Thursday30
The CleanChris Potter
Friday1
Atari Teenage RiotEelsChris Potter
Saturday2
Bettye LavetteMoon DuoCharlie MusselwhiteChris Potter
Sunday3
Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My LoverChris PotterPrince Rama
Tuesday5
SwansTeenage FanclubWee Trio
Wednesday6
Jason Adasiewicz’s Sun RoomsBobby Bare Jr. Update: 10/6 show canceled, 10/7 still onTeenage Fanclub
CHRIS POTTER When I saw guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel at the Jazz Showcase last year, the large audience was dominated by young men, many apparently accompanied by their fathers; I figured most of them were aspiring jazz guitarists, and they were clearly in awe of Rosenwinkel’s masterful technique and resplendent harmonies. Chris Potter is an equivalent idol for young reedists, so I expect similar crowds for this trio engagement. On last year’s rugged Ultrahang (ArtistShare), a live disc of rock- and funk-driven jazz with his electric quartet, Underground, Potter exhibits stunning control of his tenor saxophone, constructing his improvisations with great intellectual rigor, and his shape-shifting band—keyboardist Craig Taborn, guitarist Adam Rogers, and drummer Nate Smith—moves as an exceptionally agile single organism. The group has a surplus of power but keeps it under confident control, which may be part of the reason the music leaves me a little cold. Given this context, Potter’s performance on Lost in a Dream (ECM), a beautifully restrained trio session led by drummer Paul Motian, is especially striking; supported harmonically only by pianist Jason Moran, Potter walks his tenor across Motian’s elegant architecture of cymbal work as though it were a tightrope, summoning a tenderness and vulnerability typically masked by bluster and firepower when he plays in Underground or even in the Dave Holland Quintet. His promising trio here includes bassist Larry Grenadier and phenomenal drummer Marcus Gilmore. See also Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Ct., 312-360-0234, $20. —Peter Margasak
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ATARI TEENAGE RIOT One of the great tragedies of the late-90s electronica boom was the number of badtronica hybrids it spawned—some misguided artists mistook the fact that it’d become easy to add trance synths to AOR pop or drum ‘n’ bass beats to mook rock as a green light to actually create such abominations. But the crossover between techno and punk made sense; once happy hardcore and gabber blew past the 140-BPM mark, the only nonelectronic genres that could keep up were hardcore and thrash metal. Founded in 1992, Atari Teenage Riot were the leading name during the heyday of “digital hardcore,” and their clenched-jaw collisions of bee-swarm guitars, hyperfast breakbeats, and half-rapped, half-shouted slogans provided many of the form’s most sublimely punishing moments. For these reunion shows (and the new single “Activate!”) founder Alec Empire and late-90s member Nic Endo are touring with a new MC, CX Kidtronik. Aluminum Babe and Caustic open. 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, 312-666-6775 or 866-468-3401, $18, $15 in advance, 17+. —Miles Raymer
EELS Writer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett, aka E, has often found his family involved in history both sublime (his father was famed quantum physicist Hugh Everett III) and horrific (a cousin was a flight attendant on one of the 9/11 jets). Always prolific, he’s woven as many threads as he can into the ongoing autobiographical work that is the Eels’ discography, which he supplemented in 2008 with an autobiographical book, Things the Grandchildren Should Know. Supported by a well-connected cult of fans, some of whom have placed his music in movies and TV shows ranging from Shrek to True Blood, Everett has maintained an emotional nakedness in his songwriting throughout his career. This is Eels’ first tour since 2007, and it comes on the heels of three albums released over the past 16 months. Each loosely represents a stage in the cycle of love: desire (Hombre Lobo), loss (End Times), and acceptance (Tomorrow Morning). Listening to them, you might initially feel a little creeped out, but once you get comfortable with how much Everett is willing to share, you can travel with him to enlightenment and even peace. Jesca Hoop opens. 8 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, 773-549-0203, $26, 18+. —Monica Kendrick
BETTYE LAVETTE The two previous albums from Detroit soul veteran Bettye LaVette brought together unexpectedly simpatico covers of songs by a wide range of female singers (the Joe Henry-produced I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise, from 2005) and a group of custom-built originals (2007’s The Scene of the Crime, produced by Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers), all in scrappy yet elegant arrangements. With her new record, though, she proves that she can sing just about anything and make it work. Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-) is a collection of hoary radio classics—Beatles, Zeppelin, Moody Blues, et cetera—that have been radically revamped as slick, torpid blues-rock. It’s hard to imagine why LaVette would bother with these tunes, especially since the new versions are bound to invite unflattering comparisons with the originals, but she consistently salvages the mediocre music, giving songs as worn-out as Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and the Rolling Stones’ “Salt of the Earth” transfusions of fresh, fierce emotion. Needless to say, she deserves much better than this obvious attempt to attract clueless boomers. I’m sure she’ll play some of these songs here, but this is one occasion when even the lesser set pieces of her road-tested live show will come as a welcome relief. The Right Now opens. 8 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 773-728-6000, $38, $36 members, $34 seniors and children. —Peter Margasak
