This spring’s jazz scene is the usual and very welcome mixture of the old and the new, the past predicted, and the future re-created.

The biggest central event in April figures to be the 85th anniversary of the birth of the bassist and composer Charles Mingus, who will be celebrated in three events at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. The shows will feature two of the contemporary Mingus ensembles — Mingus Dynasty and the Mingus Big Band (April 17–22) — shepherded by the musician’s widow, Sue Mingus, an additional bonus recital of Mingus music by the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble (April 23), and a special concert of Mingus’s most celebrated longform work, “Epitath,” as conducted by Gunther Schuller (April 25). Elsewhere, Blue Note Records has promised a new disc of previously unknown music by the mighty man and one of his most famous ensembles, co-starring Eric Dolphy.

This year also marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the legendary pianist Thelonious Monk, though surprisingly, only one commemorative concert has been announced. It will be staged as part of Jack Kleinsinger’s longrunning “Highlights in Jazz” series and star Ben Riley’s Monk Legacy Septet, which has just released an excellent album of Monk’s music.

Dizzy’s will also sing into spring with a monthlong festival of diverse vocalists, including many worthy veterans rarely presented in New York such as Gloria Lynn (until March 25), Jimmy Scott (April 12–15), and Ernestine Anderson (March 28–April 1), followed by the elusive Central Avenue blues-baritone Ernie Andrews, appearing with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in an Ellington program (May 1–6). “Songs We Love” will also be honored at Rose Hall in program of that title by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the amazingly melodic pianist Bill Charlap in the last weekend of March.

Getting back to birthday bashes, every May always brings a series of tributes to Miles Davis, who was born on May 26, 1926. There will be a gathering of Davis band veterans starring tenorist George Coleman and drummer Jimmy Cobb at Iridium (May 10–13) and two ambitious nights of Davis’s music starring four trumpeters (Ryan Kisor, Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, and Marcus Miller) at Jazz at Lincoln Center (May 11–12). Davis’s longtime bassist, Ron Carter, is also busy with two very different projects — a duet with the guitarist Jim Hall at the Blue Note (April 3) and with his Nonet at Merkin Hall (May 7).

Miles, Mingus, Monk, and the other honored deceased would undoubtedly be pleased to see that three of the world’s finer younger tenor saxists, who are all regularly featured in other people’s bands, are stepping out with groups and albums of their own. First comes Wayne Escoffery, who will appear at Smoke (March 30–31) and release his first outing as a leader on an American label with an album called “Veneration” on High Note.

Both Anat Cohen and Joel Frahm, two longtime vets of the New York scene despite their tender years, have recorded for the new label Anzic Records and have rare leader gigs in major clubs this season, with Mr. Frahm playing Sweet Rhythm (May 2–5) and Ms. Cohen playing Jazz Standard (May 8–9).

At 45, Wynton Marsalis is set to celebrate both his past and his future as he shares a bill with fellow New Orleans icon Dr. John in a Rose Hall Concert on April 10. The same night (who made that decision?), at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra will play a whole evening of Mr. Marsalis’s music under the direction of longtime Wyntonite Wycliffe Gordon.

At the opposite end of the jazz spectrum (and the city), the first weekend in April promises two noteworthy events at the city’s two venues dedicated to experimental jazz: The Instant Composers Pool, the amazing and amusing 10-piece avant-garde ensemble co-led by pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink, will be celebrating its 35th anniversary with a rare New York appearance in two nights at Tonic (April 5–6). Also on the downtown zone, John Zorn, the founder and guiding force at the Stone, will be headlining in an allstar benefit for the performance space that promises lots of surprise guests (April 7). Another avant-garde maverick, Anthony Braxton, playing every reed instrument known to man, will lead his septet at the Iridium from March 29–April 1.

In a jazz program to service both the mainstream and the fringe, Merkin Hall is presenting two cutting-edge acts in a single concert — the downtown pianist Mathew Shipp and the controversial Swedish piano trio E.S.T. (April 14) — and two evenings of chamber jazz, the first of which will feature two Latin-classical crossover trios led by the Cuban clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera and the Colombian folk-jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda.

As usual, there’s much more going on in the clubs than could possibly squeeze into this column, but a few must-see events in April and May include the Clark Terry-James Moody combination at the Blue Note honoring Mr. Moody’s 82nd birthday (week of March 27); my favorite of all electric-acoustic hybrid bands, Dave Douglas’s Keystone, at Iridium (April 12); a week of artists from Cryptogramophone Records, including a program of music by Andrew Hill at the Jazz Standard (starting April 26); and the elusive Cassandra Wilson at the Blue Note (May 2). At Birdland, the big news is the BossaBrasil Festival, six all-star nights featuring Paquito D’Rivera, Leny Andrade, and a welcome New York appearance by the guitarist-composer Dori Caymmi.

For a finish, a plethora of excellent guitar-centric events are set for this April and May: two weeks of Bill Frisell at the Vanguard (April 10–22), the second of which is an ambitious sextet co-starring the clarinetist Don Byron and the violinist Jenny Scheinman; the dapper Russell Malone guesting with vibraphone master Bobby Hutcherson at the Blue Note (starting May 29); the hard-hitting blues-based Sheryl Bailey at the Stone, and two excellent Djangocentric players in the same week, Bireli Lagrene at the Iridium (April 18) and Stephane Wrembel at the Stone (April 19).

As with every spring in New York, there’s more great jazz than you can shake a pick at.

wfriedwald@nysun.com