FRIDAY-SUNDAY

>> A top jazz drummer will rock the Blue Note

Billy Cobham, considered one of the foremost drummers in jazz over the last 40-plus years, appears at Blue Note Hawaii for a weekend gig.

Cobham was born in Panama and raised and educated in some of New York’s best arts schools, but refined his skills drumming for the Army. He worked with Miles Davis, appearing on milestone recordings like “Bitches Brew,” and co-founded the exotic, virtuousic Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin before producing his solo debut recording, the surprise jazz-rock-fusion hit “Spectrum” in 1973. The album is an improvisatory masterpiece that took only a few days to record but reached No. 1 on the Billboard jazz charts. Cobham revisited “Spectrum” for its 40th anniversary in 2013, again to popular acclaim.

Cobham has released more than 40 recordings leader and he is also known for his rock collaborations with Jack Bruce of Cream, Peter Gabriel of Genesis and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead.

For this visit Cobham is featuring his 1974 album “Crosswinds,” and it will be a treat. He’ll be playing many pieces that have never been performed before live audiences before, including “Spanish Moss” and “Savannah the Serene” from “Crosswinds” and “Taurean Matador” from the 2013 version of “Spectrum.”

He’ll play with Paul Hanson on sax and bassoon, Scott Tibbs on keyboards, Fareed Haque on guitar and Tim Landers on bass.

SATURDAY

>> Join the whirl of Irish food, drink and music

Brush up your brogue. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, the annual celebration of Ireland and all things Irish.

Head downtown to Murphy’s Bar & Grill, which once again will be the epicenter of one of Chinatown’s largest daytime festivals of the year. The joint is hosting an all-day, family-friendly event featuring food, games and live entertainment.

The event kicks off at 11 a.m. with an authentic Irish meal, with 3,000 pounds of corned beef ready to serve at Murphy’s and in the parking lot across the street. The menu also includes steamed clams, fresh salmon, fresh oysters, lamb shank, grilled steak, calamari and shrimp. At noon, a keiki fair will open, offering face painting, balloons, crafts and storytelling for kids. Then at 4 p.m., the nearby streets will be closed for a block party. Entertainment for the party includes local Irish band Doolin Rakes and top rock band Elephanty.

Even when it falls midweek, St. Patrick’s Day always draws a huge crowd to Murphy’s, so be prepared for an even bigger weekend crowd.

Waikiki also shares in the luck of the Irish with the 51st Annual Waikiki St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which begins at noon at Fort DeRussy and goes down Kalakaua Avenue to Kapiolani Park, where there will be an Irish festival.

SALT at Our Kaka‘ako will hold a Block Party and Bar Crawl, with Guinness featured at a beer gardens and local pubs. Entertainment includes singer Josh Sharp at 5 p.m., Yoza at 7:30 p.m., prize giveways and other fun. Festivities start at 3 p.m.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

>> Young violinist solos in all-Russian orchestra program

Acclaimed violinist Esther Yoo makes her local debut with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra this weekend, but it’s a homecoming of sorts. Her grandparents live here and her father is a Roosevelt High School grad. She’s visited the islands often.

Her father’s work took her to Belgium at age 6, which led her to immersion in classical music and a decorated career. She won the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition junior division in 2006 and took third in the International Sibelius Violin Competition in 2010 at 16, the youngest age for any competitor in contest history.

Yoo has emerged as one of the fresh new faces in classical music today, posting YouTube videos about her musical journey, her latest food fetish and her favorite films, in one video showing off her collection of action-movie T-shirts. “From my point of view, a lot of classical artists are known just to be classical artists, whereas in other fields you know a lot more about them than just what they do on stage,” she said in a phone interview from Europe. “It’s also about having a conversation, so sometimes I ask my followers on social media (#AskEsther) what questions they have.”

Her life is now a blur of concerts, practice and travel. She’s played throughout Europe, Asia and South America, but started touring North America only three years ago. Her lifestyle became even more glamorous with her recent work on the soundtrack for “On Chesil Beach,” a film based on a Ian McEwan novel starring Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan. Yoo recorded it at the famous Abbey Road Studios and attended the film’s debut in Toronto, “which was amazing.”

She will perform Glazunov’s “Violin Concerto in A minor, op.82,” a lesser-known but formidable work in the repertoire that features a virtuosic solo in the first movement. “It’s very intricate technically as well as musically,” she said of the solo. “There’s a lot of polyphonic voices going on, with the double stops and chords and trills. There’s a lot to think about.”

As a whole, the concerto is “very Russian in the sense that there’s so many dance elements,” she said. “It has really lyrical and beautiful melodies mixed with very virtuosic brilliant passages and dialogue between the violin and orchestra.”

Laura Jackson conducts the orchestra in an all-Russian program.

SUNDAY

>> International women’s films to be showcased

Lunafest, an international traveling film festival, will screen nine short films by, for and about women at Sacred Hearts Academy on Sunday.

Founded in 2000, Lunafest has spread to more than 175 cities worldwide as a way to showcase women filmmakers, who Lunafest says are outnumbered by men by more than 2 to 1 among short-film makers, while also raising awareness and funds for local women’s organizations. This screening benefits Zonta Club of Leilehua, which has supported projects like Hawaii Women in Filmmaking.

The films include “Buttercup,” which addresses the theme of friendship; “Girls Level Up,” the portrayal of a Pakistani woman who helps middle school girls in Silicon Valley develop their tech skills; “Toys,” an innovative animated film about of a father who tries to raise his daughter like a boy by giving her toys for boys; “Fanny Pack,” an Indian-American comedy; “Joy Joy Nails,” about a Korean-owned nail salon in a Connecticut mall; “Yours Sincerely, Lois Weber,” a tribute to Universal Studios’ top silent film director; “Jesszilla,” about a 10-year-old girl who wants to become a boxer; “Waiting for Hassana,” about a girl’s escape from Boko Haram militants in Nigeria; and “Last Summer, in the Garden,” detailing a woman’s encounter with life and death that was one of last year’s top animated movies.