Davy Jones, The Monkees and all that jazz … in West Michigan

Jazz isn’t getting the short shrift anymore.

Grand Rapids now seems to embrace this genre like never before, with The Gilmore Collection’s recent conversion of downtown’s Ottawa Tavern into a jazz club, Hopcat’s Sunday Night Jazz Jams and continued live jazz spotlights at other venues around town.

The buzz about jazz is the focus of my March column in REVUE Magazine, which you can read by clicking here.

And check out new videos below of Steve Talaga performing recently at Ottawa Tavern and Organissimo at Hopcat.

You can also check out plenty of live jazz this weekend, starting with guitarist Mike Hyde performing at Ottawa Tavern, 151 Ottawa Ave. NW, at 7 tonight.

At 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, contemporary jazz act Mind’s Eye (Talaga, Rob Smith, Tom Lockwood, Keith Hall) play the tavern.

Meanwhile, singer-pianist Robin Connell, bassist Jeff Beavan and drummer Randy Marsh fire up the jazz jam at Hopcat, 25 Ionia Ave. SW, at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Also, Chicago-area jazz fusion guitarist Fareed Haque brings his genre-bending band MathGames to Founders Brewing Co., 235 Grandville Ave. SW, at 9:30 p.m. Saturday ($5).

Hey, Monkees’ fans, jazz even found favor with Davy Jones, who with his bandmates also had a soft spot for West Michigan.

As one of the most popular teen idols of all time, Jones clearly touched a lot of hearts as evidenced by the outpouring of Facebook comments and reactions to his untimely death Wednesday from a heart attack at age 66.

(As one Facebook commenter put it so aptly, he took the “Last Train to Clarksville.” Michael Nesmith, arguably the most talented of The Monkees, not surprisingly had the most poignant comments to make following Jones’ death. Read those here.)

Thanks to the TV sensation that The Monkees became and all the pop records they sold, Jones literally spent the last 46 years of his life as a teen heartthrob, which must have felt rather strange when he hit retirement age.

Heck, his third wife was 32 years his junior, and judging by comments from mourning female fans, many were still swooning over this handsome singer.

But I also find it fascinating that the last album Jones made, a solo effort titled “She” in 2009, was a jazz-tinged collection of standards. You can check out some samples of that here.

By the way, I managed to see Jones and The Monkees in concert – in 1986 in Mulligan’s Hollow in Grand Haven, of all places — after growing up with their goofy-fun TV series. And Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk of MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press noted in a story that Jones also performed as part of the Teen Idols Tour at the DeltaPlex in Walker in 1998.

The Monkees really were over-the-top popular for a brief period of time (probably not unlike Hannah Montana for millennials). And thanks to some great songwriters, The Monkees actually released a handful of memorable hits, including “I’m a Believer,” which has been a staple in my band’s repertoire for eons.

RIP, Mr. Jones.

Email: jsinkevics@gmail.com