Previews: Brian Patneaude, Leo Russo, Tom Rush

When jazz drummer-pianist Cliff Brucker composed “Schenectady Is The Place,” he might have been predicting this weekend, alive with two jazz saxophone shows – Brian Patneaude Thursday then Leo Russo Friday – followed by a Saturday show by folksinger Tom Rush.

Thursday night, tenor saxophonist Brian Patneaude leads his Quartet at the Van Dyck Jazz Club, upstairs from Stella Pasta Bar (237 Union St.)

Thursday’s show of original Patneaude tunes and jazz classics marks a return for the saxophonist and his longtime drummer Danny Whelchel; they played in the Van Dyck’s 90s house band for weekly jams. Patneaude’s Quartet also celebrated the release of its debut album “Variations” (2003) there.

Brian Patneaude at Jazz on Jay in July 2024. Michael Hochanadel photo

“I have fond memories of hearing many of my biggest musical inspirations there,” says Patneaude, “including Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Chris Potter, Dave Holland, Brian Blade and so many more.” Note Patneaude mentioned Brecker first; his own kinetic, controlled style resembles Brecker’s smoothness and drive. Patneaude also played the Van Dyck with Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble during the big band’s long residency there. (He’ll play with Pray Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the Cock ’N’ Bull in Galway, the big band’s new home, since COVID.)

At the Van Dyck Thursday, Patneaude and Whelchel will play with pianist Rob Lindquist and bassist Jerod Grieco. Patneaude says, “We couldn’t be more excited to return to this legendary stage!” 

Showtime is 7:30 p.m., dinner service at Stella Pasta Bar begins at 4 p.m. Admission is $15, advance; $20 at the door. 518-630-5173 http://www.stellapastabar.com/vdmc.

Patneaude is a fan of Albany-born saxophonist Leo Russo, playing Friday at A Place for Jazz a few blocks from the Van Dyck. Along with saxophonist Nick Brignola, Russo inspired a new generation of area reed players.

Leo Russo. Photo provided

“I’ve always admired him. His playing is top notch,” Patneaude told the Times Union’s R.J. DeLuke before a 2018 show. “He knows every tune you can throw at him and even if he doesn’t know, he can navigate his way through it and play some of the most beautiful, lyrical improvisations you’ll ever hear.”

The Leo Russo Sextet plays Friday at A Place for Jazz in the Carl B. Taylor Auditorium of the SUNY Schenectady County Community College music department, with his saxophonist son Lee Russo, pianist Larry Ham, guitarist Mike Novakowski, bassist Pete Toigo and drummer Bob Halek. All are busy area pros (though Ham lives in the lower Hudson Valley), each playing in multiple bands. Most are also teachers, as Leo Russo was for 27 years in Troy public schools.

A shout-out here to Cliff Brucker who’s played with Russo since 1986 in bands large and small including the Full Circle group which Brucker organized to showcase Russo in the studio, then onstage. 

“When Leo turned 80…in 2016, I came up with the idea of getting him ‘on wax’ to document his playing,” Brucker said. They recorded at the College of St. Rose where Brucker was then teaching. They completed “Full Circle, Vol. 2” on Russo’s 81st birthday. The albums marked a career renaissance for veteran sax-master Russo.

Show time is 7:30 p.m. $25, $10 for students with ID. http://www.aplaceforjazz.org. Cash or check sales at the door, no credit cards.

A few years younger than Leo Russo (88), folksinger Tom Rush (84) returns Saturday to the Eighth Step at Proctors GE Theatre (432 State St.) – a frequent stop in a touring career deep as Dylan’s. 

Rush started performing in Boston-area coffeehouses while studying at Harvard, recorded his first album onstage at the Unicorn there in 1962 and hasn’t stopped for long since. 

Tom Rush. Photo provided

His low-key style has endured as a model of durability through unerring taste in selecting songs that fit his low-pressure voice. He trusts the songs to do the heavy lifting and simply releases them before us, which is why his voice has lasted so well. He’s credited with launching the 1970s singer-songwriter era by discovering songs by stars-to-be Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jackson Browne and others. An early peak “The Circle Game” (1968) remains his highest-charting album, introducing three Mitchell tunes, two by Taylor and one each by Browne, Charlie Rich and Billy Hill. “The Circle Game” also introduced two Rush originals other singers have covered since: “No Regrets” and “Rockport Sunday” – the latter lending its name to Rush’s COVID-era online series of homemade kitchen table videos of his songs.

That’s Rush’s gift, so obvious but so effortless-looking that it’s easy to overlook its power: Wherever he plays, from his woody north shore kitchen to Boston’s classy Symphony Hall and everywhere he plays on tour, he makes us feel we’ve just pulled up a chair at his kitchen table. He sits across from us with his six string, his easy voice and headful of top tunes and tall tales.

He’s invited us into that intimate performing style for decades of shows here, including the only concert I ever saw in Troy’s Proctors Theater. This was in 1974, a few years after “The Circle Game.” He brought cool folk-rock openers Orphan and Travis, Shook and the Club Wow, before George Carlin hired them as his longtime opener. Had to be fall: Rush wryly touted his “Ladies Love Outlaws” album as “a perfect holiday gift.”

His Eighth Step shows are year-after-year favorites. Once, during intermission, Eighth Step impresario Margie Rosenkranz brought me into Rush’s dressing room. He barely looked up from the book he was reading – large, hard-cover, Harvard-caliber – as she asked me to tote his two six strings onto the stage. I got a nice round of applause but I’ve wondered ever since what he was reading.

Berklee grad Matt Nakoa plays piano with Rush on Saturday at the Eighth Step. 7:30 p.m. $33 advance, $35 on Saturday; $60 front and center seating with 6:30 onstage meet and greet. 518-346-6204 www.proctors.org www.8thstep.org