Ever since making the monumental free-jazz album Machine Gun in 1968 with saxophonist Peter Brö#tzmann’s band, Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove has continued his full-frontal assault on the keyboard and musical structure in general. Like Cecil Taylor, Van Hove makes the piano an extension of his body, kneading the keys like dough or hammering them like nails. Hearing him play is like listening to the whoosh of caffeine racing through the body after a triple espresso. German trombonist Johannes Bauer, whose smears, grunts, and bellows can imitate an entire zoo crying at once, joins Van Hove in a rare stateside appearance when the duo performs at 8 p.m. at the University of the District of Columbia’s Music Program Recital Hall, 4200 Connecticut Ave. NW. $10. (202) 274-5803. (CP)