BOLSHOI BALLET & ORCHESTRA
I love ballet, but I'm really impatient to hear the Bolshoi musicians, who happen to be Russia's oldest orchestra, tackle Prokofiev's glitteringly lush and loud Romeo and Juliet. They're also staging Don Quixote Fri-Sun Oct 29-31 with music by Minkus, but for the music, go hear the Prokofiev. Paramount Theatre, Ninth Ave and Pine St, 292-2787, 7:30 pm, $30-$99.
POOLE, SHOEMAKER & LANZILLOTTA
Wall of Sound, Seattle's most eclectic record store, presents three solo, experimental electronicians. The best bet of the bunch is Matt Shoemaker, who sculpts field recordings, subtle electronics, and live improvisations into cryptic yet alluring soundscapes. He shares the bill with two wildcards. Simon Poole is sometimes brilliant, sometimes banal. Eric Lanzillotta, fresh from 13 years at the helm of Anomalous Records, may have a secret weapon for his first solo performance: good taste bolstered by listening to countless terrible demos sent to his label. Bad music is a brilliant teacher. The Rendezvous, 2320 Second Ave, 441-5823, 10 pm, $5.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 29
T. S. MONK
Drummer T. S. Monk isn't the jazz legend and seminal piano stylist of his father, Thelonious Monk, but his straight-ahead sextet swings like the dickens. Part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. The Triple Door, 216 Union St, 838-4333, sets at 7:30 and 10 pm, $22.
REGINA YEH
Pianist Regina Yeh presents Music of the Romantics: Schubert's 12 L...ndler, Chopin's Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, op. 35, the Spanish Rhapsody of Franz Liszt, and for contrast, Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, op. 36. Brechemin Auditorium is hard to find (especially at night), but it's one of the best rooms in town for solo piano, so stake it out beforehand. Brechemin Auditorium in the Music Building, UW campus, 685-8384, 7:30 pm, $10/$12.
ST. HELENS STRING QUARTET
I'll overlook the fact that this group is performing Harry Partch's brief Two Studies on Ancient Greek Scales on inappropriate instruments and list the rest of this attractive program: Eight Reflections on an Old Spiritual, "Swing Low" by unsung Seattle composer Ken Benshoof, Dimitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 4, Sean Osborn's The Beatles scored for strings and clarinet along with some serious morsels by the man behind P.D.Q. Bach, Peter Schickele. Recital Hall at Benaroya, Third Ave and Union St, 292-2787, 8 pm, $7/$15.
SEX MOB
No, it's not a mini-Mafia of burlesque ecdysiasts bumping and grinding to a sleazy organ combo, but a rabidly eclectic group that sonically scrambles jazz history by swerving through Dixieland jazz, noisy chaos, and straight-ahead bop. Inner Mounting Flame Orchestra, a trio fronted by Seattle saxophonist Skerik, opens. Part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 547-9787, 8 pm, $18/$20.
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3
DAWN CLEMENT TRIO
This talented pianist's expansive, straight-ahead style draws from hard bop, gospel, and the blues. Part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. Tula's, 2214 Second Ave, 443-4221, 8 pm, $12.
