Erik Deutsch
Sun., June 3, 9pm. $10. World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St. 215.222.1400 www.worldcafelive.com

There’s much to live up to when you title your new album Demonio Teclado, or “demon keyboard.” But Erik Deutsch, on the piano, Rhodes, organ and other teclados, has all the requisite skills. The former Coloradan and current Brooklynite is prized in groove-jazz and pop circles, with sideman stints ranging from Charlie Hunter to Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon). His 2007 debut Fingerprint was a marvel, combining modern jazz and hints of acoustic Americana. The 2009 follow-up Hush Money was more electric, in line with Deutsch’s rootsy instrumental rock leanings. His new originals, varied in mood, dovetail with tasty covers of Ike Turner and Neil Young. — David R. Adler

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Aaron Diehl Trio
Live at the Players (ind.)

By David R. Adler

Pianist Aaron Diehl is a young Juilliard graduate, a scholarly devotee of Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and even earlier figures. His work on record reveals absolutely no debt to hip-hop, indie rock, the avant-garde or any other de rigueur influence. Yes, Diehl is a proud jazz classicist, with an impeccable touch and deep musical insights. His Mack Avenue debut, The Bespoke Man’s Narrative, is due out in late July, so it’s a good time to listen closely to his previous effort.

Though his interests stretch back to ragtime, Diehl is not a “trad” player. His rapport with bassist David Wong and drummer Quincy Davis on “Pick Yourself Up” and Thelonious Monk’s “Green Chimneys” brings to mind the crisp, strutting swing of Miles Davis’ 1950s quintet. His effortless-sounding arrangements and use of the trio as a canvas recalls Ahmad Jamal. His restraint and elegance as a soloist is in the tradition of John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet (the addition of vibraphone on the forthcoming album makes the MJQ parallel even clearer).

Although Diehl’s chops are considerable, he unleashes them with taste, in ways we wouldn’t expect — his fills on the original ballad “Dorsem” and the ultra-slow opener “The Player’s Blues” are good examples. Not that he has anything against speed: his original “Tag You’re It!”, with its train-like feel (and slight resemblance to “Seven Steps to Heaven”), is the most bracing virtuoso showpiece of the date. But the George Shearing classic “Conception” gets a slower treatment than usual, and Diehl hints at Monk’s influence with certain gestures of repetition and counterpoint. His wide octaves — a frequent device during solos — highlight the piano’s flawless intonation, not to mention the disc’s fine recording quality.

Two tracks feature a different rhythm section, but mainly we hear from Wong in a pronounced soloing and melodic role, and Davis in great form on sticks and brushes. There’s a curious effect at the start of the album, where ambient crowd noise nearly drowns out the band, then disappears in time for the second blues chorus. It’s likely a post-production trick, but it gives the impression that Diehl and his trio succeeded in quieting a loud room — an easy scenario to believe.

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David Bindman Ensemble
Sunset Park Polyphony (ind.)

By David R. Adler

It takes a wealth of ideas and inspiration to fill two CDs, and saxophonist David Bindman justifies his large-canvas approach at every step on Sunset Park Polyphony. There are four substantial pieces on disc one, plus a six-part suite and two standalone pieces on disc two. Staying within 45 minutes on both discs, however, Bindman and his inspired sextet keep it lively and never lose focus.

The orchestration, for three horns, piano, bass and drums, is boundlessly colorful and indeed polyphonic: complex intersecting patterns give Bindman’s work a dissonant harmonic outline, but also a melodic allure. Bindman also draws on Indian and African rhythmic traditions to create irregular cycles or “pulse groupings,” which he explains in some detail in the liner notes. From these the music takes on a perpetually unresolved quality but also a strong element of groove and swing. It’s an adventurous sound, though not wholly “free” or “outside.”

