Eric Wortham Presents A Very Spooky Velvet Night

Eric Wortham II takes over Velvet Whip Arts & Social Club on Thursday, October 29, for a late-night set that runs from 10 PM to midnight. The night is built around Wortham, a Philadelphia-born pianist, composer, producer, and musical director, and it falls under the 'Velvet Nights' banner—a soulful, high-level live music experience rooted in jazz, R&B, gospel, groove, and improvisation.

Wortham is known for an expressive touch, rhythmic fire, and deep musical sensitivity. He's performed alongside a long list of major artists: Jill Scott, Adele, Jazmine Sullivan, Seal, Vivian Green, Aloe Blacc, Kindred the Family Soul, Musiq Soulchild, and Jeff Bradshaw. That range—from the neo-soul of Jill Scott to the pop of Adele—shows up in the way he pulls from different traditions in a single set. The gospel influence is there, as is the jazz training, and the groove that keeps it from feeling like a recital.

His playing carries the spirit of Philadelphia: refined, raw, church-born, jazz-trained, and emotionally direct. It's the kind of sound that fits a late-night slot—music that works as well if you're paying close attention as it does if you're just letting it run in the background while you talk. The improvisation part means no two nights are the same, so what you get depends on where the room is that evening.

It's a Thursday night, and the music starts late, so it's more of a nightcap than a dinner-and-a-show kind of thing. The set runs from 10 PM to 11:59 PM at Velvet Whip Arts & Social Club in Philadelphia.