Pocket Aces brings together three renowned members of Boston’s jazz and improvised music scene: guitarist Eric Hofbauer, bassist Aaron Darrell, and drummer Curt Newton. Their music extends the rich jazz trio tradition, where each voice balances and strengthens the others through contrast, surprise and clairvoyant interaction. Although freely improvised, the music of Pocket Aces is given to bouts of form, groove, and crafty melodies. Distillation of ideas, with a premium on space and tone palette, provides a strong coherence as the trio navigates the familiar and unfamiliar.

Shaw/Kowal/Mazza/Casale/Goldman joins together five musicians – Ben Shaw on tenor sax, Ryan Kowal on vibraphone, Phil Mazza on guitar, Tom Casale on bass, Max Goldman on drums – who have been making music together in separate groups but haven’t yet performed as a unified quintet. All have been a part of the growing jazz and creative music scene in PVD, helping it to become what is and helping define the local sound along the way. This new ensemble looks to combine those efforts into a singular approach to group improvisation and sonic exploration.

Admission is $10