Adrian Belew looks to a new legacy

Guitarist Adrian Belew is already famous for his signature sound (think chickens squawking, elephants trumpeting), his quirky art-pop solo albums, and his role as six-string slinging sideman to Zappa, Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson, Nine Inch Nails, and more during each of those artists' most formidably experimental moments.

"Like Frank [Zappa] once told me, 'It's all just chapters of one long book,' " Belew, 64, says from his Nashville home.

All that, and Belew feels as if he's just getting started, with two projects - an innovative app, FLUX, where his music never plays the same way twice, and his Power Trio with Philadelphia bassist Julie Slick - that he says he believes will redefine him. Power Trio plays World Cafe Live on Friday.

It's not as if Belew needs a new legacy. The one he's been angling toward since his time with Zappa is pretty iconic. Yet, for the Kentucky native, there's always more. "Now is easily the best time for me," he says. "I'm in command of my instrument, and my ideas flow directly into the guitar rather than me thinking about it."

The most direct way of transmitting those ideas is through the bluntness of a power trio - one that, for Belew, has roots in Philadelphia and Paul Green's School of Rock Music. In 2006, Green's school had a program in which students did shows with noted artists. "I like being around kids," Belew says. "It sounded like a good deal, and was fun." Then, Green introduced Belew to two grads who the teacher happened to think were the best he had: sister and brother rhythm section Julie and Eric Slick.

Their jamming with Belew on a version of Zappa's complex "City of Tiny Lights" wildly impressed the veteran guitarist. "They had boundless energy and contagious enthusiasm," he says. Already in the market for trio collaborators, but not wanting to go the tired superstar route, Belew gave Julie (then 21) and Eric (19) a shot. "When I put our trio together, I thought one of two things would happen: I'd either look like an old man, or it would turn me into a kid again," he says. "The latter happened, which helped me get back to the pure joy of making music."

Playing with Belew off and on since 2006, drummer Eric Slick has since become a member of Dr. Dog, with Julie Slick sticking around the Power Trio to the present, even becoming a member of one of King Crimson's famed offshoots (without its leader Robert Fripp) during the recent "Two of a Perfect Trio" tour with Belew. "Not only is she Crimson caliber, [Crimson's] Tony Levin called her one of the most brilliant bassists of all time and claims that he learns from her every time he hears Julie," Belew says with pride.

When it came to replacing Eric Slick, Belew - who started his career as a drummer - found Tobias Wolff, a player of equal structure and dynamism. "I gravitate to cats who have good taste and know as much what to play as what not to play," Belew says. He even likes to think that he has done for the Slicks what Zappa did for him when he took the young Kentuckian on the road: "I like to think that touring with me helped make them world-class players. They are real finds."

When it comes to discovery, Belew says he has made his greatest innovation in creating FLUX, a computer/phone app that allows for cut-up randomness that would make William S. Burroughs green with envy. Moving to Nashville 20 years ago with a studio in his basement, Belew began thinking of a sonic process "like real life," with music and noise coming at you in ways that would never repeat themselves twice.

"When I toured with Bowie, I had an epiphany: All sound is a part of all music," he explains. "I decided then that I would make music like that, spontaneous, interrupted by random sounds, even thoughts. Every element would always be different."

So, too, would FLUX's images, as Belew, a painter, creates a constantly shifting visual palette. After recording (so far) thousands of bits of noise and melody by himself specifically for FLUX, Belew is readying the app for release before 2014's end. He recently drummed up publicity with a super-inexpensive Kickstarter campaign. He may even make it part of Power Trio shows, though the group has yet to rehearse such an ambitious addition to its instrumentation.

"I know that I'll have to update it constantly, so yes, it will become my life's work," Belew says. "That's the idea - a living, growing entity. Music is finite. You buy an album, a download, it ends. FLUX will forever surprise in its combinations of sound that never occur the same way twice. Anyone with imagination will dig this."

Adrian Belew Power Trio

8 p.m. Friday at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.

Tickets: $25-$28.

Information: 215-222-1400 or www.worldcafelive.com.EndText