Good news this morning from Nasar Abadey, D.C. jazz drummer and leader of the ensemble Supernova. Abadey and Supernova (this time in quartet form) have been accepted as part of the U.S. State Department’s international cultural-exchange program (in partnership with Jazz At Lincoln Center), “The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad” for 2010.

They, and nine other groups performing American musical styles, were selected out of 130 applicants, 35 of whom were invited to audition in New York City this summer.

This means that next year, over the course of eight months, Abadey and Supernova (saxophonist Joe Ford, pianist Allyn Johnson, and bassist James King) will be touring 40 countries across the world, bunched into several tours of approximately four weeks. Abadey reports that he’s most excited about a visit to Central America that may last a full six weeks. Meantime they’ll also squeeze in free performances at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York, and the National Geographic Society’s Grosvenor Auditorium in D.C.

Oct. 30
The Brooklyn-born pianist Randy Weston was reared in blues and gospel, grew up with some of bebop’s revolutionaries, and as an adult began exploring musical traditions from all across the African continent—from Somalia to Nigeria to Morocco. His vision manages to assimilate all of those sources into an insoluble whole, equally able to interact with a Harlem big band or the Master Musicians of Jajouka. Weston’s music encompasses many musical traditions and also many human experiences: His sound can be dark or joyful, gnarled or straightforward, folksy or erudite—sometimes all at once. The only two things you’re sure to encounter at a Weston concert are the fierce but complex rhythm he generates with his percussive piano style and the profound emotional impact that explodes out of every performance, no matter what he plays. Weston’s African Rhythms Trio performs at 8 P.M. and 10 p.m. at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. $30.

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