Heard mainly on tenor sax, Bindman switches to soprano for the closing “RH Reprise,” a variant of disc one’s “Robeson House Echoes.” The leader also gives ample space to trumpeter Frank London, trombonist Reut Regev, pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Wes Brown and drummer royal hartigan (sic), a powerful lineup deployed to full advantage. hartigan’s hand-drumming solo on the title track is a marvel of textural richness. The solo flights of London and Regev, respectively, on “Singing Bird Melody” and “Singing Bird Reprise,” give disc two’s “Landings Suite” a sense of pacing and proportion.

In his notes, the composer reveals a political message that lies behind “Landings Suite.” Describing the growing social consciousness of a young fictional character called Eyepod, Bindman takes aim at “the current war being waged on humanity for the cause of capitalism/neocolonialism” — a hardline and one-dimensional view that is certainly his right to put forward, but somehow at odds with the subtlety of the music itself.

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Pianist Craig Taborn has gigged with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerald Cleaver for a number of years, but it took the trio all this time finally to play New York. The late Saturday set at the Village Vanguard (April 7) moved from deep abstraction and stillness to a kind of beat-based pulsing energy, reflecting Taborn’s far-flung influences from Cecil Taylor to Detroit techno. Large stretches were free, but the precision was unmistakable, a key aesthetic ingredient. Taborn and Morgan, immersed in the densest thickets of improvised sound, would launch suddenly into tight unison passages, some of which seemed to stretch the limits of the possible (Morgan’s contorted fingerings belied the elegance of the ideas themselves). Taborn announced no titles, but some of his repertoire for the week, including “American Landscape,” was from the 2001 trio disc Light Made Lighter, though completely reinvented. Newer pieces had working titles like “Chorales” and “Gal 1.” The leader gave his lyrical, reflective side plenty of room to show itself, yet the rhythms were true puzzlers, marked by hypnotic repetition, aggressive attack and exceedingly subtle shifts over time. Seeds of this approach were sown during Taborn’s period with Tim Berne; there are interesting parallels to be drawn with Vijay Iyer’s Accelerando as well. But the trio’s ECM debut — the follow-up to Taborn’s 2011 solo piano stunner Avenging Angel — will likely defy all comparisons when it’s recorded later this year. (David R. Adler)

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It’s always been the case: Kneebody just has to be experienced live. That’s the logic behind the band’s multi-night residencies hosted by Search & Restore. The last of four evenings at Littlefield (April 14) was appropriately festive. Trumpeter Shane Endsley, tenor saxophonist Ben Wendel, keyboardist Adam Benjamin, bassist Kaveh Rastegar and drummer Nate Wood were visibly thrilled to have bassist and singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello as their special guest (previous nights found the band covering music by Tom Zé, Judee Sill and others). But first Kneebody offered a set of its own, playing music from a forthcoming album, including Benjamin’s “Blorp,” which segued into “Unforeseen Influences” from 2010’s You Can Have Your Moment. There’s no exact name for Kneebody’s music — it’s electric jazz, surely, with wall-shaking beats and a phenomenal intricacy typified by “Trite,” with a killer drum intro from Wood, and “Towel Hard,” the blistering final encore. But Ndegeocello’s set brought out another kind of versatility in these players, as they tackled Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic,” and items from Meshell’s 2011 disc Weather including “Dead End,” the P-Funkish “Rapid Fire” and the noir ballad “Crazy and Wild.” Chris Bruce added scratchy Telecaster, and Meshell wielded Fender bass when she wasn’t singing with a rueful tenderness — a sound as hard to pin down as Kneebody itself. (DA)

Andy Clausen, The Wishbone Suite (Table & Chairs)

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, The Air Is Different (482 Music)

Steve Lehman, Dialect Fluorescent (Pi)

Eric Reed, The Baddest Monk (Savant)

Tom Tallitsch, Heads Or Tales (Posi-Tone)

Yosvany Terry, Today’s Opinion (Criss Cross)

Randy Napoleon
Mon., Apr. 23, 8pm. $10. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com

