We may be experiencing a heat wave, but the music on the scene this week is keeping it cool. If you’re in the Lancaster area or in Delaware, you should know that Diana Krall is passing through at the top of next week. In the meantime, we have sharp stuff from drummer Ari Hoenig, the indefatigable Marshall Allen, and our spotlight this week: trumpeter Josh Lawrence, with a new project we can’t recommend more highly. Bonus: air conditioning!
Spotlight: Josh Lawrence: Still We Dream — Saturday, Black Squirrel Club
Last month, at the Exit Zero Jazz Festival in Cape May, trumpeter Josh Lawrence offered a tantalizing preview of his forthcoming album, Still We Dream. It’s his first recording to feature no original tunes, but rather reinventions of formative material by everyone from the French cornet pedagogue Jean-Baptiste Arban to the cornerstone jazz composer Thelonious Monk. More than a jazz-meets-classical exercise, it’s a project that speaks to Lawrence’s dual citizenship, musically speaking, and underscores his deft hand as a bandleader and arranger.
He’ll do much the same this weekend at the Black Squirrel Club in Fishtown, in a Satellite Sound program co-presented by the Painted Bride Art Center and WRTI’s J. Michael Harrison. As he did at Exit Zero, Lawrence will lead a top-shelf band; he’ll be joined by Willie Morris III on tenor saxophone, Orrin Evans on piano, Nimrod Speaks on bass and Mekhi Boone on drums. “Still We Dream isn’t about fusion — it’s about conversation,” Lawrence says in a press statement. “Between Monk and Chopin, between what we’ve inherited and what we’re reaching for. It’s a reminder that even in uncertainty, we keep dreaming.”
June 28 at 7:30 p.m., Black Squirrel Club, 1049 Sarah Street, $20; tickets and information.
Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons — Monday, Solar Myth
Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen, who recently turned 101, remains an inexhaustible creative force on EWI and spoken word as well as alto saxophone. His Ghost Horizons residency at Solar Myth recently yielded an excellent live album, and it continues here with a typically elite set of fellow explorers, including Arto Lindsay on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass, and Mikel Patrick Avery on drums.
June 23 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $35 advance, $40 day of show; purchase tickets.
Matmos — Wednesday, Solar Myth
Matmos, the electronic duo of Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt, doesn’t fit anyone’s definition of jazz — but their attunement to sonic detail and experimental practice holds appeal for anyone drawn to the sound of surprise. Their brand-new album, Metallic Life Review, features a tapestry of timbres made with coins, keys, mixing bowls and other metal objects; it’s a witty conceptual work that calls into question the very saying “everything but the kitchen sink.”
June 25 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $30 advance, $35 day of show; purchase tickets.
Ari Hoenig Trio - Friday and Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Drummer-bandleader Ari Hoenig forged his reputation on the New York scene, but he’s a true Philly cat, and always a returning hero at Chris’ Jazz Cafe. His recent trio albums, including last year’s Tea for Three, have featured the Israeli piano virtuoso Gadi Lehavi, who joins him here alongside the ever-lyrical guitarist Gilad Hekselman.
June 27 and 28 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.
Diana Krall — June 29 in Lancaster, PA; June 30 in Wilmington, DE
It has been a few years since Diana Krall released This Dream of You — her most recent album, a songbook offering handsomely produced with lush orchestral strings. On her concert tour, which glides through our area early next week, she’ll draw from that and other low-gloss jazz-pop fare, with only the finest accompaniment.
June 29 at 7 p.m., American Music Theater, 2425 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster, $89-$159; tickets and information.
June 30 at 7:30 p.m., Grand Opera House, 818 North Market Street, Wilmington, DE, $161 and up; tickets and information.
