PACKET PICKS: Nov. 1

Princeton ArtsWalk; Battle illuminated

   The Sustainable Jazz Ensemble returns to Labyrinth Books Thursday, Nov. 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. for Princeton’s ArtWalk, offering free and free-range, sustainable jazz. Coffee and tea will be provided.
   Between 5 and 8 p.m. on Thursday art organizations on campus and around town present the first Princeton ArtWalk, a self-guided evening of drop-in art related activities in downtown Princeton. The Princeton ArtWalk will include programming at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Arts Council of Princeton, the Bernstein Gallery, Woodrow Wilson School, Firestone Library, the Lewis Center for the Arts, Historic Moven, the Princeton Historical Society, the Princeton Public Library, Small World Coffee, and Labyrinth Books. Please call 609.924.877 or visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org for more information.
   Based in Princeton, the Sustainable Jazz Ensemble plays all-original jazz composed using only local, organic ingredients, natural chord progressions and solar-powered imaginations. No virgin timbres are harvested for the performances.
   The music combines fresh melodies, inventive arrangements and improvisation.
   The players: Best known in town for his environmental work, Steve Hiltner is a longtime jazz saxophonist and composer who in his life-before-Princeton was musical director for an all-originals jazz/latin group in Ann Arbor, Mich
   Jerry D’Anna is a versatile freelance bass player, doubling on both electric and acoustic basses. His work with jazz, theater, folk, rock and blues bands has taken him from his native metro New York-Philadelphia environs to tours in Europe and the Caribbean. ’’Now settled in the Princeton area, he works in the financial services software industry, performing locally with the Midiri Brothers Orchestra and Jerry Rife’s Rhythm Kings.
   Joining on key-boards is pianist and composer Ron Connor, who attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has been composing and playing popular, jazz and improvisational music for three decades. A Princeton resident, Mr. Connor continues to explore and create music for solo piano, dramatic scores and jazz.
Friday, Nov. 4
Battle illuminated
   Wade Catts’ will bring alive the Battle of Princeton in his lecture at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4 in the Community Room of the the Princeton Public Library.
   Beginning with Gen. Cadwalder’s visit to Princeton as a spy the week before the battle, Mr. Catts will include in his presentation archaeological evidence, and the results of a study mapping the details of the original accounts of the American and British soldiers who fought the battle. He will explain why the Battle of Princeton was the turning point of the American Revolution, the critical role of the topography of the area, the two stages of the battle, and what mistakes were made by both sides.
   Mr. Catts is a registered professional archaeologist and a principal of John Milner Associates.
   The lecture is sponsored by the Princeton Public Library and the Princeton Battlefield Society.