FRIDAY MARCH 25



ST. HELENS STRING QUARTET

This group performs Harry Partch's brief Two Studies on Ancient Greek Scales, Dimitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 4, and a Quartet by the man behind P.D.Q. Bach, Peter Schickele. Two pieces by Seattle composers also grace the program: Ken Benshoof's Eight Reflections on an Old Spiritual, "Swing Low", and Bern Herbolsheimer's childsworld. An arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" serves as the concert's token lollipop. Kerry Hall at Cornish College, 710 E Roy, 325-6500, 8 pm, $7.50/$15.

NON GRATA

I can see it now as once and future Deadheads twirl and twirl and twirl only to be sent sprawling to the floor by Non Grata's mutant mix of free-ranging solos and massed, stabbing forays into Dixieland, reggae, funk, country, and punk. Ffej, a manic Elvis Costello armed with an analog-modeling synthesizer, opens. Blue Moon Tavern, 712 NE 45th, 545-8190, 10 pm, free.

SATURDAY MARCH 26



JACK GOLD QUARTET

This burning drummer-led quartet keeps the flame of jazz-inflected free improvisation alive. With bassist Michael Bisio, trumpeter Jim Knodle, and Michael Monhart. Two of our burg's most inventive percussionists, Bob Rees and Greg Campbell, open with a duo set. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave at E Union, 322-1533, 8 pm, $5-$15 sliding scale donation.

SUNDAY MARCH 27



ERIK FRIEDLANDER & TOPAZ

Deftly patrolling the murky zone that delineates straight-ahead jazz from the avant, cellist Friedlander and company couple amorphous, meterless atmospherics with slashing off-kilter grooves. Recommended. Triple Door, 216 Union St, 838-4333, 7:30 pm, $12.