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SUNDAY

Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy is perhaps best known as a dedicated interpreter of Thelonious Monk’s music, but scattered among Lacy’s extensive discography of Monk tunes and his own self-described “poly-free” compositions are large-scale works that reach beyond music. His 1973 suite The Woe is an anti-war protest, and two albums from the ’80s, Songs and Futurites, attempt to marry art, movement, and text to music. In his latest extended piece, the mini-opera The Cry, Lacy uses the political poetry of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, whose feminist works so infuriated Islamic leaders that they called for her execution, to investigate the power of language and the price of freedom. (Nasrin is currently in hiding.) As sung by Lacy’s wife, Irène Aëbi, Nasrin’s words get a chilly, Nicolike treatment even as the saxophonist’s compositions touch on the earthy feel of both Eastern European and Asian folk music. Witness the protest of the Paris-based Lacy & Co. at 3 & 8 p.m. at the D.C. Jewish Community Center, 16th & Q St. NW. $15. (202) 518-9400 (Christopher Porter)