Jody Watley to kick off Carver Center’s 2019-’20 season

The Carver Community Cultural Center has plenty of jazz and dance in the works for the 2019-’20 season, as well as a multidisciplinary work and an evening of a cappella.

The season holds:

Jody Watley, Oct. 19: Watley first made a splash in the ’80s with the chart toppers “Looking for a New Love” and “Some Kind of Lover.” Since 2015, she has been touring with SRL, a music collective she founded that brings together musicians, vocalists and dancers.

Bodytraffic, Nov. 2: The Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company works with noted choreographers from across the globe. It has a reputation for cutting-edge, mustsee work; it also has a reputation for its commitment to community outreach.

Ranky Tanky, Dec. 6: The jazz ensemble specializes in a contemporary take on the music of the Gullah culture of South Carolina and Georgia. The band’s latest release is “Good Time.”

METdance, Jan. 18: The Houston-based contemporary dance company draws on an extensive repertoire of works created by choreographers from all over the world.

Alicia Olatuja, Feb. 8 : Olatuja first made a splash as a soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Her most recent release, “Intuition: From the Minds of Women,” focuses on a wide range of work by female composers.

“A Cappella Live,” Feb. 15 : The show brings together four a cappella acts from across the country: the Filharmonic, a Filipino-American ensemble from Los Angeles; Committed, an all-male group that won the second season of NBC’s reality series “The Sing-Off”; soloist Blake Lewis; and Women of the World, an international quartet that performs in 32 languages.

Hiplet Ballerinas, March 20 : The Chicago-based dance troupe blends classical pointe technique with hip-hop and other urban dance moves with an eye toward making ballet accessible.

Cecile McLorin Salvant, April 4 : The Grammy-winning jazz vocalist has been described by Jazz Times magazine as “a master interpreter of the vocal jazz tradition, with laser-sharp intonation, perfect diction and a sonorous voice that recalls, most of all, Sarah Vaughan.”

Christian Sands, May 2 : The jazz pianist, who studied with the legendary Billy Taylor, made a name for himself in his 20s playing on recordings by Christian McBride and Gregory Porter. Now in his 30s, he’s continuing to make a splash live and with well-received recordings such as “Reach” and his latest, “Facing Dragons.”

“Eleven Reflections on September,” May 16 : The multimedia and spoken-word performance deals with the Arab American experience post-9/11. It is based on a series of poems that Andrea Assaf began writing in 2001.

The Soul Rebels, May 30 : New Orleans-based ensemble blends its hometown’s brass band traditions with hip-hop, jazz, rock and pop.

In addition, four shows will be presented in the Little Carver Civic Center: Vocalist Wednesday Ball on Nov. 23; “Ladies Sing the Blues” featuring Brenna Denise Parker, Sebrina Morris and Sarah Cantrell, on Dec. 14; “The Meeting,” a play imagining a face-to-face between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jan. 24-25; and “Bad Mamma Jamma Remix,” Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson’s multidisciplinary sequel to “Bad Mamma Jama Mixtape,” on March 28.