Avant Music News

DARIUS JONES TRIO (Saturday) Darius Jones has the capacity for a proud, rafters-raising tone on alto saxophone, and as an improviser he’s fearless but disciplined. Late last year he released “Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing)” (AUM Fidelity), a serious debut featuring his pianoless trio, which he leads here. At 9 p.m., Tea Lounge, 837 Union Street, near Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn , (718) 789-2762, tealoungeny.com; suggested donation, $5. (Chinen)20100218

KNEEBODY (Friday and Saturday) Kneebody, a quick-change electro-acoustic ensemble, recently enjoyed an uncommon bit of recognition: a Grammy nomination for best classical crossover album, for “Twelve Songs by Charles Ives” (Winter & Winter), featuring the vocalist Theo Bleckmann. (Yo-Yo Ma ended up winning.) This weekend the band performs not only with Mr. Bleckmann (in the first set on Saturday) but also with the deliriously verbose underground rapper Busdriver (the second set on Friday). At 10 p.m., Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker Street, near Mulberry Street, West Village , searchandrestore.com; $15, $10 students; two-night pass, $25. (Chinen) 20100218

DAVID LIEBMAN-ELLERY ESKELIN GROUP (Sunday) As he did on an album called “Different but the Same” (Hat Hut), released five years ago, the saxophonist David Liebman finds a front-line tenor foil in Ellery Eskelin, whose playing skews more forceful and less logical. As on the album, they receive adept support from the bassist Tony Marino and the drummer Jim Black. At 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village , (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $10, with a two-drink minimum. (Chinen)20100218

ANDY MILNE AND BENOîT DELBECQ (Tuesday) Mr. Milne and Mr. Delbecq are resourcefully contemporary pianists, both drawn to quixotic interrogations of harmony and timbre. They team up here — on two pianos, under the heading of “Crystal Magnets” — partly to revisit themes from a strangely beautiful recent album, “Where Is Pannonica?” (Songlines). At 2 p.m., Yamaha Piano Salon, 689 Fifth Avenue, third floor , (212) 339-9995, yamaha.com/yasi; $15, includes CD. (Chinen)20100218

SIRONE MEMORIAL (Thursday) In October the experimental-music world lost Sirone, a bassist of profound creative energies, best known as one-third of the 1970s free-jazz collective the Revolutionary Ensemble. This tribute is well stocked with his former colleagues, including the pianist Dave Burrell, the drummer Andrew Cyrille, the bassist Henry Grimes and the violinist Billy Bang; the full list of participants includes many others. At 7 p.m., St. Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Avenue, at 54th Street , saintpeters.org; free. (Chinen)

FRI. 2/19, 8 PM – 25th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival: Michael Johnsen (homemade electronics) + Kelvin Pittman (saxophones)

SAT. 2/20, 7 PM – 25th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival: Jeffrey McGrath (trumpet), Greg Powers (trombone), Chris Cochrane (guitar), Evan Gallagher (piano), Jeph Jerman (percussion), Paul Hoskin (contrabass clarinet)

COMING UP:

FRI. 2/26, 8 PM – Garrett Fisher Ensemble: At the Hawk’s Well, new chamber opera

SAT. 2/27, 8 PM – Garrett Fisher Ensemble: At the Hawk’s Well, new chamber opera

TUE. 3/2, 8 PM – Nonsequitur & Unseen Worlds present Lubomyr Melnyk, legendary maximal/minimal pianist/composer

THU. 3/4, 8 PM – WA Composers Forum presents violinist Mari Kimura

FRI. 3/5, 8 PM – Seattle Composers’ Salon, artists TBA

SAT. 3/6 – Affinity Chamber Players, contemporary classical

FRI. 3/12 – Wyndel Hunt, electro-acoustic music

SAT. 3/13 – Nonsequitur presents Crepuscule Trio (Los Angeles) and Jesse Canterbury’s Vertigo (Seattle)

THU. 3/18 – Splash! Soprano Janna Wachter and pianist Roger Nelson perform art songs by contemporary composers

FRI. 3/19 – Nonsequitur presents Karen Bentley-Pollock premiering new works for violin and electronics

SAT. 3/20 – Splash! Soprano Janna Wachter and pianist Roger Nelson perform art songs by contemporary composers

THU. 3/25 – Danny Holt, original solo music for piano & percussion (simultaneously!)

FRI. 3/26 – Benefit for Seattle Occultural Music Festival, 10 minute sets by 10 guitarists – artists TBA

SAT. 3/27 – Clifford Dunn, new/original compositions for flute & electronics