May 9 - 16, 1 9 9 6

Roadtrips

The great South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim hits the road this week on a rare US tour. Ibrahim's compositions wed township folk music to Ellingtonian sophistication, and his piano style -- at once propulsive and serene -- is unique. He and a trio featuring Marcus McLaurine on bass and George Johnson on drums swing into the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on May 10 and Boston's Jordan Hall (876-4276) the following night. Another jazz great, vocalist Cassandra Wilson, hits the Iron Horse on May 11 and then plays a Mother's Day concert at the Charles Ballroom (876-7777) in Cambridge on May 12. And blues-guitar master Buddy Guy does his Chicago-style thing on May 10 at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence, and on May 11 at the Roxy (338-7699) in Boston.

In the past, No Safety guitarist Chris Cochrane's forte has been the kind of out-there avant-improv rock that NYC's Knitting Factory is famous for. But more recently he's been channeling his pop instincts and sexual orientation into the queercore rock of Suck Pretty, a gay punk band who just released 3 Heads. Suck Pretty bring what they like to describe as music to "listen to while chopping wood in a pink G-string" to AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence on May 10 with the Amoebic Ensemble, and to the Middle East (864-EAST) in Cambridge on May 11 with the awesome Supreme Dicks.

For a dose of conventional melodic thrash, check out Into Another with Garden Variety and Shift on May 12 at Axis (262-2437) in Boston and May 13 at Club Babyhead (401-421-1698) in Providence. And, former synth-pop star Howard Jones returns as a guitar-slinging singer/songwriter on May 16 at Mama Kin (536-2100) in Boston and May 17 at the Strand (401-272-0444) in Providence.