Jazz is spilling out all over this week, in every conceivable shape and form. Don’t miss the first (annual?) Germantown Jazz Festival, which spotlights world-class talent on a community scale. Or take note of some horizon-stretching offerings at midweek, from fearless young explorers like saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins, Zoh Amba and Isaiah Collier. The bottom line is that this music is thriving. Go see, and hear, for yourself.
Spotlight: Germantown Jazz Festival — Friday through Sunday, Various Locations
“We don’t have a jazz club here in Germantown anymore,” observes Khadijah Renee, a jazz singer and healer who has called the neighborhood home for many years. “So why don’t we just try to revive a home for jazz, as Germantown always has been?”
That intention led her to start a concert series, Germantown Jazz at the Nile, in 2023. It has now expanded to become the first Germantown Jazz Festival, which will sprawl across three venues over as many days. “It's definitely a neighborhood, community-based movement to shine the light on area musicians who have made names for themselves while keeping jazz alive,” says Renee.
The opening night concert, on Friday at Germantown Friends Meeting House, will feature local stalwarts like the Robert Landham Quartet, the Alfie Pollitt Trio, and the Mike Boone Group, along with a Germantown Jazz Youth Ensemble. On Saturday, local artists and a vendor marketplace will bring a festive atmosphere to Vernon Park and The Maplewood Mall, before an evening concert by alto saxophonist Bobby Watson — a Kansas City son who proudly considers himself an honorary Philly cat — at the First Presbyterian Church.
And for a closer, the hard-bop unit The Cookers will perform on Sunday at The Nile Café. A true supergroup, it features drummer Billy Hart, a 2022 NEA Jazz Master, alongside seasoned hands like trumpeter Eddie Henderson, pianist George Cables and bassist Cecil McBee. Joining them here, Renee says, is “our own Jaleel Shaw — there’s the Philly tie-in. It’s a true reflection of how jazz is interwoven intergenerationally, racially, and compositionally. It incorporates all of that.”
Opening Night Concert: April 25 at 5 p.m., Germantown Friends Meeting House, 47 West Coulter Street, $25-$50;
Main Concert: April 26 at 8 p.m., First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, 35 West Chelten Avenue, $50 advance, $55 at the door;
Closing Concert: April 27 at 4 p.m., The Nile Café, 6008 Germantown Avenue, $40 advance, $45 at the door; more information.
Zoh Amba Sun Ensemble — Tuesday, Solar Myth
Saxophonist Zoh Amba is in her mid-20s, but already a force on the free-improv landscape. Two and a half years ago, she played the first show at Solar Myth, breaking in Ars Nova Workshop’s new venue. This week she returns with her devotional Sun Ensemble, which features Lex Korten on piano and Miguel Marcel Russell on drums.
April 22 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $25 advance, $30 day-of-show; purchase tickets.
The Ancients — Wednesday and Thursday, Solar Myth
This avant-garde supertrio originally formed in conjunction with the Ars Nova Workshop exhibition Milford Graves: A Mind Body Deal, during its run at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The group — with the veterans William Parker and William Hooker respectively on bass and drums, with the rising star Isaiah Collier on saxophone — released a self-titled album earlier this year. It provides a hint of how the music will sound here: bristling with restless tensions, and aglow with spiritual purpose.
April 23 and 24 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $40 advance, $45 day-of-show; purchase tickets.
Immanuel Wilkins’ Blues Blood — Wednesday, Harrison Auditorium
A few weeks ago, alto saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins delivered a captivating presentation of his Blues Blood project at the Big Ears Festival. He’s now bringing it to the Penn campus, for a free concert with an extra-special guest: poet Sonia Sanchez, who is 90, and still a voice of conscience and transcendence. She’ll take her place alongside two singers, Yaw Agyeman and June McDoom, while a chef prepares a meal onstage. During an interview on The Late Set last year, Wilkins described all of this as “a transporting experience,” combining aspects of healing and home.
April 23 at 6 p.m., Harrison Auditorium, Penn Museum, 3620 South Street, free.
Graham Kozak Group — Thursday, Temple Performing Arts Center
Graham Kozak is an up-and-coming bassist with credits on Broadway and around the club scene in New York. He plays one of the last Rite of Swing Jazz Cafe sets of the current season with a band that features a sagacious jazz elder, Johnny O’Neal, on piano. Also in the band are trumpeter Banks Sapnar, saxophonist Evan Kappelman, and drummer Aaron Seeber.
April 24 at 4:30 p.m., Temple Performing Arts Center, 1837 North Broad Street, free; more information.
Jonathan Scales Fourchestra — Saturday, Black Squirrel Club
The steelpan has popular associations with Trinidadian carnival and island resort vacations, but Jonathan Scales has made an eloquent argument for its full expression as a jazz instrument. His main vehicle is the Fourchestra, a funk-forward band that features E’Lon JD on electric bass and Maison Guidry on drums. This concert is part of the Painted Bride’s spring jazz series, co-presented by WRTI’s own J. Michael Harrison.
April 26 at 7:30 p.m., Black Squirrel Club, 1049 Sarah Street, $20; tickets and information.
