Sexton Brings Soul

American soul man Martin Sexton got his start playing on the streets and subways of Boston in the 1990s; Friday night he is playing at Outerland.

He released his seventh album, Seeds, last April on his label Kitchen Table Records. “I believe songs are seeds,” Mr. Sexton says about the collection, “once planted they can grow and nourish and inspire and with that, change the world.”

Singer-songwriter Bella will be performing a bossa nova show at Che’s Lounge every Tuesday through August at 7 p.m.

Called Bossa on the Moon, the show includes original songs and classics of samba, jazz and blues that Bella swings on her guitar and her cavaquinho, a soprano Brazilian guitar.

On the set list there will be sweet summer treats like Samba Chocolate and Samba Noir by Bella, and standards such as The Little Boat and Fly Me to the Moon with a bossa arrangement.

John Brown’s Body, the eight-piece band which hails from Boston and upstate New York, releases their sixth studio album this September, but you can sample the tunes early on Thursday, August 7, at Outerland at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

“Summer in a dish,” Christian Thornton says of the Seared George’s Bank Scallops and Summer Heirloom Tomatoes dish he and his team prepare, a variation of the seared scallop dish on the menu at Atria on Main street, Edgartown. The restaurant’s chef and owner says this dish is all about simplicity, “You want to let the tomatoes speak for themselves. It sounds corny, but it’s about paying homage to what it is,” chef Thornton explains.

The Chappaquiddick Summer Music Festival concludes its 2008 season on Thursday, August 7 at 8 p.m. with a performance by violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute. The program includes sonatas by Mozart, Brahms and Bartok.

Che’s Lounge hosts an eclectic Poetry and Music Jam on Monday, August 4. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and features the Hot Words Collective — Justen Ahren (Jen Brown’s Brother), Samantha Barrow, Linda Black, Richard C. Skidmore, Michael West and Ben Williams.

The Yard promises a high-energy, laugh aloud evening of work by three very different artists: Jamal Jackson Dance Company (African/hip hop/contemporary dance), performance artist Claire Porter, and solo dancer Lorraine Chapman share the stage on Friday and Saturday, August 1 and 2 at 8 p.m., with a free family matinee on Saturday at 4 p.m. at The Yard, Middle Road in Chilmark.

After dusk on July 24, I ran up Look street in a downpour, searching for the party. I knew I had found the right place when I saw the ubiquitous Vineyard white-painted wooden parking sign — the one that usually reads “Reserved for: Norton” but read instead, “Reserved for: Rabbi.” I was coming to hear Alicia Svigals and the Klezmer Fiddle Express perform at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven.

The Chappaquiddick Summer Music Festival continues its 2008 season on Thursday, July 31 at 8 p.m. with a performance by Trio Solisti. The program includes Copland’s Hoe-Down, Schoenfield’s Cafe Music, Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, and the trio’s highly acclaimed arrangement of Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition.

Three Martha’s Vineyard students were accepted into the prestigious OperaFest 2008 workshops on the Island, and two will be performing arias and scenes from famous operas with up-and-coming young singers from New Jersey on Saturday, July 26, at 8 p.m. at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs.

The Vineyard Students are Rosie Bick, who will sing Cunegonda from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and Mitch Lowe who will sing in the Torreador Scene from Bizet’s Carmen.