Happy New Year! As we close the door on 2023 and start to look ahead, it’s a good time to take note of some highlights from the next couple of months — shows that are likely to sell out, and should be on your agenda. So consider this edition of Moment’s Notice a great way to get a jump on 2024. Sign up now to get this guide in your inbox weekly!
Spotlight: Cécile McLorin Salvant — Feb. 3, Zellerbach Theater
One evening this fall, Cécile McLorin Salvant strode to center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium and sang a regal rendition of “America the Beautiful,” making a subtle yet substantial revision to the order of its lyrics. Her performance, preceding a historic US Open Women’s Final, informed the world what many astute listeners already knew: Salvant is not only a generational jazz talent but also a fearless messenger, raising questions and speaking truths through her chosen medium. She does a playful version of the same thing on Mélusine, the folkloric, cosmopolitan album she released in 2023, which has turned up on a handful of year-end lists. And as she returns to Penn Live Arts — which presented a stunning prerelease concert for her previous album, Ghost Song, at the close of 2021 — Salvant is sure to infuse her program with a spirit of serious play.
Feb. 3 at 8 p.m., Zellerbach Theater, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street, $29 to $100; purchase tickets.
Robert Glasper — Jan. 12-14, City Winery
Lately it seems that every year is a banner year for Robert Glasper, the pianist, composer and coalescer synonymous with an organic contemporary alloy of jazz, hip-hop and R&B. Still, it’s worth noting that in 2023, Glasper earned two Grammy nominations (for “Back to Love,” a single featuring Alex Isley and SiR); convened another Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa Valley, with the likes of Mary J. Blige and Rakim; presided over his annual month-long “Robtober” residency at the Blue Note in New York; and dropped In December, an Apple Music holiday EP.
Jan. 12-14 at 6 and 9:30 p.m., City Winery, 990 Filbert Street, $45 to $85; tickets and information.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis — Jan. 21, Verizon Hall
Among other, lesser distinctions, 2024 marks the centennial for Max Roach, whose innovations at the drumset helped revolutionize jazz, and whose tireless political engagement did the same for American culture. This concert, featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, will focus on both aspects of Roach’s legacy. It falls the day after a two-night run at JALC’s home in New York, with music direction by drummer Obed Calvaire, and guest appearances by singer Shenel Johns and Chorale Le Chateau led by Damien Sneed.
Jan. 21 at 5 p.m., Verizon Hall, Kimmel Cultural Campus, 300 South Broad Street, $55 to $95, tickets and information.
Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis — Feb. 8, Solar Myth
Earlier this year, guitarist Mary Halvorson earned a rare distinction when her sextet album Amaryllis was named Album of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll (technically it shared the honor with another Halvorson release, the chamber effort Belladonna). Amaryllis features Halvorson’s inspired writing for a band packed with firecrackers: trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, trombonist Jacob Garchik, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, bassist Nick Dunston and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Their concert at the Big Ears festival was one of my top performances of the year, and with new music in the pipeline, this one might well top it.
Feb. 8 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $30; tickets and information.
Bill Frisell Three — Feb. 20, Ardmore Music Hall
Few musicians in our midst have ever sustained the level of graceful, lyrical interiority that Bill Frisell accesses whenever he picks up a guitar. For fresh evidence, seek out the new album Owl Song, which trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire conceived as an outing with Frisell and drummer Herlin Riley. Or you could set a date with a different trio — the one that Frisell leads here, with two compatriots deeply in tune with his style, multi-reedist Gregory Tardy and drummer Rudy Royston.
Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, PA, $29 and $49; purchase tickets.
