One beautiful thing about jazz is its sheer expanse of stylistic expression. That quality shines bright in this week’s highlights on the Philly performance calendar, which offers everything from the hard-bop of Joe Farnsworth and Emmet Cohen to the Brazilian sounds of Amaro Freitas to the kinetic complexities of Tim Berne’s Snakeoil. Not to mention the London Afrobeat of Kokoroko, a band well worth seeing in action.
Spotlight: Kokoroko — Friday, World Cafe Live
There has always been an open dialogue between Afrobeat and jazz; the two musics share not only a root system but also a mode of spontaneous expression. Still, there aren’t many examples of a group that successfully synthesizes both styles, without compromise on either side. One of the most visible is Kokoroko, an eight-piece band that emerged on the London scene, releasing its debut album, Could We Be More, on Brownswood Recordings in 2022.
The band has earned its reputation for transfixing live shows, drawing from influences that include Fela Kuti, Donald Byrd and King Sunny Ade. They’ve just dropped a new single, “Three Piece Suit,” featuring the Nigerian-British singer Azekel, and nodding toward the Nigerian immigrant experience. “When we wrote the lyrics,” explains Kokoroko’s percussionist, Onome Edgeworth, “we were thinking of our grandfathers arriving in London and the way they carried themselves and dressed in the 1960s. They were part of a dapper and suited generation that sowed the seeds for the worlds we’re building now.”
“Three Piece Suit” is part of a newly announced EP, Get the Message. It’s sure to provide material for Kokoroko’s show at World Cafe Live, part of a barnstorming North American tour.
Oct. 11 at 8 p.m., World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street, $25-$35 advance, $28-$38 day of show; purchase tickets.
Amaro Freitas — Tuesday, Solar Myth
The Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas specializes in a music of teeming tensions: folkloric but future-minded, traditional but experimental, chaotic but clear. Y'Y, his ambitious new album, was inspired by a trip into the Amazonian rainforest, though it includes Northern Hemisphere collaborators like harpist Brandee Younger and flutist Shabaka Hutchings. At the Newport Jazz Festival this summer, Freitas turned his performance into a party; he’ll surely do something similar in this solo gig at Solar Myth.
Oct. 8 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $30; purchase tickets.
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil — Wednesday and Thursday, Solar Myth
For his 70th birthday, which falls a week after this Ars Nova Workshop booking, composer and saxophonist Tim Berne reconvenes one of his most acclaimed ensembles: Snakeoil, featuring Oscar Noriega on clarinets, Matt Mitchell on piano, and Ches Smith on drums and vibraphone. The group, last heard on a 2020 album wryly titled The Deceptive 4, specializes in a tensile mix of complex maneuvers and spontaneous actions.
Oct. 9 and 10 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $25 advance, $30 day of show; purchase tickets.
Andy Snitzer — Thursday, South Jazz Kitchen
A native son of Cheltenham, PA, saxophonist Andy Snitzer has led a starry career, on tour and in the studio with everyone from The Rolling Stones to Chaka Khan. He happens to be in town as a member of Chris Botti’s band, which appears at the Rivers Casino on Friday. On the previous night, Snitzer will lead his own band on the Unscripted Series at South, drawing from his most recent album, A Beautiful Day.
Oct. 10 at 7 and 9 p.m., South Jazz Kitchen, 600 North Broad Street, $35-$39; tickets and information.
Joe Farnsworth Trio featuring Emmet Cohen — Friday and Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
The straight-ahead jazz tradition has a couple of effective ambassadors in drummer Joe Farnsworth and pianist Emmet Cohen, who hail from different generations but adhere to the same principles of brightly swinging exuberance. They settle in here for a weekend gig on the cusp of an overseas tour of South Korea and Japan.
Oct. 11 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Oct. 12 at 7:30 and 9 p.m, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $30, $100 and $120 on Friday, $35, $105 and $125 on Saturday, with dinner packages; purchase tickets.
Richie Goods with Chien Chien Lu — Friday and Saturday, 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, Lu and Goods create a spotlight for singer-songwriter J. Hoard, whose liquid expressivity as a vocalist is a natural fit for the band.
Oct. 11 and 12 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., South Jazz Kitchen, 600 North Broad Street, $37; tickets and information.
