The 2011-2012 concert season in South Florida could conceivably signal that classic rock is dead as we once knew it.

Unlike the past two seasons, which collectively featured ’60s- and ’70s-launched brand names like the Allman Brothers Band, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Eagles, Roger Waters, Rush, and Earth, Wind & Fire, the next eight months look comparatively modern. None of these acts are scheduled to appear in the area this season at presstime, nor are stars like Bruce Springsteen, U2, the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King, the Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, or Neil Young.

There are likely a few different reasons. Artists like these usually command three-figure concert ticket prices, which can challenge the budgets of even their Baby Boomer fans in this economy. Health issues are also a factor for these acts of a certain age -- Gregg Allman had to cancel late-summer solo tour dates because of respiratory problems, and Springsteen lost his longtime saxophonist, Clarence Clemons, to complications from a stroke in June.

And perhaps, in a music industry that’s transitioned from the recording label to Internet era, it’s finally time for classic rock to expire -- even here in one of its favorite stomping grounds (and as some wonder how it took so long). Popular next -wave bands that formed in the ’80s and ’90s with 2011 releases (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters) and reunited lineups (Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine) are also bypassing our cylindrical state, but don’t be surprised if things change later in the season. Some stars could trim their ticket prices and still sell out most area venues quickly, and classic rock has long seemed less likely to burn out than fade away.

Soulive might be a jazz or blues-approved Hammond organ trio with no bassist, but the group is actually, and deliciously, more steeped in the funk legacy of James Brown. Formed in the late 1990s in Woodstock, N.Y., the instrumental group’s nucleus has always been brothers Neal Evans (organ) and Alan Evans (drums) with guitarist Eric Krasno. The trio’s best releases range from the powerful live 2003 CD Soulive to the 2010 studio Beatles tribute Rubber Soulive, but the grooving core also plays well with others. Its 2011 DVD Bowlive, recorded live at the Brooklyn Bowl, features stellar interplay with guest vocalist Susan Tedeschi, keyboardist Ivan Neville (of the Neville Brothers), guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes and bassist Oteil Burbridge (all members of the Allman Brothers Band), and drummer Questlove (of The Roots). See Soulive as part of the 2011 Festival Miami on October 6 at the University of Miami’s Gusman Concert Hall (8 p.m., $20-40).

Hailed as “the best singer of her generation” by no less an authority than legendary vocalist (and frequent touring partner) Tony Bennett, Canada native k.d. lang emerged as an ahead-of-her-time alt-country artist in the late 1980s. Her 1987 major-label debut Angel With a Lariat was produced by Rockpile guitarist and roots music veteran Dave Edmunds, and it propelled her toward multiple Grammy Awards during the ’90s as she added jazz, adult contemporary and Brazilian nuances. Since recording on Bennett’s 2002 duets CD Wonderful World, Lang has appeared often with the ageless crooner, usually in orchestral settings. Her latest CD, Sing It Loud, features her Siss Boom Bang band with multi-instrumentalists Joe Pisapia, Daniel Clarke, Fred Eltringham, Josh Grange and Lex Price. See Lang & the Siss Boom Bang on Oct. 8 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Dreyfoos Concert Hall in West Palm Beach (8 p.m., $25 and up).

Tim Reynolds may be best-known for his work with the Dave Matthews Band (for which he's lead guitarist) and his duets with its leader, but the sonic innovator actually formed his electric TR3 power trio in the ’80s before hooking up with Matthews. After touring often from his Virginia home base, Reynolds put the trio on hold when he met Matthews, concentrating on acoustic guitar in their duo and as a solo artist while he relocated to New Mexico. Since moving back eastward to North Carolina, he's re-formed TR3 with bassist Mick Vaughn and drummer Dan Martier. All three members sing on Reynolds’ far-reaching jazz/fusion originals, plus covers that venture into the funk catalogs of James Brown and Prince. Their new live CD, From Space and Beyond, features guest saxophonist Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band) and is the next-best thing to being there. Reynolds & TR3 perform on October 13 at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth (8:30 p.m., $25).

Despite not coming from a non-musical family, nor having the kind of hourglass figure usually featured on TV networks like VH1, British singer Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is now on a first-name basis with much of the world. The London-born vocalis’s 2008 blue-eyed soul debut 19, named for her age as she recorded it, entered the British pop charts at No. 1. But that CD proved to be a mere appetizer. Her similarly age-dropping 2011 follow-up, 21, also debuted at No. 1 and featured the hit single Rolling in the Deep -- likely this year's most-heard song as it wafted everywhere from radio airwaves to airport elevators. Also a multi-instrumentalist, and fluent in roots music and country dialects, it remains to be seen whether Adele’s dexterity will keep her as England’s biggest chart-topper since The Beatles or render her another of the country’s temporary musical trends. See Adele on Oct. 14 at American Airlines Arena’s Waterfront Theatre in Miami (8 p.m., $45.50-102.35).

Dolly Parton has proven ahead of her time for the majority of her 55-year career. Born into poverty among 12 siblings in 1946, and despite the fact that few female country singer/songwriters succeeded in the late 1950s, the Tennessee native was performing on TV in Knoxville by age 12. The next year, the singing guitarist started her recording career and was appearing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. After becoming a TV star on The Porter Wagoner Show in the late ’60s, Parton became the dominant country artist of the ’70s, with eight No. 1 hits and her own Dolly TV series. She then became a movie star in the 1980s in films like Rhinestone and 9 to 5, the title song of which garnered her another No. 1 hit. She’s since opened her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee, penned the autobiography My Life and Other Unfinished Business, and released her 41st album, 2011’s Better Day. See Parton on Oct. 18 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood (8 p.m., $44-104).

Based in Florida, but in the Panhandle beach town of Destin, reggae band Heritage can tour several other states without building up frequent driver miles like a South Florida act. The sextet is a modern, 21st -century reggae band, with influences that include the rock and pop sounds of Ben Harper and Sublime as well as reggae icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. With diverse backgrounds ranging from Florida and Texas to California and Hawaii, the lineup features vocalists Tony Verecchia and Eric Yra, ukulele player Damien Kealoha, guitarist Hunter Dawson, bassist Matt Moore, drummer R.J. Hernandez and percussionist Dave Posey. The band debuted its rootsy, hybrid island sound on CD with its 2009 release Natural High. And Heritage doesn’t mind a long drive south from the Gulf Coast -- which it makes again on Oct. 19 -- when it involves playing at the open-air tropical waterfront restaurant Guanabanas in Jupiter (9 p.m., free).

“Roots music” may be the best description for the music of 58-year-old, Louisiana-born singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams, yet even that wide stylistic swath doesn’t do her justice. She’s incorporated elements of folk, blues and country into her compositions over a 35-year career, along with a healthy infusion of rock, both in style and an intermittent devil-may-care attitude. Williams’ career started slowly, as her first two albums received little attention upon being released in 1979 and 1980. She waited until 1988 to release her self-titled third effort, which ironically featured a tune (Passionate Kisses) that won her a Grammy for Best Country Song after Mary Chapin Carpenter covered it five years later. Williams has since offered subtle, smoldering gems like Essence (2001), World Without Tears (2003) and her 2011 release Blessed, and she plays Oct. 20 at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale (8 p.m., $37.50).

With rockabilly instrumentation, a punk ethic and bluesy Texas roots, Jim Heath has transformed himself into the Reverend Horton Heat to lead his hard-to-categorize trio since 1985. The singer/guitarist’s Dallas-based act features the same instrumentation (electric guitar, upright bass and drums) as popular 1980s rockabilly trio the Stray Cats, but with far more attitude and rhythmic firepower. Bassist/vocalist Jimbo Wallace has been part of the reverend’s choir since the late 1980s, and Paul Simmons is the latest in a series of drummers adept at driving the band with a propulsive, metallic intensity. Songs from the trio’s latest CD, 2009’s Laughin’ & Cryin’ With the Reverend Horton Heat, range from Heath’s countrified soliloquy about an overweight loser (Beer Holder) to the self-explaining burner Death Metal Guys. See the Reverend Horton Heat on Oct. 20 at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale (7:30 p.m., $23.70).

