The cleanest jazz itinerary for Thursday, November 5 through Saturday, November 7 begins with a horn player working inside another musician’s conception, moves to a featured guest in a bebop quintet, and closes with a bandleader’s own celebration. Mike Rodriguez, Terell Stafford, and Jeremy Pelt each bring trumpet to the foreground by a different route. The useful part is geographic as well as musical: Dizzy’s Club and Smoke Jazz Club supply two rooms with distinct pacing, from the skyline-facing, dinner-and-set structure at Jazz at Lincoln Center to the close quarters of Broadway on the Upper West Side.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Mike Rodriguez inside the Ellis Marsalis book

On Thursday at 7 p.m. and Friday at 7 p.m., Dizzy’s Club presents Jason Marsalis’s program of rarely performed works by his father, Ellis Marsalis. Rodriguez is part of a five-piece band led from the drums, alongside John Ellis on saxophones, Andrew McGowan on piano, and Barry Stephenson on bass. That personnel makes this a sharply defined ensemble date: the material belongs to Ellis Marsalis, the evening is presented by Jason Marsalis, and Rodriguez supplies a brass voice within the group’s arrangements. It is a compelling place to start for listeners who value a player’s role in an ensemble as much as a solo feature.[1][3]

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Terell Stafford meets Charles McPherson at Smoke

Smoke Jazz Club turns Thursday and Friday into an extended stay for the Charles McPherson Quintet featuring Terell Stafford. Thursday offers 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. dinner shows; Friday includes 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. dinner sets, followed by a 10 p.m. performance. McPherson leads on alto saxophone, with Stafford on trumpet, Jeb Patton on piano, David Wong on bass, and Billy Drummond on drums. The club identifies McPherson’s sound with blues and bebop, placing Stafford in a classic frontline setting where the relation between alto and trumpet carries much of the night’s character.[2][5][6]

Jeremy Pelt’s Saturday celebration

Saturday at 7 p.m. brings Jeremy Pelt’s “50th Birthday Celebration” to Dizzy’s Club. Pelt leads a quintet with Jalen Baker on vibraphone, Mykhailo Mendelenko on guitar, Leighton Harrell on bass, and Jared Spears on drums. The instrumentation shifts the route’s final chapter away from the saxophone-and-trumpet conversation at Smoke: vibraphone and guitar open a leaner field around the brass. Pelt’s own biography emphasizes his long work with the Mingus Big Band, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, the Village Vanguard Orchestra, and the Duke Ellington Big Band, making this leader date a fitting culmination after Rodriguez’s sideman role and Stafford’s featured billing.[1][4][7]

Plan the route

For the broadest view, catch Mike Rodriguez with Jason Marsalis at Dizzy’s Club on Thursday or Friday, then choose an 8 p.m. Charles McPherson Quintet set at Smoke Jazz Club on Thursday or a 6 p.m. set there on Friday. Jeremy Pelt follows at Dizzy’s Club on Saturday at 7 p.m. The two-room plan gives an easy choice between a Lincoln Center evening and an Upper West Side dinner set, depending on the desired pace. Dizzy’s Club lists limited walk-up availability and encourages reservations; Smoke Jazz Club’s early sets are dinner shows. Recheck each official venue page before leaving, since set times, availability, and room policies can change.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

These concerts happened on 5–7 November 2026

The next dates at these venues: Smoke Jazz Club

Sources

  1. Dizzy’s Club — Jazz at Lincoln Center
  2. Smoke Jazz Club — Smoke Jazz Club
  3. Jason Marsalis Presents the Rare Works of Ellis Marsalis — Jazz at Lincoln Center
  4. Jeremy Pelt – 50th Birthday Celebration — Jazz at Lincoln Center
  5. Charles McPherson Quintet featuring Terell Stafford — Thursday, November 5 — Smoke Jazz Club
  6. Charles McPherson Quintet featuring Terell Stafford — Friday, November 6 — Smoke Jazz Club
  7. Biography — Jeremy Pelt