Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis celebrates New Year’s Eve with a nifty little band.

By Jon Garelick

Pianist Mitch Hampton goes solo at the Lily Pad.

Mitch Hampton
December 19 at 7:15 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, MA.

Mitch Hampton’s credits as a composer and player range from the classical clarinetist Richard Stoltzman to the late, great jazz composer George Russell, and music for films by Andrew Bujalski. Tonight, Hampton plays a set of solo piano music.

Construction Party
December 21 at 8:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, MA.

Here’s a convergence of heavycats on the jazz/free-improv tip: trumpeter Forbes Graham, alto saxophonist Dave Rempis, pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, bassist Nate McBride, and drummer Luther Gray. This is what is described as Construction Party’s “annual concert centered around saxophonist Dave Rempis’s visit from Chicago. Construction Party started out as quartet and for some time now has been augmented to a quintet with the addition of Nate McBride on bass.” The two-set show will feature pieces by all the band members.

Improvised Music for Quartet
December 29 at 8 p.m.
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA.

The esteemed avant-garde New York percussionist Michael Evans is joined by three Bostonians — trombonist Jeb Bishop (formerly of Chicago and the Vandermark 5), pianist Steve Lantner, and bassist Damon Smith — in a program featuring music by Bishop and Smith.

Delfeayo Marsalis
December 31 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA.

Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis celebrates New Year’s Eve with a nifty little band:
pianist Anthony Wonsey, bassist David Pulphus, drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith, and singer Cynthia Liggins Thomas. All sorts of special New Year’s dinner/hotel/treats combos available at the Scullers website.

Dwight & Nicole
December 31 at 9:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA.

Singer Nicole Nelson and guitarist Dwight Ritcher, who have dug with authority into all manner of blues — from the Delta to Ray Charles, even a bit of jazz — front the Regattabar deluxe New Year’s package.

Kenny Werner/Chris Potter
January 5 at 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA.

The endlessly skilled and perceptive pianist and composer Kenny Werner made a celebrated live-concert duo recording with tenor titan Christ Potter in 1998. The two reunite for this show at Scullers.

Dow/Sobrino/Grenadier
January 7 at 8 p.m.
Third Life Studio, Somerville, MA.

The trio of husband-wife bassist Andrew Dow and drummer Yuriana Sobrino with ready-for-anything trumpeter Phil Grenadier play an evening of “original compositions, free improvisation, and exploration of electric and acoustic sounds in a chordless trio setting.”

Jon Garelick is a member of The Boston Globe editorial board. A former arts editor at the Boston Phoenix, he writes frequently about jazz for the Globe, The Arts Fuse, and other publications.