Singing guitarist Bobby Lee Rodgers started venturing south from his Savannah home base two years ago, creating a regional touring route that’s become South Florida’s gain. His unique pop songwriting. quirky, nasal vocal delivery and inimitable guitar sound (the result of playing a 1949 Gibson through a vintage Fender amplifier and a whirling Leslie cabinet, usually associated with Hammond organs) first gained Rodgers cult status with the Codetalkers. That Georgia band peaked with the 2006 release Now as he co-led it through the 2000s with Col. Bruce Hampton. Rodgers will play compositions from that quartet’s catalog, plus solo releases like Overdrive (2010), but his versatility also extends to jazz. A former instructor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Rodgers is currently in the midst of a monthly series of salutes to traditional jazz masters with his trio at the Green Room in Fort Lauderdale. See Rodgers on Oct. 21 at Guanabanas (9 p.m., free).

Jackson Browne became one of the definitive pop songwriters of the past 40 years by helping to define the California sound that permeated American music in the 1970s. Born in Germany, but a Southern California resident for most of his life, the 62-year-old singer/songwriter’s classics include Doctor My Eyes, These Days, Late For the Sky, Running On Empty and Take It Easy -- a tune co-written with Glenn Frey of The Eagles that became that band’s first hit single. A 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Browne released Solo Acoustic CD volumes in 2005 and 2008, and he performs in that setting later this month to benefit the University of Miami’s Creative American Music Program. His special guest will be 56-year-old keyboardist Bruce Hornsby, the school’s Grammy-winning, genre-surfing graduate who instituted that program at UM. Browne performs Oct. 26 as part of the 2011 Festival Miami at Gusman Concert Hall (8 p.m., $30-70).

New indie rock clubs have popped up through Palm Beach County in 2011, including the Snooze Theatre in Lake Park and the Speakeasy Lounge, which hosts a multi-national trio of acts later this month. Memory House is the Toronto duo of guitarist Evan Abeele and vocalist Denise Nouvion, and its evocative, online-only 2010 Sub Pop Records EP The Years was recently reissued for the first time on CD and vinyl. Another duo, Orlando-based The Band in Heaven, features the vocals and droning, distorted instrumental sounds of guitarist Ates Isildak and keyboardist Lauren Dwyer. Invisible Music will place more musicians on stage than the other two acts combined. Led by Lake Worth-based singer, guitarist and keyboardist John Ralston, the eight-piece group features members of both his touring band and Lantana roots-rockers Black Finger. See Memory House, the Band in Heaven, and Invisible Music on Oct. 28 at the Speakeasy Lounge in Lake Worth (8 p.m., $5-10).

Very few bands have existed for 30 years with as many personnel changes, and as much drama, as California act Social Distortion. The constant has been singer/guitarist Mike Ness. He formed the group with a high school friend, guitarist Dennis Danell, who died of a brain aneurysm in 2000 and left the leader as the only original member. Social Distortion’s punk aesthetic was established on its first album, 1983’s Mommy’s Little Monster, and it’s bookended by this year’s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes. Now showcasing Ness’ matured songwriting through additional rockabilly and outlaw country elements, the never-say-die lineup includes longtime guitarist Jonny Wickersham, bassist Brent Harding, and new drummer David Hidalgo Jr., whose father is a founding member of Los Lobos. See Social Distortion on Nov. 4 at the Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami (8 p.m., $44.50).

The Think Pink Rocks benefit makes most other area seasonal concerts seem self-indulgent by comparison. Proceeds will go toward research for an eventual cure to breast cancer, a disease that has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Think Pink Rocks is a Boca Raton-based nonprofit organization dedicated to early detection and awareness of breast cancer, and its beneficiaries have included the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Its fourth annual benefit concert features the Sunshine State’s favorite hip-hop son, Miami-Dade County-born Tramar Dillard (better-known as Flo-Rida); Ray J, singer and VH1 reality TV star of For the Love of Ray J, popular vocalists Melanie Fiona and Shontelle, turntable master DJ-Cassidy, and 2011 American Idol semifinalist Brett Lowenstern. Think Pink Rocks takes place Nov. 5 at the Count de Hoernle Ampitheater at the Centre for the Arts in Boca Raton (7 p.m., $45, children 10 and under $20).

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music and story are both unique in rock history, and the architect for both was singer and guitarist John Fogerty. His high-pitched, howled tales of swamps and voodoo (Born on the Bayou, Bad Moon Rising) gave the impression that his California band was actually from Louisiana. These and a parade of other hit singles between 1968 and 1972 also bankrolled the quartet’s otherwise jazz label, Fantasy. Brother/guitarist Tom Fogerty’s departure from CCR in 1971 hastened the band’s demise, and the original rhythm section of bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford carries the tribute torch through their band Creedence Clearwater Revisited, but they can only do that by playing Fogerty’s songs. A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 1993, Fogerty is likely to perform several CCR chestnuts, plus subsequent solo hits like The Old Man Down the Road and Centerfield. Fogerty plays Nov. 10 at Hard Rock Live (8 p.m., $49-89).

The artist formerly known as Gordon Matthew Sumner had already taken on the stage name Sting when he formed The Police, his otherworldly pop group with guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland. The trio handed the unofficial “Band of the ’80s” title to U2 when Sting went solo in the mid-80s, yet his subsequent career has yielded gems from the 1985 debut Dream of the Blue Turtles to 1995’s Ten Summoner’s Tales to 2009’s If On a Winter's Night… Sting stuck to vocals and guitar for the 2010 orchestral CD Symphonicities, but he straps on his original instrument for the Back to Bass Tour. Having turned 60 on Oct. 2, and recently released his solo boxed set Sting: 25 Years, the singing bassist appears with the stellar band of guitarists Dominic Miller and Rufus Miller, violinist Peter Tickell, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and vocalist Jo Lawry. See Sting on Nov. 12 at the Fillmore (8 p.m., $60-147).

For star power, it’s hard to top the forthcoming pairing of hip-hop moguls Jay-Z and Kanye West. Brooklyn-born rapper Shawn Corey Carter became Jay-Z for his 1996 debut CD Reasonable Doubt, and proved that he intended to be more than just a recording artist. He’d already taken the risk of forming a label for the disc, Rock-a-Fella Records, and he featured guest spots by Mary J. Blige, Foxy Brown and the since-deceased Notorious B.I.G. Jay-Z has since become president of heralded hip-hop label Def Jam, and the star associations continue on his latest release, a new duo CD with West called Watch the Throne. Chicago native West’s production work for Jay-Z served as a springboard toward his 2004 debut CD The College Dropout, which won multiple Grammys. He’s since proven unpredictably mercurial, and the possibility of an appearance by Jay-Z’s wife Beyonce adds to the intrigue. See Jay-Z and West on November 14 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise (6:30 p.m., $92-268.25).

She may be the second-best-known member of the Jackson family, but vocalist Janet Jackson has outlasted her star-crossed late brother Michael by not falling prey to the trappings of fame. And though her older brother was indeed the King of Pop, the 45-year-old Jackson’s Number Ones: Up Close and Personal 2011 World Tour does celebrate an impressive 35 No. 1 singles. The youngest of the Jackson children, she launched her performing career on the family’s variety TV series The Jacksons in the mid-1970s. Her recording career started as a teenager with a self-titled 1982 debut, but a star was born, and elevated, through career highlights like Control (1986), Rhythm Nation (1989), The Velvet Rope (1997) and Discipline (2008). Expect a parade of her chart-toppers including What Have You Done for Me Lately, Nasty, Control and Rhythm Nation. Jackson performs on Dec. 5 at the Fillmore (8 p.m., $69.50-225).

