Finesse and fire — those are the ingredients you’ll find among this week’s offerings in Moment’s Notice, which feature two standout singers, a lauded saxophonist, and a local hot-jazz band. What better way to usher in August? See you out there.
The Briana Thomas Band — Friday through Sunday, South Jazz Kitchen
Brianna Thomas came to the fore some 20 years ago, as a singer with a foothold in the wayback: basically, 1920s and ‘30s jazz and blues, the purview of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. This made Thomas a darling of the millennial hot-jazz demimonde, but it also painted her into a corner. Her interests were always more capacious than a set of coordinates on a time machine.
Thomas pushed back on those parameters with her 2020 album Everybody Knows, whose title comes from a scrap of lyric in Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam.” The album features that indignant anthem along with songbook standards like “My Foolish Heart,” bawdy blues like Lil Johnson’s “My Stove’s in Good Condition,” and originals like the chanson-esque “I Belong to You.” Thomas is likely to cover a similar range in this weekend run at South, with soulful support from her band.
Aug. 8-10, showtimes vary, South Jazz Kitchen, 600 North Broad Street, $33; buy tickets.
Isaiah Collier — Thursday, Kennedy Plaza, Atlantic City
At a moment of cultural saturation for the phrase “spiritual jazz,” it’s uncommon to encounter an artist who fully inhabits that subgenre’s stated aims. Isaiah Collier, a galvanic tenor and soprano saxophonist from Chicago, is one such artist — even though, as he discussed on a recent episode of The Late Set, he takes issue with the term. Catch the spirit when he plays the free Chicken Bone Beach Jazz Series, with an opening set (at 7 p.m.) by the Keith Hollis Quartet.
Aug. 7 at 8:30 p.m., Kennedy Plaza, Atlantic City, NJ, free; more information.
Anaïs Reno — Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
A jazz singer with a warmly assured style beyond her years, Anaïs Reno has been steadily gaining ground on the scene. Her new album — Lady of the Lavender Mist, after a Duke Ellington ballad — comes with the cosign of a prominent elder, guitarist Peter Bernstein. For this one-nighter at Chris’, where she’s been a regular, she’ll be joined by the Matthew Rotker-Lynn/Aidan McKeon Quartet.
Aug. 9 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $30, $100 and $120, with dinner packages; purchase tickets.
