NYC Live Music Calendar for October/November 2010
We have a more updated calendar for November and December right here. A few things you should know about this calendar: acts are listed here in order of appearance, NOT headliner first and supporting acts after; showtimes listed here are actual set times, not the time doors open. If a listing here says something like ”9 PM-ish,” chances are it’ll run late. Cover charges are those listed on bands’ and venues’ sites: always best to click on the band link provided or go to the venues page for confirmation since we get much of this info weeks in advance. As always, weekly events first followed by the daily listings:
Saturdays in November, 11/6, 13 and 20, reliably charming oldtimey/Hawaiian harmony band the Moonlighters at the Loving Cup Cafe in Williamsburg with Jim Fryer (Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, Boardwalk Empire) on horns.
Sundays there’s a klezmer brunch at City Winery, show starts around 11:30 AM – 2 PM, $10 cover, no minimum, lots of good bands.
Sundays from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston). Free drink with your entree.
Sundays through May of 2011 the series of free organ concerts at 5:15 PM continues most every week (holidays excepted) at St. Thomas Church, 53rd St. and 5th Ave.
Sundays in November steampunk goddess Bliss Blood of the Moonlighters plays with her new project Evanescent feat. Al Street (of Spacemen 3) on guitar at Bruar Falls starting at 8ish along with featured performers including Jamie Scandal, Craig Robertson, J. Walter Hawkes, Al Duvall, Not Waving But Drowning, the Ukemen and Marni Rice. Essentially, this is Small Beast relocated to Williamsburg. Kudos to Bliss for bringing so much coolness to such an unexpected location.
Stephane Wrembel plays Sundays at Barbes at 9. He’s something of an institution here, plan on arriving EARLY, 45 minutes early isn’t too soon since the whole bar gets packed fast. The guitarist has few if any equals as an interpreter of Django Reinhardt, but it’s where he takes the gypsy jazz influence in his own remarkably original, psychedelic writing – and what he brings to the Django stuff – that makes all the difference. One of the most interesting players in any style of music, anywhere in the world.
Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St. Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.
Every Sunday, hip-hop MC Big Zoo hosts the long-running End of the Weak rap showcase at the Pyramid, 9 PM, admission $5 before 10, $7 afterward. This is one of the best places to discover some of the hottest under-the-radar hip-hop talent, both short cameos as well as longer sets from both newcomers and established vets.
Mondays at the Fat Cat the Choi Fairbanks String Quartet play a wide repertoire of chamber music from Bach to Shostakovich starting at 7.
Mondays starting a little after 7 PM Howard Williams leads his Jazz Orchestra from the piano at the Garage, 99 7th Ave. S at Grove St. There are also big bands here most every Tuesday at 7.
Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: you know the material and the players are all first rate. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 and worth it.
Mondays at the Delancey on the main floor, 8:30 PMish it’s Small Beast, NYC’s edgiest and most vital rock and rock-oriented scene, founded by Botanica frontman and master of menace Paul Wallfisch. It’s an international mix of some of the most intelligent (and frequently darkest) performers passing through town. It’s free and there’s always some kind of drink special or freebee. If you wish Tonic was still open, the Beast is keeping the flame alive.
Also Monday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Sofia’s Restaurant, downstairs at the Edison Hotel, 221 West 46th Street between Broadway & 8th Ave., 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering what you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).
Mondays at Tea Lounge in Park Slope at 9 PM trombonist/composer JC Sanford books big band jazz, an exciting, global mix of some of the edgiest large-ensemble sounds around. If you’re anybody in the world of big band jazz and you make it to New York, you end up playing here: what CBGB was to punk, this unlikely spot promises to be to the jazz world. No cover.
Mondays at the Vanguard the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – plays 9/11 PM, $30 per set plus drink minimum.
Also Mondays in November the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:30. They’ve singlehandedly resurrected an amazing subgenre, chicha, which was popular in the Peruvian Amazon in the late 60s and early 70s. With electric accordion, cuatro, surf guitar and a slinky but boisterous rhythm section, their mix of obscure classics and originals is one of the funnest, most danceable things you’ll witness this year.
Also Mondays in November Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Union Pool in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 11 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, frequently salacious original songs and is one of the most charismatic, intense live performers of our time. It’s a crazy dance party til past three in the morning. Paula Henderson from Burnt Sugar is the lead soloist on baritone sax, with Dave Smith from Smoota and the Fela pit band on trombone, with frequent special guests.
The second and fourth Tuesday of the month there are free organ concerts at half past noon at Central Synagogue, 652 Lexington Ave @ 55th St. curated by celebrated organ adventurer Gail Archer, a global mix of veteran and up-and-coming talent.
Tuesdays in November Balkan brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party play Barbes at 9. Get here as soon as you can as they’re very popular.