A few South Florida roots music bands have lasted longer than 20-year-old trio The Dillengers, but there are multitudes that haven’t. Led throughout by singing guitarist Rick Rossano, the band has released three albums (At Large, Live at Elwood’s and Instro-Mania) that rank among the best ever by South Florida artists. The live CD was recorded during a raucous 1996 St. Patrick’s Day show in the midst of the group’s 1994-2001 house gig at Elwood’s, and Rossano’s playing on it prompted his inclusion as one of “America's 10 Best Unknown Guitarists” in a 2000 story in Guitar One magazine. The following year, his instructional book and CD combo, Roots-Style Rhythm Tracks, was published by Mel Bay. Rounded out by bassist/vocalist Bill Rabon and drummer/vocalist Mike Vullo, The Dillengers perform Dec. 9 at the downtown Christmas Tree Lighting Party in Delray Beach (7:30 p.m., free).

Keb Mo’ is the hip-hop-like stage name for Los Angeles-born Kevin Moore, but the Grammy-winning singer, guitarist and songwriter is actually at once a blues throwback and futurist. His stately hat-and-suspenders look on the covers of his first two mid-1990s CD releases was straight out of 1920s Mississippi, yet his sound was a modern gumbo of blues, folk, country and New Orleans elements. Set to turn 60 on Oct. 3, Moore wears his years well, and he showed a sense of pop history on the 2004 release Peace: Back By Popular Demand, a set of covers of protest-based hit songs by the likes of Buffalo Springfield, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye and John Lennon. On his new CD The Reflection, Moore further stirs the gumbo with guest appearances by entrancing R&B vocalist India Arie, country star Vince Gill, and veteran jazz artists Marcus Miller (bass) and Dave Koz (saxophone). See Keb Mo' on Feb. 2 at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart (6 and 8:30 p.m., $45).

Appropriately taking place during Black History Month, the Jazz Roots presentation Blues & Soul features 58-year-old singing guitarist Robert Cray and 32-year-old vocalist Shemekia Copeland. The Georgia-born Cray is a five-time Grammy winner whose latest release, This Time, was buoyed by the return of a departed bandmate. Bassist Richard Cousins started playing with Cray in 1974, and appeared on Grammy-winners like 1986’s Strong Persuader and 1988’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark before departing in 1991. The old friends are joined onstage by longtime keyboardist Jim Pugh and drummer Tony Braunagle to welcome the Harlem-born Copeland. Performing selections from her latest CD, Never Going Back, the impassioned vocalist is the daughter of late Texas blues singer and guitarist Johnny Clyde Copeland, an influence on Cray. See Blues & Soul on Feb. 17 in the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami (8 p.m., $25 and up).

Being the younger brother of pop icon James Taylor could’ve created a stylistic wake for another singer/songwriter to follow in, but 60-year-old Livingston Taylor resisted the urge. The Boston-born artist’s first three albums during his 40-year recording career were released from 1970-1973 on Capricorn, also the label of the Allman Brothers Band. Radio airplay of his tunes I Will Be in Love With You and I’ll Come Running, from the 1978 LP Three-Way Mirror, then took his career to another level. Taylor has shared his creativity since 1989 as a full professor at the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston, where his Stage Performance courses are among the school’s most popular. They spawned his instructional book of the same name, and his recent material has included heady string and horn arrangements. James may, in fact, have learned a thing or two from his kid brother. Taylor plays two shows March 11 at the Lyric Theatre (4 and 7 p.m., $35).

Since the Florida Philharmonic’s disappearance eight years ago, the local listener’s need for big orchestral ensembles has been filled by guest orchestras from outside Florida or overseas, the New World Symphony orchestral academy in Miami Beach, and the larger college groups such as the Frost Symphony at the University of Miami.

Although Palm Beach County has several fine smaller orchestras, its only full-size symphonic group is the student orchestra at Lynn University in Boca Raton, a group of some 75 or so players that in recent years has tackled such thorny challenges as the Shostakovich Tenth Symphony, Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses, Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces and last season, the Mahler Fifth Symphony.

The Lynn Philharmonia’s concerts have been well-attended for years by audiences who enjoy regular outings with large orchestras, but the quality has been variable, as one might expect from a conservatory with a lower profile than the biggest names in the business, such as the Curtis Institute. Yet the growth in this orchestra’s skill has been noticeable, and this year, it seems to have a higher level still.

The string section has expanded considerably over the past two seasons, and the Philharmonia now has a sizable complement of violins, violas, cellos and basses, enough to have real character, warm and rich one moment, sharp and aggressive the next. The weakness has been chiefly in the brass section, and Saturday night’s concert of music by Mozart (the Jupiter Symphony, No. 41 in C, K. 551) and Mahler (the Symphony No. 1) still showed there’s plenty of room for improvement in the trumpets, horns and trombones. But there’s no doubt that this particular assemblage of student brass players is better than the one last season: more accurate, more reliable, and more durable.

There were other things that kept the performance of these two masterworks somewhat shy of total excellence, but it seems to fair to say that a concertgoer who wants to hear a good, large symphony orchestra in Palm Beach County, and who doesn’t want to wait for the major visitors, can find much to admire and appreciate at a Lynn Philharmonia concert.

Conductor Albert-George Schram led a persuasive, muscular version of Mozart’s last symphony to open the concert at the Wold Performing Arts Center, which was well-attended and enthusiastically received. Gratifyingly enough, there was no dispute in the introduction about when everyone was supposed to start (a stumbling block for many orchestras in music from this period), and throughout the evening cues were solid and crisply executed.

Schram’s tempos were brisk and unfussy, and dynamics were carefully attended to, with clear contrasts between louds and softs. The string section was uniformly fine, at home with the secondary whistle-ready tunes so prevalent in Mozart as much as they were with the fiddle fire that is such a key component of the finale. In the first movement, winds, brass and strings were balanced just as they should be to bring out the drama of the music, and it made a promising beginning (though I think the repeat, which Schram cut, should have stayed).

The strings carry the major weight of the slow movement, and they did so admirably. There also were some lovely touches: the second half of the opening motif had a tasteful decrescendo down to the tonic note, which is the kind of detail possible only when you have enough good players that can pull that off in unison. In the minuet, dynamics again were to the fore, and well-followed, and the music had a strong sense of the dance. The opening could have used some more shape – those first two bars work best when the music falls into the third bar – and the trio would have benefited from a bit more contrast.

The finale was mostly excellent, full of life and vigor, with impressive playing from strings and winds. Things were a shade too headlong, though; Schram, as he showed during the Verdi Requiem last year, tends to power through things, beating steadily, when only the slightest bit of rubato would make all the difference in the world. Here, for example, the setup for the final fugue was too metronomic, which made the preparation sound rushed, and the fugue was off and running before the ear was ready.

Gustav Mahler made his professional name as an opera conductor in the works of Mozart, and his very last conscious act on his deathbed in May 1911 was to whisper Mozart’s name as he moved his fingers, conducting a ghostly orchestra only he could hear. A careful examination of Mahler’s music shows that for all its excess and bombast, the composer judged his effects precisely, and much of the writing is indebted to Mozart for the elder composer’s example of harmonic surprise and attention to textural clarity.

And this Mahler performance, which had numerous cracked wind and brass notes at important points, was nevertheless a truly fine reading of this great, wholly original work. In its playing of the piece, the Lynn Philharmonia gave it the right feeling of nervy weirdness and dramatic shock that makes Mahler sing. The klezmer band that rises up from Frère Jacques in the third movement sounded as though it had wandered in from a wedding down the street, where perhaps they were dancing as rustically as the orchestra suggested in its playing of the second movement, where it had an earthy sense of titanic beat.

