The 10 best jazz concerts in Philadelphia this spring

There’s a lot to celebrate this spring, as reflected by a packed calendar of jazz in Philly. Two of the city’s most treasured presenters commemorate major anniversaries this year — the nomadic Fire Museum Presents will travel home to Los Angeles in March to celebrate the remarkable four decades since founder Steven Tobin put on his first concert, while Ars Nova Workshop marks 25 years of concerts with a loaded schedule throughout the year at its home base, Solar Myth.

Meanwhile, pianist Orrin Evans throws a star-studded 50th birthday party for himself at Chris’ Jazz Cafe, and saxophonist Steve Lehman pays homage to an iconic mentor despite a life-altering loss. Below are a few highlights from the coming months.

Alto saxophonist and composer Steve Lehman is one of the many musicians who lost their homes in the recent California wildfires. Supporting such a distinctive artist through a tragic event is just one reason this is a performance not to be missed. Lehman’s stellar trio with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Damion Reid has been one of the most adventurous in modern jazz for the last decade and a half, and on this occasion they’ll be joined by Mark Turner, perhaps the most influential tenor saxophonist of his generation. Together they’ll explore the music of the legendary Anthony Braxton, a pioneering and iconoclastic composer-saxophonist — a description that applies equally well to Lehman himself. arsnovaworkshop.org

The London jazz scene has been one of the most vital on the planet in recent years, and Nubya Garcia has played a key role. Born in London to Trinidadian and Guyanese parents, the saxophonist laces Afro Caribbean inflections into the spiritual jazz and hip-hop influences that characterize the contemporary British sound, as well as a burly tone evidencing the lineage of Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane. Her latest, the aptly titled Odyssey, translates her voice on a grand, orchestral scale. ardmoremusichall.com

Orrin Evans hits the big 5-0 on March 28, and the Philly pianist is not one to let such a landmark pass by without a commensurately epic party. The celebration will be characteristically communal, inviting a number of collaborators to join the birthday boy in various configurations over four nights. The festivities kick off with Evans’ thrice Grammy-nominated Captain Black Big Band, joined by vocalist Jazzmeia Horn. Night two will be an all-star piano jam for which Evans will share the bench with Jason Moran, ELEW, Marc Cary, and his Bad Plus predecessor Ethan Iverson. The week concludes with a two-night stint by a quintet featuring saxophonists Jaleel Shaw and Tim Warfield, drummer Nasheet Waits, and legendary bassist Buster Williams. chrisjazzcafe.com

For two nights this April, two of the most original, inventive, and genre-defying musical minds of their respective generations will converge at Solar Myth. Now in his mid-80s, Roscoe Mitchell is an elder statesman of the avant-garde, however you want to define it — a charter member of the influential AACM and founder/torchbearer of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, a group that’s remained groundbreaking across its six-decade history. Born 40 years later, Tyshawn Sorey is an expansive drummer and innovative composer (not to mention Penn composer) whose work spans jazz, classical, opera, and beyond. arsnovaworkshop.org

Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin has never shied away from asserting the influence of John and Alice Coltrane on her work, paying homage to the couple’s music with her 2020 album Pursuance: The Coltranes. But the title of 2023’s Phoenix staked a claim to a new voice rising from the ashes of the past, and the lineup of strong women voices represented on the album — including activist Angela Davis, vocalist Dianne Reeves, pianist Patrice Rushen, and poet Sonia Sánchez — made a bold case for Benjamin rising toward their ranks. pennlivearts.org

A new quartet with a bracing, risk-embracing sound, History Dog brings together four prolific Brooklyn-based improvisers: trumpeter Chris Williams, drummer Lesley Mok, bassist Luke Stewart, and vocalist Shara Lunon. The band’s debut album, released the day before this Fire Museum show, is Root Systems — a title that vividly captures the quartet’s underground spirit and far-branching tendrils, which wend deep into electric and acoustic sounds, jazz, new music, and purely experimental territory. firemuseumpresents.com

It’s rare to see Nicholas Payton’s name without the word outspoken in the very near vicinity, but his forthright voice and assertive vision are strongly evident even when he lets his trumpet do the talking. So singular is his approach that the New Orleans-born Payton determined to become his own accompanist, often accompanying himself playing his horn and keyboards simultaneously. clefclubofjazz.org

This year’s spring edition of Cape May’s shoulder season fest features some familiar Philly names — Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band once again, this time with vocalist Lisa Fischer; trumpeter Josh Lawrence; guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel; vocalist Samara Joy, whose family band has become a holiday staple, here leading a vibrant octet — along with an eclectic roster that includes trumpet great Terence Blanchard, harpist Brandee Younger, and trumpeter and recent Blue Note signee Brandon Woody. exitzerojazzfestival.com

Philly’s Kevin Diehl has long placed percussionists at the forefront in his Afro Cuban free-jazz ensemble Sonic Liberation Front. Everything else is pared away entirely in Diehl’s latest project, Onilu, an intergenerational, all-star percussion trio that recently released its self-titled debut. The band brings Diehl together with Chad Taylor, cofounder of the varied Chicago Underground projects, now based in Philadelphia; and Joe Chambers, best known for his foundational work on classic Blue Note records by the likes of Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, and Andrew Hill — and no stranger to percussion-centric bands thanks to his work with Max Roach’s M’Boom ensemble. arsnovaworkshop.org

The New York-based big band, led by trumpet and education giant Wynton Marsalis, makes regular stops at the Kimmel Center. This time around they’re not touting any overarching themes or special guests, just a set of peerless musicians playing vigorous arrangements of music by many of jazz’s most iconic composers. ensembleartsphilly.org