Tuesdays Julia Haltigan plays 11th St. Bar at 10 “for the rest of her life.” A nuanced, cleverly lyrical country/Americana chanteuse with a terrific band behind her and a growing catalog of first-class original songs. See her now before it costs you big bucks at the Beacon.
Tuesdays in November the Dred Scott Trio play astonishingly smart, dark piano jazz at the smaller room at the Rockwood at midnight.
Wednesdays at 9 PM Feral Foster’s Roots & Ruckus takes over the Jalopy, a reliably excellent weekly mix of oldtimey acts: blues, bluegrass, country and swing.
Every Thursday the Michael Arenella Quartet play 1920s hot jazz 8-11 PM at Nios, 130 W 46th St.
Every Friday in November at 9 PM at the Fat Cat Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens bring an authentic here-and-now Brooklyn church vibe, no slick theatrics, just soul.
Fridays at Mehanata it’s Bulgarian sax powerhouse Yuri Yukanov and the Grand Masters of Gypsy Music, 10 PM, $10.
10/1, 6 PM the Becca Stevens Band play adventurous avant vocal jazz at 55 Bar.
10/1 Branford Marsalis and Terrence Blanchard at Dizzy’s Club, 8 PM, $30 tix avail.
10/1 tuneful alt-country crew the Basement Band at the Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club, 9 PM
10/1, 9/10:30 PM the Mike Baggetta Quartet: Mike Baggetta , guitar; Jason Rigby, tenor saxophone; Eivind Opsvik, bass; George Schuller, drums at the Cornelia St. Cafe, $10.
10/1, 10 PM the self-explanatory, popular Jug Addicts at Barbes.
10/1, 10 PM Bliss Blood of the Moonlighters does her Delta Dreambox blues project – lately a uke/guitar duo – at Two Boots Brooklyn
10/1, 11 PM eclectic world music band Delhi 2 Dublin at Drom, $15 adv tix rec. or free with $30 weeklong festival pass.
10/2, 7 PM Missy Mazzoli’s intriguing, hypnotic art-rock band Victoire play the cd release show for their brilliant new one at Joe’s Pub, $14.
10/2, 7 PM dark garage/Americana rocker Lorraine Leckie with her excellent band at Banjo Jim’s.
10/2, 7:30 PM soaring art-rockers/chamberpopsters Clare & the Reasons – who have an excellent new live album out – at the Bell House, $25.
10/2, 8 PM bass clarinet hellraisers Sqwonk and cutting-edge new music string/reed/piano quartet Redshift play a “power program of music by Marc Mellits, Cornelius Boots, James Holt, Aaron Novik, Ryan Brown, David Heuser, and Philip Glass” at Greenwich House Music School/Renee Wiler Concert Hall, 46 Barrow Street, $15.
10/2, 8 PM tango nuevo/jazz bassist Pedro Giraudo leads his Sextet at Barbes.
10/2, 9 PM sultry, ferociously lyrical, hilarious oldtimey siren Kelli Rae Powell at the Jalopy with her band followed by the ever-popular country crew M Shanghai String Band at 10
10/2, 9 PM indie jangle with Electric Engine, indie guitar blaze with Cementhead and catchy Britpop-flavored lyrical ferocity with Special Patrol Group at Coco 66.
10/2, 9 PM at Drom the highest intensity night of the NY Gypsy Festival starts with Veveritse Brass Band and continues at 11ish with the founders of East Coast Balkan brass madness, Zlatne Uste, $15 adv tix highly rec. or free with weeklong $30 pass.
10/2, 9 PM at Otto’s Unsteady Freddie’s monthly surf show starting at 9 PM with Cool Kittie & the Square Cats, Blue Wave Theory at 10, the Sea Turtles at at 11 and the Supertones at midnight.
10/2 slyly funny, sometimes noir-ish Americana crooner Sean Kershaw at Hill Country, 9:30 PM.
10/2 haunting, emotionally riveting syrian-American chanteuser Gaida and her excellent band at Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM, $20.
10/2 gypsy punk hellraisers Bad Buka at Mehanata, 10 PM
10/2 soulful, spiritual roots reggae with Anguile & the High Steppers at 10 at Shrine followed by the Hard Times playing ska and reggae at 11.
10/2, 11 PM lush, atmospheric, socially aware, Radiohead-influenced art-rockers My Pet Dragon at the Rockwood; they’re at Trash on 10/8 at 9
10/2 Tammy Faye Starlite’s hilarious, spot-on, satirical Blondie cover band the Pretty Babies at Lakeside 11 PM.
10/2, 11 PM anthemic, atmospheric, socially aware Radiohead-influenced art-rockers My Pet Dragon at the Rockwood; 10/8 they’re at Trash at 10.