The trickiest parts of this symphony were the trickiest for the Lynn players, such as the opening tableau, with its unison A sounding in multiple registers. One of the lower voices was not quite in tune with the rest at first, though that slid into place later on, and the horns and trumpets were not sufficiently warmed up to make their entrances. In short, it was hang-your-head messy.

But that all changed when the cellos and basses entered with the Ging heut Morgen übers feld song from the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen out of which Mahler builds his first movement. From there, the orchestra breathed with ease and relaxed power, with fine string playing through all desks. The second movement was all joy and life, with a gusto-laded glissando in the old style for the main tune in the strings. The trio established a charming sense of limp, drunken overripeness, with violins sliding down delicately in the first measures.

Bassist Andrew Angelin played his solo at the opening of the third movement beautifully, and the orchestra built the funeral-march mood steadily and well, and as I’ve noted, entered fully into the spirit of the klezmer outburst that follows. The contrasting section, though, which is the final section of another Gesellen song, Die zwei blauen Augen, was simply arrived at rather than prepared, and this isn’t the kind of music in which that approach works. There needs to be a wide contrast, just as there is in the song, with the gloom of the opening and the radiance of the close.

The finale featured some of the best playing of the night, with precise ensemble and gut-punching force in the moments of highest drama. Here again, though, the initial statement of the brass fanfare that will anchor the ultimate climax went by without sufficient emphasis, and in the reprise of the slow second subject, in which Mahler calls for the music to be “even wider than before,” there wasn’t enough breadth for the music to make its impact; the beat went on, mercilessly driving toward the end.

Still, it was a thrilling performance overall, despite the glitches that kept it from the top shelf. The audience was buzzing audibly after each movement, and roared its approval at the end, and in truth, the Lynn Philharmonia and its conductor deserve much credit for carrying out this first regular concert of the season so capably.

And if you’re a fan of the Mahler First, this is a performance well worth attending, even if you don’t know what else it represents: an important step forward in the life of area music-making.

The Lynn Philharmonia plays this program again today at 4 p.m. in the Wold Performing Arts Center on the campus of Lynn University in Boca Raton. Tickets: $35-$50. Call 237-9000 or visit www.lynn.edu/tickets.

South Florida’s opera companies are keeping things busy and innovative this coming season even as the economy continues to take its toll on audiences, box office – and even a whole series of matinees.

Still, there’s enough intriguing opera ahead to interest fans and casual attendees, and for them to see some bright new talent take some big steps. Here’s what’s happening on the three major operatic stages, as well as touring companies and concert productions:

Palm Beach Opera: The West Palm Beach-based company, which began life with Verdi’s La Traviata in January 1962, marks its 50^th anniversary this season, but it didn’t get there without some difficulties.

Specifically, the company announced in early September that it would be cutting all of its Monday matinee performances, meaning each of the three operas will get three, not four, performances this time around.

Officials say the company is trying to stave off economic trouble by not funding the Monday afternoon performances, which last season drew audiences of only 45 percent, down sharply from 80 percent four seasons ago.

The three operas this year are all popular, red-blooded shows that feature over-the-top romance and shocking violence. First up is one of the most beloved operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (Dec. 16-18), which the composer was always partial to, and which guarantees good box office whenever it’s presented.

Singing Cio-Cio San, the doomed geisha of the title, is the Italian soprano Maria Luigia Borsi, with tenor James Valenti as the feckless Pinkerton, who abandons his Japanese child-bride for a real American girl. Scheduled to sing the Saturday night performance is the Canadian soprano Michele Capalbo, along with the Puerto Rican tenor Rafael Davila. Suzuki will be sung in all three performances by mezzo Irene Roberts, a former member of the Young Artists program.

Next up, Jan. 20 and 22, are two gala concerts celebrating the 50^th anniversary, which will be hosted by one of the great American opera legends: baritone Sherill Milnes. The concert of popular opera favorites will feature heavy hitters such as sopranos Ruth Ann Swenson and Denyce Graves, and lighter work from actor and singer Ron Raines, best known for his long stint on the soap Guiding Light. The conducting duties will be shared by artistic director Bruno Aprea and longtime New York City Opera maestro Julius Rudel.

Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, which takes the stage at the Kravis Center from Feb. 24-26, is based on the Shakespeare tragedy and is less well-known than Faust, but it is in the estimation of many scholars a better opera. And with performances of Faust now few and far between, Romeo may end up being the Frenchman’s most durable contribution to the operatic stage.

The fine American soprano Nicole Cabell and the Mexican tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz are the star-crossed lovers Friday and Sunday, and for Saturday’s performance the American soprano Janai Brugger-Orman and the Portuguese tenor Bruno Ribeiro take the leading roles. The opera will be conducted by Peter Feranec and stage-directed by Kevin Newbury.

The season ends with Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor from March 23-25. Italian soprano Patrizia Ciofi plays the tragic heroine whose dramatic mad scene at the climax of the opera has been a soprano tour de force for decades, and the Romanian soprano Valentina Farcas takes the role Saturday night. Roberto De Biasio, an Italian tenor, sings Edgardo, and the Russian baritone Roman Burdenko is cast as Enrico.

The season closes with the Grand Finals of the opera company’s annual vocal competition on April 29. This is always a fun and exciting event, as 12 to 14 young singers vie for prizes before a big audience and a panel of professional judges.

The company also will present its Opera in One Hour series, which last year included abridged versions of a zarzuela (Torroba’s Luisa Fernanda) and Handel’s Ariodante, plus Bernstein’s complete one-act, Trouble in Tahiti. The new season of one-hour shows will be decided after the company has chosen the Young Artists for the season.

And on Oct. 22, Palm Beach Opera teams with the Kravis Center and the InSIGHT for Education group for a single performance of Brundibar, an opera for children written in 1942 by the Czech composer Hans Krasa. He was arrested by the Nazis and taken to the Terezin concentration camp, where as part of the Nazis’ attempt to cover what was really happening to Europe’s Jews, Brundibar was staged more than 50 times.

Krasa, like other “degenerate” Jewish composers, was shipped off to Auschwitz in 1944, where he was killed. The opera, which since has become a statement about the evils of bullying, will be sung by the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches along with Palm Beach Opera personnel.

For tickets and more information, call 561-833-7888 or visit www.pbopera.org.

Florida Grand Opera: Robert Heuer’s durable company opens its 71^st season with its first-ever zarzuela and a nonpareil special guest. Placido Domingo, the great Spanish tenor and now baritone, who began his career in zarzuelas, will sing the role of Don Vidal for one night only, Nov. 15, at the Ziff Ballet Opera House in FGO’s production of Luisa Fernanda.

Federico Moreno Torroba’s 1932 tale of politics and love in 1860s Spain was the zarzuela Domingo himself suggested FGO mount for its first venture into the Spanish operetta form. The cast includes soprano Amparo Navarro, tenor Antonio Gandia as Javier and baritone Angel Odena as Vidal. (Six performances from Nov. 12-26 at the Ziff; two performances Dec. 1 and 3 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.)

Second, it’s another new production for FGO in La Rondine, Puccini’s bittersweet, very adult take on romance, written in 1917 for Vienna’s Karltheater, which couldn’t present it when the time came because of World War I. Cuban-American soprano Elizabeth Caballero will sing the role of Magda, the “swallow” of the title; she lobbied Heuer hard to get FGO to mount it, and in doing so, she’s in step with the rest of the operatic world, which has increasingly mounted this neglected but lovely opera.

