In the new Philadelphia Weekly:
Sat., Apr. 17, 8 & 10pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com
Forget the piano — Jean-Michel Pilc can whistle a better bebop solo than many players could hope to execute on their horns. At the keyboard Pilc can be frightening, a master of the trio idiom who’ll turn an impish and youthful 50 this year. His earlier albums leaned toward reworked and exploded standards, but lately composition has played a central role on discs such as Cardinal Points and New Dreams. His latest True Story, with Boris Kozlov on bass and the great Billy Hart on drums, is fairly restrained and ruminative, not his most arresting work, although the substitution of Billy Drummond for Hart this weekend could stir some unexpected havoc. — David R. Adler
Michael Winograd
Sun., Apr. 18, 7:30pm. $10-$30. Crossroads Music, 48th and Baltimore (Calvary United Methodist Church) 215.729.1028 www.crossroadsconcerts.org
Klezmer might seem antiquarian, but artists like Michael Winograd are modernizers as well as revivalists. That’s how this young Brooklyn clarinetist, on his 2007 effort Bessarabian Hop, can come up with things like “Freylekh for Gwen Stefani.” In addition to his countless klez-credits, Winograd leads the loopy Tom Waits-ish band Infection and works in progressive jazz circles with the likes of Kenny Wolleson and Joe Morris. Not long ago, he performed in Philly’s Crossroads series with two Israeli improvisers, pianist Anat Fort and vocalist Ayelet Rose Gottlieb. This week he returns for adventures in Yiddishism with bassist/vocalist Benjy Fox-Rosen, accordionist Patrick Farrell and trombonist Daniel Blacksberg. — David R. Adler
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