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As the centennial of Settlement Music School approaches, this great Philadelphia institution continues to throw a bunch of smaller parties in anticipation of the big one. Inviting successful alums to come back to play is a great way to celebrate. This Sunday, a quartet of players now working in New York returns to Queen Street to play music by Beethoven, Brahms, Dohnanyi, and a new work by Settlement boss Robert Capanna.
Sun., March 18, 3 p.m., $15, Settlement Music School, Curtis Branch, 416 Queen St., 215-320-2686, www.smsmusic.org.
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I have Maria Taylor's phone number from when her beau Conor Oberst phoned for some interview. Yours truly isn't a stalker, but I am obsessed with Taylor's honey-roasted voice and the fluffy Stereolab-ish arrangements that infiltrate the dewy melodies on Lynn Teeter Flower. That new album — unlike her previous 11:11 and recordings with Azure Ray — truly soars, lifts and separates her from the rest of the Saddle Creek crew. I'd call and tell her. But that'd be weird.
Thu., March 15, 7:30 p.m., $10, with The Swimmers and Aderbat, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut streets, 866-468-7619, www.r5productions.com.
She grew up in Greenwich Village, but Rory Block's musical soul is deeply tied to the Mississippi Delta. And while this masterful country-blues guitarist has been recording for more than 40 years, Block remains a word-of-mouth favorite at intimate venues like the Tin Angel. Her latest album, The Lady and Mr. Johnson (Rykodisc), is devoted to the songs of the legendary Robert Johnson. With her intricate picking and blazing slide work — not to mention rousing vocals — Block's an onstage dynamo whose passion for the blues never wavers.
Fri., March 16, 7:30 p.m., $20, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0770, www.tinangel.com.
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The late, great drag queen Mertzy Jones would've called this show a mess in a dress. That's because nimble-fingered guitarist Vernon Reid — best when he's away from the dullard's metal riffs of Living Colour — has chosen not only to play with Philly avant-fusion masters Jamaaldeen Tacuma and G. Calvin Weston. They've also got openers Phil Moore Browne — the area's sole practitioners of zigabooafropunkgospel. If these two acts could only jam together, it'd be the eeriest, funkiest show of the season.
Sat., March 17, 10 p.m., $12-$15, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475, www.virtuous.com.
Jim Ridl has gradually made himself a nearly indispensable part of the region's jazz scene over the past few years. The Jersey-based pianist is an unassuming sideman and imaginative leader whose subtle cleverness impresses all the more in aggregate. With The Antfarm Quartet, fronted by Paul Jost, a singer with a bit of Tony Bennett's smokiness and breezy swing, Ridl and bandmates have created a nightclub-act facade for a stealthily interactive group.
Tue., March 20, 8 p.m., $5, NXNW, 7165 Germantown Ave., 215-248-1000, www.nxnwphl.com.
Jersey boy Pete Yorn winds down his Morning, Day and Night Tour — which takes it name from the trilogy of albums he released beginning with his 2001 debut, Music for the Morning After — this month. Yorn and his five-piece band will tackle all three, including 2006's ambitious Nightcrawler (Sony). Expect a mix of straight-out rockers, a few swoon-worthy ballads and a cover tune or two like Warren Zevon's "Splendid Isolation" or the Stones' "Dead Flowers."
Sat., March 17, 8:30 p.m., $20-$26.20, with Minibar and Moses Mayfield, Electric Factory, Seventh and Willow streets, 215-336-2000, www.livenation.com.
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