We’re about halfway through Jazz Appreciation Month. How is your observation going? Did you run out and buy some vinyl for Record Store Day? Have you been listening to Nicole Sweeney, WRTI’s new host of Evening Jazz? Have you been to any shows? To that last point, it’s another great week for improvised music in Philly. See what we’ve come up with, and don’t forget to subscribe to Moment’s Notice, to get this rundown in your inbox every week!
Spotlight: Roscoe Mitchell & Tyshawn Sorey — Friday and Saturday, Solar Myth
Roscoe Mitchell — the resolutely original composer, multireedist and educator — will turn 85 this year, and it’s no stretch to suggest that his musical output is as vital and irreducible as ever. A charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), he has influenced more than a half-century of experimental music — from his landmark 1966 album Sound through his tenure with The Art Ensemble of Chicago, and on to projects like the newly released Gratitude: One Head Four People. In June, he’ll receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vision Festival, performing with multiple ensembles at Roulette in Brooklyn.
First comes this two-night concert engagement, part of Ars Nova Workshop’s 25th anniversary season. Mitchell will join in musical dialogue with one of his conceptual heirs: composer, percussionist and educator Tyshawn Sorey, who’s coming off a high-impact residency at the Big Ears Festival. Sorey is almost exactly 40 years Mitchell’s junior, and has been outspoken in his admiration; his 20-minute chamber piece “For Roscoe Mitchell” was premiered by cellist Seth Parker Woods with the Seattle Symphony in 2020.
Mitchell and Sorey have collaborated before, notably on a 2013 album with trumpeter Hugh Ragin. As they do on that recording, they’ll engage in spontaneous compositional practice here — each on his primary instrument, but also ranging into other modes of expression. (Don’t be surprised to see Sorey at the piano, as on a bristling track titled “The Way Home.”) There’s no limit to the sonic possibilities, and no telling what will transpire.
April 18 and 19 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $40 advance, $45 day-of-show; purchase tickets.
Tedd Baker Quintet — Thursday, Temple Performing Arts Center
The tenor saxophonist Tedd Baker is best known on the Washington, D.C. scene, where he’s a member of the U.S. Air Force’s jazz band, The Airmen of Note. In his own bands, he has a robust and fluent style that nudges hard-bop conventions into our modern era; he’ll do so here with a band that features Elijah Cole on guitar, Neil Podgurski on piano, Mike Boone on bass and Maria Marmarou on drums.
April 17 at 4:30 p.m., Temple Performing Arts Center, 1837 North Broad Street, free; more information.
Terell Stafford Quintet — Friday, Notsolatin
Terell Stafford’s crisply engaging recent album, Between Two Worlds, derives its title from a Victor Lewis tune. But the phrase also holds layers of meaning for him — as a trumpeter whose experience straddles jazz and classical music, as a performer who’s also an educator, as a musician with a rich family life. For this special foray to Notsolatin, he enlists several fellow faculty members from the Boyer College of Music and Dance: saxophonist Tim Warfield, Jr., pianist Bruce Barth and drummer Justin Faulkner.
April 18 at 7:30 p.m., Notsolatin, 1440 West Ritner Street, $10-$25 suggested donation.
Julia Danielle — Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
A few years ago, Julia Danielle won the prestigious Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, a credential that she has carried to the Jazz Studies program at Juilliard, where she’s pursuing a masters degree. Her self-titled debut album, released in 2024, reveals a prepossessing songbook interpreter of keen lyrical instinct and a warmly centered tone. She appears here with the Matthew Rotker Lynn/Tyler Henderson Quartet.
April 19 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $30, $100 and $120, with dinner packages; purchase tickets.
Ben Turner Quartet — Saturday and Sunday, Cellar Dog
Guitarist Ben Turner is an alum of the Jazz Studies program at Temple, and a versatile player whose active affiliations range from the vibraphonist Behn Gillece to the U.S. Navy Band Commodores. He’ll be working in a soul-jazz mode at the Cellar Dog this weekend, in excellent company: trumpeter Josh Lawrence, organist Aleko Lionikis and drummer Byron Landham.
April 19 at 10:30 p.m., April 20 at 6 p.m., Cellar Dog, 258 South 15th Street, $5-$10; more information.
