The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark has announced the dates at various venues for the 13^th annual James Moody Jazz Festival, happening this year from November 7 to 14.

The Madison Community Arts Center—10 Kings Road—will be the venue for a special October 6 3:00 Sunday afternoon screening of Swingin’ with Frank & Bing, a new documentary about the life and art of composer Jimmy Van Heusen.

He may reside in Maplewood but guitarist Stephane Wrembel is all about New Orleans and Paris as he brings his exquisite nonet to New York City on October 3 at Le Poisson Rouge. Wrembel has singlehandedly kept the Gypsy Jazz tradition of Django Reinhardt alive but fused it with Louisiana love.

Whether Lenny White is the greatest living drummer or not is a Rubik’s Cube of a debate. The Teaneck resident helped pioneer the advent of jazz-rock fusion in the 1970s in Chick Corea’s Return To Forever with Jersey City’s Al Di Meola. His latest project is All In Good Time (ZOHO Records) by Monika Herzig’s Sheroes where he produces seven females on 10 tracks, one of which is a surprising cover of Beyonce’s 2011 “Run The World.”

Longtime Jersey Jazz columnist/downbeat editor/author/historian Dan Morgenstern passed away from heart failure September 7 in New York City at the age of 94. A Jersey City resident, he was named Director of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark in 1976 and amassed the world’s largest collection of jazz documents, recordings and memorabilia in his dogged effort to keep jazz history alive.

It happened in Tennessee. Jon Bon Jovi, 62, in the middle of a photo shoot on a Nashville bridge, notices, out of the corner of his eye, a woman seemingly going to commit suicide by standing on the other side of the bridge looking down.

It’s been 31 years and counting for Philly radio station WXPN and its popular XPoNential Music Festival, happening this year in Camden on two stages at Wiggins Park September 20, 21 and 22. Between the music, the food, face-painting, tattooing and interactive art projects, there will be plenty to do, see, eat and hear.

The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music (BSACAM) has announced September 28 as the date for a special evening with Grammy Award-winning film editor/director Thom Zimny in celebration of Bruce’s 75^th birthday. The 7:30 p.m. event will be held in Pollak Theatre on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch.

Come see Texas blues-band The Fabulous Thunderbirds in Clark this Saturday September 14. The six-hour Union County Fall Festival is free. Plus, The Weight Band will perform the music of The Band and Dead On Live will be Grateful.

Dionne Warwick, 83, will be honored September 22 at the inaugural New Jersey Arts Icon Gala at an event called “What The World Needs Now:  A Celebration Of Dionne Warwick.” All proceeds from the event—held at the Bell Theater in Holmdel—will benefit the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal and the Bell Theater Cultural Arts and Education Programs.

Known for her iconic performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival, Melanie [Long Branch] once recorded a cover version of “Rag Doll” by The Four Seasons [Newark] in 1984. The Fabulous Courettes, the duo from Brazil and Denmark, have taken Melanie’s cover and made a monster out of it that should fire-breathe your speakers into oblivion.

Singer-Songwriter Mark Mulch, who left Toms River years ago for Nashville, is Radio Trop Rock’s “Artist Of The Month.” With a new single, “Sunrise Vibes,” Mulch, amid the myriad of like-minded artists who continue to flourish since the demise of Jimmy Buffett, is keeping the Trop Rock spirit alive.

The Bear playing The Boss? It certainly looks that way. Deliver Me From Nowhere will be a cinematic adaptation of last year’s Warren Zanes book of the same name, sub-titled The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.

On Daylight Savings Time, Steve Forbert’s 21^st album, the longtime Asbury Park resident has written more songs that get under your skin to make you ask questions, to make you smile, and, every great once in a while, make you squirm.

To support the release of their third album, Let The Light Back In (DA Records), Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts (well, one Cold Hard Fact) will play the Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan on September 8. The music of this no-frills Americana band, based in Maplewood, has drawn comparisons to Texas troubadours like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

When Jersey Jazz Giant Russell Malone was 12, he saw George Benson perform in Benny Goodman’s band on TV. It changed his life. He died August 23 at 60 from a heart attack while on tour in Japan as part of Ron Carter’s band. In his tragically short life, he played in the bands of vocalists Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, Jimmy Smith, BB King, Branford Marsalis, Macy Gray, Christian McBride, David Sanborn and Sonny Rollins.

September 7 is the date of the Punk Unplugged Festival at The Union Market & Gallery down the shore in Tuckerton, Ocean County. Between the live music—supplied by Dark & Stormy, Funeral Doors, The Record Keeper, Ray Wildey, Catch Me If You Can, Mxtchxll and Peach Creek—and art exhibitions, vendors will also display their wares.

The Americana sounds of Yarn will ring out proud and true on September 1 when Frenchtown in Hunterdon County will host the 20^th Annual Riverfest, a free celebration of life along the mighty Delaware River “with an ecologically and sustainability-focused lens,” according to the town’s website. Between Yarn, 67 local vendors, 20 local musicians, Viking Paper Boat Races, Doug Miller The Magician, strolling musician Nick The Bag-Piper and the Native-American drumming, prayer and dance of the Lenape tribe, there certainly will be plenty to do in the two locations of Sunbeam Lenape Park and Downtown Frenchtown.

Bernardsville drummer Dave Colella provides the stirring beat behind the self-released Revelation by Piper & The Hard Times, a bluesy, ball-buster of an album fronted by the soulful bluster of Piper. When Piper sings, you can hear his phlegm wiggle. He’s an old-fashioned blues shouter and it works well atop this studio octet.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) has impacted thousands of young musicians for the past 27 years. Registration is now open (closing September 23) for its “Jazz For Teens” 2024-2025 Education Program. The fall semester is October 5 to December 4. The spring semester is January 25 to May 17. Student musicians from ages 13 to 18 can apply.