Jazz Alley Roster: Wild And Woolly

----------------------------------------------------------- David Murray Quartet at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, Sixth and Lenora, 441-9729; tonight at 8:30 and 10, Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; $5 minimum, $6 cover charge. ----------------------------------------------------------- Jazz fans must be doing a double-take at the Jazz Alley roster this week.

The lineup looks more like the wild and woolly stuff Earshot Jazz brings to town than the kind of button-down fare usually served up at Jazz Alley.

Playing through Saturday at the spiffy supper club is David Murray, an experimentalist known best as one-quarter of the World Saxophone Quartet. On Sunday comes the outrageously avant-garde Willem Breuker Kollektief, from Holland. What's going on here?

Well, one thing that's going on is that one of the Earshot crowd, Gary Bannister, has crossed over to Jazz Alley, where he is now doing some of the booking chores. Bannister, an avid champion of the avant-garde who first brought Murray to town back in 1979, is also responsible for the Breuker show.

It will be interesting to watch how this experiment works out. Jazz audiences are not known for being ecumenical. On the contrary, nothing seems to delight a jazz fan more than turning up his nose at the style of jazz the next fellow likes best.

So far, the Jazz Alley audiences don't seem to be turning up their noses at David Murray, as well they should not. On Tuesday

night there were clearly some signs of pleasant, if surprised, recognition on many faces at Murray's saxophone and bass clarinet sounds.

Variety of sound is Murray's strongest suit - pure delight. The lilting strains of Murray's signa-OUT OF THE BLUE ture tune, "Flowers For Albert," was an immediate lift.

Murray put the speaking quality back into the saxophone, uniting the warm, story-telling style of the great veteran tenor men such as Ben Webster with the extended textures of modernists such as Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler and John Coltrane.

Murray's tenor saxophone growls, grumbles, screeches, honks and mumbles. His solos suggest a group of voices mingling in rhythm on a street corner. On one ballad, he worked in a series of lacy subtone meanderings, exploding vocalizations, a difficult, altissimo rave that was perfectly in tune and harmonically correct, and a volley of gruff squibs in the lower register.

Murray is also a masterful bass clarinetist. On a tune titled "Chas," dedicated to Charles Mingus and featuring bassist Wilbur Morris on a long solo, Murray popped and shrieked his way through a virtuoso performance on the difficult horn.

Murray is appearing in a traditional quartet format - with Dave Burrell, piano; Morris, bass; and Tani Tabbal, drums - but it does not sound like a traditional mainstream quartet. The individuals are more independent, which may explain why the ensemble concept was not always immediately clear.

Between sets, Murray said that he does not "edit" his playing for audiences, even if he feels it may be something new to them.

"You've got to tell your whole story," said Murray, "because that's what you did to get you here."

On the other hand, Murray, 36, admitted that he has mellowed. He works with several groups, including his amazing octet and a more avant-garde trio that he mostly plays with in Europe.

"I want everybody to hear my music, but I decided the American public wasn't ready for my trio," he said.

No such accommodation is characteristic of the uncompromisingly bizarre Dutch saxophonist and bandleader, Breuker, who plays at Jazz Alley Sunday at 8 p.m. Breuker's 10-piece Kollektief is like the Sun Ra Arkestra of Europe, crossed with Spike Jones. Breuker's band is especially entertaining because its virtuoso players have an ironic sense of theater. Their act is as much performance art as it is music. Musically, the Kollektief improvises on European forms such as polkas and tangos, but with a hefty sense of parody lurking in the wings. You'll be sorry if you miss them.

Bluenotes

Today and tomorrow: Marc Seales is at the Bathhouse After Hours series at the Bathhouse Theatre, 11 p.m.

Nov. 11-16: Arturo Sandoval, the great Cuban trumpet player, is at Jazz Alley.

Nov. 15-16: Jay Clayton's Different Voices at the Bathhouse After Hours series at Bathhouse Theatre.

Nov. 18-23: Dr. John, the inimitable pianist, Jazz Alley.

Nov. 19: Jessica Williams is back at Patti Summers at the Pike Place Market.

Nov. 20: Vocalist Woody Woodhouse, a local treasure, is performing again at the Downunder.

Nov. 22-23: Timebone, Bathhouse After Hours at Bathhouse Theatre.