18

FRIDAY

Though now known as Makanda, it’s remarkable that multi-reedist Ken McIntyre is known at all—at least in the jazz world, where next-big-things come and go like hot flashes. But in the ’60s, McIntyre performed with Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Jaki Byard, and the Jazz Composers Orchestra, among others, while releasing a few well-received records of his own. But with a unique, almost bizarre, sound that was neither totally avant-garde nor outwardly funky, the alto saxophonist-flutist-oboist never fit into a marketing niche. Over the years, McIntyre has sporadically released records, led his own groups, and played in Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, but he’s spent the majority of his years in university teaching. Last year’s Blue Note reissue of The Complete United Artists Sessions does a fine, and overdue, job of bringing McIntyre’s past to the masses. McIntyre performs with guitarist Stephen S. Smith at 6 p.m. in the Kennedy Center’s Grand Foyer. Free. (202) 467-4600. (Christopher Porter)