If summer is jazz season, what does that make fall? The multicolored trees suggest a musical spell as diverse as a leaf pile — and the concert listings for the rest of 2025 bear this out. From West African blues and Americana to indie rock and hot-rod surf, there’s something for everyone. CITY picked seven choice live shows, but there’s plenty more where that came from.
Coral Moons
The Bug Jar
September 19-20 at 9 p.m.
Canandaigua-via-Boston band Coral Moons celebrates its summer tour with a two-night stand in downtown Rochester. A year after releasing the great and melodic collection “Summer of U,” the band recently dropped the banger “Made Up My Mind” and embraced its destiny as a pop-rock supernova. For the first show, Cheap Kids joins as local support; Home Videos opens on night two. bugjar.com
Vieux Farka Touré
Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music
September 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré is African-guitar royalty. His father, the late Ali Farka Touré, helped pioneer desert blues; Vieux has followed suit, crafting folk melodies and electric-guitar soundtracks in his own work. He even joined with popular world band Khruangbin for a tribute to Vieux’s father in 2022. He plays Rochester as part of Eastman’s Barbara B. Smith World Music Series. boxoffice.esm.rochester.edu
Dave East
Water Street Music Hall
September 27 at 7 p.m.
XXL magazine selected Harlem’s Dave East as one its influential 2016 Freshman Class rappers; his fellow picks included Anderson .Paak, 21 Savage and Lil Dicky. East has stayed true to his initial appeal: East Coast rap infused with raw storytelling and a dynamic flow. East’s latest collaborations include songs with Mary J. Blige, British MC Giggs and former Griselda rapper Conway the Machine. waterstreetmusichall.live
Modest Mouse and Built to Spill
Kodak Center
October 12 at 8 p.m.
This double bill of Pacific Northwest indie rock features two generations of heavy hitters. Built to Spill is not the headliner, but without Doug Martsch’s wails and guitar heroics in the ‘90s, an entire generation of bands may not have picked up their guitars. Modest Mouse is one of them, a formidable force beyond just “Float On” (though that’s a banger, too). Bring earplugs and wear a flannel. kodakcenter.com
Keigo Hirakawa Quartet featuring Stacy Dillard
Bop Shop Records
November 1 at 8 p.m.
New York City jazz club vibes come to Rochester with the arrival of pianist Keigo Hirakawa. In addition to his celebrated 2023 album “Pixel,” the versatile performer brings with him an all-star crew of musicians, including saxophone player Stacy Dillard, about whom Wynton Marsalis apparently once said, “This MF can play.” Rounding out the cohort are bassist Diallo House and drummer Hamir Atwal. bopshop.com
Eddie Barbash from The Late Show Band
Beston Hall at Nazareth University
November 23 at 3 p.m.
Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” is on borrowed time from CBS, which is a shame for many reasons, including the sheer talent of his house band. Part of that comes from saxophonist Eddie Barbash, who joins as part of this Society for Chamber in Rochester program that also features Kyle Athayde on drums. This afternoon matinee includes work from David Temperley, Darius Milhaud and jazz standards. chambermusicrochester.org
Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
State Theatre of Ithaca
December 5 at 8 p.m.
It’s never been right to call what banjo player Béla Fleck does “bluegrass.” But it’s a nice place to start. From there, his Flecktones — bass virtuoso Victor Wooten, keyboardist Howard Levy and Roy Wooten, who plays the “drumitar” — can and do go to multiple places on the musical map. This show, “Jingle All the Way,” promises a holiday program, but what’s more notable is the very act of having those four Flecktones onstage together for the first time in 15 years. stateofithaca.org
