Georgie Fame & Ben Sidran

Born Clive Powell in Manchester, England, Georgie Fame rose to, er, fame as a footsoldier in the sixties British Invasion, fronting the Blue Flames on a string of modest hits including a cover of Mongo Santamaria’s “Yeh Yeh” that went to number one in England, knocking out the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine.” Admirably, he never stuck to just one style, but mixed up jazz, rock, pop and R&B, and helped introduce ska to Londoners. The next couple of decades found him struggling, but by the nineties Fame had found his groove again, playing organ on Van Morrison’s Clinton-era albums and building up a solid body of his own work in the jazz style known as vocalese. He’ll play the AQ with Wisconsin-based jazz pianist and musicologist Sidran, whose Go Jazz label put out Fame’s acclaimed recent albums Poet in New York and Cool Cat Blues.
AQ, 408 St. Peter, St. Paul St., (651) 292-1359, www.mnjazz.com