As we approach mid-July, a lot of folks are down the shore or otherwise out of town. But the scene abides! There’s still action in the clubs, as this week’s lineup will confirm. If you’re up for a day trip this weekend, our Spotlight pick might be just the answer: uncategorizable music in an unclassifiable space, with plenty of surrounding nature.
Spotlight: Creative Freedom: A Salon Experience — Saturday, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton Township, NJ
During this year’s Big Ears Festival, electric bass wizard Jamaaladeen Tacuma convened a dream team for a free-wheeling, funk-forward recording session in Knoxville. He also played an energetic late-night set with these collaborators — guitarist Nels Cline, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, trumpeter Braxton Bateman, and drummer King Noli — before taking the recordings back to Philly, for finishing touches by the visionary multi-reedist and centenarian Marshall Allen.
The resulting album, 101: An Audio Odyssey, will be released under Allen’s name on Ropeadope next week. But first, Allen and Tacuma join forces for this interdisciplinary event at Grounds For Sculpture. They’ll perform music from the new album with a band that includes Bateman and King Noli along with Laurin Talese on vocals, Yesseh Furaha-Ali on saxophones, Yoichi Uzeki on keyboards, and Keyanna Hutchinson and DM Hotep on guitars.
As part of the Salon Experience, Allen and Tacuma will be joined in conversation by the Mexican artist Salvador Jiménez-Flores, whose exhibition Raíces & Resistencias provides the setting for the evening. The talk, moderated by WRTI’s own Nicole Sweeney, will touch on creative freedom, especially in the example set by Sun Ra, whose legacy Allen carries onward.
July 18 at 7 p.m., Grounds for Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton Township, NJ, $70, $15 for students; tickets and information.
Meron • Menares • Macbride — Tuesday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Pianist Daniel Meron, bassist Pablo Menares and drummer Jimmy Macbride have unmistakable chemistry as a trio, and on their forthcoming album, Live at the Sound Room, they explore a stylistic mix rooted in numerous folkloric traditions — like Menares’ Chilean roots, and Meron’s distinct experience as an Israeli-born musician of Egyptian and Syrian descent.
July 14 at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $20, with dinner packages; tickets and information.
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue — Friday, The Fillmore
Trombone Shorty’s high-octane charisma as a performer has rightly become the stuff of legend, and with his band Orleans Avenue he brings equal measures of street-level funk, brass band euphoria, and soul-jazz swagger. He and the band are rolling up to The Fillmore this week as part of their “Let’s Go Get ‘Em Tour” — presented by WXPN, with an opening set by the roots-rock sister act Larkin Poe.
July 17 at 8 p.m., The Fillmore Philadelphia, 29 E Allen Street, $64; tickets and information.
Pete Malinverni Trio with Gabrielle Stravelli — Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Chris’ Jazz Cafe has organized this one-nighter as a “Tribute To Italian-American Composers Henry Mancini & Harry Warren,” which tells you something about the angle of approach. Both Mancini and Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna) should provide great fodder for Stravelli, an insightfully surefooted jazz vocalist, and Malinverni, a pianist of reliable taste and tone.
July 18 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $30, with dinner packages; tickets and information.
Bobby Zankel’s Wonderful Sound 6: Remembering Coltrane — Saturday, Black Squirrel Club
John Coltrane has always loomed as a North Star for adventurous saxophonists in Philadelphia, and that’s certainly true of Bobby Zankel and his younger colleagues on this concert, Jaleel Shaw and Bryan Rogers. All three saxophonists will find expressive dialogue with a rhythm section comprising pianist Sumi Tonooka, bassist Sam Harris, and drummer Nazir Ebo, in what promises to be a spiritually charged performance.
July 18 at 8 p.m., Black Squirrel Club, 1049 Sarah Street, sliding scale, $16.30 suggested; tickets and information.
