After a more than two-year hiatus, DCist’s jazz and international music roundup is back in a different, and we hope more helpful, format. Have a show you want featured or a musician we should know about? Email arts and food editor Rebecca Cooper.

After the high-profile closures of Twin’s Jazz and others during the Covid-19 pandemic, the D.C. area’s jazz scene is embattled, but not broken. Venues old and new are picking up where they left off — Alice’s Jazz in Brookland has reopened, and Jazz in the Garden a seminal summer event, is back this year. By some accounts, more acts are touring now than anytime in recent memory. While volume is still down locally from before the pandemic, here are the performances we’re excited to catch in May.

If you only see one show this month:

AN AVANT-GARDE ICON: At 80 years old and with a professional career reaching back nearly 60 years, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is a giant in the avant-garde community, or “creative music” as he would prefer to call it. His works “Ten Freedom Summers,” “America’s National Parks,” and “The Great Lakes Suite” and others explore the American identity through composition and improvisation. Smith’s former student, saxophonist and local mainstay Brad Linde, is now the director of jazz and creative instrumental music at Georgetown Day School, which is hosting Smith as part of its GDS Jazz & Creative Music Residency. Smith leads a band that includes other local stalwarts such as bassist Luke Stewart and cellist Janel Leppin in a performance of a new work commissioned for this residency. (May 5 at Georgetown Day School; 7 p.m.; $15).

If you want to see local talent:

JONI MITCHELL TRIBUTE: Integriti Reeves is one of the area’s finest vocalists. She pays tribute to the great Joni Mitchell with a crew of local all-stars, including keyboardist Federico Gonzalez Peña, violinist Matvei Sigalov, bassist Mikel Combs, and drummer Quincy Philips. (May 2 at Blues Alley; 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. sets; $25 + minimum/surcharge)

LAFAYETTE ON PIANO: Pianist Lafayette Gilchrist came out of the go-go and hip-hop scenes, and his music draws from those influences despite his having developed into a prolific jazz composer and formidable improvisor. He leads a quartet featuring Charles Rahmat Woods on woodwinds, Herman Burney on bass, and drummer Eric Kennedy. (May 7 at Takoma Station, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. sets; $15 in advance/$20 at the door)

EGYPTIAN ROOTS: Todd Marcus has been a familiar face in local clubs for over two decades, carving out a niche as a jazz bass clarinetist. While his music is rooted firmly in straight-ahead jazz, his compositions have taken an alluring turn in recent years as he began incorporating music from his Egyptian heritage into his sound, as well as drawing from his experience as a social justice activist. Marcus will lead his jazz orchestra to celebrate the release of his latest album. (May 12 at Blues Alley, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. sets; $25 + minimum/surcharge)

SATURDAY NIGHT QUARTET: A gifted and dedicated baritone saxophonist and music educator, Leigh Pilzer regularly performs with and arranges music for DIVA, the celebrated all-female big band, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. She leads her own ensemble at this show, where we hope the setlist will highlight her compositional chops. Pilzer’s stellar bandmates include the wonderful bassist Amy Shook, drummer Greg Holloway, and keyboardist Paul Bratcher. (May 14 at Takoma Station, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. sets; $15 in advance/$20 at the door)

NOT FUGAZI BUT THAT’S FINE: Every few years the rumor mill starts up about a Fugazi reunion that ultimately doesn’t happen. Frankly, we’re fine with that because it allows that legendary harDCore band’s rhythm section, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty, to focus on The Messthetics. The project brings the two musicians together with area guitar wizard Anthony Pirog. Pirog’s broad sonic palette is the the perfect foil to the driving rhythms that propel the music to a place that is not prog rock, not punk, and not jazz, but instead a highly satisfying blending of all three. (May 15 at Blues Alley, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. sets; $20 + minimum/surcharge)

If you want to get out of your comfort zone: 

GETTING CREATIVE: Transparent Productions has been bringing the brightest lights in the creative music scene to D.C. since 1997, and it continues the tradition with Rhizome as its home. Transparent is staging a performance by The Nu Band, comprised of Joe Fonda on bass, Lou Grassi on drums (both founding members), Thomas Heberer on cornet and Kenny Wessel on guitar. The group is well-established in free jazz circles, having toured the world and recorded ten albums. (May 8 at Rhizome, 7 p.m.; $20.)

HOOKER AND HUGHES: Drummer and composer William Hooker is a giant in New York’s rich avant-garde community, with over seventy albums to his credit and a list of collaborators that include some of the most influential players in free jazz. He pairs up with saxophonist Sarah Hughes, who is developing into an important voice in D.C.’s creative community with her albums and various ensembles, for an evening of solo and duo performances. (May 22 at Rhizome, 7 p.m; $10-$20)

If you prefer the concert hall over the club:

WILLIAMS FESTIVAL: This year marks the silver anniversary of the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, the annual tribute to the trailblazer who paved the way for women in jazz. The Kennedy Center assembled world class talent for this 25th iteration, whose highlights include a Williams tribute by drummer Allison Miller and bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington‘s latest band, and the all female supergroup Artemis. (May 6 and 7 at the Kennedy Center, 7 p.m.; $40-$45)

BACK TO BOHEMIAN: Six years have passed since the club’s closing, and we still very much miss Bohemian Caverns. Thankfully, its resident big band, the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Brad Linde and trumpeter Joe Herrera, still convenes from time to time. This time will feature a very special guest, pianist Ethan Iverson, formerly of groundbreaking trio The Bad Plus. The concert will feature as its centerpiece Iverson’s jazz suite, Bud Powell In The 21st Century, which was released as a recording in 2021. (May 16 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m. $15-$25)

If you’re in search of global sounds:

ETHIOPIAN INFLUENCES: The Feedel Band specializes in an infectious blend of funk, jazz, and Ethiopian rhythms made popular by internationally renowned acts such as Walias, Ibex, and Roha Band. See them as part of their monthly residency at Bossa. (May 5 at Bossa Bistro + Lounge, 9:30 p.m., $10)

HUNGARIAN BEATS: Catch an evening of traditional Hungarian dance music with Magnólia Zenekar, a string band with violin, viola, and upright bass that plays the music of Hungarian villages in Transylvania, Romania, and the Danube region of Hungary. Also on the bill is Szikra, another trio that plays music of the Csángó people from the Moldva and Gyimes regions around Romania. (May 13 at Bossa Bistro + Lounge, 7:30 p.m., $10)