From a star-studded Bay Area concert benefitting L.A. wildfire relief to one of the world’s top trumpeters and an iconic classical work in San Jose, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend. Here’s a partial rundown.

Musicians gather to benefit fire victims

Talented acts from around the Bay Area are uniting to help support Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts.

Fantastic Negrito, The Brothers Comatose, Terrier, The Sam Chase, Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, Poor Man’s Whiskey, John Elliott, Megan Slankard, Shana Morrison, Danny Click, Sean Hayes, Petty Theft, walking mirrors, Greg Loiacono and Ben Morrison are set to perform during the L.A. Fire Department Foundation Benefit Concert on Sunday at HopMonk Tavern in Novato.

The concert is being produced by local promoter KC Turner Presents.

“When communities suffer like the folks in L.A. are right now we have to come together,” Turner says. “I’m grateful for the artists that have graciously agreed to volunteer their time and art for this very special benefit concert. I’m also thankful to be able to pull something like this together so quickly.”

As one might expect given that lengthy lineup, the benefit is an all-day concert — with a relatively early start time of 12:30 p.m.

Details: Tickets are $50-$5,000, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, which supports thousands of firefighters, paramedics and other first-responders personnel; for tickets and other information, visit kcturnerpresents.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Blanchard blows his horn

Terence Blanchard is set to take center stage at the SFJAZZ Center.

The vastly accomplished trumpeter/bandleader/composer — who also happens to be SFJAZZ’s executive artistic director — will be performing with his Grammy-nominated E-Collective at the San Francisco performance venue today through Sunday.

Blanchard and his E Collective — featuring guitarist Charles Altura, pianist/keyboardist Julian Pollack, bassist David Ginyard Jr. and drummer Oscar Seaton — will be joined for the run by the Turtle Island Quartet, featuring violinists David Balakrishnan and Gabriel Terracciano, violist Benjamin von Gutzeit and cellist Naseem Alatrash. They’ll be joined by one very special guest — immensely talented vocalist Dianne Reeves — on the last night of the run.

Here’s a look at the program: On opening night (today), Blanchard will lead the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet through music from his 2005 Grammy-nominated album, “Flow.” Then the musicians will showcase music from Blanchard’s 2007 Grammy-winning effort, “A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina),” on Friday and Saturday. Reeves and her amazing vocal work arrive on the scene on Sunday.

Details: 7:30 p.m. today through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday; $25-$105; sfjazz.org.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

“Lighthouse Point,” by Ludwig Favre, is on display in Santa Cruz. (Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History) 

Santa Cruz celebrates Wes Anderson

If you’ve ever walked down the Santa Cruz boardwalk, with its saltwater-taffy paint scheme and nostalgic carnival rides and think, “This is like a Wes Anderson movie” — you’re not alone. The idyllic city by the sea strikes so many as Andersonesque it’s celebrated in a new local photography show, “Accidentally Wes Anderson.”

Running Friday through May 18 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the exhibit crowdsources photos of locations from around the world that, while not always appearing in Wes Anderson films, share the same quirky architecture and color palettes. It’s a physical embodiment of the online phenomenon known as “Accidentally Wes Anderson,” started by Wally and Amanda Koval and embraced by travelers who share social-media images in themes like “pink,” “turquoise,” “classic facades,” “gardens and greenhouses” and “on the rails.” (There’s since been a New York Times best-selling book with the same name.)

“Each of the locations highlighted in the exhibition boasts the recognizable singular aesthetic that is oh-so typical of film master Wes Anderson,” write the organizers of the show, which is endorsed by the filmmaker himself. “Bright, vivid and often slightly jarring to reality, AWA collects the world’s most Anderson-like sites in all their faded grandeur and pop-pastel colors, telling the story behind each stranger-than-fiction location.”

The exhibit is meant to pay tribute to the centennial celebration of the very Anderson-like Giant Dipper roller coaster out on the beach, so after you’re done maybe head on over for a thrilling ride.

Details: The museum is open noon-6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday; 705 Front St., Santa Cruz; $10 suggested admission, santacruzmah.org

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Classical picks: Denks & Takács; ‘Firebird’

This week’s classical music calendar has plenty to choose from: including a world-class pianist and “The Firebird” taking flight.

