19 Primo Kim with Big Band
Vocalist Primo Kim perfoms jazz classics, the American Songbook, and original compositions with Roadside Attraction, the 18-piece big band led by Keith Baggerly, at Kirkland Performance Center (350 Kirkland Ave), starting at 7pm. Admission: $35 regular/$32 seniors; call 425-893-9900 or order at www.kpcenter.org. No-host reception after concert.

19 Sounds Free Outside
An afternoon of sounds on the out side, outside, awaits you if you venture to Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill today or on August 23 when Sounds Outside, the annual free, outside showcase of out jazz takes place. Cal Anderson Park is the pleasant spread of lawn and landscaping that tops the old reservoir just back of Seattle Central Community College. For this, its second year of offerings, Sounds Outside presents – FREE OF CHARGE – whole afternoons of enchanting sounds of a kind rarely presented in so public a space. On this day, the festivities begin at 1pm with spoken-word artist Paul Harding & The Juju Detective Agency. Then at 2:30, pianist Michael Owcharuk presents his flinty, compelling compositions with his sextet. At 4pm, Bill Horist, electric guitar recombiner extraordinaire, plays. At 5:30, native son recently returned to these climes from New York, trumpeter Cuong Vu, is sure to rip the lid of the reservoir. Finally, at 7pm, Blue Cranes soar. Monktail Creative Music Concern organized the event.

19 Monkstone Theocracy at Kirkland Uncorked
Ponyboy Records steps up to provide a weekend of stellar jazz at the Kirkland Uncorked Festival taking place at Marina Park from July 18th through 20th. On Saturday the festival presents tribute band Monkstone Theocracy. Monkstone Theocracy is a coalition of like-minded jazzers with a passion for the music of the angular bebop master Thelonious Monk. The compositions of Monk are presented in an authentic style, with angular harmonies and melodies with a bouncy rhythmic undercurrent. The Monk style also serves as a springboard for completely new and fresh original compositions written by the experienced line-up of pianist Bill Anschell, saxophonist Mike West, super solid drummer and head honcho of the Pony Boy Records stable Greg Williamson, and bassist Chris Symer.

23 Sons of Belial...
You might want to go to this show – The Sons of Belial vs The Sons of the Law of One: Transcending Polarity Consciousness – just to see who wins (the bookies are backing Belial – the "worthless one" of Jewish and Christian apocrypha, Lucifer's offsider – at a forbidding 9-8; cf. Levi 19:1). Andrew McInnis, a New England transplant who has been in the Northwest for eight years, has aimed, he says, to create an evening "bringing a lot of different sides of the music community together here in Seattle from the elders to the youngsters all over the wide spectrum of music influence and aesthetic." That will entail a host of performers including the mighty quintet Sunship, elders only chronologically, but hardly in spirit or musical freshness (they might just give old Belial a run for his money). McInnis says his guiding principle for the presentation has been "to musically deal with this issue" [Belial in the black corner vs God in the whitest of white] "by exploring dark and light energies through different music systems and approaches. I'll have some guitar compositions with accompaniment as well as a piece which is [Ornette Coleman-inspired] harmolodics in different contexts and will be the centerpiece for the show and it will be a sort of surreal improv theatre piece with Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls narrating a spliced-up compilation of some of the most visceral literature with an assorted cast providing a sort of live horror soundtrack.' McInnis, who performs at various times on drums, percussion, guitar, piano, synthesizer, and vocals and cites his own inspirations as Ives/Ran Blake/Monk/Muhal Richard Abrams/black metal/Fela Kuti/Sun Ra/Hans Reichel/Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman/Cecil Taylor etc., says: "I'm excited about the possibilities for this piece because it has just enough direction to set the energies up at work and we'll just fly with it. It should be a very surreal and psychedelic experience." You get the picture. And perhaps Belial will lose; or perhaps his winning is a win for all. Says McInnis: "The content we'll be working with I feel is really positive." At the Chapel Performance Space (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N), at 8; $5-15 sliding scale.

3, 10, 17, 24, 31 The Teaching at Lo-Fi
For over a year now The Teaching have been holding court every Thursday night at the hip Lo-Fi Performance Gallery on Eastlake. Fronted by the Fender Rhodes wizardry of young lion Josh Rawlings and propelled by the groovy duo of up-and-coming bassist Flory-Barnes and spiritual drummer Jeremy Jones, the group improvises an uninhibited set of raw and soothing vibes that will still the most hyperactive of souls. It is a serious hang and a wonderful environment to witness the new generation of the Seattle jazz legacy. Music begins at 9 pm, admission $5. Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, 429-B Eastlake Ave E.

8 Dennis Rea x 3
Guitarist Dennis Rea appears in triplicate in this sure-to-be-fascinating evening of music. One of the most talented instrumentalists in the region, Rea has long distinguished himself in varied settings, and here we can witness three of those. Tempered Steel features Rea, Ffej, and Frank Junk playing improvised music on a variety of amplified, electronically processed thumb pianos. The group sounds like no other thumb piano ensemble, conjuring otherworldly percussion instruments, phantom harpsichords, and echoes of musique concrete. Then, Tanabata Ensemble performs, with Rea on acoustic guitar joined by Elizabeth Falconer (koto), John Falconer (shakuhachi), Jim DeJoie (bass flute, reeds), Greg Campbell (percussion), and Paul Kikuchi (percussion). The group will perform an open-ended arrangement of an ancient piece, "Eight Trigrams," in the Naxi ethnic tradition of southwest China. (A version of it will appear on Rea's forthcoming CD of East Asian-inspired music, "Views from Chicheng Precipice.") The third group of the night features three of Seattle's leading creative guitarists: Rea, Tom Baker, and Brian Heaney. They perform unclassifiable improvised music for electric guitars. Rea says that all three sets of 20-30 minutes have been planned bearing in mind the resonant acoustics of the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, Wallingford) where the Nonsequitur foundation will present the evening's music, starting at 7:30pm ($5-15 sliding-scale donation).

23 More Free Sounds Outside
An afternoon of sounds on the out side, outside, awaits you if you venture to Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill today when Sounds Outside, the annual free, outside showcase of out jazz, presents its second and final afternoon program of the summer. Cal Anderson Park is the pleasant spread of lawn and landscaping that tops the old reservoir just back of Seattle Central Community College. For this, its second year of offerings, Sounds Outside presents – FREE OF CHARGE – whole afternoons of enchanting sounds of a kind rarely presented in so public a space. On this day, the festivities begin at 1pm with Floss featuring Zachary Watkins. Then, at 2:30pm, Reptet; 4pm, Aram Shelton + Special O.P.S.; 5:30pm, Ahamefule J. Oluo and the New Seattle Brass Ensemble featuring Okanomodé; 7pm, The Wally Shoup Free Three. As it did in 2007, Monktail Creative Music Concern organized the events.