McCoy Tyner ♦ Thursday, 24th

While he has never veered from the heavily clustered, orchestral chording style and aggressively percussive manner he first developed over 40 years ago in John Coltrane’s classic quartet, McCoy Tyner continues to be one of the most inventive jazz pianists of his generation—or any since. When he revisits and takes a commanding lead on any of the quartet’s landmark songs like “Naima” or “Afro Blue,” it’s easy to recall why he was considered one of the few players who was capable of challenging, rather than merely comping and following, the revolutionary Coltrane. In contrast to Keith Jarrett’s private musings or Bill Evans’ sparing suggestiveness, Tyner’s lyrical excursions and densely layered harmonic progressions boldly gather force like the approach of a complex, multi-frontal storm system. At the same time, his masterful variation of textures and tones makes the quiet moments—when he solos on the opening of a ballad, for instance—all the more poignant. Though he has intermittently led a jazz orchestra and played in quartet settings with featured horn players like Michael Brecker, Tyner lately has returned to his preferred format, the trio. When he plays at the Belcourt Theatre, his first visit to town in more than a decade, he will be joined by two new partners, bassist Charnett Moffett and drummer Eric Harland, both of whom have already gained impressive experience swimming in both the jazz mainstream and its far streams.

—B.L.

This week’s picks by Martin Brady, Chris Davis, Steve Erickson, Jonathan Flax, Bill Friskics-Warren, Paul Griffith, Heather Johnson, Bill Levine, Steve Morley, Noel Murray, Jim Ridley, Jack Silverman, Angela Wibking and Jon Weisberger.

Thursday, 24th

Danny Barnes The Bad Livers’ five albums welcomed punks, ’grassers, jazzers and anyone else willing to listen into an unbroken circle of tradition that placed Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, Iggy Pop and Bill Frisell on a seamless arc rotating around Barnes’ masterful banjo picking. After 31 years, the self-effacing player still regards himself as a daily student of the banjo, which is why his records—whether with Bad Livers, his solo project Thee Old Codgers or with Frisell in The Willies—contain such joy and enthusiasm. Barnes plays at Windows on the Cumberland in a trio with Goose Creek Symphony violinist Jon Parry and Willies bassist Keith Lowe.

—C.D.

The Mercury Program/The Paper Lions The End hosts a couple of disparate art-rock acts, both of whom are from the South but aren’t “Southern.” The Florida quartet known as The Mercury Program play gently textured instrumentals with an ear toward resonant percussion and pleasant atmospherics. Paper Lions are an Atlanta foursome who play roaring, arrhythmic post-hardcore in the vein of At the Drive-In and The Blood Brothers, but without the same level of terror (and thus without the same level of vitality).

—N.M.

The Lost Sounds The Lost Sounds’ energetic music pulses with dark new-wave synth textures and mock-horror lyrics that owe as much to the absurd and gory rap of fellow Memphians Three Six Mafia as to more obvious influences like ’60s beat-rock and The Misfits. They’re not only clever, they’re also fun, as anyone lucky enough to see their last local appearance (in a basement) can attest. This time around, The Lost Sounds can be found at The Slow Bar.

—C.D.

Thursday, 24th-Friday, 25th

Circus Dog Serenade Family Wash co-owner Jamie Rubin brings his band Circus Dog Serenade to—where else?—the Wash for a two-night stand to be recorded for a potential live album. Drummer Kevin Rapillo, bassist (and former Dreaming in English guitarist) Roger Nichols and vocalist Michele Rubin (Jamie’s wife) join him for what he describes as equal parts Crazy Horse, Radiohead and The Rolling Stones. Rubin’s been a sideman on guitar and bass for several Nashville acts, but a chance to see him center stage is a rarity. Songwriter and bon vivant Warren Pash opens the Friday edition.

—J.S.

Friday, 25th

Darden Smith Despite mainstream anonymity and precious few avenues for airplay, Smith has garnered a respectable following since emerging from the Texas singer-songwriter scene of the mid-1980s. His ability to spin stories with a novelist’s eye for detail distinguished his work on narratives like “Frankie and Sue,” but the real-life hard knocks that nearly derailed his career have broadened his perspective on the recent Sunflower, which looks inward and finds hope. Smith plays at The Basement.

—S.M.

Al and Emily Cantrell An intermittent and welcome presence in Nashville’s acoustic scene since the ’80s, this duo recently put down permanent stakes in town. Al’s mandolin and fiddle work masterfully adorn his wife Emily’s rich vocals, which she applies to songs both dreamily evocative and gleefully lighthearted. The Cantrells’ broad-based blend of folk and Western styles will be one of the highlights of The Parthenon’s current weekly music series, which starts at 6 p.m.