Baritone Craig Colclough sings Rambaldo, and as the maid Giselle, look for Corinne Winters, who won the Palm Beach Opera’s Grand Finals competition two seasons ago. The opera will be conducted by the company’s new artistic director, Ramon Tebar. (Six performances, Jan. 21-Feb. 4, Ziff Ballet Opera House only.)

Next comes Rigoletto, never out of the repertory since Giuseppe Verdi composed it in 1853. Starring as the bitter jester is the excellent American baritone Mark Walters, but the most auspicious performance here might be that of Nadine Sierra, the Fort Lauderdale-born soprano who made a very fine Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice for Palm Beach last season. If she makes a strong impression in this role – and there’s no good reason to think she won’t – this appearance with FGO might be one of the last times area audiences will be able to see this local girl made good. (Six performances, Jan. 28-Feb. 11, Ziff; Feb. 16 and 18, Broward Center.)

Last up is Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, in another instance of overlapping French operas between the Palm Beach and FGO companies (two seasons ago, each company mounted what turned out to be radically different versions of Bizet’s Carmen). Sarah Coburn, long an FGO favorite, sings Juliet, and the French tenor Sebastien Gueze, seen last season in David DiChiera’s Cyrano, is Romeo. Mercutio is sung by Jonathan G. Michie, and Craig Colclough steps in as Friar Laurence. (Six performances, April 21-May 5, Ziff; May 10 and 12, Broward Center.)

For more information or to buy tickets, call 800-741-1010 or visit www.fgo.org.

Sarasota Opera: The brilliant repertory company in southwest Florida opens its 53^rd season with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly as its fall opera offering (six performances from Oct. 28-Nov. 15). Starring as Cio-Cio San is the soprano Asako Tamura, one of the few Butterfly singers now working who’s actually Japanese. Her Pinkerton will be none other than Rafael Davila, a frequent Sarasota Opera guest who will then sing the role a month later in Palm Beach. The Suzuki here is the Japanese-American mezzo Nina Yoshida Nelsen.

Sarasota opens its winter season Feb. 11 with Bizet’s Carmen, and gives a dozen performances of this hugely popular 1875 opera through March 24. Starring as the impetuous Gypsy woman who ensnares a hapless soldier’s heart is the American mezzo Frederika Brillembourg. Don Jose will be sung by the American tenor Antonio Nagore, and the American soprano Danielle Walker, who debuted with the company as Donna Elvira in last season’s Don Giovanni, will sing Micaela.

Ten performances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor are scheduled next (from Feb. 18-March 23). The Korean-American soprano Kathleen Kim, who sang Chiang Ching in Adams’ Nixon in China and Zerbinetta in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos for the Metropolitan Opera last season, takes the role of the doomed bride. American tenor Joshua Kohl is Edgardo, and the American baritone Lee Poulis sings Enrico.

Part of Sarasota’s uniqueness can be found in its Verdi Cycle, a complete traversal of the composer’s operas, which will conclude in 2013 on the 200^th anniversary of Verdi’s birth. The opera this year is a premiere for Sarasota, and perhaps Verdi’s greatest work: Otello. Rafael Davila, the go-to tenor hereabouts, takes on the role of Shakespeare’s Moor, with the American soprano Maria d’Amato as Desdemona. The American baritone Sean Anderson sings Iago, Otello’s nemesis. Sarasota will give Otello seven times from March 3-25.

Last season, Victor DeRenzi’s company launched the American Classics Series, a series of revivals of operas by native composers. The first opera in the series was Robert Ward’s The Crucible, and this year it’s Samuel Barber’s Vanessa. It’s one of Barber’s finest achievements, but too often confined to recital excerpts, and not seen in fully staged productions.

The all-American cast includes soprano Kara Shay Thomson as Vanessa, mezzo Audrey Babcock as Erika, and tenor Scott Piper as Anatol. Mezzo Cindy Sadler is the old Baroness, and baritone Thomas Potter sings the role of the old doctor. David Neely of Des Moines Metro Opera conducts a production staged by Michael Unger; Vanessa will be staged six times from March 10-24.

For tickets and more information, call 941-328-1300 or visit www.sarasotaopera.org.

Opera International: The Maryland-based touring company brings three operas to area stages under the auspices of Joseph Ferrer’s Sunset Entertainment. These are usually well-staged, well-sung performances by professional voices, and concertgoers in search of the occasional operatic experience have shown up reliably for these shows.

First up is Puccini’s La Boheme, in performances Jan. 23 at the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, and Jan. 25 at the Kaye Auditorium on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

Verdi’s La Traviata follows on Feb. 20 at the Eissey, and Feb. 22 at FAU. The last opera in the series is Rigoletto, which bows March 5 at the Eissey and March 7 at FAU. Tickets for the Eissey performances can be had by calling 561-278-7677; the FAU performances are available at 800-564-9539.

Other noteworthy operatic events in South Florida include a concert performance of Bela Bartok’s wonderful two-person one-act, Bluebeard’s Castle. The magnificent American bass Eric Halfvarson is the duke with many wives and even more secrets, and Michelle DeYoung is Judith, his latest conquest. It will be performed twice by the New World Symphony at its New World Center home on Miami Beach, directed by Michael Tilson Thomas (April 27-28). Tickets/information: Call 800-597-3331 or visit www.nws.edu.

A struggling economy won’t impact a jazz concert season as much as it does pop music. That’s because jazz is used to struggling more than pop to succeed.

Sure, it’s a case of supply and demand -- if you charged three figures for even marquee jazz artists, you’d be lucky to get three figures in attendance -- but there’s more to it. A jazz performer will usually have more in common with his or her audience because of that inherent struggle, since living paycheck to paycheck often applies to all parties onstage and off.

So jazz musicians charge less for tickets and have to work harder to earn a living than pop stars, but they make their audiences work harder, too. Jazz is predominantly instrumental music, which requires audiences to actually listen, as opposed to zoning out until it's time to sing the next repeat chorus. And more of those listeners are likely to be musicians, most of whom don’t get paid enough to attend rock concerts and have little use for popular TV pap like American Idol and Dancing With the Stars.

Jazz stopped being America’s popular music when people quit dancing to it. That happened as the swing era faded during the mid-20th century, but like all dance music, swing was homogenous compared to the bebop style that usurped it. Listening requires thinking, and for better or worse, jazz has been listening music ever since (while dance music has degraded to the point of requiring non-thinking).

Discerning listeners will find plenty to think about on South Florida's 2011-2012 season calendar, which features both familiar names and pleasant surprises.

Eighty-two-year-old tenor saxophonist Benny Golson has lived long enough to outlast practically every legendary bandleader he’s worked with, including Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Shirley Horn, Carmen McRae and Oscar Peterson. The Philadelphia-born Golson has also composed several jazz standards including Killer Joe, Along Came Betty, Whisper Not and I Remember Clifford, plus material for popular 1960s and 1970s TV shows like The Partridge Family, Mannix and Room 222. He’s recorded more than 30 solo albums and toured the world over countless times, and will perform in South Florida with a Frost School of Music ensemble from the University of Miami, which boasts one of the top jazz and all-purpose music programs in the United States. Golson and the Frost Studio Jazz Band appear as part of the 2011 Festival Miami on Oct. 7 at UM’s Gusman Concert Hall (8 p.m., $25-65).

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones have been a constant on the South Florida concert circuit for 20 years, but 2011 is different. For the first time since the group’s 1992 tour supporting its third CD, UFO Tofu, its namesake banjo virtuoso, bass wiz Victor Wooten and drum synthesizer player Futureman (brother Roy Wooten) are joined by original keyboardist/harmonica player Howard Levy. Other great musicians have played with the Flecktones since Levy left, but no lineup quite matched the chemistry of the original quartet, as proven by its 2011 release Rocket Science. Futureman uses his guitar-shaped electronic drum ax to create elastic rhythms with his bass-thumping brother, allowing Fleck to weave his inimitable banjo magic. And Levy is his bandmates’ equal on both of his instruments, meaning that there’s nothing this futuristic foursome can’t play, which it will prove during two shows Oct. 18 at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart (6 and 8:30 p.m., $45).

