Fresh dreams, and sounds, from Philly bassist Jason Fraticelli

Philly's Jason Fraticelli is one of those rare session men and local live players who hits all corners of the jazz spectrum with his ax - primarily the upright bass.

Along with recording for brand-name nu-jazz lions Melody Gardot, Billy Martin, Robert Glasper, and Cyro Baptista, Fraticelli has tackled eerily elegant, self-penned jazz compositions such as "The Mothers' Suite," with his 10-piece Fresh Cut Orchestra (on 2015's From the Vine), and worked out the jam-band-jazz with his Wet Dreams band (an eponymous 2009 EP). Then there is The Dream Diaries, a new album from the Jason Fraticelli Band, whose Ropeadope-label release will be celebrated this weekend with a live party at Underground Arts.

Together with a handful of equally unpure Philadelphia players whose efforts have dotted other Fraticelli projects (guitarist Dion Paci and drummer Tony "Catastrophe" Flagiello come to mind), the local bassist-composer has expanded his rhythmic range and opened his melodic breadth and tonal palette, all while moving even further from the traditional jazz form.

"I've been making music with these guys for a long time - 10 to 15 years," says Fraticelli. "Different combinations of us have played in different projects together over the years, and we've grown to be part of a music family. I know it sounds corny, but that's really what Philly is all about - one night you could be playing with one person in a straight-ahead jazz context on a gig, and then a week later you're playing in his band doing his original electronic stuff."

Quoting pianist Kenny Werner's wise word on what jazz is - innovation - Fraticelli uses ingenious invention to guide his artistic momentum forward. "I'm out there doing gig after gig night after night, and what I see is exactly that on many different levels. I'm always trying to strengthen my fundamentals so that I can push myself as a musician."

Fraticelli fans take note: The bassist-composer will continue that push-and-stretch Aug. 27 when Ropeadope releases the second album from Fresh Cut Orchestra, Mind Behind Closed Eyes. "This record will certainly depart from the first one stylistically," the musician said, "but with the same sense of adventurousness with a body of eclectic compositions."

Fraticelli's inspiration reaches back to a youth spent with his dad and uncle - "twin hippie musicians from the '60s" - and their album stash.

"My influences have always been my family, my friends, and that record collection," he says. The wonky Diaries spices psychedelia, Zeppelin, Bowie, and Beatles into a gooey jazz batter. Each tune is a bit of its own thing and depends on the instrument it was written on. Fraticelli is smitten with the cuatro, a smaller, guitarlike instrument from Latin America that he has played off and on since childhood.

"For the album, I tried to combine live playing with a tracking approach, maybe using a rhythm-guitar track as a skeleton, then filling in," he says, pointing to central Diaries passages such as the newer composition "Grey Under a Blue Sky," or songs that have been part of Fraticelli's Dreams for years, such as "Copper Finsky" and "Picture Book," that are also on the album.

Asked whether he keeps a real diary with dog-eared pages, or whether this new album is a catalog connecting to his inner workings, Fraticelli talks about reading Stephen LaBerge's Lucid Dreaming and using its patterns of self-discovery and personal growth. "Once, I had a dream that I was playing the piano, and said, 'Wait a second, this is a dream,' and then I started playing the heck out of it superfast and just kept smiling. Wouldn't it be awesome if that could happen when you're awake?"

Jason Fraticelli Band, Cultureal, and Jah People, 8 p.m. Friday at Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St. $10. www.undergroundarts.org.