Gaida 

Gaida Hinnawi's first album, Levantine Indulgence (Palmyra), captures an ever-widening sensibility that radiates expansively outward from the Fairuz and Umm Kalthoum songs she learned as a child. Though her talent was evident early, Hinnawi's father insisted that she pursue a stable vocation, so for many years the Damascus native pursued music as a sideline. She majored in biology at Wayne State in Detroit and has pursued a career as a speech pathologist working with Arabic children in New York, where circa 2005 she hooked up with musicians orbiting the Arab cultural organization Alwan for the Arts. Levantine Indulgence, released earlier this year, is rooted in classical Arabic and folk sounds as well as vintage Lebanese pop, but working with jazz musicians—in particular trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, a longtime collaborator who was very involved in the making of the record—broadened her vocabulary further, resulting in some surprisingly breezy hybrids. The extended improvisations on "Indulgence" find the same masterful balance of traditions ElSaffar has presented in his Two Rivers project, while "Illak Shi" brings in Brazilian music and Latin jazz. Hinnawi made her local debut a couple years ago at the World Music Festival, but here she's bringing a new band that includes ElSaffar as well as guitarist Arturo Martinez, percussionist Tony De Vivo, bassist Jennifer Vincent, and oud player Zafer Tawil. Gaida also plays Tuesday at Katerina's.—Peter Margasak