Gilbert Castellanos – Jan. 25, 8 p.m. – Dizzy’s, $12

In an age when jazz is often used as mellow mood music, Gilbert Castellanos blows white-hot ferocity through his horn, channeling a long line of trumpeters before him — from Miles Davis to Dizzy Gillespie — and taking us with him on a hopscotch across the musical scale.

That’s not to say that Castellanos can’t get cool with it: He has moments aplenty of laid-back blues-blaring, and even some sentimental balladry. On the menu for Friday is a tribute to the music of holy jazzman Thelonious Monk, whose style is a perfect vessel for Castellanos’ abilities while still giving him breathing room to throw in some hot — even latin-fused — jazz. Joining him will be Gerald Clayton on piano, Tom Catanzaro on tenor saxophone, Harish Raghavan on bass and Kevin Kanner on drums. (CM)

“Heart of a Dog” – Jan. 25, 26 & 27, 8 p.m. – Mandel Weiss Forum Theatre, $10

An ambitious choice for any theater company, the graduate department’s current undertaking deals with the social orders of the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Student actors battle Toto and Oz from La Jolla Playhouse’s recent “Wiz” with roles as a talking canine and The Man With Green Hair. And though the story is dated, worldwide-turned-UCSD director Charlie Oates still sees relevance: “Its central ideas, like most good plays, can be applied to any time and place,” he wrote. (SW)