Jazz by Kyle Parker, Folk/World by Mary Armstrong, Rock/Pop by Patrick Rapa and Classical by Peter Burwasser

Folk/World

Le Vent du Nord, June 25, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St. and the Parkway, 215-684-7506. Featuring step dancing, charm and newest member Benoit Bourque on accordion, Le Vent du Nord comes from Quebec but celebrates a world of French music.

Philly Gumbo, June 27, NXNW, 7165 Germantown Ave., 215-248-1000. Maybe Pete Eshelmann and Randall Grass and the rest of Philly Gumbo weren't the absolute first to blend world music into a danceable stew, or maybe they were. Either way the band has been mixing New Orleans, blues, reggae, zydeco, Cajun and more for 20 years.

George Kahumoku, July 14, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0978. Can't get to Hawaii this year? Kahumoku will transport you with his slack-key guitar.

Musikfest, Aug. 1-10, Bethlehem, 610-332-FEST. The fest's 20th anniversary definitely merits the drive. Aside from the guaranteed drop in temp, there are 10 days of free concerts, from Polka Grammy winner Jimmy Sturr for the polkaholics at Festplatz to Entrain and BR549 at Americaplatz.

The Copper Family, Aug. 12, Sellersville Theater 1894, Sellersville, 215-257-5808. Sellersville is another cool ride from town, no complaints if you want to hear The Copper Family, the folks who never stopped singing the songs that helped bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span put an ancient spin on rock.

Les Nubians, Aug. 20, The TLA, 334 South St., 215-922-1011. Celebrate the African diaspora in great songful style with the Nubians plus Zap Mama. Contemporary with the roots left on, the women transfix an audience.

Trout Fishing in America, Aug. 21, Longwood Gardens, Route 1, Kennett Square, 610-388-1000, ext. 100. Throw the kids a bone and enjoy a fun set by these schoolhouse rockers away from city heat.

Philly Folk Festival, Aug. 22-24, Schwenksville, 215-247-1300. Another reason to leave town, camping or not. Think of Ani DiFranco, BeauSoleil, Ralph Stanley, Odetta, acoustic steel guitar madman Bob Brozman and fiddler extraordinaire April Verch all in one weekend. Buy your ticket by July 21 and get a 10-percent discount.

32nd Annual Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, Aug. 29-31, Salem County Fair Grounds, Woodstown, N.J., 302-475-3454. Finish off the summer with Larry Cordle (Murder on Music Row), Rhonda Vincent, another chance to see Ralph Stanley (take it -- he ain't getting any younger!), Nashville Bluegrass Band and comic cowboys Riders in the Sky, among others.

Jazz

Friday Evening Jazz, ongoing, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Free with museum admission, these shows should be a no-brainer. Especially considering the lineup -- which includes not only local faves like John Swana and Bootsie Barnes, but also out-of-towners John Abercrombie (June 13), Frank Morgan (July 18), Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski (July 25), Steve Turre (Aug. 15) and Kenny Werner (Aug. 29).

Friday Evenings at Firehouse Farmers’ Market, ongoing, 50th and Baltimore sts., 215-724-6261. West Philly has a free series of its own, featuring the city's best players in a casual outdoor setting (SEPTA trolleys run right past the stage). Highlights include Sam Reed (June 13), Rich and Rob Budesa (June 27), Denise King (July 4) and Orrin Evans (Aug. 1).

Matt Wilson Quartet, June 14, Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., 215-568-3131. Wilson's the madcap little brother of progressive jazz, and his new disc, Humidity (Palmetto), keeps the juices flowing. But his piano-less quartet is best experienced in person.

15th Annual Dupont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, June 15-22, various venues, Wilmington, Del., 302-576-3095. Now that Philly is without a major jazz festival, local fans have no recourse but to trek down I-95. The good news is that the trip will be well worth it. This year's Clifford Brown fest features a slew of jazz notables; highlights include Melvin Sparks, Greg Osby with Kenny Barron, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Herbie Hancock with The Delaware Symphony Orchestra.

John Scofield, June 20, The Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE. With Up All Night (Verve), jazz's groove-guitar hero loosens up and lets fly. His working band of youngbloods never sounds better than when they're playing live.

Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor, June 20, The TLA. The trumpeter's Hard Groove (Verve) is an R&B stew, chock full of guest stars and simmering with soul. No word on whether Jaguar or James Poyser will show up here to lend support, but it wouldn't be far-fetched.

Fifth Annual Jazz Festival at Cliveden, June 29, Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Ave., 215-848-1777. Without much fanfare, this community fest -- on the grounds of 1777's Battle of Germantown -- brings some of the city's finest under one banner. This year's performers include Bootsie Barnes and Denise King and Lovett Hines' Clef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble, among others.

