($15-$25 tickets | 6:30pm & 8:30pm Shows) Thistle & Bear featuring Pineross return to the Century Room to bring you St. Paddy’s Day (RE)Imagined!

Join us on a journey through Irish folk music past and present intricately stitched with spoken word, live looping samples, and story. Creating an ambient drone weave that escalates into a climax of traditional jigs and reels.

With special guest Grant Beyschau of Desert Drone Tucson, and featuring spoken word tribute to the late Manchán Magan, as well as music from The Pogues, The Chieftains, The House of Guinness soundtrack, Irish fiddle master Kevin Burke, and more!

Thistle & Bear (Mariah McCammond & Anton Shekerdhiev) Pineross (Kevin Larkins)

($10-$15 + DICE fees | 6:30pm + 8pm Sets) Drummer & percussionist Aaron Szabo (Zona Libre, TLJN, et al) brings us “Los Esquineros”, featuring Matt Mitchell (guitar), Jonathan Eldridge II (piano), and Patrick Morris (bass). Expect a blend of of Brazlian, Cuban and Puerto Rican rhythms mixed with jazz melodies. Two sets at 6:30pm & 8pm!

($20-$30 Tickets + DICE fees | 6:30pm Show) Herbie Hancock’s alto saxophonist Devin Daniels and our very own Eric Nakanishi reunite after first crossing paths at Berklee College of Music and performing together in Ralph Peterson Jr.’s Gen-Next Big Band.

Daniels, an Inglewood native and central voice in Los Angeles’ creative scene, has performed with Gerald Clayton, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, John Beasley, Sam Barsh, and Jamael Dean. In 2023, Herbie Hancock invited him to perform at the Hollywood Bowl in tribute to Wayne Shorter, later bringing him on for a month-long U.S. tour. A full-scholarship graduate of Berklee, FocusYear Basel, and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Studies at UCLA, Daniels was named a 2024 Herb Alpert Foundation Make Jazz Fellow and recently released LesGo!, recorded live at Sam First.

Nakanishi, originally from Pleasant Hill, California, began playing at age nine and studied with Marcus Goodlow, Mary Fettig, and Alex Murzyn before attending Berklee. In Boston, he performed lead alto in Peterson’s Gen-Next Big Band, recording I Remember Bu: Alive Vol. 4 and Listen Up!. He later released his debut album Introducing (2020) and Breakout! Nakanishi Quartet Live at Bird & Beckett (2022), and now resides in Tucson, Arizona.

Together Again brings them back to the bandstand, reconnecting two distinct alto voices shaped by the same foundation and years of individual growth.

($10-$15 Tickets + DICE fees | 9pm Show) Space Travelers Union Presents: Beth Goodfellow, Thøger Lund, Matt Mitchell, Ryan Wheless, Devin Daniels

Space Travelers Union is a creative-musician collective formed in the Arizona desert through the meeting of composition, improvisation, and electronic signal. The project has reached international audiences through BBC6, Radio France’s FIP, JazzFM, and Gilles Peterson’s WorldwideFM, with additional recognition from Bandcamp’s “New and Notable” and YouTube Music’s Jazz Hotlist.

This performance features:

Thøger Lund (Bass + FX)

Beth Goodfellow (Drums)

Matt Mitchell (Guitar)

Ryan Wheless (Banjo + FX)

Devin Daniels (Saxophone)

+ Special Guests

This performance is presented as part of the ongoing Space Travelers Union Presents residency at the Century Room.

($25-$35 + DICE fees | 6:30pm & 8:30pm Shows) Pat Metheny’s 11x Grammy-winning bassist & producer of 30 Years performs a two night residency at the Century Room!

Bassist Steve Rodby joined the Pat Metheny Group in 1981 and spent the next thirty years at Metheny’s side, touring, recording, and producing. Steve has appeared on over 20 Metheny albums and has earned multiple Grammy awards and nominations, as well as admiration from critics, magazines, and reader polls. He has prepared an amazing retrospective of music from his time with the Pat Metheny Group, featuring guitarist Bob Pelmieri, pianist Peter Saxe and drummer Arthur Vint.

($10-$15 + DICE fees | 10:30pm Show) After Friday night’s show, stick around for late night with Bassist Thoger Lund and his band!

($25-$35 + DICE fees | 6:30pm & 8:30pm Shows) Pat Metheny’s 11x Grammy-winning bassist & producer of 30 Years performs a two night residency at the Century Room!

Bassist Steve Rodby joined the Pat Metheny Group in 1981 and spent the next thirty years at Metheny’s side, touring, recording, and producing. Steve has appeared on over 20 Metheny albums and has earned multiple Grammy awards and nominations, as well as admiration from critics, magazines, and reader polls. He has prepared an amazing retrospective of music from his time with the Pat Metheny Group, featuring guitarist Bob Pelmieri, pianist Peter Saxe and drummer Arthur Vint.

($10-$15 + DICE fees | 10:30pm Show) After Saturday night’s show, stick around for Late Night with virtuosic bassist Adam Neely and his trio. Featuring Matt Mitchell (guitar) and Arthur Vint (drums)

($25-$35 tickets + DICE fees | 4:30pm Show) KAZOKU (Family): A Chamber Jazz Project Honoring Family, Heritage, and Continuity

This project brings to life the folk compositions of Kenji Ono Lancaster’s grandmother, Yoko Ono. These songs are rooted in peace, life, and intergenerational connection. Originally written in Japanese, these works have been carefully transcribed and reimagined for a contemporary ten-piece chamber jazz ensemble.

The music preserves the original melodies and language while expanding the harmonic and textural landscape through modern jazz orchestration inspired by the likes of Maurice Ravel, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Mei Semones. Strings, woodwinds, pedal steel, piano, upright bass, drums, vocals, and guitar create a spacious, lyrical, and deeply personal sound.

This evening at The Century Room serves a dual purpose.

First, it is a live presentation of the music as it will be recorded this May at EastWest Studios. This world-renowned studio has produced the likes of California Dreamin’ by the Mamas and the Papas, Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys, My Way by Frank Sinatra, and many more. The chance to record here is an invaluable opportunity to capture the performance at its highest fidelity and to put Tucson-based artists in a position to produce nationally competitive work.

Second, it is a fundraising event. The funds raised tonight will directly support the recording, mixing, artist compensation, and production of the album Kazoku. Your artistic patronage transforms these songs from family memory into a lasting cultural document, funding the professional stewardship of the music.

The performance will be 60-75 minutes and include a spoken narrative about Yoko Ono’s compositions.

**All contributors will receive a signed vinyl and a Kazoku T-Shirt upon completion of recording and pressing. All attendees are invited to a champagne toast during the performance.**

We have already secured $4,000 toward our goal, but we need your help to reach $15,000. Additionally, if we exceed our $15,000 goal, any surplus funds will be directed toward establishing a permanent live stream system at The Century Room to support Tucson jazz in the long term. We are grateful for your participation in bringing Kazoku to life.

($5-$10 + DICE fees | 6:30pm-9:30pm) Come sit in with multi-instrumentalist Max Goldschmid and the Century Room house band! Band opens up with a short set followed by an instrumental jam until 9:30pm. Musicians who sit in get in free thanks to the Sonora Arts & Music Initiative!