Called "one of the best jazz ensembles in the world" (Jazz Podium, Germany), the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra kicks off its 44th season at Scullers with a high-energy show including Mark Harvey's Spaceways (for Sun Ra) and Saxophrenia (written for the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble and saxophone legend Joe Lovano). Both of the pieces are from Aardvark’s new CD Passages (Leo Records). Also on tap: the world premiere of Mark Harvey’s Northeast Express, plus the Duke Ellington-Juan Tizol classic Caravan and the Ellington-Johnny Hodges ballad Jeep's Blues, in honor of Cambridge-Boston native Hodges on the 110th anniversary of his birth.