Los Hombres Calientes, July 2, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St., 866-917-1787. It's a commendable statement: Independence Mall's newest institution celebrates its opening with a performance by these wildly multicultural polyglots. New Orleans meets Nuyorican meets pan-African meets Caribbean, Los Hombres shows that melting pots can keep the flavor intact.

Rock/Pop

Vienna Teng, June 28, The Point, 880 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 610-527-0988. She's got a knack for ghostly piano melodies, but this ex-computer programmer's vocals are warm and embracing, unlike most ghosts.

Farmfest 5, June 28, Monroeville, N.J., www.farmfest5.com. Every year, Dave Kain of Trouble Everyday (formerly Bimonscificon) rounds up a bunch of Philly bands to play a big show in a field about a half hour away in Jersey. This year's lineup includes Band of the Hand, Echo Orbiter, The Lowbudgets, Persona, The Snow Fairies, The Trauma Queens, The Trouble with Sweeney and a bunch more.

Wilco and Sonic Youth, June 28, Festival Pier at Penn's Landing, Delaware Ave. and Spring Garden St., 215-336-2000. If the Festival Pier were to slip into the Delaware and float away on this date, who would be left to write for the music sections of Philadelphia's fine newspapers?

Jay-Z with 50 Cent, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes and Fabolous, July 3, Tweeter Center, Mickle Blvd. and Riverside Dr., Camden, N.J., 215-336-2000. Here's how the new Jay-Z song goes. La la la la. Still it's pretty catchy. La la la la. I think I'll play it again. La la la la.

The Locust, The Gossip and Numbers, July 13, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 800-594-8499. Loud and powerful punk that makes you groove and shake. Prediction: It will be so unbelievably, oppressively hot in the church basement that several punk kids will actually melt. The puddle will be a swirl of wallet chains, Sauconys and smiles.

The Kills, July 17, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888. An American girl and a British guy make bluesy punk rock that isn't entirely undanceable.

This Radiant Boy, The Caribbean and Cherry Coke!, July 18, Doc Watson's, 216 S. 11th St., 215-922-3247. The first two bands always entertain, but everybody's mostly curious about who/what Cherry Coke! will turn out to be. The Plain Parade people, who booked the show, claim some sort of connection exists between this band and the mysterious Cherry Coke zine writer who momentarily turned heads with sarcastic and blunt criticisms of the local rock scene in 2001.

"Weird Al" Yankovic, July 19, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 52nd St. and Parkside Ave., 215-893-1999. Yep, he's still at it, making nasal parodies of last year's big hits. His latest, Poodle Hat (Volcano), takes on Eminem, Nelly and Avril Lavigne.

Lollapalooza 2003, July 27, Tweeter Center. Jane's Addiction, Queens of the Stone Age, The Donnas and Jurassic 5 play short, inaudible sets under an unforgiving sun for a too-forgiving crowd. The Burning Brides play the second stage.

The Vans Warped Tour, Aug. 8, Tweeter Center. Go see The Ataris, Dropkick Murphys, Glassjaw, Rancid, Pennywise, Less Than Jake and exactly 500 other punk bands. Just don't wear your Skechers.

Reggie & The Full Effect, Aug. 19, The Trocadero. This is the solo project/alter ego of emo dork James Dewees (Coalesce, The Get Up Kids). Reggie's as adept at joke-laden skits as he is at catchy pop rock songs.

Tori Amos and Ben Folds, Aug. 26, Tweeter Center. Folds is completely capable of switching from irreverent to maudlin for the Amos crowd. But why can't Tori joke?

Classical (Ok—it's just the Orchestra)

Philadelphia Orchestra, July 8, Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Pianist André Watts is truly a citizen of the world, but his musical life was formed in Philly. His magnetic style highlights the opening night of the Mann season, in the grandiloquent "Emperor" concerto of Beethoven.

July 10, 22 and 31. Conductor Mario Venzago will present an overture and the Symphony No. 7, as well as the Piano Concerto No. 1, with the elegant Louis Lortie as soloist, and Itzhak Perlman will bring his peaches-and-cream personality to the Violin Concerto.

July 16. Chopin wrote his splendid Piano Concerto No. 1 in a swirl of youthful ardor, so why not hear it performed by a promising young artist? Baby-faced Yundi Li is the reigning winner of the famous Chopin Competition first prize.

July 23. Garrick Ohlsson is a big guy. He does not just play the piano, he embraces it, he swallows it and he spits the music back out like an act of nature. Rachmaninoff is a good subject for such an approach, since the composer himself dealt with music as a force of nature.

July 24. One of the bright new lights in the odd world of the tenor has been Stuart Neill. His voice is splendid of tone and power, without question, but it is also tasteful and intelligent. Even in the popular Italian arias Neill will be singing, it is a good idea to actually know the meaning of the words being sung. A tenor with brains; what a concept.