The 10 best jazz shows in Philadelphia this spring

The Philly jazz calendar this spring and summer embodies the torch-passing nature of the music. The season is highlighted by still-thriving octogenarians (and one notable centenarian!) and a host of younger voices reshaping the genre for the future. The offerings below include classic swing sounds done to perfection, as well as excursions into the experimental, veering between poles of opera, punk, roots rock, and gospel influences. Each of the presenters and venues noted feature full calendars, so take the following as a guide to investigate further.

Some of the most revered bands in jazz were together for only a short time — the classic Coltrane Quartet and Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet both enjoyed productive but brief four-year histories. The trio of organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein, and drummer Bill Stewart has remained together for three decades now, and even if they haven’t changed history quite like those earlier artists, they’ve remained one of the most beloved bands on the scene; their music is charged by equal parts virtuosity and camaraderie.

March 15 and 16, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, chrisjazzcafe.com

Since joining the Blue Note records roster, guitarist Julian Lage has taken the label’s wide-ranging history as inspiration for expanding his own music into diverse realms, incorporating elements of blues, folk, gospel, country, and roots rock into his agile playing. //NUHe’ll no doubt dig deep into those sounds at the Ardmore with a new quintet featuring longtime bassist Jorge Roeder, drummer Rudy Royston, saxophonist Levon Henry and keyboardist Rob Burger.

His trio with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King will no doubt dig deep into those sounds at the Ardmore.

March 21, Ardmore Music Hall, ardmoremusichall.com

Over two nights at this year’s Winter JazzFest in Manhattan and Brooklyn, I caught tenor sax phenom James Brandon Lewis on three separate sets — sparring with punk jazz legend Marc Ribot, exploring the spiritually searching music of Pharoah Sanders, and burning through a raucous outing with the ferocious Mendoza Hoff Revels. One of the most lauded of modern voices carrying the tradition forward, Lewis is unique in weaving together so many diverse strands. At Solar Myth, he’ll join forces with the Messthetics, which teams guitar wizard Anthony Pirog with the rhythm section from hardcore icons Fugazi.

March 30, Solar Myth, arsnovaworkshop.org

While Terence Blanchard’s foundations will always remain jazz, the trumpeter/composer’s vision has long expanded beyond any simple genre definitions. His music has scored the films of Spike Lee for decades, and with his second opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, he became the first Black composer to have his music performed at the Metropolitan Opera. With his electroacoustic E-Collective band and the adventurous Turtle Island String Quartet, Blanchard will reinterpret the music from that Grammy-winning opera in a jazz context at the Kimmel Center.

April 7, Verizon Hall, ensembleartsphilly.org

Violist Mat Maneri describes the music of his Ash Quartet — featuring pianist Lucian Ban, bassist Brandon Lopez, and drummer Randy Peterson — as stemming from nostalgia, but the group’s ethereal, uneasy sounds suggest memories at their haziest and most haunting. Maneri’s memories evoke his past work with lamented greats like Paul Bley, Cecil Taylor, and his father, microtonal saxophonist Joe Maneri, laced with hints of classical melodies and spy movie scores.

April 7, The Perch, firemuseumpresents.com

Steve Turre has spent nearly 40 years on Saturday Night Live, his ponytail and goatee making him nearly as recognizable as any cast member. That’s just a small part of the veteran trombonist’s storied history, which includes stints with Ray Charles, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and McCoy Tyner, among many others. He’ll be joined by his daughter, vocalist Andromeda Turre, and no doubt will play a tune or two on his trademark conch shells.

April 19 and 20, South Restaurant & Jazz Club, southjazzkitchen.com

The Clef Club brings together two Philly jazz legends for this special performance. Saxophonist Odean Pope made meaningful contributions to the music of legendary drummer Max Roach and the enigmatic pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali, and led his own horn-heavy Saxophone Choir and the pioneering fusion group Catalyst. Reggie Workman is one of the most influential bassists in the genre, best known for his work with John Coltrane and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, stretching from bebop to the avant-garde with a who’s who of collaborators.

April 20, Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts, clefclubofjazz.org

Philly-based vocalist Ruth Naomi Floyd has always placed her music in service of faith and social justice, so Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral is an ideal venue for her new multimedia piece, making its world premiere as part of Penn Live Arts’ season. “Are We Yet Somehow Alive?” sets the accounts of enslaved Africans in America to a hybrid of jazz, gospel and blues, with projected artwork adding further layers to the experience.

April 25, Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, pennlivearts.org

This May, maestro Marshall Allen will mark 100 trips around the sun, the vast majority of those orbits traveling the spaceways as a member — and in recent decades, the stalwart leader — of the dazzling Sun Ra Arkestra. Since its opening in late 2022, Solar Myth has provided a regular home for the indefatigable Allen’s small group experiments (including in April, a collab with electronic noisemakers Wolf Eyes), but Ars Nova Workshop returns to its nomadic ways for this rarer-than-Halley’s-Comet celebration at Union Transfer.

May 24, Solar Myth, arsnovaworkshop.org

The concert is later than spring, but we couldn’t not include this great.

The name of Chucho Valdés’ current band may be a bit redundant, as any group becomes royalty merely by the Cuban piano legend’s presence. Valdés began his career by founding the pioneering fusion group Irakere, and has gone on to meld jazz and Cuban traditions in innovative fashion over more than 50 years, hauling in seven Grammy Awards along the way.

Aug. 25, Longwood Gardens, longwoodgardens.org