The winter nights might be long, but the daytimes are bright. Set aside your Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from January through to early March for the Music ‘N’ Mavens series at the Rady Jewish Community Centre. The series includes lectures on a broad range of topics (from Winnipeg crime to how to get out of a waterlogged vehicle to helping adult kids handle stress) as well as a dozen concerts in every imaginable style.

Several concerts will be of particular interest to Winnipeg jazz lovers. The season opener on January 10 is called “Scat, Bebop, and Vocalese,” and features familiar high-energy tunes performed by the Helen White Quintet—Helen on vocals, Jonathan Alexiuk on piano, Chris Berti on bass, Glenn Lambert on drums, and Ken Gold on saxophone.

Just over a month later, on February 16, vocalists from the Jazz Studies program at the U of M will perform in the “Anna-Lisa Kirby Jazz Vocal Studio Showcase.” Anna-Lisa, the Jazz Vocal Instructor at the U of M, will be showcasing the talented vocalists in her studio. They’ll be accompanied by Carter Graham on piano, Luke Sellick on bass, and Kaleb Kirby on drums.

Two concerts round out February. On Tuesday, February 28, Tropical 99, a twelve-piece multi-cultural Latin orchestra, bring the heat of Latin stylings to the stage. The next day, you can celebrate Leap Year at the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre over on Main. Singer Sister Dorothy is joined by guitarist Tim Cummings for a concert of favorites from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, as well as some Jewish folk songs.

Ron Paley, one of Winnipeg’s favorite jazz pianists, closes out the series on March 8. He’ll be accompanying vocalists Joanna Majoko, Charlotte Martin, and Amber Epp—the next generation of jazz standard-bearers.

Other concerts run the gamut from contemporary aboriginal rock to baroque music arranged for three cellos to traditional Franco-Manitoban reels to music rooted in the Jewish tradition. Concerts are only $10, or $6 if you’re a Rady JCC member. You might consider a season pass. A full Concert card gives you all 12 concerts for the price of nine; a mini-card gives you six for the price of five. All details—plus the full schedule of events—are at the Rady website: radyjcc.com.