Inzinzac Sat., Jan. 21, 8pm. $6. With Zvoov, Mi Head Ur Head. Angler Movement Arts Center, 1550 E. Montgomery Ave. 215.922.0866 www.museumfire.com
It’s not easy to categorize the raw, cerebral music of this trio, but “highbrow garage” is a start. The band name alone offers a kind of onomatopoeic clue. But what, really, is “Inzinzac”? Philly guitarist and composer Alban Bailly, originally from France’s Brittany region, named the trio after a small town where his brother lives. He and his partners, soprano/tenor saxophonist Dan Scofield and drummer Eli Litwin, cite progressive rock, free jazz and Balkan music among their myriad influences. If that doesn’t explain it, their 2011 High Two debut Inzinzac will. It’s raging stuff, with links to the music of Many Arms, Normal Love and others in Philly’s experimental underground. — David R. Adler
Composer Portrait: Fieldwork Fri.-Sat., Mar. 11-13, 8pm. $12 ($30 three-night pass). Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St. 215.922.1695 www.arsnovaworkshop.org
Somehow the most skewed, abstract rhythms become magnetically appealing when pianist Vijay Iyer, saxophonist Steve Lehman and drummer Tyshawn Sorey gather as the experimental collective Fieldwork. In a rare three-night showcase, these formidable musicians will appear together and apart, highlighting their distinct identities as solo innovators and their power as a combined force. Sorey opens on Friday with “For Kathy Change,” a quintet tribute to the late political activist, who burned herself to death on the Penn campus in October 1996. Fieldwork convenes as a trio on Saturday. The JACK Quartet performs chamber music by Lehman (“Nos Revi Nella”) and Iyer (“Mutations I-X”) on Sunday, after a pre-concert chat with New York Times jazz critic (and Penn alum) Nate Chinen. — David R. Adler
