Welcome to Moment’s Notice, WRTI’s weekly digest of jazz listings in the Philadelphia area. It will launch as an email newsletter in September, so be sure to sign up now!
Spotlight: Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons - Saturday, Solar Myth
The indefatigable creative spirit known as Marshall Allen recently celebrated his 99th birthday precisely the way you’d expect: wielding his alto saxophone and EWI onstage with the Sun Ra Arkestra, which he has led since 1995. (He was a young man then, in his early 70s.) “I was so wrapped up in the music and trying to build something,” Allen reflected in a recent video profile by the Philadelphia Inquirer, “that I didn’t have the time to be out there destroying myself.” That singular devotion to music extends his reach beyond the Arkestra’s tour schedule: Allen can be heard on at least three new releases this year, by bassist Tyler Mitchell, multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid, and fellow Arkestra saxophonist Knoel Scott. His mutable small group Ghost Horizons graced Solar Myth earlier this year, to exhilarating effect; this return engagement finds Allen in the elite company of Arkestra guitarist DMHotep, bassist Eric Revis, and drummers Mikel Patrick Avery and Chad Taylor.
Aug. 12 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 S. Broad Street, $30; purchase tickets.
Imani Records Jam Session - Tuesday, Solar Myth
Two Philly-based musical entities founded in the early 2000s, Ars Nova Workshop and Imani Records, recently teamed up for the first time to present a month’s worth of Tuesday-night jam sessions. This week’s edition, its second of four, will be hosted by Tarbaby — the avant-garde supertrio featuring Nasheet Waits on drums, Eric Revis on bass, and Orrin Evans, Imani’s resident co-founder, on piano. The bar is high.
Aug. 8 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 S. Broad Street, $10; purchase tickets.
Dylan Band Quintet - Friday and Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Tenor and soprano saxophonist Dylan Band is a true-blue product of the local jazz pipeline: an alumnus of both the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts and Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance; a protégé of hometown hero Larry McKenna; a co-leader of the Philadelphia Ambassador Big Band. He shows two sides this weekend, appearing on Friday with a quintet jointly led by pianist Joe Block, and on Saturday with singer Danielle Dougherty.
Aug. 11 and 12 at 8 and 10 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $25-$95, with dinner packages; purchase tickets.
Richie Goods with Chien Chien Lu - Friday through Aug. 13, South Jazz Kitchen
As we’ve mentioned before here at WRTI, bassist Richie Goods and vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu developed their project CONNECTED in the depths of pandemic time, as a response to social unrest and a spur toward positive change. For this weekend run, the Lu and Goods create a spotlight for singer-songwriter J. Hoard, whose liquid expressivity as a vocalist is a natural fit for the band.
Aug. 11 and 12 at 7 and 9:30 p.m.; Aug. 13 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.; South Jazz Kitchen, 600 N. Broad Street, $30 to $35; purchase tickets.
