Fall Guide: What’s coming up in jazz
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Natalie Cressman, Chucho Valdés, Eldar and more.
Eldar
Virtuosic pianist Eldar Djangirov will spend a weekend celebrating Chris’ Jazz Café’s anniversary, leading his electrifying trio.
- Sept. 26-27, Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., chrisjazzcafe.com.
REBELLUM
Former Village Voice writer Greg Tate split this smaller unit off from the larger Burnt Sugar Arkestra to delve into the dark and fiery side of Afro-Futurist funk-rock.
- Sept. 27, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., paintedbride.org.
Chucho Valdés
A true legend of Cuban music, pianist Valdés is an acclaimed bandleader and founder of the groundbreaking group Irakere. His Afro-Cuban Messengers com-bines the mentorship of Art Blakey’s influential band with the rhythms of Valdés’ homeland.
- Oct. 4, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St., annenbergcenter.org.
Kurt Elling
The unflappably cool Chicago crooner performs songs from his new project Passion World, a globe-trotting look at love through internationally famous ballads performed in six different languages.
- Oct. 5, Kimmel Center, 300 S Broad St., kimmelcenter.org.
Natalie Cressman
Daughter of Santana trombonist and recording engineer Jeff Cressman, vocalist, trombonist and composer Natalie Cressman plays with jazz greats like Nicholas Payton and Wycliffe Gordon when not logging road hours with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio.
- Oct. 10, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., philamuseum.org.
Nir Felder
Taking inspiration from the headlines, guitarist Felder’s Golden Age (OKeh) incorporates snippets from speeches by everyone from Malcolm X to Richard Nixon and Elie Wiesel to question the very notion of a “golden age,” though his fluid, rock-tinged jazz may contribute to a modern one for the music.
- Oct. 11, Chris’ Jazz Café, chrisjazzcafe.com.
Sam Amidon with Bill Frisell
Guitarist Frisell is a pioneer in playing jazz with an Americana bent, so he’s an ideal collaborator with indie-folk singer/fiddler/banjoist/guitarist Amidon. They’ll be performing folk songs, hymns and country ballads from Amidon’s new CD Lily-O (Nonesuch).
- Oct. 17, FringeArts, 140 N Columbus Blvd., arsnovaworkshop.com.
John Pizzarelli
The guitarist and singer brings his sleek throwback style, which channels the likes of Sinatra and Nat King Cole with a modern pop tinge, to MontCo’s Lively Arts series.
- Oct. 18, Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, Pa., mc3.edu.
Dave Stryker
The guitarist’s Eight Track Quartet, which features vibraphonist Stefon Harris, performs jazz versions of songs that epitomize the eponymous defunct format, including hits by Curtis Mayfield, Bread and the Jackson 5.
- Nov. 1, Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., chrisjazzcafe.com.
The Cookers
Trumpeter David Weiss corrals some of jazz’s most undersung legends into one heavyweight hard-bop supergroup featuring Billy Harper, Eddie Henderson, George Cables, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart.
- Nov. 1, Painted Bride, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., paintedbride.org.
Abraxas
Led by gimbri player Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, the “tribal rock band” Abraxas has made significant contributions to John Zorn’s Masada and Book of Angels repertoire, and most recently recorded a set of Zorn compositions penned expressly for the quartet Psychomagia. They’ll bring radical Jewish music to the traditional Jewish setting of South Philly’s “Little Shul.”
- Nov. 13, Shivtei Yeshuron-Ezras Israel, 2015 S. Fourth St., arsnovaworkshop.com.
Ted Rosenthal Trio
The veteran pianist’s latest, Rhapsody in Gershwin (Playscape), presents a stripped-down trio explor-ation of Gershwin’s landmark “Rhapsody in Blue.”
- Nov. 14, Philadelphia Museum of Art, philamuseum.org.
Diane Schuur
Deedles’ I Remember You pays homage to Stan Getz and Frank Sinatra, serving in part to commemorate her discovery by Getz at the 1979 Monterey Jazz Festival.
- Nov. 15, Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, mc3.edu.
Arturo Sandoval Quintet
Not many jazz musicians can claim to have been played by Andy Garcia, but trumpeter Sandoval’s mentorship by Dizzy Gillespie and defection from Cuba were the subject of a 2000 TV movie starring the Cuban-American actor.
- Nov. 16, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, annenbergcenter.org.
