Back in the 1980s, writers often compared the English singer, songwriter and keyboardist Joe Jackson to contemporaneous singers like Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. I never understood the comparison — unlike the soul-obsessed Parker and the sometimes soulful Costello, Jackson wasn’t exactly an R&B stylist. Jackson’s breakthrough came with his 1982 album Night and Day, which combined salsa with pop and jazz. For my money, that album’s “Steppin’ Out” and “Breaking Us in Two” are prime examples of super-schlock that earn their right to be earworms and thus big hits — Jackson has always been a real pro. I find Night and Day more durable than his early work, which isn’t as dense — or as crazy — as Costello’s 1978 This Year’s Model or Parker’s 1979 Squeezing Out Sparks. His new album Hope and Fury registers as a great example of Steely Dan Lite, right down to the guitar solos and the general air of frustration with the demands of the modern world. I mean that as a compliment — Jackson really inhabits his jazz-salsa-pop-rock fusion, and his tricky chord changes and mutated song structures have their pleasures. On the record’s final cut, “See You in September,” he goes to the beach for a brief vacation, and he sounds like he’s earned one.
7:30 p.m at the Ryman
116 Rep. John Lewis Way N.
