Fri. April 27 -- Crosscurrents is an octet of established world/jazz stars, including tabla drummer Zakir Hussain, bassist Dave Holland, saxist Chris Potter and singer Shankar Mahadevan. And: It almost makes one believe in the benefits of the Modern Age of Patronage to see an artist as deep-thinking, wide-ranging, original and communicative as Vijay Iyer continuing to play major venues; the spirit-stirring pianist's ace sextet includes hornman Graham Haynes, altoist Steve Lehman, tenor saxist Mark Shim, bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore. At Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown 90012; 8pm; limited availability, call (323) 850-2000 to see if you can buy tickets without having "subscribed" to the series; www.laphil.org.
Fri. April 27 -- Dudes who can travel anywhere in the galaxy together: the guitar-winds-drums trio of Jeff Parker, Vinny Golia & Alex Cline. Like, wow. At the World Stage, 4321 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park 90008; 9pm (two sets); $20; www.theworldstage.org.
Fri. April 27 -- Skate in the delightful thrash garbage heap of Municipal Waste. With Despise You, Savage Master, Trappist. At the Regent Theater, 448 S. Main St., downtown 90013; 8pm; $18-$23; 18+; www.ticketfly.com.
Fri. April 27 -- Young, wild and thrashy, it's hardworking locals Warbringer, with Ophiuchus, Anathema, Syn Absence, Legion Underworld, Unstoppable Force, Motive. At the Whisky, 8901 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood 90069; doors 6pm; $20; (310) 652-4202; www.whiskyagogo.com.
Sat. April 28 -- Doug Pinnick, Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill remain King's X after 30-some years, closing out their SoCal visit with reliably combustible soulprog hard rock. With Six Gun Sal, Gloo. At the Canyon Club, 28912 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills 91301; $24-$34; (818) 879-5016; www.canyonclub.net.
Sat. April 28 -- Dafnis Prieto dedicates his Cuban rhythms to an inviting modern feast with saxist Peter Apfelbaum, pianist Alex Brown and bassist Ricky Rodriguez. At Moss Theater in the Herb Alpert Educational Village of New Roads School, 3131 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica 90404; 8:30pm; $30 ($25 students); www.jazzbakery.org.
Sun. April 29 -- Could not believe my peepers when I beheld England's Electric Wizard on the marquee of this stately old concert hall, which has surely never embraced anything this sludgy, deviltrous and resinous; their current "Wizard Bloody Wizard" starts with a BLUES and unfortunately seems like an attempt to clean up, but live they are certain to stir up the auld fog. I take this rare opportunity to unearth my experience of them circa 2002. At the Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., LA 90010; 7:30pm; $32-$74; (213) 388-1400; www.livenation.com.
Sun. April 29 -- Jie Ma & Kozue Matsumoto meld their Chinese and Japanese heritages through the resonant strings of pipa and koto. At Clockshop, 2806 Clearwater St., Frogtown 90039; doors 6pm, show 7pm; $20; beer & wine; www.clockshop.org.
Mon. April 30 -- In-demand drummer Matt Mayhall gathers a trio with marvelously melancholy tenor saxist Chris Speed and bassist David Pilch. At the Blue Whale on the third level of Weller Court Plaza, south of East First Street between South Los Angeles Street and South San Pedro Street, Little Tokyo 90012; 9pm-midnight; $15; 21+; parking $9 underneath off Second Street at the sign of the P in a circle; (213) 620-0908; www.bluewhalemusic.com.
Thurs. May 3 -- Prog supergroup! Sons of Apollo are drummer Mike Portnoy and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (who both played in Dream Theater), bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big), singer Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie, Schenker), and guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (GNR). At the Belasco Theater, 1050 S. Hill St., downtown 90015; 9:30pm; $45; www.goldenvoice.com.
Thurs. May 3 -- Sure there's such a thing as intellectual metal; ask Tesseract. With Plini, Astronoid. At the Regent Theater, 448 S. Main St., downtown 90013; 7pm; $27; 18+; www.ticketfly.com.
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Read Don Heckman’s jazz picks here. Read John Payne's plutonic Bluefat.com here. Read Brick Wahl's noirish music commentaries here.