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By Dan Leone

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CURRENTLY ONE OF the most prominent activist, community-building musicians on the Asian American jazz scene, tenor saxophonist Jeff Chan pairs off with two of the contemporary movement's Bay Area founders, pianist Jon Jang and saxophonist-flutist Francis Wong. Collectively, the three nod to such inspirations as Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Miles Davis, and David Murray, while probing the relationship between African American jazz idioms and Chinese and Japanese cultural traditions. Individually, each transcends identity politics and pursues forms of deeper personal and broader social expression, with such projects as Jang and James Newton's When Sorrow Turns to Joy – Songlines: The Spiritual Tributary of Paul Robeson and Mei Lanfang, Wong's Great Wall Ensemble and Ming trio, and Chan's big fUn philharmonic. As the title of tonight's performance suggests, during this evening of duets teaming Chan with Jang or Wong, the three musicians will explore questions of musical lineage, and they will surely come up with provocative, artistic answers. 8 p.m., 1640 Post, S.F. $10. 1-877-243-3774, www.asianimprov.com. (Derk Richardson)