Stage and Che’s

Got Chops?

The film Chops, about high school jazz bands competing at the Essentially Ellington Festival, will screen as the final Tabernacle summer film, tonight, Tuesday, August 19, at 8 p.m. in the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs.

Filmmaker Brice Broder turns his lens on one Florida band at the festival hosted by Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center. Running 88 minutes, Chops is appropriate for all ages. Admissions is $8 and $5 for film society members.

BY JULIA RAPPAPORT

It may not quite measure up to Fashion Week in New York city, but Saturday evening will find a back alley of Main street Vineyard Haven temporarily transformed into a catwalk complete with leggy models, elegant couture and dazzling jewelry. Outside Che’s Lounge — the coffee shop known for good eats, an excellent cup of joe and a rockin’ weekend music scene — an outdoor fashion show will begin at 5 p.m. and the proceeds will go to benefit local musicians.

With a voice frequently compared to Joni Mitchell’s, Nancy Jephcote is gearing up for the release of a solo album this fall — but you can hear the Vineyard singer, songwriter and award-winning fiddler at a concert at 8 p.m. tonight, Friday, August 15, at Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

Well known for her work with the Flying Elbows fiddle band, songwriting has long been another side of this versatile performer’s offerings. Paul Thurlow and Brian Weiland will add instrumentals and vocal harmonies.

New Orleans’ legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a steward of the city’s vibrant cultural and musical heritage, has been touring regularly since 1963, bringing New Orleans music to the world. Tonight at 8 p.m. they will play at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs.

Steve Gorn’s Luminous Ragas, a concert of Indian classical music on the bansuri bamboo flute, will take place on Thursday, August 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Che’s Lounge on Main street in Vineyard Haven. Tickets are $15.

Mr. Gorn will guide the audience through the beauty and intricacies of this music with words.

The Wailers, the most popular reggae group of all time, will be playing a special concert at Outerland Monday, August 11, with all proceeds directly benefiting Friends of the World Food Program and help fund the life-saving food assistance programs of the United Nations World Food Program.

The program is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, reaching an average of 88 million people in 80 of the world’s poorest countries each year.

As part of a new series of Choreographic Guided Tours, designed to be of interest to both the most sophisticated dance lovers and complete newcomers to the form, The Yard is honored to present an evening curated and hosted by legendary dance educator Martha Myers.

A Sunday matiné e musical puppet show for all ages at Che’s Lounge will feature musical monkeys who love to dance and play, with their friends Bella and Arakataka’s Little Band. Are You Looking for Bananas? is the name of this happy play about a musical land where musician monkeys live and enjoy life.

The play and its songs are written by Bella and they are performed live in both English and Portuguese by Bella and Carol Loud, a music teacher for children.

The Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society concludes its 38th summer season this Monday and Tuesday with an ambitious finale that includes a world premiere and the first-ever performance of a classic Stravinsky piece on the Island.

On August 11 at the Old Whaling Church and August 12 at the Chilmark Community Center, the trio of violinist Nancy Wu, clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Delores Stevens will perform the premiere of Then and Now and Forever, a piece commissioned by the chamber music society and written by the noted composer Morton Subotnik.