Hoping to jazz up the weekend? Try...

Hoping to jazz up the weekend? Try an evening with the Michael Vlatkovich Quartet.

Vlatkovich, a composer and trombonist known for improvisation within a minimally structured format, appears Saturday in Wilmington at Los Angeles Harbor College’s Music Recital Hall.

A St. Louis native, Vlatkovich attended the St. Louis Institute of Music and has studied with Los Angeles trombonist Dick Nash and composer/arranger Albert Harris. In 1981, Vlatkovich formed Thankyou Records to showcase his compositions and those of his collaborators.

Vlatkovich has performed with singers and instrumentalists including Toni Basil, Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia, Gerry Hemingway, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mandel, Bill Mays and Oingo Boingo. The other members of his quartet are Bill Plake of Los Angeles on tenor saxophone, Anders Swanson of Santa Cruz on bass and Chris Garcia of Los Angeles on drums.

“I want the music I create to exist and live in an ever present, ever-changing environment where emotions continually intermingle,” Vlatkovich says. “I hope my music will rekindle in the listener these emotions which all of us know and feel.”

What: Michael Vlatkovich Quartet in concert.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Los Angeles Harbor College Music Recital Hall, 1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington.

Price: $5 cover charge; free parking in Lot H, located on L Street opposite baseball field.

Phone: (213) 267-1830.