In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Knu Gmoon Wed., Aug. 26, 8-11pm. $12. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com Noah Jarrett happens to be the son of legendary pianist Keith Jarrett, but in Brooklyn he’s one of the cats, a compelling bassist and composer in the trenches, steering through the labyrinth of modern jazz on terms of his own
In case you missed the last one… Southern Excursion Quartet, Trading Post (ARC) Terence Blanchard Group, Choices (Concord) Oran Etkin, Kelenia (Motéma) Sean Nowell, The Seeker (Posi-Tone) Eldar, Virtue (Sony) Roy Hargrove Big Band, Emergence (Groovin’ High/Emarcy)
Thank goodness, Nate eviscerates Terry Teachout’s ill-informed, poorly conceived “Can Jazz Be Saved?” column. Imagine that: a piece that actually talks about the music, the venues, the musicians, instead of speaking in generalities and dubious crunched numbers. Nate, in other words, performs the task of a critic.
My preview of their dual-CD-release show at Joe’s Pub (Friday, Aug. 21), in the current Time Out New York.
In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Avant Ascension Wed., Aug. 19, 9pm-2am. $5. Tritone, 1508 South St. 215.545.0475 www.tritonebar.com How time flies! It’s been a year since Avant Ascension, one of Philly’s bootstraps, artist-run jazz series, got off the ground at Tritone. Hosted by two young colleagues from Bobby Zankel’s big band Warriors of the Wonderful Sound — trombonist Larry Toft
In case you missed the last one… Paul Meyers, World on a String (Miles High Records) Andrew Rathbun, Where We Are Now (SteepleChase) Edmar Castaneda, Entre Cuerdas (ArtistShare) Donny McCaslin, Declaration (Sunnyside) Pete McCann, Extra Mile (Nineteen-Eight) Steve Swell, Planet Dream (Clean Feed)
Belatedly linking to this nice NYT photo gallery featuring the work of jazz photographer Jimmy Katz. (Hat tip Patrick J.) I had the pleasure of working with Jimmy and Dena on a bunch of “@Home” features for Jazz Times a few years ago (Ray Drummond, Andy Bey, Ben Allison, Fred Hersch, Reggie Workman, Dr. Billy Taylor, more). Personally and professionally,
In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Mike Lorenz QuartetSun., Aug. 16, 8:30pm. $5. Gojjo, 4540 Baltimore Ave. 215.238.1236 www.scifiphilly.com Guitarist Mike Lorenz operates out of the Lehigh Valley and mixes it up regularly in Philly, bringing a focused and fluent vocabulary to music of original construction. Working within the melodically edgy orbit of such role models as Ben Monder and Kurt