Musician Lafayette Gilchrist is deeply embedded in Baltimore’s musical DNA.

As the city’s preeminent jazz pianist, his work has been featured on necessary Charm City viewing such as HBO’s “The Wire,” which featured his song “Assume the Position” in a 2008 episode. Series creator David Simon remains a fan, and he introduced Gilchrist’s performance at Beth Am Synagogue in May.

But Gilchrist, who will play a concert at Keystone Korner with his group the New Volcanoes on Thursday to celebrate their new album, has influence that expands beyond city borders.

Gilchrist has performed internationally with major jazz artists over the years, including extensive work as a sideman for saxophonist David Murray. In March, however, Gilchrist landed one of the most prestigious gigs of his career when he was invited to join the Sun Ra Arkestra. Pianist Herman “Sun Ra” Blount led the Arkestra until his death in 1993, and the band has continued to tour the world and carry on his Afrofuturist philosophy and distinctive “cosmic jazz” sound under the leadership of saxophonist Marshall Allen.

Playing Sun Ra’s instrument in Sun Ra’s band was an intimidating prospect, but Gilchrist relished the challenge. “It’s a privilege to be anywhere near that band but much less in the seat of the master,” he said on a recent afternoon in Belvedere Square, treating himself to a milkshake with his lunch. “I’m like, ‘Oh sh*t, this is about as high as it gets.’”

One of Gilchrist’s first performances with the Arkestra was at the Kennedy Center in April as part of a tribute concert for the National Endowment for the Arts’ annual Jazz Masters event, where Allen was one of the honorees. The day after our interview, Gilchrist flew west for Arkestra performances in San Francisco and Los Angeles; in September, they’re heading to China.

Sun Ra was prolific and recorded for nearly 40 years, and the Arkestra is constantly revisiting and interpreting different corners of his sprawling catalog, so Gilchrist has his work cut out for him. “Most of the stuff I know, but there’s always one or two things that are like, ‘Oh, I gotta research that,’” he said. “I think this man might’ve wrote as much or more music than Duke Ellington, man! I don’t think nobody even knows how much music Sun Ra wrote! You gotta be dedicated.”

Gilchrist is old friends with Arkestra drummer and Baltimore native George Gray but was still in disbelief when he received the invitation to audition “right out of the blue.”

“George called me up one day and said, ‘How would you like to play with the Sun Ra Arkestra?’ I was like ‘Man, don’t play with me like that.’”

Even after decades of musical excellence, Gilchrist is humble enough to sound genuinely surprised that his hard work results in big opportunities. “I’m very fortunate, very fortunate.”

Gilchrist’s time playing in groups — and especially in Baltimore — has helped hone his musical sensibilities. Though he’s a Washington, D.C., native, the pianist has called Charm City home since he came here as a teenager to attend the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in the 1980s. The influence of go-go, D.C.’s homegrown style of funk, is a prominent part of the New Volcanoes’ sound, but he credits Baltimore’s larger jazz scene for molding him as a musician.

“From having jobs on the campus, when I was able to hire musicians from the city, that’s how I learned how to play,” he said.

Gilchrist, or “Laf” as some friends and collaborators call him, started the first incarnation of the New Volcanoes as a quartet in 1993. On their new album released last month by stalwart Baltimore independent label Morphius Records, it’s now an octet, and even sometimes a 10-piece band for a few songs that feature two additional saxophonists.

The jazz institution hadn’t released an album in six years when they picked up their instruments last September to record “Move with Love.” Yet, after countless hours spent writing and arranging Gilchrist’s latest set of funky, soulful compositions, they had just one night to get it right at the Club Car.

Creating an album based on one live performance has all the makings of a high-pressure situation, but the pianist and band leader, in a familiar space with musicians he trusted, got the spirited performances he needed.

“One night. Can’t nobody afford no multiple nights, got to get it,” he said with a grin.

“If you have the right individuals, you know you can rise to the occasion,” Gilchrist said. “You can’t do that with just anybody. You have to have the right people, because they got so much experience doing it, they can make it look magical, you know?”

Gilchrist’s last solo album, 2023’s “Undaunted,” featured him playing acoustic piano over hard swinging rhythms. “Move with Love,” by contrast, is a return to the New Volcanoes’ more relaxed grooves, anchored by Gilchrist’s electric piano and Carl Filipiak’s guitar.

“Baltimore, it really is Charm City, so it attracts a lot of different people from a lot of different places. And some of those people have found their way into the Volcanoes as well,” Gilchrist added.

New Volcanoes trombonist Christian Hizon has a similar background to Gilchrist. Despite growing up in Silver Spring, he found his footing as a jazz musician while a student in Baltimore. Hizon has a standout moment on “Move with Love” as a soloist on album opener “Cut Though the Chase.” He said he was simply living in the moment of the performance and put the idea of it being captured for posterity out of his mind.

“I think the first song, I went into it as a gig, and I think I actually forgot it was recording in fact,” Hizon said. “Laf really likes the trombone, and I really appreciate that he gives me the space to be featured and be part of his vision.”

Each performance represents a new creative opportunity for Gilchrist, and this week’s Keystone Korner show is a chance for the songs on “Move with Love” to grow in new directions. “I still sit down and improvise,” he said, “thankful every day that I can sit down and express myself freely.”