In the current Philadelphia Weekly:
Fri., July 10, 9pm. $10. With Yolanda Wisher & Mark Palacio. Moonstone Arts Center, 110 S. 13th St. 215.735.9600 www.moonstoneartscenter.org
Philly has its historic jazz titans, but let’s not forget workhorses like drummer Edgar Bateman and saxophonist Julian Pressley, who still exert a subterranean influence, setting an example for every questing young player now on the scene. Bateman, now in his 80s, has recorded with everyone from Eric Dolphy and John Handy to Bobby Zankel and Orrin Evans. His supple, free-flowing stick work is ideal in a duo setting like this one with Pressley, a former associate of Illinois Jacquet and a charter member of Odean Pope’s Saxophone Choir. The event takes place under the auspices of Lucky Old Souls, the online radio show, now also a worthy concert series. — David R. Adler
Sun., July 12, 8:30pm. $5. With Harmolodic Bastards. Gojjo, 4540 Baltimore Ave. 215.238.1236 www.scifiphilly.com
Guitarist Chris Covatta, tenor saxophonist Bryan Rogers, accordionist Dallas Vietty, bassist Todd Erk and drummer Alex Maio have a gift for melodic expansiveness and knotty puzzle-making — just the thing that makes West Philly’s Sci Fi series a national draw for kindred experimental bands. Mi Head UR Head, as this unit is known, goes about its work with a particular philosophical-literary focus. It’s the problem of intersubjectivity, as posed by novelist Milan Kundera — the matter of reconciling one’s solitary perceptions with the wider world. As their MySpace mission statement says: “Music offers us a bridge into another person’s understanding while helping us to experience our own a little deeper.” — David R. Adler
Landon Knoblock
Thu., July 9, 8-11pm. $10. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com
Landon Knoblock, a Miami native, is one of the more probing and lyrical pianists on the Brooklyn jazz scene, with a strong sense of modernism’s varied demands. With drummer Jason Furman, he made an album of free improvisations called Uncarved Block. His activities as a leader include two quartet projects — one devoted to the music of the late Andrew Hill, the other boasting the prodigious talents of bassist Ben Allison and trumpeter Ron Horton. This week, however, Knoblock focuses on his trio side, as documented on Listening Between and his latest, The Heartbeat, The Breath. He’ll be joined by bassist Josh Paris and drummer Jeff Davis. — David R. Adler
King Sunny Ade
Tue., July 14, 8pm. Free. Wiggins Waterfront Park, Riverside Dr. & Mickle Blvd., Camden, NJ 856.216.2170 www.ccparks.com
Nigeria’s best-known musical export is Afrobeat, put on the map by the late, great Fela Kuti. King Sunny Ade is a legendary pioneer of an older tradition, jùjú, a Yoruba-language music rooted in the sound of talking drums but amenable to Ade’s sparkling electric guitar and other modernizing elements. “The chairman,” as Ade is known, addresses topics of spirituality and African democratization as he puts his band through the paces in long, inescapably danceable workouts — a natural fit for America’s jam-band circuit (Phish’s Trey Anastasio is a fervent admirer). Seven Degrees North, Ade’s latest U.S. release, refers to the position of Lagos, his home city, relative to the equator. — David R. Adler
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