Takács and Denk in Berkeley: It’s always good news when the Takács Quartet returns to Cal Performances, and this weekend brings the celebrated quartet welcoming a friend. Joined by pianist Jeremy Denk, they’ll give two performances of Brahms’ Piano Quintet, along with works by Beethoven and Janáček; the Takács players also return next month with music by Beethoven, Haydn, and Britten.

Details: Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk, 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; quartet also performs 3 p.m. Feb. 16 at Hertz Hall; $93-$110; calperformances.org.

A first at Davies: Conductor Mark Elder takes the podium this week in the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Hector Berlioz’s 1831 “Le roi Lear Overture.” The program also includes works by Berlioz, Debussy, Richard Strauss and John Adams.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $30-$179; sfsymphony.org.

Firebird in San Jose: This weekend in the beautiful California Theatre, Symphony San Jose music director Carlos Vieu leads the orchestra in masterworks including the Suite from Stravinsky’s “Firebird.” Audiences will also hear Wagner’s Overture to “Tannhäuser,” Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme by Haydn,” and “Bullanguera” by Argentine composer Sonia Possetti.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday; California Theatre, San Jose; $24-$121.50; symphonysanjose.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year doesn’t officially arrive until Jan. 29, but since we are talking about an event recognized by billions of people around the world, the celebrations arrive early and often. This week and weekend, for example, you have several options if you want to get a jump start on welcoming the year of the green snake (or wood snake, if that is your preference). And a few of them are free. If you want to get a taste of S.F. Chinatown this weekend, even though  the big Lunar New Year parade there is a couple of weeks off, you can catch the awesome Flower Market Fair 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 25 and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 26, on Grant Street between Clay and Broadway, with its more than 120 vendors selling flowers and fruits and much more, along with performances by magicians, dancers and acrobats.

The San Jose Museum of Art from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 25 (sjmusart.org) is offering activities tied to the Lunar New Year, including art-making activities, live performances and more. Millbrae is presenting its Lunar New Year festival, with more than 100 vendors selling arts, crafts and merchandise and live entertainment including traditional lion dancing and more, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 25-26 on the 200-400 blocks of Broadway.

— Bay City News Foundation  

They’ll be pickin’ and grinin’

Besides being one cool-looking dude whose appearance and artistry seemed to be in perfect sync, Django Reinhardt  (1910-1953) remains one of the more influential guitarists in jazz and popular music history. His nimble riffs and phrasing, often delivered in collaboration with violinist Stephaine Grappelli, essentially defined the musical genre known as gypsy jazz and to this day he remains one of those classic artists whose sound is recognizable almost from the second you hear it. The music and style with which it was performed was a foundation of popular culture in Paris in the 1920s.

The genre remains as popular as ever, and the Bay Area is blessed with one of the best bands going – Le Jazz Hot (also known as the Hot Club of San Francisco). The band is front and center this weekend as the Django Reinhardt Birthday Celebration unfolds at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage Coffee House Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The three shows also feature such bands as Hot Club of Cowtown, Christine Tassan et les Imposteures, the Rhythm Future Quartet, San Lyon, Debi Botos, and Hot Club of Los Angeles. The three shows promise to deliver music that is as fun as it is head-spinningly impressive.

Details: Each concert starts 7 p.m.; $54-$59; thefreight.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

The right ‘Choice’

If there is a more versatile musical talent in the Bay Area than Oakland’s Kev Choice we’re not aware of it. The man can do it all. He’s a classically trained pianist who’s more than comfortable in jazz, hip-hop, blues, R&B, soul and funk. He is a songwriter and M.C. and vocalist who’s received acclaim for his lyrics tackling a variety of social issues while favoring positive and inspirational themes. He’s also a producer and band-leader, and you can toss in teacher and community activist while you are at it. When it comes to musical styles, Choice cites as his key inspiration musicians ranging from Prince to Rakim to A Tribe Called Quest to Stevie Wonder to McCoy Tyner to Chopin and Ravel.

In short, you might hear just about anything and everything when Kev Choice brings his Trio to Stanford’s The Studio as part the Stanford Live concert series on Friday. As he says on his website “I grew up in the Hip-Hop era, I had love for Hip-Hop before I even knew what classical music really was.” But he adds, “Classical music gave me a broader understanding and appreciation for music beyond Hip-Hop.” On Jan. 18, Kev Choice was director and a performer at a 16-musician tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., featuring the music of Aretha Franklin.

Details: Kev Choice Trio performs 7 p.m. Jan. 24; $15-$45; live.stanford.edu.

— Bay City News Foundation