Jazz is a relative term in the hands of multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, but that’s only because every genre is not only possible but likely. He’s best-known for being the mandolinist, violinist and percussionist for David Grisman in that fellow mandolinist’s stellar quintet, which further helped Craven learn how to blur genres from 1989-2005. The world is his percussion instrument, and he literally plays anything with strings, as he’s proven during workshops where he’s untied a shoe, stretched one of its strings tightly, and coaxed tones from it through a microphone. Having played with founding Grateful Dead icon Jerry Garcia, guitar virtuoso Bobby Lee Rodgers and violin legend Stephane Grappelli, Craven is paired here with rising North Carolina singer/songwriter Jon Shain. Expect material by the singing guitarist, and some from Craven gems like 2004’s Django Latino, but mostly expect the unexpected. See Craven and Shain on Oct. 19 at The Orange Door in Lake Park (8 p.m., $15).

Some native New Yorkers come to the Sunshine State to retire, but not percussionist Sammy Figueroa. After two decades of playing in the Big Apple with both jazz stars (Miles Davis, the Brecker Brothers and Sonny Rollins, with whom he still tours) and pop icons (David Bowie, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan), Figueroa moved to South Florida a decade ago and found a vibrant Latin jazz scene that appealed to his Puerto Rican heritage. His Latin Jazz Explosion band lives up to its name, featuring pianist Silvano Monasterios, saxophonist John Michalak, trumpeter Alex Pope Norris, bassist Gabriel Vivas and drummer Nomar Negroni. The group’s third CD, Urban Nature, follows the Grammy-nominated And Sammy Walked In and The Magician, and adds saxophonist Ed Calle, pianist Mike Orta and fellow percussionist Jose Gregorio Hernandez. Saxophone colossus Rollins says “there is no better percussionist than Sammy Figueroa.” See why Oct. 22 at the Banyan Bowl in Pinecrest Gardens (8 p.m., $20-25).

You may have heard the work of guitarist Andrew Yeomanson if you saw a popular Miami-based singer named Nil Lara during the 1990s (or heard Lara’s self-titled 1996 debut CD on Capitol Records). But if you’ve seen the Spam Allstars, you’ve experienced the guitarist's alter-ego. That’s the turntable-playing DJ Le Spam, who’s also led the genre-defying, hard-touring band since the 1990s. The group uses the term “electronica descarga” to describe its sound, a potent, worldly mix of Latin jazz, funk, hip-hop and salsa styles created by a true all-star lineup from South Florida that includes the bandleader (who contributes turntables, samples, bass and guitar), wind instrumentalists AJ Hill, Mercedes Abal, Chad Bernstein, Ted Zimmerman and Steve Welsh; guitarists Jose Elias and Andrew Zimmon, and percussionists Tomas Diaz and Lazaro Alfonso (four of whom also sing). See the Spam Allstars on Oct. 22 at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth (9 p.m., $18).

The title Jazz Meets Gershwin will prove interesting to some, but the incredible personnel involved should be the bigger draw for this forthcoming show. Hosted by popular vocalist Michael Feinstein, the tribute to George Gershwin also features singers Denyce Graves and Monica Mancini, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, keyboardists Dave Grusin and Shelly Berg, and violinist Mark O’Connor. The Mancini Institute Orchestra, named for Mancini’s father Henry Mancini and under the artistic direction of Blanchard, also participates, and the three vocalists certainly have the versatile Gershwin’s Broadway and opera sides covered. Grusin’s soundtrack expertise will help illustrate Gershwin’s impact on film, and Berg, Blanchard and O’Connor are master jazz players and educators, from vastly different backgrounds, in this Jazz Roots series presentation. See Jazz Meets Gershwin on Nov. 4 at the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami (8 p.m., $25 and up).

There’s a reason that veteran pianist Shelly Berg’s name isn’t as recognizable as those of his peers – it’s because he’s focused more on educating musicians than being one. Named one of three “Educators for the Millennium” in 2000 by the Los Angeles Times, largely for 10 years of previous work for the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, Berg has been the dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami since 2007. The animated player has recent CDs with his trio (Follow the Sun, with bassist Chuck Berghofer, drummer Gregg Field and guest vocalists), iconic pianist Dick Hyman (the duo disc Meeting of Minds), and a solo piano effort, Nearness of You. Berg’s trio is joined by 76-year-old tenor saxophone titan Houston Person, who has a slate of great solo albums from 1966 to 2009. See Berg’s trio with Person on Nov. 11 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts' Amaturo Theater in Fort Lauderdale (7:45 p.m., $40).

While stationed in Germany as a United States Army paratrooper from 1984-1987, singer/trumpeter Troy Anderson started impersonating the late Louis Armstrong under orders by an impressed sergeant major. Now Troy “Satchmo” Anderson is winning awards from Las Vegas to Europe for his expert mimicry and musicality. The native Floridian nails every nuance of Armstrong, generally regarded as the most important figure in jazz history, from facial expressions to his powerful playing and personable vocals. With backing by his stellar Wonderful World Band (pianist Dolph Castellano, clarinetist Mike Gold, saxophonist Joe Donato, trombonist Hank Bredenberg, guitarist Martin Hand, bassist Rick Doll and drummer Danny Burger), Anderson creates a time warp while growling or scat-singing hits like What a Wonderful World, Dream a Little Dream and Hello Dolly! See Anderson & the Wonderful World Band on Nov. 12 at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach (8 p.m., $20-25).

Keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood may have become darlings on the jam band circuit during the trio’s 20 years together as MMW, but they certainly have jazz pedigrees. After studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Medeski and Wood moved to New York City, where Martin (who’d studied with Joe Morello and Bob Moses) had connections. The trio’s 1992 debut, Notes From the Underground, was an all-acoustic, avant-garde masterpiece before Medeski plugged in various organs and electric pianos. MMW has since released gems like It’s a Jungle in Here (1993), Combustication (1998) and Uninvisible (2002), plus two stellar CDs as a quartet with guitarist John Scofield, the latest of which is Out Louder (2006). Every one of the elastic trio’s live shows is an adventure, and every Fort Lauderdale gig a homecoming for Medeski, who grew up there. See MMW on Nov. 13 at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale (8 p.m., $32.90).

At age 63, saxophonist and Cuba native Paquito D’Rivera has become one of the iconic elder statesmen of Latin jazz. Born in Havana in 1948, and fluent in classical music as well as jazz, D’Rivera was a founding member of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna while playing simultaneously with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. He was also a founding member and co-director of the influential Cuban jazz band Irakere, which toured the United States and Europe, garnered several Grammy nominations, and won one in 1979. Several more such trophies have been added to D’Rivera’s trophy case during his solo career, for efforts from the 1996 CD Portraits of Cuba to the 2007 disc Funk Tango. The only artist ever to win Grammys in both the Latin Jazz and Classical categories, D’Rivera’s latest CD is Tango Jazz: Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center. South Florida Jazz presents D’Rivera’s quintet Nov. 19 at the Broward Center’s Miniaci Performing Arts Center in Fort Lauderdale (8 p.m., $15-50).

Keyboardist and vocalist Rick Krive has been among the most talented musicians on the South Florida scene over the past few decades, yet he’s somehow flown slightly under the radar. It’s likely because he’s become so proficient as a composer, with his music appearing on the TV shows Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, Friends, Everybody Hates Chris, Frasier, Will & Grace, Law and Order and The West Wing. However, Krive is set to put down the pen, get out of his studio and recruit his quartet The Circle to kick off the Jazz Arts Music Society (JAMS) of Palm Beach’s forthcoming 2011-2012 concert season. Krive’s composing and arranging skills will be on full display as he performs with saxophonist Ed Maina, bassist Nicky Orta and drummer Mike Harvey. See Krive & the Circle on Nov. 22 at the Harriet Himmel Theater at CityPlace in West Palm Beach (8 p.m., $35).

