Spring is here and the Arizona temps are superb. Whether you spend the day catching rays at a spring training game or catching your favorite artist at a local music festival, a live show at the Musical Instrument Museum’s intimate, acoustically superior theater is a surefire way to ignite a spark into your evening. Here are five shows to expand your musical horizons, no matter the season. Tickets to all events can be purchased at mim.org.
PHOTO BY DAVE STAPLETON
Mark Guiliana
Genre: Jazz
When: Wednesday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
Cost: $33.50-$44.50
New Jersey native and Grammy-nominated drummer and composer Mark Guliana – who has collaborated with such musical masters as the late David Bowie – breaks musical boundaries on his candid and brave new album, the sound of listening. Accompanied by a quartet made up of Guiliana on drums, Shai Maestro on a commanding, emotional piano, Jason Rigby on a snappy and sultry tenor sax and Chris Morrissey on a groove-binding bass, they explode together in a variety of beautiful and upbeat numbers to be performed at this one-of-kind concert.
PHOTO BY Flournoy Holmes
Acoustic Songs and Stories featuring Marcia Ball & Tinsley Ellis
Genre: Blues
When: Thursday, March 2 and Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m.
Cost: $49.50–$54.50
Award-winning pianist and vocalist Marcia Ball and Southern rock specialist Tinsley Ellis bring their decades-spanning careers and mutual love of their roots and life on the road to what is sure to be a satisfyingly soulful performance. Each musician will take to the stage individually then conclude the program together, regaling travel stories intertwined with their signature rhythm and blues.
Photo courtesy Musical Instrument Museum
Altan
Genre: Global
When: Sunday, March 12 at 6 and 8 p.m.
Cost: $44.50–$49.50
Praised by The Boston Globe as “the hottest band in the Celtic realm,” Altan is sure to whet your palette and pre-game your ears for forthcoming St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Channeling the rich, musical traditions of their native home of County Donegal, Ireland, their fiddle-forward songs, reels and jigs are infused with heartwarming, jovial artistry. The band’s 35-year career includes performing for many U.S. presidents and bragging rights as the second best-selling world music album globally.
PHOTO BY Shervin Lainez
Dom Flemons
Genre: Americana and Folk
When: Friday March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $28.50–$44.50
Originally from Phoenix, this smooth-crooning, Grammy-winning quintuple threat is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, actor, music scholar and historian, earning himself the moniker “The American Songster” for his vast repertoire of early American pop music. To boot, Flemons is the creator, host and producer of the American Songster Radio show on Nashville’s 650 AM WSM radio station, where he plays selections from his own record collection and conducts conversations with American Roots artists like Bobby Rush, Steve Martin and Branford Marsalis. In 2020, Flemons was selected for the United States Artists Fellowship Award in the Traditional Arts category. In 2022, he received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater, Northern Arizona University, and was the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony.
PHOTO courtesy Musical Instrument Museum
Mark O’Connor: Crossing Bridges, a Retrospective on His Childhood Years in Music
Genre: Bluegrass
When: Tuesday, March 28 at 7 p.m.
Cost: $44.50-$54.50
Prodigy Mark O’Connor bares all through his emotional retelling of the beginning of his career as a champion guitarist at 10 to a solo performer at the Grand Ole Opry at 12 and his complex relationships, traumas and triumphs in this heart-felt musical memoir. Lauded as “one of the most spectacular journeys in recent American music” by The New York Times, the evening features music by Mark and his wife, Maggie O’Connor, a reading from O’Connor’s memoir and a Q&A.
Photo courtesy Travis Anderson Photography
BONUS!
Summer 2023 Concert Series Preview Event
*Exclusive free event for MIM members who give $250+ annually
When: Thursday, March 23 at 5:30 p.m. (RSVP by March 20 at 480-478-6062 or advancement@mim.org)
The MIM will be hosting a preview of its exciting Summer 2023 Concert Series, the first series organized by new Artistic Director of MIM Music Theater, Andrew Walesch.
