March 3- 9, 2005

musicpicks

Steven Bernstein

jazz

Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein is one of the most uncategorizable voices in modern jazz, at once boundary-smashing and accessible, avant-gardist and historian, smart-ass prankster and intensely serious composer. After turning the music of Duke Ellington and John Barry (among others) inside-out with his raucous free-jazz party band Sex Mob, Bernstein explored his Jewish heritage with the Diaspora series, now numbering three CDs on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Bernstein is backed for this show by legendary multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers and his trio, who provided the latter half of Bernstein's Diaspora Blues. Most intriguingly, they are joined on piano by jazz/classical hybridist (and Philly native) Uri Caine, whose presence adds a further level of unpredictability.

Sat., March 5, 7 and 9 p.m., $15-$30, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914.

—Shaun Brady