One Night, Two Can't-Miss Shows of Improvised Music

For lovers of jazz and creative instrumental music, this Saturday night is going to call for swift action. First, get yourself to the Good Shepherd Center by 8 to catch Wally Shoup (left) in a quartet with the brilliantly elusive pianist Gust Burns and two drummers. Wally sent me a recent session he recorded with Burns and one of the drummers (Bob Rees) and it's fantastic stuff--more in the free-jazz tradition than some of Shoup's other work. These are guys with such a grasp of pulse and form, such an ability to move and explore as a single unit, that their free jazz sounds as disciplined and focused as a bebop solo.

As soon as they depart the stage, you need to head to Egan's to catch Wayne Horvitz's Sonny Clark tribute band at 11. This is a great collection of Seattle players, including the excellent trombonist Steve Moore, playing some of the more elliptical jazz of the late '50s--including Lennie Tristano, Hank Mobley, and, of course, pianist Sonny Clark (below).