Heading into Halloween week, we’re looking at a lot of musical treats, from visiting dignitaries and local luminaries alike. But whether we’re talking about Boney James or Cécile McLorin Salvant, you should also be prepared for a few tricks. (Would you have it any other way?)
Spotlight: Boney James — Friday, Lansdowne Theater
There’s a hint of mischief in the title of the new album by saxophonist Boney James. A Simple Man, released this month on Concord Records, is his 20th studio effort, and it presents him as an uncomplicated fave: straightforward with his stylistic compass, direct with his emotional appeal. But James, who in 2024 became the first artist to rack up 20 No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Smooth Jazz Airplay chart, has levels and layers beyond what that moniker would suggest.
For one thing, he’s a white musician who has excelled in, and been embraced by, a considerable swath of the R&B establishment. He came up in that scene, inspired by Grover Washington, Jr.; he cut his teeth with Morris Day, the Isley Brothers, and Randy Crawford, who bestowed his stage name. (Boney James was born James Oppenheim.) He has won a Soul Train Award, and received multiple nominations for an NAACP Image Award.
The new album likewise both fulfills and gently subverts expectations, with guest appearances not only by guitarist Larry Carlton but also soul siren Ledisi and trumpeter Marquis Hill. Watch a video for the Carlton feature, a Quiet Storm track called “Storybook,” and you’ll have some sense of the controlled simmer that James will bring to the Lansdowne Theater this week.
Oct. 30 at 8 p.m., Lansdowne Theater, 31 North Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, PA, $45-$232; tickets and information.
Neil Podgurski Trio — Thursday, Settlement Music School
A Philly Made pianist who logged some productive years in New York City, Neil Podgurski likes combining modern jazz with ancient truths, drawing from sources like Tibetan folk music. He has composed new music for this occasion, part of Artcinia’s fall concert season; he’ll perform it with a trio featuring bassist Madison Rast and drummer Wayne Smith, Jr.
Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., Settlement Music School, Wynnefield Branch, 4910 Wynnefield Avenue, $13 ($7 for seniors and students); tickets and information.
Arun Ramamurthy Trio & Rudresh Mahanthappa Hero Trio — Friday, Zellerbach Theatre
Here is a double bill united in the trio format and a South Indian cultural perspective. The Arun Ramamurthy Trio, led by its namesake violinist, explores Carnatic music from a contemporary vantage; here, as on New Moon, it features Damon Banks on electric bass and Sameer Gupta on drums. As for Rudresh Mahanthappa Hero Trio, it’s a long-running band — Mahanthappa on alto saxophone, François Moutin on bass, Rudy Royston on drums — that brings the same intensity to bebop tunes, songbook standards, and even hits by Stevie Wonder and Johnny Cash.
Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m., Zellerbach Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut Street, $45-$71; tickets and information.
Afro-Cuban All Stars — Friday, Miller Theater
Juan de Marcos González served as a fixer and convener for the Ry Cooder field trip that became the Buena Vista Social Club. Thirty years later, most of the Cuban musicians in that coterie are gone, and the brand has become a Broadway property. As for Juan de Marcos, he leads the Afro-Cuban All Stars, which brings its own authority to son cubano, danzón, guajira and other pertinent styles.
Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m., Miller Theater, 250 South Broad Street, $44-$102; tickets and information.
Cécile McLorin Salvant — Nov. 1, Matthews Theatre
With Every Breath I Take, the majestic new statement by Cécile McLorin Salvant, could reductively be described as a standards album: some Ellington, some Sondheim, delivered with all due grandeur. But even with luxurious support from the Metropole Orkest, in orchestrations by Darcy James Argue, Salvant resists standardization. She’s always in search of startling revelation — and will surely deliver a dose of it here, joined by pianist Glenn Zaleski, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Kyle Poole.
Nov. 1 at 6 p.m., Matthews Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton, NJ, $44-$84; tickets and information.
