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Jazz picks: Austin Peralta remembered, Randy Weston and more

Pianist Austin Peralta, onstage at Royce Hall in 2012.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Randy Weston & Billy Harper: A musical partnership that began in the early ‘70s, Randy Weston and Billy Harper come together again on the aptly titled “The Roots of the Blues,” a magnetic duet between Weston’s piano and Harper’s lush and lingering saxophone.

A mix of standards such as “Body and Soul” and “Take the A Train” with bracing originals like the zig-zagging contemplation of “The Healers” and the rumbling “Blues to Africa,” the album should come alive in vivid new ways for this performance. The Jazz Bakery at Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 W Washington Blvd., Culver City. Fri., 8 p.m. $35 https://www.jazzbakery.org.

Anthony Wilson: An inventive and incisive bandleader and composer, guitarist Anthony Wilson has delivered a wealth of musical highlights of late, including his album-length tribute to Brazilian music, “Campo Belo,” his occasional local shows in a trio with drummer Jim Keltner and his ambitious and engrossing suite for four guitars, “Seasons.”

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PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times

This time out Wilson presents his eclectic Curators project, which over two nights will feature guests that include Petra Haden, Jesse Harris and others. The Blue Whale, 123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St. No. 301, L.A. Thurs.-Fri., 9 p.m. $15. https://www.bluewhalemusic.com.

Austin Peralta Memorial Concert: When keyboardist Austin Peralta died at just 22 years old last year, the jazz community suffered a loss on a few levels. First, there would never be another chance to hear an artist whose career began at 16 in recordings with Ron Carter and Billy Kilson and evolved into one of the city’s can’t-miss live acts with his 2011 album “Endless Planets,” released on Flying Lotus’ boundary-pushing Brainfeeder imprint.

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Worse yet, Los Angeles lost the chance to hear where Peralta might go next. Here, friends and local musicians who include Dantae Winslow, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Kamasi Washington pay tribute to a musical journey that was just getting started. (Watch a lovely clip from his final performance below, taken from a show at the Blue Whale in 2012.) The Blue Whale, 23 Astronaut E S Onizuka St. No. 301, L.A. Sun., 9 p.m. $15 https://www.bluewhalemusic.com.

Twitter: @chrisbarton

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