10/2, 11 PM first-generation British punk/pop with the Vibrators at the Bell House, $12.
10/3, 6:30 PM compositions by Julia Wolfe: Stronghold, for 8 double basses (performed by Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band); LAD, for 9 bagpipes (performed solo with accompanying pre-recorded bagpipes by Matthew Welch); Dig Deep, for string quartet (performed by the JACK Quartet) at le Poisson Rouge, $15
10/3, 7 PM a Django Reinhardt tribute will get very original and even livelier than the guy they’re celebrating with Stephane Wrembel followed by Balval at Drom, $15 or free with $30 weeklong festival pass
10/3 accordionist and Nashville gothic songwriter Mark Growden at the Rockwood, 7 PM. Reputedly he’s very intense live.
10/3, 8 PM low-register (baritone sax, baritone guitar, tuba and bass) vintage latin specialists Gato Loco at Bowery Poetry Club
10/3, 8:30 PM sprawling, jangly, lyrical Americana-inflected rockers Balthrop Alabama at the big room at the Rockwood.
10/3, 8:30 the Bill Ware Vibes Quartet at at the Cornelia St. Cafe, $10.
10/3 charming oldtimey swing band Christabel & the Jons at Banjo Jim’s, 9 PM.
10/3, 9 PM punk klezmer with Yid Vicious at Spike Hill. They’re at Otto’s on 10/5 at 11.
10/3 acoustic Americana jamband Tall Tall Trees at 9 PM at the Jalopy followed by the oldtimey Wiyos, $15. The Wiyos are also at Joe’s Pub on 7/22 at at 7 for $15 also.
10/3 the NYCity Slickers play bluegrass at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM; they’re also at Banjo Jim’s on 10/19 at 9 and back here on 10/24.
10/4, 7:45 sharp the NYC premiere of director Miao Wang’s new film Beijing Taxi with original score by Stephen Ulrich – this generation’s Bernard Herrmann – and Itamar Ziegler at the IFC Theatre, 6th Ave. and W 3rd St., including a live performance by Ulrich Ziegler.
10/4, 8 PM Norwegian shoegaze rockers Serena Maneesh at the Knitting Factory, $12 adv tix rec.
10/4, 9 PM avant cellist/songwriter Valerie Kuehne at Small Beast at the Delancey.
10/4-6 jazz trumpet demolition with the Peter Evans Trio at Zebulon, 11ish
10/5 eclectic jazz violin powerhouse (and Americana chanteuse) Jenny Scheinman at Barbes, 7 PM sharp. She’s also here on 10/12 at 7.
10/5 veteran literate Irish singer-songwriter Andy White at the small room at the Rockwood, 7 PM – his show here earlier this year was pretty impressive.
10/5-10 powerhouse jazz pianist Kenny Barron leads a quintet at Dizzy’s Club, 7:30/9:30 PM, $30 tix avail.
10/5, 8 PM Sarah Kirkland Snider and Missy Mazzoli together with a chamber ensemble performing three New York City premieres, including Snider’s “Shiner” and “The Reserved, The Reticent” – a solo cello piece to be performed by Clarice Jensen of ACME – as well as Mazzoli’s “Death Valley Junction,” at Galapagos.
10/5, 8 PM clever garage rock with Handsome Dick Manitoba’s supergroup the Master Plan and then Australian cult heroes the Hoodoo Gurus at the Bell House, $15 adv tix rec.
10/5 the reliably exhilarating klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals plus pianist Uli Geissendorfer at the Sixth St. Synagogue, 8:30 PM, $15 includes a drink
10/5 free jazz saxophonist John Tchicai’s Six Points at Roulette, 8:30 PM, $15/$10 stud.
10/5-10 captivating and frequently dark jazz pianist Jason Moran & the Bandwagon at the Vanguard, 9/11 PM, $25
10/5 Americana and sea chanteys with the Mercantillers at the Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club, 9 PM.
10/5 a killer gypsy punk/ska en Espanol doublebill with Callejera at 10 followed by Karikatura at 11 at Fontana’s.
10/6 Paolo Bordignon plays the 1830 Appleton organ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the balcony past the musical instruments section, 3:30 PM, free.
10/6, 7 PM solo latin jazz piano with Arturo O’Farrill followed at 8:15 by the reliably clever John McNeil Quintet at Puppets Jazz Bar
10/6 hypnotic otherworldly rustic Kyrgyz folk music ensemble Ordo Sakhna at the Rubin Museum of Art, 8 PM, $18.
10/6 the Dave Liebman Big Band at Iridium playing the cd release show for their bracingly atmospheric new one As Always, 8:30 PM.