From Randy Napoleon’s boyish appearance one might think he’s just starting out. In fact, he’s one of the more accomplished and well-rounded jazz guitarists of our day. Most know him as a supremely tasteful accompanist to singers such as Michael Bublé, Eric Comstock and Freddy Cole (Nat’s younger brother). But his penchant for bluesy soul-jazz comes through on his latest, The Jukebox Crowd, a sextet affair with Hammond organ and plenty o’ horns. He can also cut it in lean and modern post-bop settings, judging from organist Jared Gold’s 2008 smoker Solids & Stripes. His one-nighter in Philly will feature a trio with bassist Madison Rast and drummer Stefan Schatz. — David R. Adler

Sometimes I tell friends that a key benefit of living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is the ease of subway travel. A couple of blocks to the 1-2-3 train and I can zip down to the Village Vanguard or the Jazz Gallery, or perhaps further out to Brooklyn, or for that matter uptown to Harlem. But jazz is very much present on the UWS, and there are times when I need not go far at all.

Cleopatra’s Needle books music every night, including open mics and jam sessions. But far bigger names, and more consequential music, can be found about 10 blocks north at Smoke: look for visits from luminaries such as Frank Wess, George Coleman and Buster Williams, or more frequent appearances by respected vocalists Gregory Porter and Allan Harris. Smoke is also home to a coterie of young-ish expert hard-boppers including saxophonists Eric Alexander and John Farnsworth, pianist David Hazeltine and organist Mike LeDonne. I have fond memories of bracing performances at Smoke by David Berkman, Wayne Escoffery (with Joe Locke), Orrin Evans and others.

My next neighborhood stop, on April 21, will be at Symphony Space, for Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano. I’ve been devouring Sondheim for the last year and can’t wait to hear interpretations from a roster of artists including Derek Bermel, Ethan Iverson, Fred Hersch, Gabriel Kahane and others from various corners of the jazz and new music worlds. Symphony Space covers a lot of ground, from theater to film to music and more, but jazz has always been a major component. My last visit was on January 21 to hear Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. Tremendous night. They’re back in mid-May.

Jazz exists on the UWS in other ways. Strolling up Riverside Drive, just up from the Firefighters Memorial on 100th Street, I always take a moment to appreciate Duke Ellington Boulevard (106th). Billy Strayhorn lived in the area too (it’s richly detailed in David Hajdu’s Strayhorn biography Lush Life). So did George Gershwin. It’s also worth noting that Columbia University, dominating the landscape of Broadway above 110th Street, is home to the Center for Jazz Studies — a vital institution with strong leadership over the years from Robert O’Meally, George Lewis and our own JJA colleague John Szwed.

The Riverside Park Fund hosts outdoor jazz concerts in the warmer seasons. Right on the grass one very sunny July 4th, I stumbled on a strong quartet set by bassist Ron McClure with tenor saxophonist Jed Levy — a really nice surprise. I’ve also discovered that Jay Leonhart, John Pizzarelli and Uri Caine are among the top-tier jazz musicians who make their homes in this vicinity. If they’re like me, they’re not leaving anytime soon.

Steve Lehman Trio
Sun., Apr. 15, 8pm. Free. The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. 215.573.3234 www.arsnovaworkshop.org

Steve Lehman came to town last year and performed his “Nos Revi Nella” for alto sax and string quartet. That’s backwards for Allen Iverson — a man Lehman sees not just as a point guard but a great “spatial improviser.” Basketball as music? It makes sense when one hears Lehman’s skewed abstract rhythm and surging forward momentum, well captured on his 2009 octet disc Travail, Transformation and Flow. On his new Dialect Fluorescent, Lehman pares down to trio and deconstructs music by Coltrane, Duke Pearson and Jackie McLean, in addition to his own. Bassist Chris Tordini subs for Matt Brewer on what will be a flame-throwing album release gig. — David R. Adler