CALENDAR: Chick Corea’s legendary jazz to grace Charleston Oct. 29

Staff reports  | Jazz impresario Chick Corea will bring together bass powerhouse Christian McBride and drum master Brian Blade on Oct. 29 at Charleston Gaillard Center in a trio that earned two Grammy Awards for their first outing, 2014’s landmark 3-CD set Trilogy. 

“Both are master musicians and together we have an easy rapport,” Corea said of McBride and Blade. “There is a lot of give and take in our music. It’s always a lot of fun.” 

Corea has attained iconic status in music. The keyboardist, composer and bandleader is a DownBeat Hall of Famer and NEA Jazz Master, as well as the fourth-most nominated artist in Grammy Awards history with 63 nods – and 22 wins, in addition to a number of Latin Grammys. From straight-ahead to avant-garde, bebop to jazz-rock fusion, children’s songs to chamber and symphonic works, Corea has touched an astonishing number of musical bases in his career since playing with the genre-shattering bands of Miles Davis in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Yet Corea has never been more productive than in the 21st century, whether playing acoustic piano or electric keyboards, leading multiple bands, performing solo or collaborating with a who’s who of music. Underscoring this, he has been named Artist of the Year three times this decade in the DownBeat Readers Poll. Born in 1941 in Massachusetts, Corea remains a tireless creative spirit, continually reinventing himself through his art. As The New York Times has said, he is “a luminary, ebullient and eternally youthful.” 

• Learn more about the trio and show here.  Tickets are $36 to $86.

Also on the calendar:

Glaude on Baldwin:  7 p.m. Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting St., Charleston.  Princeton University Professor Eddie Glaude will speak on “James Baldwin and the Moral Crisis of America Democracy” at this free lecture.  Register for free tickets.

Lunch with Nathalie:  Noon, Oct. 11, Halls Signature Events, 5 Faber St., Charleston (behind SNOB). You can have lunch with your favorite foodie, Nathalie Dupree, as chef Robyn Guisto prepares three courses inspired by the award-winning author’s  newest book, Nathalie Dupree’s Favorite Stories and Recipes.  Tickets start at $32. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and lunch is served at noon.  Buy tickets.

Wild Side celebration:  5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Oct. 12, Kaminski House,  1003 Front St, Georgetown, S.C.  The S.C. Environmental Law Project will pay homage in its 10th annual Wild Side to the state’s Watersheds, Ocean, Wetlands — the WOW of South Carolina — as well as other milestones.  Cost: $100 per adult. Learn more.

Latin American Festival:  Oct. 13, Wannamaker County Park, North Charleston.  The 28th annual festival will allow friends and family members to relish authentic Latin American music, art, food and children’s activities, all inspired by cultures from around the globe.  Non-stop music will include everything from the beats of merengue, to reggaeton, bachata and salsa. All ages are invited to salsa to Latin rhythms by six-piece band Furia Tropikal from 1 – 2 p.m. Dance along with the Charlotte-based 12-piece band Orquesta Mayor from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., and end the day with the Dominican merengue phenomenon El Rey Tulile from 4:30 – 6 p.m.  Cost: $10. No outside food, alcohol or coolers permitted. No dogs allowed. For more information, call (843) 795-4386 or visit CharlestonCountyParks.com. 

Free Verse Festival: Oct. 13-20 in locations around Charleston with a special event Oct. 28.  The third year of the Free Verse Festival, Charleston’s first poetry festival, seeks “to uplift the community by providing eclectic poetry events and workshops at multiple venues in downtown and West Ashley.”  Learn more online.

Coming to the Gaillard.  Check out these awesome coming events at the Charleston Gaillard Center, 95 Calhoun St., Charleston:

FREE:  Youth Poetry Slam: 2 p.m. Oct. 19.  Artist-in-Residence Marcus Amaker will host this event as part of the Free Verse Festival.  It brings together young poets of all levels for a friendly competition. The top three winners of the slam will have the opportunity to perform later that night for Free Verse, Charleston’s poetry festival. Prizes will also be awarded.  Register.

Pictures at an Exhibition: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 and Oct. 26.  The Charleston Symphony offers  a special collaboration with award-winning watercolorist, Mary Whyte. A Charleston-based artist with an international reputation, Whyte will debut her collection of portraits We the People alongside the Charleston Symphony’s performance of Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano (“Three Botticelli Pictures”), Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Images of Whyte’s paintings, a portrait of one veteran from each state, will appear on stage throughout the performance. Tickets are $25 to $114.

AFFA Gala 2019: 6 p.m., Nov. 1, The Cedar Room, 701 East Bay St., Charleston.  You can have one of the best nights of the year with this annual fund-raiser for AFFA that is replete with a cocktail hour, silent auction, dinner, live auction and entertainment by the Emerald Empire Band.  Tickets: $180. Learn more now.

Early morning bird walks at Caw Caw:  8:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, Caw Caw Interpretive Center, Ravenel.  You can learn about habitats and birds, butterflies and other organisms in this two-hour session.  Registration is not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders.  More:  http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.

AREA MARKETS

WEDNESDAYS.  The West Ashley Farmers Market is every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Ackerman Park off Sycamore Avenue in West Ashley.  The last week of the market will be the first week of October. More.

FRIDAYS/SATURDAYS:  Night Market.  Every Friday and Saturday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. for the rest of the year, you can shop with 108 vendors, including artists and craftsmen, at the night market on Market Street between East Bay and Church streets.  It’s more than four blocks of local shopping and fun. Free.

SATURDAYS:  Johns Island Farmers Market operates each Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. year-round with more than 50 local farmers and vendors, food trucks, music and more.  The market is located on the campus of Charleston Collegiate School, 2024 Academy Road, Johns Island

SATURDAYS: The Charleston Farmers Market is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Marion Square each Saturday through Nov. 30.  More info.

NOTE: The Mount Pleasant Farmers Market weekly market on Tuesdays finished in September. The next opportunity to shop is a special Dec. 7 holiday market and craft show at the market pavillion at Moultrie Middle School, 645 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant. Time:  11 a.m to 4 p.m. Free parking. Lots of activities. More info.

• If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to feedback@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.