Jazz Appreciation Month may officially be in the rearview mirror, but here at WRTI we know that jazz appreciation is timeless. Show your appreciation this week by heading out to catch a gig. As usual, there are some terrific options all over town, and we’ve got the intel you need.
Spotlight: The Brahms Project — Wednesday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
The Brahms Project, just out on Heartcore Records, does more than simply adapt the music of a towering mid-Romantic composer for modern jazz tastes. It’s an alchemical rumination on the harmonic language that Johannes Brahms left us, led by two musicians — Philly-reared guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and Swiss pianist Jean-Paul Brodbeck — with deep feeling for the subject.
“We aimed to approach these compositions with reverence and a faithful commitment to the source material, while also adding our unique artistic footprint and vision,” Brodbeck says in a press statement. “The musical telepathy I experienced playing with these great musicians made it very inspiring and easy to approach arrangements and adaptations of Brahms’ music for the quartet.”
On Wednesday — Brahms’ 142nd birthday, but who’s counting — Brodbeck and Rosenwinkel bring the project to Chris’ Jazz Cafe. They’ll be joined, as on the album, by a sensitive rhythm team with Lukas Traxel on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums. Brace yourself for a buoyant calypso reframing of the Allegro giocoso section of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, and the headnod groove of “Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2.”
May 7 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $35, $105 and $125, with dinner packages; purchase tickets.
Peter Bernstein Trio with Ed Cherry — Friday and Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Peter Bernstein is the very embodiment of a guitar hero in the modern jazz mainstream, articulate, attentive and ever-crisp. He welcomes a fellow guitarist, the veteran Ed Cherry, for what will likely be a collegial rather than competitive rapport. Their astute support team comprises Dave Brodie on bass and Byron Landham on drums.
May 9 and 10 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $25, $95 and $115 on Friday, $30, $100 and $120 on Saturday, with dinner packages; purchase tickets.
Lakecia Benjamin — Friday, Penn Live Arts
An alto saxophonist whose live show can suggest an ungrounded electrical current, Lakecia Benjamin started 2025 off with two Grammy nods, for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Jazz Performance. Both nominations were for Phoenix Reimagined, an album whose fiery dimensions give some indication of what Benjamin will deliver with her quartet at this Penn Live Arts concert.
May 9 at 8 p.m., Zellerbach Theatre, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street, $39-$89; tickets and information.
Dezron Douglas Quartet — Friday, Community Education Center
The low end is a locus for Dezron Douglas, who as a bassist can be seen holding it down for both the Ravi Coltrane Quartet and the Trey Anastasio Band. But Douglas is also a strong leader in his own right, with a natural way of centering the energies in his band. He rolls into the CEC with regular compatriots: Emilio Modeste on saxophones, George Burton on piano and Joe Dyson on drums.
May 9 at 7 p.m., Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Avenue, $35; more information.
Pheeroan akLaff Global Mantras Quartet — Saturday, Solar Myth
More than 25 years ago, the adventurous drummer and composer Pheeroan akLaff released an album titled Global Mantras, his exploration of the affinities between East Asian and African-American musical traditions. Revisiting and broadening the project here, he enlists Philadelphia’s own Sumi Tonooka on piano, along with Keith Witty on bass and Jay Rodriguez on tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, alto flute and Colombian reeds.
May 10 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $30 advance, $35 day of show; purchase tickets.