In the first of three performances at Jazz em Agosto, the prodigious American guitarist Ava Mendoza presents the project she leads together with bassist Devin Hoff, inspired by their shared love of references as disparate as the hardcore of Black Flag and the jazz-funk of Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time. The watchword is electricity, and the result, according to themselves and in the company of James Brandon Lewis and Ches Smith, corresponds to a “21st-century progressive rock played by punk rockers with serious talent for improvisation and a deep feeling of jazz.” More than words can achieve, this is a complete assault on the senses, a poignant shake-up of any musical certainties, which National Public Radio (NPR) has chosen as one of the highlights of 2023.