Playing steel drums since the age of 11 in his native Trinidad, Othello Molineaux relocated to St. Thomas in 1967 to pursue a career as a pianist. A more fruitful decision was recording as a steel drummer on the self-titled 1976 breakout album by bassist Jaco Pastorius, an association that elevated Molineaux’s status over the next decade. He appeared on Pastorius’ 1981 follow-up Invitation, then toured the world with the bassist’s Word of Mouth Big Band, the results of which appear on the 1983 live effort Invitation. Pastorius also produced and played on the 1981-1982 recording sessions for Molineaux’s CD Holiday for Pans (which featured steel drum arrangements of jazz and pop standards, yet was only released in Japan). The steel drummer has released stellar solo CDs such as It's About Time, and recorded with Ahmad Jamal, Monty Alexander and Eliane Elias. Molineaux plays an islandic Christmas Eve show Dec. 24 at the Arts Garage (8 p.m., $20-25).

Saxophonist Bob Mintzer may be best-known as a longtime member of 30-year-old fusion quartet the Yellowjackets, a group he joined after previous experience as a player and arranger with big bands led by Buddy Rich, Tito Puente, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis. So Mintzer’s latest recording, Canyon Cove, comes as a surprise. It’s a trio effort, and a most unorthodox one, considering that there’s no guitarist or bass player. But Hammond organist Larry Goldings and drummer Peter Erskine prove to be perfect foils for Mintzer, who plays tenor sax, bass clarinet and flute throughout. Erskine has worked with watershed acts in both jazz (Weather Report) and rock (Steely Dan), and he and Mintzer also played together in bassist Jaco Pastorius’ band. Goldings (whose associations include Michael Brecker and John Scofield) adds the glue by providing melody, harmony, and rhythm through his left-hand bass lines. See the Canyon Cove Trio on Jan. 14 at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center (8 p.m., $40).

Russia-born, Canada-based Sophie Milman has built a sizable audience by straddling, and blurring, the lines between being a jazz singer and cabaret artist. Only 27 years old, the Toronto resident and Juno Award winner (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) just released a brand-new fourth CD, In the Moonlight. Recorded in New York City, and with arrangements by Alan Broadbent and Rob Mounsey, the disc is described by Milman on her Linus Entertainment website as "lush and romantic." Cabaret catch-words, to be sure, but her model-worthy looks -- plus a recorded catalog of savvy phrasing and articulation on everything from jazz standards (The Man I Love, Love for Sale) to pop material (50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, I Can't Make You Love Me) and novelty tunes (I Feel Pretty, Whatever Lola Wants) -- may have created a true crossover star. Gold Coast Jazz presents Milman on Feb. 8 at the Amaturo Theater (7:45 p.m., $40).

Singing pianist Diana Krall is one of the few established superstars in jazz. Born in British Columbia, she earned a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston that proved a springboard toward the 46-year-old’s 20-year recording career. Producer Tommy LiPuma became a fan and mentor early on, having worked with Krall since 1994 on releases from her second, Only Trust Your Heart, through her latest, Quiet Nights. A continuation of her bossa nova-based 2001 CD The Look of Love, Quiet Nights is a Brazilian-themed gem that features Krall’s impressive piano playing and a husky, contralto voice that’s never sounded better. She’s also half of one of the most interesting couples in music with ever-inventive husband Elvis Costello, who’s graduated from punk to all-purpose singer/songwriter during his 35-year career. See Krall on Feb. 11 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Dreyfoos Concert Hall in West Palm Beach (8 p.m., $35).

Guitarist Peppino D'Agostino purposely blurs the lines between jazz and classical music, among other perceived stylistic boundaries. The native of Italy can play with his fingers or a pick on his steel-stringed acoustic instrument, and he soars on CDs like 2005’s Bayshore Road, a duo recording with electric guitarist Stef Burns that was released on former Frank Zappa lead guitarist Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label. But D’Agostino’s expertise also extends to roots music, as evidenced by his country and bluegrass songbook Metodo per Chitarra Flatpicking Country e Bluegrass, published by Italian company Berben in 1984 just as the guitarist was immigrating to the United States. Also fluent in Irish, Brazilian and progressive rock styles, D’Agostino performs on March 1 and 2 (with Paraguayan guest harpist/violinist Carlos Reyes) at the Kravis Center’s Persson Hall Cabaret in West Palm Beach (7:30 p.m., $35).

If director Ken Burns’ 2001 PBS documentary Jazz proved anything, it may have been the power of trumpeters. The 10-part series showed how one of the instrument’s practitioners, Louis Armstrong, became the most influential jazz figure during the 20th century, and how Dizzy Gillespie subsequently became the genre’s global ambassador. It also showed how Wynton Marsalis was poised to take the torch into the 21st century, and so far, the New Orleans-born trumpeter has delivered. He initiated the Young Lions movement in the early 1980s, strengthening acoustic jazz traditions and proving his virtuosity during a 30-year recording career that began at age 19. He’s also artistic director for the impeccable Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the esteemed New York City organization's resident 15-piece jazz band since 1988. Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra continue their tour to celebrate his 50th birthday on March 7 at the Dreyfoos Concert Hall (8 p.m., $25 and up).

The Jazz Arts Music Society chose the right musician for a concert titled “The Sensual Sounds of Brazil.” Trumpeter Claudio Roditi was born in Rio de Janiero in 1946, and he enhanced an early Brazilian musical education by moving to Boston in 1970 to study at the esteemed Berklee College of Music. Adept at both trumpet and flugelhorn, Roditi’s next move was to New York City in 1976, where he quickly found work with the likes of Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, Herbie Mann, Tito Puente, Charlie Rouse and Paquito D’Rivera. Roditi also toured frequently with fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, and has released 16 CDs as a leader since 1984. Two of Roditi’s most nationalistic, Symphonic Bossa Nova (1995) and last year’s Brazilliance X 4 (with quartet partners Helio Alves on piano, Leonardo Cioglia on bass, and Dudu Da Fonseca on drums), were nominated for Grammy Awards. Roditi’s quartet performs on March 27 at the Himmel Theater (8 p.m., $35).

Seventy-year-old Brazilian keyboardist and composer Sergio Mendes is the perfect host for the forthcoming musical travelogue A Night in Rio. Along with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Mendes helped to introduce Brazil’s samba and bossa nova styles to United States listeners during the 1960s. His group Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 scored chart-topping hits (Mas Que Nada, The Look of Love) through the end of the decade by blending samba and bossa with funk and pop, and the bandleader’s influence was exemplified by his 2006 CD Timeless, which featured guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, the Black-Eyed Peas, John Legend, Justin Timberlake and Q-Tip. Mendes’ special guest, gifted Brazilian jazz pianist and singer Eliane Elias, will present a different generational and stylistic side of Rio. The 50-year-old’s latest CD, Light My Fire, features her sultry title cover of The Doors’ pop hit. Jazz Roots presents A Night in Rio on April 13 at the Knight Concert Hall (8 p.m., $25 and up).

