NEW FALL SEASON ALBUMS & PERFORMANCES / NYC

AACM 50TH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a groundbreaking institution for American experimental music, has been celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, with events both in and beyond Chicago, its city of origin. This concert series, presented by the association’s New York chapter on four consecutive Fridays in October, will feature avant-garde titans like the pianist Muhal Richard Abrams and the saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, in an improvised duet (Oct. 9); the trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, leading a quintet (Oct. 16); and the trombonist and electronic musician George Lewis, with an ensemble called Impromptus (Oct. 23).

AFRO-LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA Led by the pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill, this powerhouse large ensemble has been focused on furthering a musical dialogue with Cuba in recent years, to excellent effect. The coordinates shift slightly for “Jazz Across the Americas: Venezuela,” which will inaugurate the orchestra’s fall season at Symphony Space Oct. 1-2. symphonyspace.org.

ALAN BERGMAN “Lyrically, the Songs of Alan and Marilyn Bergman”: The Hollywood songwriter may be his own best interpreter. Birdland, Oct. 12; birdlandjazz.com.

BRAD MEHLDAU In his justly celebrated solo concerts, the pianist Brad Mehldau often spirals outward from a theme, forming complex structures on the fly, with or without a clear tether to the given melody. This digressive, rhapsodic, trancelike approach illuminates the diverse body of music — originals, jazz standards and tunes by Radiohead, the Beatles and Brahms — on “10 Years Solo Live” (Oct. 16). It’s a boxed set culled from a decade of European concert recordings, to be released initially on eight LPs, and one month later in digital formats and on CDs. Nonesuch.

BRIC JAZZFEST The centerpiece of the first annual BRIC JazzFest, happening at the BRIC House complex in Downtown Brooklyn, is a two-day marathon of 16 overlapping sets, ranging from the vaulting ambitions of the tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington to the clockwork intricacies of Dawn of Midi. (You’ll want to buy tickets early, and use the same strategy with regard to your arrival on the scene.) A separate kickoff concert, on Oct. 11, will feature the august bassist Ron Carter with his Golden Striker Trio, in collaboration with the painter and poet Danny Simmons. And a free concert on Oct. 13 will spotlight Jaime Woods, an emerging singer-songwriter with a foothold in gospel and soul. Through Oct. 16; bricartsmedia.org.

CHRISTIAN SCOTT ATUNDE ADJUAH “Stretch Music” (Sept. 18) is the new album by this firebrand trumpeter from New Orleans, who now resides in Harlem. It’s also a set of aesthetic principles — at heart, involving the elasticity of genres, including the one most of us know as jazz — and a rallying cry for Mr. Adjuah’s fierce young band, which also appears Oct. 2-3 at Harlem Stage, harlemstage.org. Ropeadope.

FRED HERSCH On “Solo,” the album he just released, Fred Hersch works in a sumptuously familiar setting, engaging alone with a piano on a stage. He’ll turn 60 in October, around the time that he presents his ambitious new multimedia work — “Rooms of Light,” a song cycle inspired by the medium of photography, created with the poet Mary Jo Salter — at Montclair State University. Then Mr. Hersch will settle in for a week at the Village Vanguard with his working trio, featuring John Hébert on bass and Eric McPherson on drums. “Rooms of Light,” Oct. 15-18, Kasser Theater, Montclair, N.J. Village Vanguard, Oct. 20-25, villagevanguard.com.

JANE MONHEIT “The Songbook Sessions: The Music of Ella Fitzgerald”: From starting out as a jazz-pop vocal prodigy, Ms. Monheit has matured into a trouper and sensitive interpreter. Birdland, Oct. 13-17; birdlandjazz.com.

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA PLAYS MONK Thelonious Monk has been the subject of more than one repertory tribute by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra over the years, but this program — one of the organization’s few marquee events in the coming season, because of a scheduled renovation of Frederick P. Rose Hall — holds promise. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s artistic director, Wynton Marsalis, will host a concert of new arrangements by members of the ensemble; the featured guest is Joey Alexander, a preteen piano virtuoso whose appreciation of Monk’s music has been widely documented. Oct. 23-24, Town Hall.

JOHN SCOFIELD “Past Present” (Sept. 25) is an album title with more than one connotation for the guitarist John Scofield. For one thing, it’s a welcome reunion of his quartet of the early-to-mid 1990s, an elastic, swinging group with Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone and Bill Stewart on drums. (Larry Grenadier is the bassist for this go-round.) The deeper meaning, mostly implicit, is an elegy for Mr. Scofield’s son, who died of cancer two years ago — and whose outlook can apparently be credited for this music’s resolute lightness of spirit. (The quartet reconvenes Oct. 13-18 at the Blue Note Jazz Club; bluenote.net.) Impulse!/Universal Music Classics.

KARRIN ALLYSON The album “Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein” (Sept. 18) tells you the main thing you need to know about Ms. Allyson’s new album, her first nonholiday release in four years. You should know at least a couple of more things: first, that she aces the tightrope walk of songbook reverence and jazz-vocal breeziness that often proves elusive on such an album; and second, that her sterling accompanists are the bassist John Patitucci and the pianist Kenny Barron. (She’ll appear with different partners Oct. 6-10 at Birdland.) Motéma.

