Vocalist Martin Beal has operatic training but counts Mel Torme, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bobby Darrin among his favorite singers.

Those three had old-school swing in their blood, and based on Beal's new record, "Smile," he does too. Beal recorded the album this past fall at drummer Rick Lotter's Sacramento studio with a solid core band of Lotter, pianist Joe Gilman, bassist Matt Robinson, trumpeter Tom Peron and saxophonist Darius Babazadeh.

They'll all be together at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Red Lion Hotel Woodlake's Lakeside Room celebrating the CD release. Beal conceived the upbeat 11-track album as a tribute to his father; it includes several American songbook classics that have become jazz favorites, such as "Pick Yourself Up" by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern, which has been sung by Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra and Diana Krall.

Beal also favors the Latin side of jazz and includes "No More Blues (Chega de Saudade)," sometimes called the first bossa nova song, on the CD. It's written by the Brazilian masters Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes with English lyrics by Jon Hendricks. Also on "Smile" is "Song for My Father," the bossa nova-based jazz classic from Horace Silver.

Beal encourages attendees to dress in 1940s attire (I know you just put that stuff away and pulled out your '60s "Mad Men" outfits – I did too). There's no cover charge for the "Smile" release party and any proceeds from the event will benefit the Senior Center of Elk Grove. In the Lakeside Room at the Red Lion Hotel Woodlake, 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento. Call (916) 922-2020 ext. 7348 for information or go to www.martinbeal.com.

'TRACES' at Three Stages

The performance event "TRACES," which comes to Folsom's Three Stages on Monday and Tuesday, has been billed as "Cirque du Soleil on skateboards."

The Montreal-based group 7 Fingers created the show, mixing classic circus acrobatics with urban movement including skateboarding, basketball and parkour.

7 Fingers is also known as Les 7 Doigts de la Main, or "the seven fingers of the hand." It is a group of Canadian alternative artists who endeavor to make the circus experience more human and intimate and less of an impersonal big-top extravaganza. The number refers to the seven company founders whose artistic goals were visualized (somewhat surreally) as seven fingers on a single hand coming together for a common objective.

Two of the 7 Fingers co-founders, Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, share direction and choreography on "TRACES." The show is performed by Mason Ames, Valérie Benôit-Charbonneau, Mathieu Cloutier, Bradley Henderson, Lucas Boutin, and LJ Marles. There's music by Radiohead and VAST, but I won't hold it against them since they also have Blackalicious on their soundtrack.

"TRACES" performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are $29-$59. For information, call (916) 608-6888 or go to www.threestages.net. Three Stages is on the campus of Folsom Lake College at 10 College Parkway in Folsom.

Call The Bee's Call The Bee's Marcus Crowder, (916) 321-1120. Follow him on Twitter @marcuscrowder.

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