DOING LUNCH (AND LIFE) WITH MUSIC

The Andreach-Chrepta Jazz Duo returns as opening act for LunchMusic, the plein-air performance series running every Wednesday in June. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi)

In the week when a newly redux version of Riverfest takes back Marine Park in a three-day blast of cooking, crooning, cruising, crafting and kiddie rides, the Shore’s favorite beach-free destination town sounds an even earlier keynote to the season of outdoor tunes — as early as lunchtime Wednesday.

A welcome way-station on the Everest-like hump of the warm weather working week, the free concert events known as LunchMusic return to Riverside Gardens Park this afternoon with a pair of familiar faces — Red Bank’s Andreach-Chrepta Jazz Duo; the selfsame cats who inaugurated Red Bank Rivercenter‘s every-Wednesday-in-June series last year (redbankgreen, of course, was on the scene). The sax-guitar twosome will be playing for “music lovers and any office workers, childcare givers, moms, dads and just anyone who needs a break” between noon and 2pm, with several local eateries also getting into the act by offering some packed-to-go specials designed for noshing by the Navesink.

New for June 2011 are free lunchtime fitness classes at Riverside Gardens, with John Nies of Red Bank’s Power Center conducting a free East West CHI-Camp session from 12 to 1pm, and Dancing Foot Yoga offering an Introduction to Yoga class from 1 to 2pm (it’s bring your own mat and towel).

LunchMusic resumes on June 8 with Pam McCoy & Familiar Faces, and continues on June 15 with Red Bank’s unofficial musical mayor Chuck Lambert joining Susan Haugenes in A Cool Blues Duo. The Tor Miller Band takes the stand on June 22, and the series concludes on June 29 with Howell teens Alina and Justin Zimmerman, a/k/a Sibling Rivalry — who, despite the name, play very nicely together.

That’ll do for lunchtime; if you’re hungry for more music on Saturday nights, RiverCenter is laying out an impressive spread that begins this weekend — with details on the flipside of the paperless page.

Red Bank’s unofficial musical mayor Chuck Lambert takes it outside in June, with appearances at Lunch Music, StreetLife and Riverfest.

We’ve said it before, but a carelessly distracted connoisseur could literally stumble over the next big thing on the streets of Red Bank”— and that’s never more true than during summertime Saturday nights, when Rivercenter puts forth its annual slate of StreetLife music showcases, in which the sidewalks and storefronts of the borough business district reverberate with a shuffle-mix that ranges from acoustic Americana to ethnic eclectica, and from sweet-Adeline harmonies to a little bit of harmonic dissonance.

A companion to Saturday night’s Riverfest schedule down in the park, the June 4 StreetLife partystarter features several performers of longstanding Red Bank pedigree. Out front of the new SurfTaco on Broad Street you’ll find The Al Wright Unit, the cool jazz combo (profiled here in redbankgreen) whose elegant drummer/leader and vocalist wife Ruth Wright are both veterans of the cosmic big-band Sun Ra Arkestra. Over at Danny’s on Bridge Avenue, Sherri Ehrlich — more commonly known as kindie-rock dynamo Miss Sherri from Honey Child Music — offers a rare listen at her musical project for grownups, Sherri Pie. Also on tap are fellow Red Bankers Joey Blue and The Deal at the front courtyard of The Dublin House, Ed Bowlby at Jonathan Salon, and one of the more unusual offerings in the series — the nu-jazz sound sculptures of Eatontown-based experimental guitarist Phred Morris — at Red Bank Chocolate Shoppe.

Confirmed for future Saturdays in the series (for which such touchstones of local life as the Monmouth County Arts Council, Funk & Standard Variety Store and the Count Basie Theatre have once again stepped up in support) are such sonically diverse acts as Middletown-based peppy powerpoppers The Wag, Holmdel ukelele strummer Noah Rauchwerk, strolling “beautyshop” chorale the Heart of NJ Chorus, Matawan songbook stylist Kati Beddow Brower — and Dan and Riley, who if we’re not mistaken are the same (Little Silver?) guys who started their own no-budget YouTube comedy series a few years back.

Here’s the schedule of free entertainments for June, with more to come each Saturnight through August 27. All listings are subject to change and are presented “rain or shine;” check the RiverCenter website for updates — as well as for info on live streetside entertainment during this summer’s “Shop, Rock and Stroll” Sidewalk Sale event.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 (6-9pm)

Al Wright Unit – Surf Taco, 35 Broad Street

Joey Blue & the Deal – Dublin House, 30 Monmouth Street

Ed Bowlby – Jonathan Salon, 93 Broad Street

Phred Morris – Red Bank Chocolate Shoppe, 17 White Street

Sherri Pie – Danny’s Grill & Wine Bar, 11 Bridge Avenue

SATURDAY, JUNE 11 (6-9pm)

Dan & Riley – Surf Taco, 35 Broad Street

Swampgrass Jug Band – Dublin House, 30 Monmouth Street

The Angeltones – Danny’s Grill & Wine Bar, 11 Bridge Avenue

Noah Rauchwerk – Teak, 64 Monmouth Street

Heart of New Jersey Chorus – (strolling downtown)

SATURDAY, JUNE 18 (6-9pm)

Avery Mandeville – Surf Taco, 35 Broad Street

The Wag – Dublin House, 30 Monmouth Street

we are. – Jonathan Salon, 93 Broad Street

James Dunigan – Red Bank Chocolate Shoppe, 17 White Street

Astronaut Jones – Danny’s Grill & Wine Bar, 11 Bridge Avenue

SATURDAY, JUNE 25 (6-9pm)

Men in Gray Suits – Surf Taco, 35 Broad Street

Clan Suibhne – Dublin House, 30 Monmouth Street

Standard Jazz Duet – Jonathan Salon, 93 Broad Street

Jeanne Westendorf – Teak, 64 Monmouth Street

Kati Beddow Brower – Danny’s Grill & Wine Bar, 11 Bridge Avenue