MUSIC

Hailed for "exuberance, imagination and sheer brio" (Jazz Review, UK), The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (39th season) returns to Scullers with Blues, Ballads and Beyond: music by jazz legends Count Basie, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham and Duke Ellington, plus originals by music director Mark Harvey. Tickets are $20. Validated parking. 617-562-4111 or www.scullersjazz.com

Aardvark’s inimitable take on the blues will include Basie's "Sent for You Yesterday" and Miles Davis' celebrated All Blues, in an evocative big band arrangement. Also on tap: the rarely heard Echoes of Harlem by Duke Ellington and Mark Harvey’s big band blast Three B’s and a Bop. Kenny Dorham's Latin delight Una Mas will counterpoint Caravan (Duke Ellington-Juan Tizol), an exotic Latin/jazz tour of far flung musical lands. The caravan will continue after the show, as Aardvark trombonist Jay Keyser (MIT Professor Emeritus of Linguistics) will sign copies of his latest book, I Married a Travel Junkie, a chronicle of Jay's reluctant travels to more than 40 countries, (including 8 trips to Africa), led by wife and tour maven Nancy Kelly. Book sales will benefit Doctors Without Borders. Aardvark is managed by Americas Musicworks.