TERRY ADAMS: KNOWN SUBVERSIVE

Adams has made a career out of this antic, subversive form of entertainment. NRBQ built a devoted following with a similar cheerful pop blend that nevertheless scared off major-record-label honchos, who simply scratched their heads and didn't know what to make of it. Of the quartet's members, Adams delighted in oddball chords or skewed lines that threw a Thelonious monkey wrench into the music without destroying its pop appeal. In the late '70s, Carla Bley, who has a kindred fondness for musical shenanigans and a Mix-Master approach to genres, tapped him for the piano chair in her line-up, with which he toured and recorded. Although NRBQ continues in its own determinedly eclectic way, for the past two years it's toured with Sun Ra Arkestra members Dave Gordon, Tyrone Hill, and Marshall Allen as its horn section. (The group contributes a track to Wavelength Infinity, the Rastascan label's excellent two-CD anthology tribute to Ra.)

On Terrible, Adams gives free rein to his jazzier, instrumental side, including only one vocal track, and borrows liberally from the jazz world's foremost eccentric geniuses -- Monk and Ra. From Monk, he's learned to pen melodies whose Buster Keaton stumbles add humor and a refreshing unpredictability to the music. And when he solos, he sprinkles in dissonant chords and clunks down sudden heavy notes that halt his lurching lines; yet he has a sweeter, more romantic side that prevents his music from becoming as astringent and contrary as Monk's. Adams's goofy romanticism is brother to Sun Ra's blissful otherworldiness and cousin to Mr. Mystery's riff-based space tunes and affectionately ironic stance toward pop-music sentimentality.

He's assembled a cast to do his skewed vision justice. Arkestra members Gordon, Hill, Allen, and Noel Scott ensure the stamp of Sun Ra authenticity. Members of NRBQ, drummer Bobby Previte, and bassist Greg Cohen get the jazz elements to rock and prevent the music from becoming too starchy. And in a move calculated to send shivers of dread down the spines of jazz purists, Adams includes Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian (of Welcome Back, Kotter themesong infamy) on rhythm guitar on "These Blues."

The rollicking blues "Out the Windo," an NRBQ tune named for the late saxophonist and occasional NRBQ guest Gary Windo, ties the rock and jazz elements together in one infectiously grooving track. Drummer Tom Ardolino and the Spampinato brothers on bass and guitar lay down a rocking beat that goads alto-saxophonist Marshall Allen into the acerbic shrieks and speechlike warblings that made him a Sun Ra standout for decades. "Say When" also straddles many worlds without strain, with an arrangement that layers an angular, Eric Dolphy-like line over a swaying Sun Ra-style riff and an Adams solo with plenty of rhythm-and-blues punch. Adams's lovely ballad "Yes, Yes, Yes" (another NRBQ cover) features him at his most unpredictable, as he scatters sprays of notes, manhandles big blocky chords, and leaves stumbling lines hanging in mid air. Trombonist Roswell Rudd aids and abets on two tracks, including "Hilda," on which he puts across even simple ideas with utter conviction and great good humor.

Conviction and humor have always been Adams's stock-in-trade. On Terrible, his "Who cares about labels, let's have fun" attitude opens up cracks in outmoded categories wide enough to let some delightfully fresh music break through.

-- Ed Hazell