MON | RON MILES TRIO at DAZZLE | 10/28/13 Local trumpeter Ron Miles and former Denver native Bill Frisell have performed and recorded together on a number of occasions, but they've only teamed up with drummer Brian Blade a handful of times, including to record on Miles' latest disc, Quiver. One of the reasons this trio works so well is that its members share certain sensibilities, and here, their lyrical playing is beautifully understated. Their previous outings at Dazzle have been damn near magical. Word has it that the trio will be recording the follow-up to Quiver when Frisell and Blade are in town.

SAT | THE BAD PLUS at ORIENTAL THEATER | 10/19/13 In the thirteen years since the Bad Plus has been together, the adventurous jazz trio has included cover songs on each of its recordings. Bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King have deconstructed and reimagined cuts by everyone from the Pixies and Nirvana to Bowie and Blondie. For All I Care, which featured vocalist Wendy Lewis, comprised mostly covers. But while the Bad Plus guys can turn other people's songs inside out and make them their own, they're each damn fine composers and virtuosic players in their own right -- as evidenced on earlier discs like These Are the Vistas, Give and Prog, but especially on 2010's Never Stop, the acts's first album made up entirely of original compositions. While Never Stop was a bold collection of ten originals that reflect the unit's fearless playing style, last year's Made Possible (also mainly originals) was equally as absorbing.