In Brief: Music events

Music

DOUBLE DOWN REGULARS

TO PLAY SMITH CENTER

“From the Double Down to The Smith Center – what a journey!”

That’s Uberschall founder Elvis Lederer’s take on the group’s two Sunday shows at The Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz with drummer Terry Bozzio , who’s played with everyone from Frank Zappa to Jeff Beck to Missing Persons.

Composed of local musicians (including present and past Blue Man Group members), Uberschall has a monthly after-midnight gig at the Double Down Saloon.

“You have to do something outside your 10 shows a week, or you lose the creative spark,” says guitarist Lederer, who’s also assistant music director for Luxor’s “Believe.”

He and his bandmates first met Bozzio when the drummer hosted the group on an Internet drum channel and then wanted to jam with them, Lederer says. “He played with us and he had so much fun.” Bozzio then asked Lederer to organize a joint appearance.

The music they’ll play is “very eclectic and a little avant garde,” Lederer says, likening it to a movie soundscape. “It’s kind of hard to describe. You have to witness it.”

Audiences will do just that when Bozzio and Uberschall perform at 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday at Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, 361 Symphony Park Ave. Tickets ($24-$31) are available by phone at 749-2000 or online at www.thesmithcenter.com.

Chamber music

LAS VEGAS WIND QUINTET

TO PRESENT CONCERT

The Las Vegas Wind Quintet leads a journey through three centuries of chamber music Sunday afternoon during a free concert at the Charleston Heights Arts Center.

It’s the latest in a 17-year series of concerts by the quintet.

Among the composers represented on Sunday’s program: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Richard McGee, College of Southern Nevada’s dean of fine arts, who wrote “Two Poems” especially for the quintet.

Founded two decades ago, the ensemble offers Strip musicians the chance to play music they love, according to clarinetist Dave Hawley , the group’s current leader – and one of its original members, along with horn player Doug Beasley. Rounding out the current lineup: flutist Bonnie Buhler-Tanouye , oboe player Matt Guschl and bassoon player Sam Pisciotta .

They’ll perform at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St. For more information, call the center at 229-6383.

Jazz

CD LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS

BENEFIT CONCERT

Nathan Tanouye’s a busy guy: principal trombonist for the Las Vegas Philharmonic, trombonist and arranger for Celine Dion, leader of the Fat City Horns.

Sunday afternoon, however, he joins the Las Vegas Jazz Connection for a benefit concert to celebrate the release of the group’s new CD, “11,” at downtown’s Las Vegas Shakespeare Theatre (formerly Reed Whipple Community Center).

The concert will feature selections from “11,” plus other jazz favorites performed by the 28-member band. The new CD will be on sale for $15 at the concert or online at www.cbaby.com.

The concert and CD release benefit the nonprofit American Jazz Initiative, which was founded in 2006 by Carolyn Freeman, wife of late jazz pianist Russ Freeman, to keep his music and the jazz genre alive and to introduce new audiences (especially young ones) to jazz.

The Las Vegas Jazz Connection will play at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Las Vegas Shakespeare Theatre, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Tickets ($15) are available at the door; more information is available by calling 528-0455.

Soul music

SPECTRUM BRINGS MOTOWN BACK TO town

The third time’s the charm for Spectrum, which returns to The Smith Center on Saturday with its Motown-style show for the third time in less than a year.

Featuring soul classics from the Temptations, Four Tops, Miracles and others, the award-winning Spectrum show blends close harmonies and smooth stepping to create a song-and-dance blast from the past.

Spectrum will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday in Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, 361 Symphony Park Ave. For tickets ($30-$33), call 749-2000 or go online to www.thesmithcenter.com.

– By CAROL CLING