy feet can enjoy their favorite music from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Opening the day is the poolside Jazz Brunch at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites, 5151 E. Grant Road, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The hotel has a variety of pampering activities to celebrate Mom as the center of family life, including her own special drink: the Mom’osa. Music will be the bright and bouncy sort of traditional jazz played by the Arizona Roadrunners.

After that, it will be time to scurry downtown for the Mother’s Day Big Band Bash at 3 p.m., sponsored by the newly organized Tucson Jazz Institute, at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. The institute’s students are steeped in the sounds of big bands from the 1930s to ’50s. Their talents will be framed within ensembles named after jazz luminaries Stan Kenton, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson.

All the groups will be joined by Grammy Award-winning sax soloist Brice Winston, a TJI faculty member and a touring regular with New Orleans’ trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Special guests the Blue Note Jazz Combo will perform, introducing a new piece by Max Goldschmid, “Omar’s Enlightenment.”

The Mother’s Day Big Band Bash will include a special package of gifts for every mother and grandmother (and great-grandmothers, too).

In the evening, jazzy families can add Latin spice to the day by taking their moms to St. Philip’s Plaza, 4280 N. Campbell Ave., at East River Road, for a 7 p.m. concert and dance presented by the Tucson Jazz Society. Headlining is the 10-piece Orquesta La Unica led by pianist Amilcar Guevara. Employing musicians from Venezuela, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Mexico, the band’s repertoire includes traditional and contemporary sounds of Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Cuban-style charanga.

Dancing will be encouraged, with several of the city’s Latin dance clubs using the event to showcase their polished interpretations of these popular steps.

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IF YOU GO

What: Mother’s Day Brunch

When: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites, 5151 E. Grant Road

Price: no cover; brunch and other events priced individually

Info: 321-7621, www.sheraton.com/tucson

What: Mother’s Day Big Band Bash

When: 3 p.m. Sunday

Where: Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.

Price: $20 adults, $15 students and senior citizens

Info: 514-0935

What: Mother’s Day Latin dance and concert, featuring Orquesta La Unica led by Amilcar Guevara, presented by the Tucson Jazz Society

When: 7 p.m.

Where: St. Philip’s Plaza, 4280 N. Campbell Ave. (at East River Road)

Price: $20 general admission, $15 TJS members, $10 students

Info: 902-1265, www.tucsonjazz.org

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OTHER MOTHER’S DAY EVENTS

“FESTIVAL DE REBOZOS” – THE BEAUTIFUL SHAWLS OF MEXICO: The event, presented by the Latin American Art Patrons, a support group of the Tucson Museum of Art, culminates with two public events: the Gala Celebration of Music and Dance and a Mother’s Day/Día de las Madres family celebration. A wide range of handmade rebozos from the finest silk to colorful cotton will be for sale in the museum store during the six-day event. All proceeds will benefit Latin American Art programs, exhibits and acquisitions at the Tucson Museum of Art. Viewing hours are: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon-4 p.m. Sundays. Here’s the schedule: • 6 p.m. Saturday: Gala Celebration will feature Mexican appetizers, and a program on the history of rebozos in music, poetry and dance. Mariachi Luz de Luna and Folklorico San Juan will perform and the night’s guest MC will be Lupita Murillo of KVOA News 4. A fashion show demonstrating the many ways of wearing them will conclude the evening. Tickets are $30 a person. No- host bar will be available. • Noon-4 p.m. Sunday: Mother’s Day/Día de las Madres. A family celebration in which people can bring in rebozos from their family for expert evaluation, and watch a master weaver demonstrate her craft. There will be booths selling aguas frescas, churros and paletas (fresh fruit popsicles), and a photo booth for a family portrait. Admission to the event and museum is free. Where: Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, 140 N. Main Ave. Info: 624-2333, www.tucsonmuseumofart.org

