Baltimore-based pianist, keyboardist and composer Lafayette Gilchrist, the newest member of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, reconvenes his hip-hop, funk and go-go fueled ensemble New Volcanoes for the exuberant Move With Love, the acclaimed band’s first release in seven years. The ensemble performs music from the release at a hometown show on Thursday, January 15 at Keystone Korner, 1350 Lancaster St., Baltimore. The 7 p.m. show features Gilchrist on piano with tenor saxophonists Shaquim Muldrow and Gregory Thompkins, guitarist Carl Filipiak, trombonist Christian Hizon, trumpeter Leo Maxey, bassist Anthony “Blue” Jenkins, drummer Kevin Pinder, and percussionist Bashi Rose. Information at keystonekornerbaltimore.com.

Lafayette Gilchrist's music has graced the soundtracks of David Simon’s acclaimed series The Wire, The Deuce & Treme. It draws on the span of jazz history from stride to free improv, with inspiration from hip-hop, funk and D.C. go-go, making surprising connections between styles, boldly veering from piledriver funk to piquant stride, vigorous swing to hip-hop swagger, abstraction to deep-bottom grooves. Gilchrist leads his own bands, New Volcanoes and Sonic Trip Masters, and a longtime collaborator of saxophone great David Murray, including a lengthy tenure in his quartet.

Released July 25, 2025 via Morphius Records, Gilchrist’s recent album Move With Love arrives as Gilchrist embarks on a new chapter in his career, joining the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra in the piano chair inaugurated by the ensemble’s iconic namesake. The wide-ranging palette of the Arkestra, whose orbit pulls in influences from the earliest eras of jazz to the cutting edge of the avant-garde and beams it back to Earth through a dazzling Afrofuturist lens, seems a perfect fit for the eclectic tastes of Gilchrist. Though all of his music is informed by hip-hop and the D.C.-born go-go style, it manifests in different ways depending on the band that the keyboardist channels it through. With his quintet, the Sonic Trip Masters, Gilchrist hews closer to a traditional acoustic jazz sound, while the more expansive New Volcanoes delves deeper into his funky, groove-oriented side in the form of a combustible nonet.