Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the midwinter B9:

  1. The fine guitarist John Jorgenson and his quintet revive the ghosts of Django-style gypsy jazz with a contemporary vibe that just swings like all heck.  
  2. Big passions at play at the Santa Cruz Symphony, with Mahler’s emotional “Symphony No. 10” and Ravel’s romance based on the love story of Daphnis and Chloe.
  3. UCSC’s Benjamin Breen has a compelling story to tell about the origins of modern psychedelic research.
  4. Students of the bass guitar often think of Victor Wooten as the best bassist alive — and he’s got three brothers who might be just as talented as he is.
  5. The Bay Area blues scene doesn’t have many more dependable names than San Jose great Tommy Castro.
  6. Cecile McLorin Salvant is one of the most distinctive voices in American music, in a category by herself, and you can see her live. 
  7. Sometimes, you need to get dazed and confused with some Led Zep, live and loud. 
  8. If the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival ever needed your support, it’s now, as it navigates a future without its leader and founder, the great Linda Burman-Hall. The new season kicks off Sunday afternoon.
  9. Take a dive into the vision of local artists through photography with the Pixel Printers of Santa Cruz, at the Blitzer beginning this week.

Wallace reports and writes not only across his familiar areas of deep interest — including arts, entertainment and culture — but also is chronicling for Lookout the challenges the people of Santa Cruz...