MOVIES WITH MOM: “ALL ABOUT EVE”: Spend a special Mother’s Day with the woman who brought you into the world and the ever-fabulous Bette Davis in one of her more notorious roles. “All About Eve” is all about women clawing their way to the top. Davis stars as Margo Channing, a New York theater star whose protégée Eve (Anne Baxter) turns out to be quite the backstabber. But don’t worry, Eve doesn’t sit back and take it. All moms in attendance will receive a fresh-cut flower while they last, and there will be a free raffle for a basket of goodies that will make your mama feel special. The cherry on top? Mimosas will be for sale. (As the Loft says, “everyone in the movie is drinking, so why shouldn’t you?”) When: 1 p.m. Sunday Where: The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Price: $7 Info: 795-0844, www.loftcinema.com

SUNDAY

“MUSIC UNDER THE STARS”: Enjoy sweet music in the park with mom. The Tucson Pops Orchestra kicks off its “Music Under the Stars” 2009 season directed by Laszlo Veres. Performing with the orchestra will be local artist Crystal Stark. A magna cum laude graduate of UA, Stark was one of American Idol’s top 44 contestants in 2006. Adding to the entertainment, the Tucson Girls Chorus will perform under the direction of Marcela Molina. When: 7 p.m. Sunday Where: Reid Park – DeMeester, 900 S. Randolph Way Price: Free Info: 722-5853, www.tucsonpops.org

Jacob Valenzuela has lent his trumpeting talents to local band Calexico for nine years. He also contributed his songwriting abilities on the group's 2008 CD, "Carried To Dust."

For fans of indie rock band Calexico, the trumpet artistry of Jacob Valenzuela is something indispensible to the group’s intoxicating sound.

The Tucson native, 31 and the proud papa of 7-week-old Jacob Martinez Valenzuela, came to Calexico nine years ago, introduced to group leaders Joey Burns and John Convertino by local mariachi legend Ruben Moreno.

It’s a dream gig for the young trumpeter who grew up on jazzmen Clifford Brown and Miles Davis, and had been part of the Desert View High School mariachi.

“At that point Joey was looking for a trumpet player who could travel and who could do jazz and a little bit of mariachi as well,” Valenzuela says of joining the group, sitting on the porch of his father’s house near the airport. “There’s a lot of liberty in (Calexico’s) music and the music is wonderful, too. I still enjoy listening to it after nine years. They’re really classic songs and I think the writing is beautiful. I’m really fortunate to be a part of it.”

On Calexico’s 2008 “Carried To Dust” CD, Valenzuela had a chance to spread his wings as a songwriter as well. His “Inspiración” is one of the best on the outstanding disc – a tune with a classic Latin sound that conjures images of the 1940s and ’50s.

“That song just kind of came out with me and my brother,” he says. “One day we were just sitting in Joey’s house and he was going over some chords and I just had this melody pop in my head. It started out very simple like things do. And eventually bringing it to the guys, you could see it starting to grow. It’s kind of a special song to me because of the relationship that I have in my family. It’s really strong.”

Valenzuela says that one of the things he likes best about Calexico is that it, too, feels like family.

“When you’re on the road it’s hard to be away but at the same time you have your family that you’re with. Just like brothers. We get into it and you make up. But they’re really lovely people. They’re really real.”

Valenzuela comes from a family of musical brothers. He started playing trumpet at age 10 as part of a church group.

“That’s where I started playing music and learning by ear,” he says.

Valenzuela wasn’t much into mariachi music when he was in high school, but with Moreno’s encouragement he stayed with the group. It was as a music education student at the University of Arizona that he came to see the beauty of the mariachi.

“I really didn’t feel I had the grasp of it until I started gigging,” he says. “It’s a lot of music to learn and if you didn’t really grow up listening to it and really studied it intensely, it’s just a crash course trying to learn it all. And it’s the same trying to learn jazz. You’ve got to grow up and listen to it and really invest a lot of time.

