THURSDAY JANUARY 5
HADLEY CALIMAN
Once nicknamed "little Dex," this disciple of tenor saxophone giant Dexter Gordon still sounds fresh and forthright. Last spring, his angular, boppish solo on the Count Basie tune "Swinging at Newport" with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra made the drive to North Bend utterly worthwhile. Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave, 684-7171, noon, free.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Tchaikovsky's marvelous Symphony No. 6 is the main item on the program, though I'm intrigued by the premiere of the Tuba Concerto by composer-in-residence Samuel Jones. The symphony's very fine tubist Chris Okka is the soloist; one day I hope he tackles Helmut Lachenmann's Harmonica for tuba and orchestra. Also Sat Jan 7 at 8 pm. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $15â$87.
FRIDAY JANUARY 6
LES VOIX VULGAIRES
A piss-take on world-music icons Les Voix Bulgaires, this all-star trio of Amy Denio, Detonator Beth, and King Leah warp astonishing vocal techniques into a ululating gumbo of panting, whispering, and yelling. These avant vocalists can leap from the mumbling of Muppets gone mad to the childlike voices of space aliens to the rasping moans of that one-night stand that you (and, alas, your neighbors) will never forget all in a trice. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 322-1533, 8 pm, $5â$15 sliding scale donation.
DRAUMKVEDET
No, it's not my inebriated mumbling of "drum kit," but a retelling of the Norwegian folk tale of Olav Asteson, who had the good fortune to sleep from Christmas Eve until Epiphany. The real reason to go is to hear the unusual ensemble of instruments: hurdy-gurdy, keyed fiddle, harp, and Hardanger fiddle, which sports a beautifully absurd number of strings that would make Jimmy Page weep. Downstairs at Town Hall, Eighth Ave and Seneca St, 325-7066, 8 pm, $15/$10.
MONDAY JANUARY 9
LADIES MUSICAL CLUB
What better instrument than the oboe, and its dusky cousin, the English horn, to bestow pastoral calm upon a hospital? Multi-instrumentalists Gail Perstein and Sharon Jung perform pieces scored for English horn, oboe, and piano by "various 18th- and 19th-century composers." Harborview Medical Center, Main Building Cafeteria, 325 Ninth Ave, 622-6882, 3 pm, free.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11
DOUGLAS KAHN
Douglas Kahn, author of one of the essential music books of the 1990s, Noise Water Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts (MIT Press), discusses the role of VLF (very low frequency) radio phenomena such as sferics, whistlers or "birdies," and naturally occurring radio, in contemporary sound art. Earlier in the day, the ever-expansive Kahn delivers a lecture, "The Arts of Anechoic Perception" at 2:30 p.m. in Raitt Hall, room 117, on the UW Campus. Not to be missed. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919, 7:30 pm, free.
RYAN BURNS
This adept keyboardist about town (Bebop & Destruction, Matt Jorgensen +451) celebrates his birthday with trumpeter Tom Marriott, saxophonist Mark Taylor, bassist Geoff Harper, and others. ToST, 513 N 36th St, 547-0240, 9 pm, $5.
