We’re in a recession -- some say a depression -- but live music has never seemed livelier, and many of the shows I go to are very well attended.

A friend visited earlier this week and we went to the Dakota to see Brad Mehldau, Maud Hixson and Eric Bibb, to Fireside Pizza for singer Charmin Michelle’s birthday, and to Barbette for a late-night show on Monday by the James Buckley Trio. Each time, she was surprised by the size of the crowd.

The Clown Lounge in the basement of the Turf Club is SRO some Monday nights. Café Maude is packed on the weekends. And the Twin Cities turned out in force to hear McCoy Tyner at Orchestra Hall April 30.

Live music is still a good deal, and it usually makes you feel good. There’s a lot more coming in the next few months that’s worth going out to hear. As they say, watch this space.

Saturday, May 9: Jim Cullum Jazz Band. If you’ve listened to the “Riverwalk” program on KBEM (the Twin Cities’ jazz station at 88.5 on your dial), you’ve heard the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Its permanent home is The Landing, a jazz club on San Antonio’s River Walk, “just across the alley from the Alamo,” but the band sometimes tour, playing such venues as Carnegie Hall and our own Hopkins Center for the Arts. If you enjoy the sounds of jazz and popular song from the turn of the 20th century to the mid-1940s, this is for you. Cullum is a four-time Grammy winner. 7:30 p.m., Hopkins Center for the Arts  ($24). 952-979-1100.

Saturday, May 9: Jason Moran and The Big Bandwagon. Jazz pianist, composer, collaborator, and visionary Moran is a happening in a pork-pie hat. His “In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall” is one of the season’s most highly anticipated events. What began as a commission from SFJAZZ and other organizations to re-create Thelonious Monk’s famous 1959 concert evolved into a multimedia conceptual project that incorporates Monk’s music, W. Eugene Smith’s documentary work, Moran’s eight-piece band, his 2007 pilgrimage to Monk’s ancestral home in North Carolina, photographs and recorded samples of Monk rehearsing for the Town Hall event. The New York Times’ Ben Ratliff called it “stunning.” 7 and 9:30 p.m., Walker Art Center, McGuire Theater  ($35/$30 Walker members). 612-375-7600.

Thursday, May 14: James Buckley Trio “Knowing and Losing” CD Release. Like most other area musicians, bassist Buckley plays with several bands; his include Mystery Palace and Bison Forest plus there’s something in the works with accordionist Patrick Harison, saxophonist Chris Bates, and drummer Sean Carey. The Trio features Bryan Nichols on piano and J.T. Bates on drums. Like their first CD, “Stitches” (2007), the brand-new “Knowing and Losing” is all Buckley originals. Listen here. Expect melodic, spacious, thought-provoking, often beautiful music by three fine musicians. Will they all wear plaid shirts? 7:00 p.m., Dakota ($5). 612-332-1010.

Pamela Espeland tweets a daily jazz calendar on Twitter and blogs about jazz at Bebopified. Find Twin Cities jazz calendars and more jazz news online at Jazz Police. In the Main Menu at the left, click on Twin Cities. Jazz radio station KBEM 88.5FM posts a live music calendar each week; view it online in the Events menu.