Jewels and Binoculars

Mon., April 28, 8 p.m., $12, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-387-5125, arsnovaworkshop.com.

by Shaun Brady

jazz

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Todd Haynes' I'm Not There offered up six Bob Dylans, and if there was any common ground between the rail-riding African-American kid, the androgynous, weary rock star, the iconic western outlaw, etc., it was the words. Dylan has always been seen as a poet who just happens to wield a guitar. But over the course of three albums, the collective trio of bassist Lindsey Horner, clarinetist/saxophonist Michael Moore (pictured) and drummer Michael Vatcher have been making the case for Dylan as melodist. Jewels and Binoculars delve deep into the songwriter's catalog for material which they reconstruct as wide-open jazz expanses. What they've discovered once they've stripped away the vivid imagery of the lyrics are gentle, wistful tunes born of folk idioms. The trio sees as the sort of Coplandesque fields in which Bill Frisell (who guests on three numbers on the trio's latest, Ships With Tattooed Sails) can often be found at play.

Mon., April 28, 8 p.m., $12, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., 215-387-5125, arsnovaworkshop.com.