“Clifford Brown was one of the musicians that I appreciated most. I would study all his solos. I can’t play like him. He has a totally different style but just the way he plays the solos is really nice and his articulation and everything. I was really impressed with him. I really love Miles too. He’s always been very inspiring because he’s done so many different types of music and done it really well. It’s amazing how you can apply the trumpet to different genres of music.”

As a musician, Calexico is a dream gig because nothing is static. The group’s sound is based on an adventurous, collaborative spirit that incorporates everything from jazz, pop and rock to elements of the mariachi and other world music currents. And where things really get fun is in the live concerts, where the music morphs into something completely different from the recorded version.

“When you think about all the songs we’ve played over all the years, the repertoire is so extensive,” he says. “It’s huge, and it’s surprising how we remember all the songs.

“In just starting off a tour, the first gigs you start realizing, this doesn’t quite work out like it did on the album. ‘Let’s add this or let’s change this part.’ So it kind of becomes its own thing at that time. And then you have these two different versions we can always play off of. And everyone is so talented and so quick to adjust and compromise that it’s always easy. It just seems effortless.”

Things seem to be taking a good course. At the same point that he had a baby on the way, the group slowed the pace of touring, preferring to set up gigs that would take the members away from home for a few days at a time.

But Valenzuela is looking forward to getting back into the studio with Calexico again, either in the fall or winter. And he’s honing a few song ideas as well.

“With Calexico I think I grew with the band, and express myself more in different ways, he says. “This is one of the ways – vocally through writing my own music. Joey Burns has been a big inspiration, as well as the rest of the guys. But he’s really pushed me to write my own music and write my own songs.”

Mastodon ably stakes their claim among metal’s elite with their fourth disc and second for Reprise, “Crack the Skye.”

Following their acclaimed major label debut, 2006′s “Blood Mountain,” Mastodon offers another challenging concept on “Crack the Skye,” this one focused on out of body experiences, astral projection and Rasputin’s assassination in Czarist Russia.

It may sound like a bit much to the casual listener, but such daring artistry had all but vanished from the metal scene for years until the recent emergence of bands like Lamb of God and the eclectically manic Mars Volta.

Comprised of Brann Dailor (drums, vocals), Brent Hinds (lead guitar, banjo, vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitars) and Troy Sanders (bass, bass synth, vocals), the four piece juxtaposes melodic soft passages with intense time changes, and muscular riffs and licks. The vocals rely less on constant screams than previous efforts but the intensity does not suffer. If anything, it’s a welcome adjustment.

The opening trio of “Oblivion,” “Divinations,” and “Quintessence” set the tone for the album’s centerpiece, the mind-numbing four-part suite “The Czar,” which may leave you gasping through its 11 minutes. And that’s nothing next to the 13-minute closer, “The Last Baron,” which is nothing short of masterful.

The disc will lose its punch when taken in pieces – but if you’ve read this far you know treating Mastodon as anything less than an album band would be a grave mistake.

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Mastodon

“Crack the Skye” (Reprise)

Genre: metal

Grade: A

Israel Houghton’s first solo studio album, “Power of One,” contains the raucous energy of a jam session. Without his ensemble of New Breed singers, Houghton’s priorities move from creating eminently singable refrains to exploring a variety of musical expressions, from rock to reggae, with conviction and flair.

It sounds like Houghton picked all of his favorite musical friends to join him on the album. Invited to the party are multi-instrumentalist Akil Thompson, Toby Mac on the gritty head-banger “You Found Me,” and Mary Mary on the comforting ballad “Every Prayer.”

The live drums, rockin’ synthesizers and funky arrangements reflect more artistry and complexity than his live albums with the New Breed. The result is a collection of tight and well-crafted songs that only productive time in the studio with like-minded souls can yield.

The album’s title track is about harnessing the power of an individual to change the world. But the real focus of the album is on having a rollicking good time musically and lifting the spirits of all who hear.

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Israel Houghton

“Power of One,” (Integrity/Columbia)

Genre: Christian

Grade: B