Erik Deutsch, Scott Metzger, Andy Hess & Joe Russo

Boasting considerable collective expertise in the improv realm, these slipstream gamers can just as easily dazzle your head as gut-punch you with ye olde rawk magick. Keyboardist Deutsch and drummer Russo (who’s lately been playing with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir’s Dead tribute group, Furthur) arrived in NYC as members of Colorado jazz-rock cult unit Fat Mama, guitarist Metzger plays with Russo in the instrumental Led Zep freak-out combo Bustle in Your Hedgerow, and bassist Hess has worked with John Scofield, Bo Diddley, and Gregg Allman, among many others. Expect X-factoring galore.

Sat., Sept. 3, 8 p.m., 2011