Jazz often is taken very seriously by those who play it, but Matt Wilson has become one of the genre’s top drummers by mixing his heralded skills with an animated exuberance that reminds us that jazz can be seriously fun. An in-demand sideman who’s played with Dewey Redman, Lee Konitz and Andrew Hill, Wilson also leads two separate quartets, one self-titled and the other called Arts & Crafts. The latter group’s three CDs, Arts & Crafts, Wake Up! (To What's Happening) and The Scenic Route, have showed increasing group chemistry, plus the drummer’s growing maturity and prowess as a composer. As a performer, Wilson possesses some of the same taste, technique and visual flair that made Gene Krupa a star with Benny Goodman during the 1930s. South Florida Jazz presents Wilson’s Arts & Crafts (with trumpeter Terell Stafford, keyboardist Gary Versace and bassist Martin Wind) on April 14 at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center (8 p.m., $40).

Keyboardist Chick Corea occupies the rare air of a jazz superstar who can do whatever he wants.

Some of his recent whims included a 2008 reunion tour by the popular fusion quartet version from among his various Return To Forever lineups from 1972-1977, and the recent Forever CD by three of that reunion’s principals (himself, original RTF bassist Stanley Clarke and longtime drummer Lenny White). The disc also featured guests like French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, who has longtime associations with Corea and Clarke through their solo and side projects.

The 1972 albums Return To Forever and Light As a Feather were initially released under Corea's name with a Brazilian-tinged lineup that included Clarke, vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira. RTF's 1973-1976 fusion phase introduced White (who’d met Corea as both recorded on Miles Davis’ 1970 classic Bitches’ Brew), guitarist Bill Connors, and his replacement, Al Di Meola. The group’s third installment was a short-lived, horn-heavy 1977 lineup with no guitarist, and Gerry Brown instead of White on drums.

Preparing to turn 70 last June, Corea decided it was time to recruit Clarke, White, Ponty and Australian guitarist Frank Gambale (a longtime member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band) for RTF’s fourth installment. The quintet started its United States tour in Corea’s native Massachusetts in June, and he whetted appetites for this lineup’s show Saturday at Mizner Park’s Count de Hoernle Ampitheater in Boca Raton with the free download of a live version of his classic composition Senor Mouse.

The keyboardist also upped the ante for this leg of the tour by featuring Zappa Plays Zappa, guitarist Dweezil Zappa’s tribute to his late father Frank Zappa (1940-1993), as the opening act.

Corea opened RTF’s set by introducing the melody to Medieval Overture, from the best-selling 1976 album Romantic Warrior. The thematic piece's electric ensemble playing then led to an early highlight in the subsequent Senor Mouse.

Initially composed for Corea’s 1972 Crystal Silence duo LP with vibraphonist Gary Burton, the tune's joyous, memorable melody is the only aspect that doesn’t change during Corea’s improvisational dialogues with his bandmates. White took the intro this time, leading to some dazzling Corea synthesizer work; exaggerated slapped bass by Clarke, a brief, telling break by Ponty and a building solo by Gambale that proved to be his best of the evening.

White then guided the band through a medley of his own compositions. Sorceress, from Romantic Warrior, featured Corea’s acoustic piano intro and a duet section with Ponty before the rest of the band joined in for its mid-tempo funk groove. A downshift into Shadow of Lo, from 1974’s Where Have I Known You Before, turned up the heat on what was already a very still, humid night.

“It's great to see all of your shining faces out there,” Corea said to the three-quarter-capacity crowd before handing the microphone to Clarke.

“It's hot as hell up here,” the bassist emphasized. “If your body temperature goes up, we're responsible.”

Ponty played electric violin for most of the evening, but switched to acoustic for his composition Renaissance, from his 1975 release Aurora. White displayed a subtle touch as Corea soloed on piano and Gambale on acoustic guitar. Clarke employed an acoustic bass, and showed why his upright playing has arguably equaled or surpassed his vaunted thumping on electric. During a solo in which he slapped the neck of the bass both over and under his left fretting hand, he even engaged Ponty into playing warp-speed 32nd notes with him.

The violinist went back to electric for his best solo of the show, which occurred early in Clarke’s slow, heavy After the Cosmic Rain (from 1973’s Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy). As White, Corea and Gambale shifted into a double-time samba feel, the bassist played a bombastic solo on electric.

Corea’s Spain, the jazz standard from Light As a Feather, featured his piano intro and fingerpicked pizzicato notes by Ponty that preceded White’s best moments. The drummer’s cowbell patterns and impressive footwork led to a synth solo in which Corea coaxed the crowd to sing his notes back to him.

School Days, Clarke's title bass anthem from his 1976 solo album, closed the 90-minute performance, and overcame some mild early sloppiness through its energy. Corea and Ponty traded notes like fighter pilots before Clarke played another extended electric solo, all before an unexpected, crowd-pleasing snippet of the Spencer Davis Group’s pop hit Gimme Some Lovin’.

Sloppiness was not a word one would associate with Zappa Plays Zappa’s divergent opening performance. Its hour-long set, in fact, likely stole the show for those more attuned to Frank Zappa’s inimitable blend of rock, jazz, humor, R&B, doo-wop, blues and classical music than to the headliner’s stately all-instrumental fusion of jazz and rock with classical undertones.

ZPZ’s eight-piece lineup of guitarists Dweezil Zappa and Jamie Kime, vocalist/trumpeter Ben Thomas, saxophonist/keyboardist Scheila Gonzalez, keyboardist Chris Norton, bassist Pete Griffin, drummer Joe Travers and percussionist Billy Hulting included intermittent lead or backing vocals by every member, assuring that no composition would lack the required vocal or instrumental firepower. Unlike RTF, Dweezil’s band (like his father’s) improvised mostly during solos, otherwise sticking to the precise, challenging original arrangements.

There were only no highlights because practically every song qualified as one. Thomas nailed Frank’s cynical vocal inflection on the bluesy opener Cosmik Debris, from the 1974 LP Apostrophe, and Dweezil’s middle solo was spot-on in mimicking his angular, speech pattern-derived notes and intonation. Five years ago, when ZPZ made its South Florida debut on the very same stage, Dweezil sounded awkward trying to mold his natural metallic style into his father’s music. No more. The kid has clearly done his homework.

An instrumental version of Fifty-Fifty, from 1973’s Over-Nite Sensation, featured the horn playing of Thomas (on trumpet) and Gonzalez (tenor saxophone), a nice middle break by Norton, and Hulting’s four-mallet expertise on marimba. Another instrumental, the alternately complex and funky Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?, from 1974’s Roxy & Elsewhere, lit even more of a fire under the Zappa fans in the audience. Travers, who had trouble getting the monitor mix of his double-bass drums to his liking during the entire set, nonetheless played thunderous fills both before and during his exchanges with Hulting, now on conga drums.

Thomas then sang the doo-wop piece What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body?, which segued into the disco parody Dancin’ Fool, before he appeared to lose his mind.

“It’s so hot here tonight,” he exulted as he jumped into the crowd. “Does anybody have a beer?”

A woman handed him a full cup, which Thomas downed without pause. During a lengthy instrumental break that then showcased the solos of Griffin and Kime, the singer returned to the stage to play muted trumpet, lie down, and sing about the shortcomings of American beer through a megaphone.

“I don't know what happened to me tonight, Joe,” Thomas announced to a bemused-looking Travers as he exited behind his drum riser. “I was so professional last night.”

Dweezil then introduced Corea, who appropriately sat in the instrumental King Kong, a piece that Frank’s former sideman Ponty had recorded on his 1970 release King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa. The two bandleaders traded solos, often playing unison or harmony lines to the other, and smiled throughout.

As it began, the set closed with a track from Apostrophe. The 10-minute Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow medley featured more mania and mimicry by Thomas, a soprano saxophone solo by Gonzalez, and both high vocal harmonies and fleet fills by Travers.

The drummer also plays in the band led by a former Frank guitarist/keyboardist, Mike Keneally, and Travers has been the archivist for the Zappa Family Trust since 1995. As for Dweezil, his closing statement was yet another Frank-channeled solo, ensuring that his family’s trust is in multiple sets of great hands.