The week's best Twin Cities jazz: Three nights of Davina and the Vagabonds at the Dakota

Local music lovers have probably heard of Davina and the Vagabonds. Maybe you even know a little about their recipe for blues, jazz, soul and Crescent City gumbo. They play the Dakota plenty, but things always seem to get in the way of catching a show. Call your own bluff: The group will play three straight nights beginning on Thanksgiving, a residency sure to enrich Davina's saucy yet heartfelt vocals and stage persona. (7 p.m. Thu.-Sat., Dakota, Mpls., $20-$25, dakotacooks.com)

The precocious kids from Hoaxer have left their highfalutin music academies to spend Thanksgiving at home in Minnesota. See (and hear) how much they've grown since playing Vieux Carre this summer. Expect a set of mostly originals by each of the four band members, mixed in with a standard or three. Come early to catch Debbie Duncan in the adjoining room. (9 p.m., Crooners, Fridley, $12, croonersloungemn.com)

The trio Fat Kid Wednesdays might be the most influential Twin Cities jazz band thus far in the 21st century. When childhood friends Adam Linz on bass, Michael Lewis on sax and JT Bates on drums started playing in public in the Clown Lounge basement space nearly 20 years ago, an underground movement was born. This all-too-rare reunion will reprise the sound that went on to enthrall New York critics and European audiences — an irreverent mashup of rock, bop and sophisticated "free jazz" excursions that morph back and forth between noisy and ethereal. (9:30 p.m. Mon., Icehouse, Mpls., $16, icehouse mpls.com)

Vocalist Karrin Allyson was galvanized spunk guest-starring on pianist Laura Caviani's "Mysterious Thelonious" album release in Hopkins last month. Now she's back in town to help the Leigh Kamman Legacy Project, dedicated to preserving and showcasing the interviews, recordings and writings of Kamman, perhaps the greatest advocate for jazz among non-musicians in Minnesota history. Allyson's friend Caviani will be on the piano, alongside the august rhythm section of Gordy Johnson and Phil Hey. (7 p.m. Tue., Dakota, Mpls., $50, dakotacooks.com)

Britt Robson