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.

7 AHMAD JAMAL
Touring in support of his first new album in three years, legendary pianist and National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters Fellowship recipient Ahmad Jamal, starts a four day stint at Jazz Alley. In the meantime, Jamal is performing around the world, writing new compositions, selling out concert halls, and discovering, producing, and nurturing new talent. The soon-to-be 78-years-old maestro was a major influence on Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock and Gary Peacock, and continues to influence a diverse generation of artists today from Hiromi to Matthew Shipp. He is one of our remaining legends of the art form and definitely not to be missed.

8 Dennis Rea in Triplicate
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, creating a dynamic, lyrical, enigmatic blend of modern jazz, boundary-pushing rock, experimental music, and world musical traditions. He has developed his powerful mix of composed and improvised music on three continents – including China, where he was among the first wave of American popular-music performers to enter the country after the devastating Cultural Revolution (there, he performed with emerging rock megastar Cui Jian). In Seattle, he has participated in some of the most impressive of homegrown musical outfits, including the late 1990s juggernaut quartet, Stackpole with whom he won the 2000 Earshot Jazz Golden Ear award for best Northwest “outside jazz.” (For more information about him, including his authorship of the highly impressive book, Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan, see: myspace.com/dennisrea and www.dennisrea.com. At tonight’s show, we can witness three of his projects. 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). Rea is also at The Mix (6004 12th Ave S, in Georgetown) on the 15th with his outstanding band, Moraine; Rik Wright 5tet is also on the bill).

13 CLARENCE ACOX LEGENDS QUARTET
Clarence Acox has stepped up to fill the very large shoes of Seattle legend Floyd Standifer by holding down the Wednesday night slot at the venerable New Orleans restaurant in Pioneer Square. Acox leads the Legends Quartet (formerly the Floyd Standifer Quartet) featuring a handful of well-known area musicians. To inform any visiting tourists who may not already be aware, Acox is a locally infamous ambassador of the Seattle jazz scene with impeccable jazz credentials, ranging from his thirty-five year tenure as the director of the award-winning Garfield High jazz program and his leadership of the Seattle University jazz ensemble to his founding of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. The Wednesday night tradition of straight ahead jazz at the New Orleans lives on.

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.

23 JIM KNODLE & THE DISTRACT BAND 23 JIM KNODLE
For over two years Jim Knodle mentored a group of young musicians once a week at the District Lounge in the basement of the Hotel Decca in the University District. It was a very loose scene, where visitors were encouraged to feel free to talk, walk around, have fun, pretty much anything but to treat the performance as a concert. Unfortunately, the District Lounge has new managers who have decided to eliminate their music schedule. Now the group, organized by Mike Dodge on the tenor sax, brings their shindig to the Ballard Jam House. For one night only the group will try to reproduce the mellow hang they kept at the lounge. Besides Knodle and Dodge, the performance will include a smattering of musicians spanning two, or maybe three generations. Don not miss this chance to hear these fabulous players and listen carefully as Knodle strategically places his notes. This horn man clearly contemplates the story of a solo, not just riffing from one chorus to another.

29 JENNIFER SCOTT
Once again Vancouver songstress Jennifer Scott will grace Issaquah at Bakes Place. Scott, who will be joined by California sax player Kristen Strom, is considered one of the most important jazz artists working in Canada today. Her vibrant voice and solid piano playing have been featured on many CBC and NPR shows, and her numerous recordings have garnered a variety of critical acclaim. Her latest releases as a solo artist are Emotional Girl with her Quintet, Mile 41 with her quartet, and Live at The Cellar, recently released on the Vancouver Cellar Live label and currently receiving international airplay.