The Kat comes back
It’s been more than five years since Kat Edmonson performed in the Bay Area, playing a morning set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass back in 2013. She returns this weekend to her latest album, 2018’s “Old Fashioned Gal” (Sony), her most ambitious project yet, with orchestral arrangethat ments provide a plush cushion for her unmistakable voice that’s equal parts ingenue and worldly. For her West Coast tour, she’s performing with a top-notch quintet featuring the great guitarist-arranger Matt Munisteri, who has contribGrammy uted to Award-winning albums by Catherine Russell and Loudon Wainwright III. Details: 7 and 8:30 p.m. Friday at SFJazz Center, San Francisco; $25; 866-920-5299, www.sfjazz.org; 8p.m. Saturday at Montalvo Arts Center Carriage House, Saratoga; $34-$38; 408-961-5858, www. montalvoarts.org.
Concerts: Lewis Black, Prince’s Revolution
Here’s a look at the top concerts of the week in the Bay Area.
Lewis Black: This funnyman turns anger into an art form, drawing plenty of laughs as he fumes over the many things that make him mad. And there are indeed many, many things. He performs Friday at The Masonic in San Francisco. Details: 8p.m.; $39.50-$79.50; www. livenation.com.
The Revolution: Prince’s famed backing band returns to the Bay Area to perform Saturday at the UC Theatre in Berkeley and Sunday at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Details: 8p.m.; $49.50; www.theuctheatre.org, www.livenation.com.
Ozomatli: Los Angeles’ acclaimed Latin/hip-hop/rock outfit performs two shows on Saturday at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The matinee performance is the band’s family-friendly Ozokids show. Details: Ozokids, 3p.m.; $10; regular show, 9p.m.; $26.50; www.livenation.com.
Andre Nickatina: The San Francisco hip-hop artist, formerly known as Dre Dog, performs a hometown show at Slim’s on Saturday. J.Lately opens. Details: 9 p.m.; $30$35; www.slimspresents.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Dynamic duo of chamber music
Fearless musicians, glamorous performers and fierce advocates for musical literacy, pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel are among the leading lights of the chamber music world.
From the Bay Area’s own Music@Menlo summer festival and academy to New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the husband-and-wife duo brings a vibrant sense of exploration to any music they play. So expect thrills in their Cal Performances concert Sunday in Berkeley, where they’ll traverse cello sonatas from the German Classical and Romantic eras.
Details: 3p.m.; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $39-$78; 510642-9988, www.calperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Women’s voices on the March
Any political movement looking to make a lasting impact needs a soundtrack. On Friday, the second anniversary of the women’s marches that greeted the inauguration of President Trump, Vajra Voices and the Grace Cathedral/ Ghiberti Foundation present The Eve of the March.
An unprecedented collaboration between two of the Bay Area’s most celebrated all-women vocal ensembles, the concert brings together Vajra Voices, a quintet that has established its identity via unearthly performances of music by the 12th-century abbess Hildegard von Bingen, with Kitka, the beloved eight-member choir known for hair-raising harmonies and a vast repertoire of songs from Eastern Europe.
The Eve of the March performance also features Berkeley cellist, vocalist and composer Theresa Wong — in the world premiere of her Vajra-commissioned settings for poems by the 12th-century Taoist female mystic Sun
Buer, “To Burst to Bloom” — and the brilliant multi-instrumentalist Shira Kammen, an early music expert.
Details: 7:30p.m.; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; $10-$45; www.kitka.org, www.vajravoices.com.
— Andrew Gilbert, Correspondent
Hummel’s Blowout is back
It makes perfect sense that Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowout has become such a beloved annual tradition over the years. After all, Hummel, who’s a terrific harp player in his own right, always lines up plenty of great players for these shows.
This year’s 28th annual Blowout, which visits the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley on Friday and Saturday, features such great talents as Grammy and Blues Music Award winner Bobby Rush, who appeared in the Martin Scorsese documentary “The Blues”; BMA champ Kenny Neal, son of Louisiana blues legend Raful Neal; Alabama blues great James Harman; and New Orleans musician Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone.
Details: 8p.m.; $30-$34; www.thefreight.org.
— Jim Harrington, Staff