November is here, and with it a new profusion of great sounds on the scene. This week is especially promising for those who enjoy jazz with a mix of other styles — R&B, gospel, Latin folk and more. But don’t fret, there’s also a good dose of hard-swinging excellence out there. As always, we rounded up the best for your perusal.
Spotlight: Elena Pinderhughes — Wednesday, City Winery
The flutist Elena Pinderhughes has been a meteoric talent since grade school: she made an album with her older brother, pianist Samora Pinderhughes, when she was only nine years old. (He was not yet 13.) That prodigious early promise developed in public, as both Pinderhughes siblings went on to a series of blue-chip collaborations. Perhaps you know Elena from her longtime affiliation with Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, or as a special guest with everyone from Childish Gambino to Yebba. Maybe you saw her with Common, Robert Glasper and others for a special-edition Tiny Desk Concert at at The White House. Her sound has certainly traveled far.
But it was just this month that Pinderhughes released her full-length debut, i hope you feel it too. A sleek, sensual and supremely assured hybrid of contemporary jazz and R&B, it feels like a project she’s been chiseling into form for quite some time — in other words, like just the sort of album her admirers have been hoping and waiting for. Chief Adjuah and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins are among its featured contributors, but Pinderhughes is always the glue holding everything together. She’ll no doubt do the same at this stop on her album-release tour.
Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m., City Winery, 990 Filbert Street, $24-$60; tickets and information.
Ami Taf Ra & Kamasi Washington — Thursday, City Winery
Ami Taf Ra is a singer-songwriter of North African heritage, which she incorporates in aspects of her recent debut album, The Prophet & The Madman. Produced by her partner, the powerful tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and released last year on Brainfeeder, it’s a swirl of spiritual jazz, Moroccan Gnawa and gospel music, inspired by the philosophical works of Kahlil Gibran. There’s no doubt that it will take on an added dimension in live performance.
Nov. 5 at 6 p.m., City Winery, 990 Filbert Street, $66-$86; tickets and information.
The All Star Septet With Conrad Herwig + Victor North — Friday and Saturday, Chris’ Jazz Cafe
The front line of this intergenerational, hard-boppish septet will feature trombonist Conrad Herwig and saxophonists Victor North, Brandon Suarez, and Daniel Cohen. In the rhythm section, meanwhile, is the bright young pianist Brandon Goldberg. The results should cohere as more than a blowing session, which isn’t to take anything away from the quality of the blowing.
Nov. 6 and 7 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., Chris’ Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom Street, $30-$35, with dinner packages; tickets and information.
Daniel Villarreal — Friday and Saturday, Solar Myth
A drummer who originally hails from Panama, and now lives in Philadelphia after a productive stint in Chicago, Daniel Villarreal has the sort of personal magnetism that makes any conglomeration of players feel like a unit. Hear that process unfold on his 2022 album Panamá 77 — or, even better, experience it this weekend, with a group that will include Nathan Karagianis on guitar, Cole DeGenova on keys, John Sutton on bass and Danjuma Gaskin on percussion. They’ll be joined each night by a special guest: Charlie Hall, drummer in The War On Drugs (Friday), and DM Hotep, guitarist in the Sun Ra Arkestra (Saturday).
Nov. 6 and at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $30; tickets and information.
Miki Yamanaka Trio — Friday, Barnes Foundation
An astute and adaptable keyboardist in the modern mainstream, Miki Yamanaka has a sharp new album, Breathe, that includes a song dedicated to one of her piano heroes, James Williams. The album features a rhythm team of Tyrone Allen II on bass and Jimmy Macbride, who will rejoin her here for a First Friday concert at the Barnes Foundation, presented in partnership with the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, and in harmony with the current exhibition Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America.
Nov. 6 at 6 p.m., The Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, $35; tickets and information.
