The best acts to see at Charlie Parker Jazz Festival

Ever-exciting altoist Rudresh Mahanthappa—whose work revolves around his biting tone, lavalike improvisational flow and penchant for proggy grooves—released an album of ambitious new material earlier this year that's a perfect fit for this fest. The LP, Bird Calls, turns away from his usual Indian Carnatic–fused fare and instead sculpts Parker's foundational influences into forward-thinking post-bop.

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One of the most versatile, eclectic and prolific bandleaders to emerge in the ’90s and flourish in the aughts, saxophonist Joe Lovano has exercised his virtuoso chops in various live acts this year, leading the Wayne Shorter-influenced quintet Sound Prints as well as developing his West African stylings in his Village Rhythms Band.

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Oliver Lake, the wizardly avant-jazz alto veteran known for his work in the World Saxophone Quartet, Trio 3 and countless other projects, pulls double-duty here, blowing in the horn section and piloting this 17-piece behemoth. Expect to hear from the group's vibrant, roof-raising 2014 release, Wheels.

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The premier Blue Note organist in the ’60s, Lonnie Smith has reinvented himself in in the aughts with an updated repertoire (see 2003's Boogaloo to Beck) and a heady, borderline-psychedelic approach to soul jazz, offering a diverse body of work to pull from at this festival appearance.

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The drummer they call “Tain” spent his formative years with Branford Marsalis, and recent work suggests that the rhythm hound has as much respect for the great Elvin Jones as Branford has for Jones’s old boss John Coltrane. Just as impressive, Watts’s compositional skills now command as much attention as his percussive thunder. Recently, with the album Blue, Vol. 1, he's turned his focus towards blues and ballads.

^{_{Photograph: Courtesy J. Chriss & Co.}}