It takes an inordinate amount of genius and nift, plus no less an amount of chutzpah, to take on any controversial, confrontational yet compelling piece of work, tweak it, translate and then present it as something even more difficult but nonetheless equally enjoyable.

But that’s what the Delta Saxophone Quartet have been doing rather successfully, thank you very much, for almost 40 years.

A quick shufti at their CV over the past few decades reveals an almost compulsive urge to take wilfully obscure, outré or niche forms of music and interpret them through the medium of jazz.

No, come back, stick with it. It gets better, believe me. Please…

For example, they’ve previously taken the tricky prog rock of King Crimson and Soft Machine and turned what was already back-to-front, challenging music upside down and inside out, kicked it around a bit and added quite a lot of saxophones, but always never enough cowbell.

They’ve also taken the unique film scores of composers such as Phillip Glass, Terry Riley and Michael Nyman and added their own slant to something which was already quite oblique.

For their latest project, the awesome foursome of Chris Caldwell, Pete Wyman, Tim Holmes and Christian Forshaw take on the work of David Bowie during his sojourn in Berlin in the late 1970s.

In 1976, Bowie, along with best pal Iggy Pop, fled the drug-fuelled insanity of Los Angeles and rented a small flat above a garage in a run-down quarter of Berlin, working together on Iggy’s titanic albums The Idiot and Lust For Life, and alongside Brian Eno and Tony Visconti for what became known as the Berlin Trilogy of albums: Low, Heroes and Lodger.

And it’s the so-called ‘tone poems’, unearthly, bizarre instrumental pieces, sometimes featuring wordless lyrics and euphoric monastic chanting - songs which divided, confounded and confused both critics and fans alike at the time – that feature strongly in the DSQ’s latest pioneering and experimental production.

Tracks such as Warszawa, Subterraneans and Art Decade are given the full-on jazz treatment and are interspersed with Bowie’s ‘proper songs’ from that era, such as Sound and Vision, Heroes, Breaking Glass and the like.

And just to prove they’re not completely up their own jazz-panted bottoms and do have a sense of humour, the quartet offer up their own take on Bowie’s Laughing Gnome and Eno’s Ambient doodle Music for Airports.

If it all sounds a bit too arty and avant garde for your tastes and more suitable for those trendy penny-farthing and typewriter riding hipsters up in that London: Well, fine, you’re right, it is. Just go down the pub and watch another band murder Mustang Sally again.

Or you could take a chance and experience something very, very unusual next Thursday, January 30, at Dorchester Arts Centre.

Not only do you get to hear re-interpretations of some of the most perplexing yet inspiring music ever made, you’ll also get the visual stimulation of vintage arthouse black and white films and newsreel footage playing behind the quartet.

Tickets are £14 from the box office on 01305 266926.

Moving on, and Crystal Ship are just one of Weymouth’s great bands from the past who reformed for the recent series of fundraising reunion gigs at the town’s Centenary Club.

Now they’re headlining another fundraiser in their own right with a show at Wellworthy’s Sports and Social Club, Wyke Regis, Weymouth, on Valentine’s Day, Friday, February 14.

They’ll be hoping to raise as much dosh as possible for NU: Waves, a new children’s services organisation set up by two former workers at the Waves drop-in centre in St Mary Street in Weymouth which was forced to close after funding cutbacks.

Support on the night comes from Eleventh Hour plus special guests still to be announced and tickets at £7.50 are available from Wellworthy’s (01305 779316) or email to info@classicmedia.co.uk.

A terrific night in prospect and a cause well worth supporting, I think you’ll agree.

Till next time…

NICK HORTON

Gigs

TONIGHT (24)

ELO Again (Weymouth Pavilion)

Weatherstate, Not Dead Yet, Edd Bleach, Kutna Hora, Lovejoy (Finn’s, Weymouth)

Micky B and the Night Owls (Owermoigne village hall)

Mike Walker (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Freezer (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Dakota (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

John De Barra (Wyke Regis Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Surfing Birds (Ropemakers, Bridport)

Rich Cooper (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Nathan Jon (John Gregory, Weymouth)

Total Madness (King’s Arms, Weymouth)

Stacey Lou (Gloucester, Weymouth)

Strings and Reeds (Black Dog, Weymouth)

Jolly Boys Outing (New Star, Portland)

Alexander Soul Man (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

SATURDAY (25)

The Story of Guitar Heroes (Weymouth Pavilion)

Dead Man’s Clique (Finn’s, Weymouth)

Leanne Jackson (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

Steve Nicholas (Weymouth Conservative Club)

Cloud 9 (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Elijah Wolf (Little Ship, Portland)

Studio 55 (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Moonshine Hillbillies (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Rich Cooper (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth) 2-6pm.

Modern Disciples (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Outrage (Wyke Regis Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Psychedelephant (Ropemakers, Bridport)

Alexis (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Loose Connections (Hardy’s, Dorchester)

Prairie Dogs (Gloucester, Weymouth)

Farrago (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Matt Black and Marky Dawson (Centenary Club, Weymouth)

Total Madness (Black Dog, Weymouth)

Mojo (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Slipstream (Crown, Bridport)

SUNDAY (26)

Sunday Jam Session (Belvedere, Weymouth) 4-7pm.

Rich Cooper (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Free Spirits (Ropemakers, Bridport) 4pm.

Lisa Ramon’s Sunday Club (King’s Arms, Weymouth) 4pm.

Ricky Solo (Sailor’s Return, Weymouth) From 3pm.

Duke and the Broad Rat Pack (Park, Weymouth) 4pm.

Leanne Jackson (Black Dog, Weymouth) 4-6pm.

Darren H (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

MONDAY (27)

Tim Andrews (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Acoustic session (Belvedere, Weymouth)

TUESDAY (28)

Aaron Carter (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

WEDNESDAY (29)

Rich Cooper (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Wessex Folk Night (Sailors Return, Weymouth) Acoustic folk, here every Wednesday.

Open Mic Night (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

THURSDAY (30)

Bowie, Berlin and Beyond (Dorchester Arts Centre)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Du Kane’s Soapbox (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Traditional Tune Session (Cove House Inn, ChiswelI, Portland)

Ukulele Sessions (Sailors Return, Weymouth) Strum on down from 8pm.

FRIDAY (31)

The Rolling Stones Story (Weymouth Pavilion)

Biproxy (Finn’s, Weymouth)

Something Borrowed (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Glass Spiders (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Revolution (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Tripod (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

The Rat Pack (John Gregory, Weymouth)

Mojo (King’s Arms, Weymouth)

Zoe Schwarz and Rob Koral (Y&Ys, Brewery Sq, Dorchester)