KURT ELLING The formidable jazz singer swings Sinatra. Café Carlyle, Oct. 13-17.

More Posts: albums,performances

NEW FALL SEASON ALBUMS & PERFORMANCES / NYC

SEPTEMBER ALBUM DROPS & PERFORMANCES

ORRIN EVANS The pianist Orrin Evans has lately been on a hot streak, advancing a pugnacious and exploratory brand of post-bop. “The Evolution of Oneself” deepens this agenda, featuring a trio with two smart, groove-literate peers: the drummer Karriem Riggins and the bassist Christian McBride. (Mr. Evans will celebrate the album’s September release, with different partners, Sept. 10 through Sept. 20 at Smoke Jazz Club; smokejazz.com.) Smoke Sessions. (Nate Chinen)

THE ROYAL BOPSTERS PROJECT In this multigenerational jazz vocal summit, renowned old-timers like Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Sheila Jordan, Andy Bey and Bob Dorough harmonize with the quartet London, Meader, Pramuk and Ross, younger keepers of the tradition. Birdland, Sept. 15 through Sept. 19, birdlandjazz.com. (S.H.)

KARRIN ALLYSON The album “Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein” (Sept. 18) tells you the main thing you need to know about Ms. Allyson’s new album, her first nonholiday release in four years. You should know at least a couple of more things: first, that she aces the tightrope walk of songbook reverence and jazz-vocal breeziness that often proves elusive on such an album; and second, that her sterling accompanists are the bassist John Patitucci and the pianist Kenny Barron.

JOHN ELLIS & DOUBLE-WIDE A saxophonist and clarinetist fond of blending modern-jazz erudition with street-level grooves, John Ellis has long had a strong outlet in Double-Wide, featuring the New Orleans drummer Jason Marsalis along with Matt Perrine on sousaphone and Alan Ferber on trombone. “Charm” (Sept. 18), the group’s new album, also greatly benefits from the work of Gary Versace, on organ, accordion and piano. Parade Light. (N.C.)

PÉREZ PATITUCCI BLADE Since roughly the turn of this century, the pianist Danilo Pérez, the bassist John Patitucci and the drummer Brian Blade have been refining a sleek, ecstatic bond within the Wayne Shorter Quartet. They recently began working as a stand-alone trio, bringing an open-ended spirit of inquiry and deep reserves of collective intuition; “Children of the Light” is their debut album (Sept. 18).

LUCIANA SOUZA The Brazilian jazz vocalist Luciana Souza has carved a special niche out of lilting duologue, working one by one with a small stable of revered acoustic guitarists. But on “Speaking in Tongues” (Sept. 18) she’s at the center of a changeable and frisky band; its guitarist is Lionel Loueke, who has a taste for polyrhythmic density, and its star soloist is the harmonica whiz Grégoire Maret. The album’s title partly refers to all the nonverbal felicity in Ms. Souza’s tunes, though she also presents new musical settings for a pair of Leonard Cohen poems.

JOHN SCOFIELD “Past Present” (Sept. 25) is an album title with more than one connotation for the guitarist John Scofield. For one thing, it’s a welcome reunion of his quartet of the early-to-mid 1990s, an elastic, swinging group with Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone and Bill Stewart on drums. (Larry Grenadier is the bassist for this go-round.) The deeper meaning, mostly implicit, is an elegy for Mr. Scofield’s son, who died of cancer two years ago — and whose outlook can apparently be credited for this music’s resolute lightness of spirit.

CHRISTIAN SCOTT ATUNDE ADJUAH “Stretch Music” (Sept. 18) is the new album by this firebrand trumpeter from New Orleans, who now resides in Harlem. It’s also a set of aesthetic principles — at heart, involving the elasticity of genres, including the one most of us know as jazz.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN AND THE 4TH DIMENSION Mr. McLaughlin, the English guitar virtuoso and jazz-fusion godhead, has an effervescent outlet in the 4th Dimension, the band with which he released his most recent album a few years ago. “Black Light” (Sept. 18) consists of all-new compositions for the band, including one piece Mr. McLaughlin wrote for a fallen brother in arms, the flamenco guitar legend Paco de Lucía. Abstract Logix. (N.C.)

CARLOS HENRIQUEZ Mr. Henriquez, the bassist in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, hails from a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx, and his background deeply informs his work. “The Bronx Pyramid,” Mr. Henriquez’s debut album, is due out on Blue Engine Records on Sept. 18. (N.C.)

KENDRICK SCOTT ORACLE “We Are the Drum” is the fourth album (and first for Blue Note) as bandleader by Mr. Scott, a drummer with Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock and others, and a composer making jazz that’s as central to contemporary practice as it comes: rhythmic and interactive, complex and precise and empathetic. Blue Note. Sept. 25. (The band performs at Jazz Standard Sept. 22-23.) (B.R.)

CHICK COREA AND BÉLA FLECK Jazz is to Mr. Corea, the celebrated pianist, as bluegrass is to Mr. Fleck, the estimable banjoist: a formative discipline and a continuing fascination, but hardly the whole picture. Their new double album, “Two,” (out Sept. 11) is a document culled from extensive touring over the eight years since their first duo album. Concord Jazz. They’ll perform on Sept. 27 at Town Hall. (N.C.)

More Posts: albums,performances