Howell earns spot on Frieda’s wall

Howard Howell has played at Frieda’s, Youngstown’s legendary jazz club, about a zillion times, starting when he was kid in the 1980s.

His hard-driving Howard and the Point Five Band is basically the house band at the club at 381 W. Rayen Ave. The act has had a standing gig – or two – almost every weekend there for years.

Alfreda Anderson Martin, long-time owner of Frieda’s, said she couldn’t possibly count the number of times the keyboardist has played her club.

For decades, Frieda’s has been the stomping grounds of many a great local and national jazz player, and their photos and concert posters adorn the walls.

Howell has now earned a place among them. He will get an induction of sorts into the Frieda’s Hall of Fame on Wednesday, when his photo will be added to the wall. It’s a salute to someone who deserves that status as one of the stalwarts of Frieda’s.

The unofficial ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by (what else?) a performance by Howard and the Point Five Band.

THE ZOU will perform AT COLUMBUS ROCK FEST

Youngstown’s The Zou didn’t play many local shows in the past year, but it has been hustling, and it’s starting to pay off.

The alt-rock band has always made music that visually stirs the imagination. It proved it recently by winning a scholarship to the Durango Film and CD Expo, a clearinghouse for film and TV producers looking for music. The band impressed and is waiting to see what kind of deals might come of it.

Led by Khaled Tabbara, the Zou also earned a spot on the Fashion Meets Music Festival in Columbus Sept. 3-4. The upstart festival will feature headliners Passion Pit and Matt and Kim.

Tabarra was in New York not long ago, doing session work on albums by Broadway star Norbert Leo Butz and Mickey Dolenz (The Monkees) that were produced by his old friend and Youngstown native Michael Moritz. Khaled and Katianne Timko (aka, K808) also have a side project called Wren Rooster, which specializes in bluegrass-Americana-folk-country 1970s love songs, as Tabbara put it.

The Zou’s latest album is last summer’s “The Zou Kills 2.”