LADIES MUSICAL CLUB
Gosh, two free piano concerts (see February 12 below) in one week! Three pianists team up to tackle the music of Chopin, Boccherini, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and Granados. Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St, 622-6882, 12:10 pm, free.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7
ANDY SHAW QUARTET
Singer Andy Shaw has corralled a stellar cast of straight-ahead players to aid and abet his jazz vocals. Joining Shaw are University of Washington teacher and pianist Marc Seales, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer Matt Jorgensen. There's free jazz and jazz that's free, so don't forget to tip the band. Uncommon Grounds, 6508 Roosevelt Way NE, 527-1128, 8 pm, free.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8
NOGGIN
Departing from their usual format of electrified violin and electric guitar, noise duo Noggin present a duel for two unamplified violins. And in what's perhaps a concession to the cafe setting, they're joined by Artie Smudges, who plays "smooth noise" for cello, violin, clarinet, and homemade electronics. Lottie Motts Coffee Shop, 4900 Rainier Ave S, 725-8199, 7 pm, free-will donation.
GRUGETT PETERSON DUO
In a performance billed as an evening of two out-jazz wildmen, saxophonist Troy Grugett joins forces with frenzy incarnate, drummer Mike Peterson. If you need loud, furious music to cleanse your soul, this is the gig for you. Polestar Music Gallery, 1412 18th Avenue at E Union, 329-4224, 8 pm, $6.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 10
QUAKE
This chamber outfit commissioned a passel of local composers to create variations on a waltz by Diabelli. Beethoven immortalized this otherwise-forgotten composer with his Diabelli Variations, and now Gavin Borchert, Keith Eisenbrey, Derek Healey, Melissa Maier, Douglas Palmer, Joseph Weisnewski, Lynette Westendorf, Robert Henson, Meade Crane, and Sean Osborn have their shot. In other variations, P. D. Q. Bach, that modern master of classical gag music, is represented by his Erotica Variations. J. S. Bach's Prelude for Cello in C major and Oliver Nelson's "Yearnin'" get the variation treatment, too. Recital Hall at Benaroya, Third & Union, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $10/$15.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12
JOYCE GIBB
Pianist Joyce Gibb ventures into some of the more remote byways of the piano literature: Liszt's Liebestraume no. 3, as well as several pieces by Chopin (the Etude op. 10, no. 3; Three Ecossaises, op. 72/3; and the Ballade in G minor, op. 23, no. 1). Of course, ya gotta have Rachmaninoff, but I'm glad these are pieces I haven't heard before: Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4, and Etude Tableau op. 33, no. 8. Sherman-Clay Piano & Organ, 1624 Fourth Avenue, 622-7580, 12:15 pm, free.
COMPOSER SPOTLIGHT
Some composers are good talkers. Others are quiet as clams. Trimpin, our burg's undisputed elder statesman of sound installations, is a good talker who teems with insights and unusual perspectives on sound. Trimpin discusses his Klavier Nonette, nine interconnected coin-operated, electromechanically played toy pianos. Bring some quarters so you can hear pieces by Liberace, John Cage, and a host of others. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919, 7:30 pm, free.
