Though he’s made Philly his home for most of the last decade, Wade Dean never really shook his Southern roots. The South Carolina native’s working group, the Wade Dean Enspiration, liberally spiced jazz with gospel and down-home soul for an ebullient gumbo that engaged audiences like a juke-joint revival meeting. He’ll undoubtedly take that spirit with him to the opposite coast as Dean, the director of jazz at UPenn since 2008, will be swapping academic sides from faculty to student as he pursues his Ph.D. in musicology at UCLA. Dean has taken Chris’ bandstand many times at the head of his own band, at late-night jam sessions, and as part of Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band; on Friday night, he’ll convene the congregation one last time to bid farewell to his second home.
Fri., June 29, 8 p.m., $15, Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St., 215-568-3131, chrisjazzcafe.com.
