Moment’s Notice is WRTI’s regular guide to the Philadelphia jazz scene. We’re here to tip you off to the best shows during the week ahead. Sign up now to receive this service in your inbox every Sunday. And if you want to let us know about a show on the horizon, or share any other feedback, drop us a line!
Spotlight: Air Legacy Trio — Friday, Solar Myth
Throughout the 1970s and into the mid-’80s, the collective trio known as Air came to epitomize the free-thinking yet rigorous impulses behind an ascendant avant-garde. With Henry Threadgill on saxophones, flutes and roguish percussion, Fred Hopkins on double bass, and Steve McCall on drums, the group achieved a measure of mainstream success along with its capacious critical acclaim. As the critic Gary Giddins once wrote: “Air achieved nonpareil equity among its members, who could — playing Joplin and Morton or originals — undermine the beat without forfeiting it.” That magic cohesive elasticity has since become a part of jazz’s framework.
And Threadgill, 80, has become one of our most garlanded elders: an NEA Jazz Master and Pulitzer Prize recipient, and author of an award-winning memoir. Earlier this year, for a residency at the Big Ears Festival, he charged two longtime associates, the multi-reedist Marty Ehrlich and drummer Pheeroan akLaff, to revisit the Air repertory under the aegis of an official tribute. They enlisted a powerful bassist, Hillard Greene, and formed the Air Legacy Trio. This week, the ensemble goes out on tour — performing concerts in New York and Baltimore before arriving here, for an Ars Nova Workshop presentation at Solar Myth.
Dec. 13 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $35 advance, $40 day of show; purchase tickets.
Steve Fidyk & Temple University Lab Band — Thursday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Steve Fidyk has ample experience as a big band drummer, notably through 20-plus years with the Army Blues Big Band. He’s now a member of the jazz studies faculty at the Boyer College of Music, where he leads the Temple University Lab Band. Their one-nighter at Chris’ Jazz Cafe comes on the heels of a fall concert, which means the band is warmed up and ready to go.
Dec. 12 at 7:30 and 9 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $15 general admission, $70 dinner package; purchase tickets.
Tatiana Eva-Marie — Thursday, The Lounge at World Cafe
A charming throwback to Parisian café music of the 1930s, and the Hot Club of France in particular, Tatiana Eva-Marie embraces anachronism with a busker’s nerve. But as she demonstrates on her most recent album, Djangology, she is after more than stylish evocation, locating the drifting lyricism and cosmopolitan flair within the manouche jazz tradition.
Dec. 12 at 8 p.m., World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street, $25 advance, $30 day of show; tickets and information.
Tyreek McDole Quintet — Friday and Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
A swinging baritone who took first prize in the 2023 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, Tyreek McDole is only in his mid-20s, though his style calls back a few generations to Billy Eckstine and Joe Williams. Originally from Florida but now based in New York, he’s been a regular visitor to Chris’ Jazz Cafe, where he sets up here for a weekend run.
Dec. 13 and 14 at 7:30 and 9:30 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.
Motown Meets Jazz — Saturday, Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts
If you know your Detroit music history, it won’t come as news that Motown and jazz were engaged in an active exchange from Day One. The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble, led by bassist Warren Oree, are well aware of this fact; they’ll bring it to the fore on the Clef Club’s Jazz Cultural Voices Concert Series, with songs like The Four Tops’ “I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” and Smokey Robinson’s “The Tracks of My Tears.”
Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m., Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts, 736 South Broad Street, $35; click here for tickets, and here for more information.
