1. Marc Ribot. Sept. 25, at Miami-Dade County Auditorium.

Guitarist Marc Ribot has done studio work for and collaborated with artists as disparate as Tom Waits, Wilson Pickett, McCoy Tyner and Andrés Calamaro. On his own work, playing electric or acoustic guitar, Ribot has shown not only a remarkable stylistic range — from rock and noise to jazz and Afro-Cuban music — but also the intelligence and technique to make musical exploration accessible (A populist avant-gardist?).

2. Ed Calle presents Mamblue: The 305 All-Star Big Band. Oct. 24, at Banyan Bowl, Pinecrest Gardens.

Versatile Venezuelan-born, Miami-raised Ed Calle is one of the most recorded saxophonists in history. His playing has been featured in the music of artists from Gloria Estefan and Chick Corea to Frank Sinatra and Rihanna. Mamblue, a project that celebrates the intersection of jazz and Latin music, is Calle’s love letter to South Florida and its musical community. It kicks off Pinecrest Gardens’ jazz season.

3. Cyrille Aimée with the Frost Studio Jazz Band and Jazz Vocal 1 Ensemble. Oct. 29, University of Miami Gusman Concert Hall.

French vocalist Cyrille Aimée has a distinct, smooth and light-toned voice, impeccable phrasing and a storyteller’s grace to deliver a lyric. Moreover, she has developed an idiosyncratic style blending her love for Gypsy swing, Brazilian music and the Great American Songbook. She appears with UM’s Frost Studio Jazz Band and Jazz Vocal 1 Ensemble, both 2015 Downbeat magazine Collegiate Award winners. The concert is part of Festival Miami´s Jazz and Beyond Series.

4. Chucho Valdés: Irakere 40. Nov. 14, The Fillmore, Miami Beach.

When the 11-piece Afro-Cuban jazz rock Cuban group Irakere exploded on the Carnegie Hall stage June 28, 1978, it served notice that the band marked a before and after in Latin jazz. Pianist, composer, arranger and Irakere co-founder Chucho Valdés salutes his old group by expanding his exceptional current quintet, The Afro-Cuban Jazz Messengers, and revisiting some of Irakere´s classic songs.

5. Julian Lage Trio. Nov. 14, at the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.

It´s odd to speak of a 27-year-old as a veteran, but guitarist and composer Julian Lage, child prodigy, was the subject of a documentary as a child (Jules at Eight), joined Carlos Santana on stage at 9, made his first recording at 11 and joined multiple Grammy winner vibraphonist Gary Burton’s group at 12. Not surprisingly then, in his playing, his phenomenal technique is served with unusual wisdom and restraint.

The Miami Herald, September 2015