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

by George Varga

Thee Sacred Souls, with The Emkays

This has been a banner year for Thee Sacred Souls, the San Diego band that formed in 2019 and laid the foundation for its homegrown following by playing residencies at such intimate venues here as the Whistle Stop and Soda Bar.

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In April, Thee Sacred Souls performed to loudly appreciative crowds at both weekends of this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio.

This summer saw them perform at the famed Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and at prestigious festivals in England, Finland, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.

More recently, Thee Sacred Souls completed a major North American tour with Kali Uchis that saw the band perform in arenas from coast to coast, including two dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden and an Aug. 24 concert here at Pechanga Arena San Diego.

That a local band has made a global impact by crafting reverent new songs steeped in vintage 1960s R&B and Chicano soul music is a testament to the skill and tenacity of lead singer Josh Lane, bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia.

In Lane, Thee Sacred Souls has a supple, classically trained singer who is deeply conversant with the legacies of Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield but savvy enough to add his own stamp to the traditions they established. Garcia and Samano are a well-honed rhythm section whose fuss-free playing is consistently in support of the song at hand, including on Thee Sacred Souls’ latest single, the honeyed love ballad “We Don’t Have To Be Alone.”

Tickets for the band’s Friday concert here at the 4,600-seat Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheatre at SDSU sold so fast a second performance was added for today, Thursday.

8 tonight. Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheatre, 5500 Campanile Drive, SDSU. Sold-out (re-sale tickets are available with marked-up prices). ticketmaster.com

Afro-Latin jazz pianist and composer Arturo O'Farrill will perform a La Jolla Music Society concert with the Ephrat Asherie Dance troupe. (Laura Mariet) — Afro-Latin jazz pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill will perform a La Jolla Music Society concert with the Ephrat Asherie Dance troupe. (Laura Mariet)

Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Ensemble with Fandango Fronterizo Colectivo:

There are few artists whose borders-leaping music is better suited for the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival than Mexico City native and UCLA Professor of Global Jazz Studies Arturo O’Farrill.

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His all-star 2018 “Fandango at the Wall” performance in Tijuana with Jorge Castillo resulted in a film documentary, book, Grammy-Award winning album and a San Diego Symphony-produced encore concert in 2022 at The Shell.

O’Farrill will reteam with the Castillo-led Fandango Fronterizo Colectivo for several songs Saturday in Escondido, where the festival’s lineup also includes award-winning singers Gabrielle Cavassa and Lucia, plus an all-star tribute to the late sax colossus James Moody.

It will provide a welcome and very rare opportunity to revisit and experience anew this historic collaboration between O’Farrill and Castillo, a retired Chula Vista librarian who has dedicated years to making heartfelt music that blurs simultaneously blurs borders and illuminates them.

3 p.m. Saturday. California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. $42-$118.80. sdtjjazz.org

Max Haymer Trio presents “A Dazzling Tribute to Jewish Jazz Legends”

The pianist in the bands of trumpet dynamo Arturo Sandoval and vocal star Jane Monheit, Max Haymer has made two notable solo albums, including 2020’s “Whirlwind.”

It is not yet known which Jewish jazz legends he’ll salute here, but there are many options. They include: pianists Willie “The Lion” Smith and Myra Melford, clarinetists Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, saxophonists Stan Getz and Joshua Redman, and more.

3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4216 Executive Drive, La Jolla. $22-$24. lfjcc.org