MUSIC FOR LUNCH
Pianists William Chapman-Nyaho and Jennifer Bowman tackle Brahms' Sonata in F Minor for Two Pianos, a transcription of his famed Piano Quintet, op. 34. Sherman-Clay Piano & Organ, 1624 Fourth Ave, 622-7580, 12:15 pm, free.
HANDEL'S MESSIAH
Conductor Gerry Schwarz leads the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Symphony Chorale in this holiday perennial, complete with the jubilant "Hallelujah" shouted out by the chorus. Also Fri Dec 17 at 8 pm; Sat Dec 18 at 1 pm and 8 pm; Sun Dec 19 at 2 pm. Benaroya Hall, Third Ave and Union St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $16-$65.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 18
ELLINGTON SACRED CONCERT
In the late 1960s, Duke Ellington (1899-1974) composed three Sacred Concerts to honor God through jazz. For this annual concert, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra compiles music from all three Sacred Concerts. This year, the SRJO imports the Oregon Repertory Singers to sing some of Ellington's seldom heard choral works. The SRJO is stocked with top-notch local jazz veterans such as saxophonists Hadley Caliman and Bill Ramsay, trumpeter Floyd Standifer, pianist Larry Fuller, and bassist Phil Sparks, so expect a swingin' affair. University Christian Church, 4731 15th Ave NE, 547-6763, 7:30 pm, $19-$26.
LOONEY/DUROCHE DUO
Touring Bay Area-based pianist Scott Looney breezes into town with Portland drummer Tim DuRoche for some ferocious free improvisation. Earlier this year at the Open Music Workshop festival, I marveled at how DuRoche treated his drum kit (augmented with lots of little toys and objects) as a playful laboratory, thwapping his cymbals with towels and jabbing the drumheads with unusual sticks. Two superb Seattle improvisers, violinist Tari Nelson-Zagar and clarinetist Jesse Canterbury, open. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave at E Union, 8 pm, $5-$15 sliding-scale donation.
SEATTLE BAROQUE
Soprano Melissa Fogarty joins the group for Alessandro Scarlatti's Cantata Pastorale, better known as the "Christmas Cantata." Also on the program: guitar music by Santiago de Murcia, (ca. 1682-ca. 1740), a Spanish-born composer working in Mexico, and a passel of deliciously disciplined harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. Also Sun Dec 19 at 3 pm. Recital Hall at Benaroya, Third Ave and Union St , 215-4747, 8 pm, $10-$34.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 19
JIM CUTLER JAZZ ORCHESTRA
This big band plays old chestnuts, new charts, and an experimental number or two. Sit close and peer into the overlooked world of an orchestra: trumpeters in back whispering, inscrutable hand signals from the leader, and the appreciative looks from fellow musicians when someone unfurls a smokin' solo. Tula's, 2214 Second Ave, 443-4221, 8 pm, $5.
MONDAY DECEMBER 20
SOUND OF THE UNDERBRUSH
During the 1990s, a small coterie of local jazz musicians gathered weekly in the U-District apartment of Al Hood to delve into his angular out-jazz compositions. Led by trumpeter and Hood devotee Jim Knodle, the Frog University Players revisit the late composer's music. The second set is a mix 'n' match improv session open to all comers. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave at E Union, 329-4224, 8 pm, donation requested.
