The three San Diego concerts you don’t want to miss this weekend

The Poll Winners, featuring Bruce Forman, John Clayton & Jeff Hamilton

The list of diverse music greats guitarist Bruce Forman, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton have collaborated with is formidable and then some.

From Whitney Houston, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Etta James and Nina Simone to Count Basie, Milt Jackson, Paul McCartney and Leon Russell, the members of this sublime instrumental trio have made invaluable contributions to an array of classic recordings and concerts.

In 2021, they recorded the album “Reunion!” as a tribute to three late giants of jazz — guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne — who, as The Poll Winners, recorded four classic studio albums between 1956 and 1960, followed by a live reunion album in 1975.

In a novel twist, “Reunion!” features Carmel Valley six-string dynamo Forman playing on the 1946 Gibson ES-350 guitar that had previously belonged to Kessel, who died in San Diego in 2004 at the age of 80.

For good measure, “Reunion!” also featured Clayton on a bass previously owned by Brown and Hamilton on a drum set previously owned by Manne. Adding to the air of authenticity, Forman, Clayton and Hamilton count Kessel, Brown and Manne among their past collaborators.

Because of their busy individual schedules, Forman, Clayton and Hamilton’s performances together are so rare that their Sunday Poll Winners’ gig here is one of only two they are doing anywhere as a trio this year. Together, they pay tribute to Kessel, Brown and Manne, not by performing the same songs that appear on the five Poll Winners’ albums, but by saluting the spirit of that music and nimbly extending it.

The concert will three years, almost to the day, after Tio Leo’s began a weekly jazz series curated by top San Diego flutist and longtime jazz presenter Holly Hofmann. Together, they have provided a vital showcase for local, regional and national talents alike. Long may they run.

5 p.m. Sunday. Tio Leo’s 5302 Napa Street, Bay Park. $20. tioleos.com 

Ganavya

Born in New York, educated in South India and based in Irvine, Ganavya Doraiswamy first earned international attention with her enchanting 2018 debut album, “Aikyam: Onnu,” which translates as “Harmony: One.” It features her singing “Summertime,” Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue” (which she retitled “Indo Blue”) and other jazz classics in both Tamil and English.

Her innovative approach and deep feeling are equally impressive in both languages, as befits a polymath who has collaborated with Quincy Jones, Placido Domingo, Zakir Hussain, Sault, Tyshawn Sorey and San Diego-bred flutist Claire Chase.

Ganavya (who does not use her last name professionally) has degrees in theater, psychology, ethnomusicology and contemporary performance, as well as a doctorate from Harvard in creative practice & critical inquiry.

Her 2024 album, “Like The Sky I’ve Been Too Quiet,” is a stunning amalgam of electronica, spiritual jazz and Carnatic Indian classical music that features English saxophonist/flutist Shabaka Hutchings, Los Angeles producer Carlos Niño and English composer, producer and neuroscientist Sam Shepherd (who records using the moniker Floating Points).

On her whisper-soft new album, “Nilam,” Ganavya sings and plays an 8-string Tamil harp called a yahz on seven wonderfully understated songs. Exactly what she will do at her La Jolla concert this weekend remains to be determined, but it should be no less than fascinating.

7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23. The Loft at UC San Diego, 3151 Matthews Lane, La Jolla. $25-$35. artpower.ucsd.edu/

Beat Farmers, Low Volts

It’s been 42 years since the Beat Farmers debuted and these pioneering San Diego roots-rockers still pack a potent musical punch.

Guitarist-singer Jerry Raney and bassist Rolle Love have been on board since the rollicking band’s inception, while guitarist-singer Joey Harris joined in early 1985.

The Farmers were dormant for 14 years after the 1995 the death of its drummer, singer and wildly rambunctious front man, Country Dick Montana.

The group’s periodic performances with ace drummer Joel Kmak are celebratory affairs that typically include such choice songs as  “Riverside,” “Hollywood Hills,” “Ridin’,” “God Is Here Tonight” and the kazoo-driven “Happy Boy.” The fact that the Farmers’ gig this weekend has a 4 p.m. start time will surely bring a smile to anyone who recalls that — back in their carousing days day — members of the Farmers might not have awoke until mid-afternoon

4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $31.44 (must be 21 or older to attend). casbahmusic.com