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WEDNESDAY
If Peter Brotzmann is known for one thing in the jazz world, it’s blowing—hard. Once, as legend has it, he even managed to break a rib with the force of his sax. Doing everything in his nearly superhuman power to create a maelstrom of oppressive sound, Brotzmann used to represent everything that was sacrilegious about European free jazz to the jazz establishment here and abroad. But times have changed, and Brotzmann’s playing of late, while direct as ever, is now often more melodic than atonal. Coaxing a variety of sounds from his wide array of reeds—usually favoring tenor sax, clarinet, and tarogato—he creates music that is inviting, if still poised to knock you on your back now and again. Flanked in the Die Like a Dog Trio by two other veterans, William Parker and Hamid Drake, Brotzmann is out there at times, but open ears will find more than noise. The Die Like a Dog Trio plays at 8 p.m. at Twins Jazz, 1344 U St. NW. $12. (202) 234-0072. (Jacob Long