SPECIAL OPS & NA
This offshoot trio of the Monktail Creative Music Concern touts itself as a "death-jazz combo." Expect thrashing fury and no-holds-barred skronk propelled by powerhouse drummer Mark Ostrowski. Na, a charming free improv trio that sounds like the outsider singer Jandek refracted through a prism of avant jazz tells me, "We are going to play our forbidden song played only with cymbals." Glass Tit opens. The Rendezvous, 2320 Second Ave, 441-5823, 10 pm, $5-$15 sliding-scale donation.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 3
COMPOSERS WORKSHOP
UW student composers present their works. On the program: two by Brian Cobb, scattered for solo flute and The woodmen for two double basses, along with Douglas Niemela's Theonicity for digital tape (not CD-R?). Reluctance by Jonathan Haek features two dancers and Joshua Parmenter's I Was Born to Sing captures, processes, and layers audience noise with pre-composed sections. Perhaps Parmenter was inspired by Benaroya, where concertgoers cough, fidget, and drop program booklets far too often. Brechemin Auditorium in the Music Building, UW campus, 685-8384, 7:30 pm, free.
SOM: FLUX
I dug this Seattle-based collective's Echo, a very fine fusion of dance, large-scale video projection, and cutting edge sound last year. For Flux, SOM (short for sonic-optic-movement), serve up more clean, cold Euroart that simmers with stippled video graphics and glitched-up digital sound. Also Sat Dec 4 as well as Fri and Sat Dec 10 and 11 at 8 pm. Consolidated Works, 500 Boren Ave N, 381-3218, 8 pm, $10/$12.
MONDAY DECEMBER 6
UW PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
Of all the instrumentalists I've met, percussionists tend to be the most musically cosmopolitan and curious, cultivating an interested ear for rock, the avant, jazz, and anyone banging on a coffee tin deep in the desert. Ranging all over the musical map, the concert includes the John Cage/Lou Harrison collaboration Double Music, "Deep Inside" by alt-metal outfit Incubus arranged by Everett Blindheim, and "Teen Town" by Jaco Pastorius, the late, great bassist of Weather Report. Meany Studio Theater, UW campus, 543-4880, 7:30 pm, $8/$10.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 7
JANE MONHEIT
This promising and precociously self-assured chanteuse has a fine way with a phrase and surely deserves better than the pouty come-hither album photos and syrupy strings that sometimes saturate her recordings. Live, she delivers the goods. Also Wed Dec 8 at 7:30 pm, Thurs-Sat Dec 9-11 with sets at 7:30 and 9:30 pm, and Sun Dec 12 at 6:30 and 8:30 pm. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, 7:30 pm, $20.50/$24.50.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8
LESLI DALABA
One interesting trend in late-20th-century music is the translation of nonmusical data (seismic readings, magnetic fields, DNA, the periodic table of elements) directly into the style, sound, and structure of music. Dalaba, a trumpeter, composer, and veteran of the 1980s New York downtown scene (think Horvitz, Sharp, and Parkins) discusses and presents her new disc, Timelines (Tzadik), a sonic survey of prehistoric ages. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919, 7:30 pm, free.