10/6, 9 PM noir Americana chanteuse/songwriter Jessie Kilguss at Goodbye Blue Monday
10/6 Americana chanteuse Karen Hudson at Banjo Jim’s, 9 PM
10/6, 9 PM tuneful powerpop with the Mikal Evans Band at Spike Hill.
10/6 Nashville gothic rocker and ominous Ninth House baritone frontman Mark Sinnis plays 10 PM at Alor Cafe, 2110 Richmond Rd, Staten Island
10/6, 11 PM hilarious, literate, innuendo-loving oldtimey ragtime banjo songwriter Al Duvall at Pete’s
10/6 gypsy punk trio the Stumblebum Brass Band at Otto’s, 11 PM; they’re at the Mercury the following night the 7th at 11 PM for $10.
10/7, 1 PM pianists Matthew Harrison and Vlada Yaneva perform works by Infante, Schumann, and Brahms at Trinity Church, free
10/7, 7 PM east village free jazz legend Dee Pop’s band Radio I Ching plays dub jazz at Otto’s.
10/7, 7 PM celebrated Filipino pianist Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz plays Haydn, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt and Copland at the Yamaha Piano Salon, $10 sugg don.
10/7 intense, literate psychedelic 60s pop revivalists McGinty & White (that’s Joe McGinty on keys and Ward White on guitar) at 8 PM at Bowery Electric playing their own set and then backing East Village new wave legend Kristian Hoffman, who is Rufus Wainwright’s musical director and was a longtime Klaus Nomi collaborator.
10/7, 8 PM mighty innovative, reliably interesting blues/jazz guitarist Marvin Sewell plays a rare solo show at the Stone, $10
10/7 a killer gypsy music night with Balval at 8 followed by Raya Brass Band at 10 at Barbes.
10/7, 8 PM hip-hop predecessor/lyrical genius Gil Scott-Heron at B.B. King’s.
10/7-9 alto sax titan Kenny Garrett at Iridium, 8:30/10:30 PM, $30
10/7 adventurous new bluegrass behemoth Frankenpine at Lakeside 9:15ish.
10/7, 10 PM wild Taiwanese instrumental metal-tinged art-rock with the Hsu-Nami at Arlene’s.
10/7, 10:30 PM eerie electric bluespunk with the Five Points Band at the Jalopy, $10
10/7 eclectic Brazilian/New Orleans/funk/surf band Nation Beat at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
10/7, 11 PM thoughtful, rustic, literate oldtimey songwriter Andrew Vladeck at the small room at the Rockwood.
10/8, 7:30 new music bassist Eleonore Oppenheim (of Victoire) plays solo with effects, works by Florent Ghys, David Lang, Jenny Olivia Johnson, and Wil Smith; vocalist Lesley Flanigan sings and improvises from her beguiling new album Amplifications at First Presbyterian Church, 124 Henry St., downtown Brooklyn, $10
10/8-9 Greg Tate’s psychedelic jazz megaplex Burnt Sugar “freaks the James Brown songbook” at the Apollo Theatre, 7:30 PM, $15
10/8 Pierre de Gaillande’s hilarious, sometimes haunting Georges Brassens cover band Bad Reputation at Barbes at 8 followed by accordion monster Rob Curto’s forro dance party at 10.
10/8, 8 PM the reina of Afro-Peruvian music, Eva Ayllon at Town Hall, $35 tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc.
10/8, 8 PM Americana soul rockers the Smooth Maria’s cd release show at the big room at the Rockwood followed eventually by the rustic, bluesy Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds at 10
10/8 smart, diverse alto saxophonist/composer Jacam Manricks at the Bar Next Door, 8:30 PM.
10/8, 9 PM Zanzibar chanteuse Alsarah and the Nubatones followed by her usual haunting, slinky, danceable band Sounds of Taraab at Alwan for the Arts, $20/$15 stud/srs.
10/8, 9 PM dark female-fronted newschool pop/rock with Impostor Syndrome at Arlene’s.
10/8, 9 PM trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s always popular Sex Mob at the Jalopy, $10
10/8, 9ish a soul summit, old meets new: Eli Paperboy Reed plus oldschool Gulf Coast soul survivors Don Gardner, Vernon Garrett & Barbara Lynn at the Bell House, $20 adv or $40 2-day pass rec.
10/8 the reliably charming, harmony-driven, oldtimey Hawaiian-flavored Moonlighters at Sycamore Bar in Ditmas Park, 9 PM, $10
10/8 Americana/surf/punk/rockabilly guitar legend Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside, 10:15ish; they’re also at Rodeo Bar at 10:30 PM on 10/28.
10/8, 10 PM the Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout at 55 Bar featuring the nucleus of creepy soundtrack machine Mojo Mancini.
10/8 fiery punk-inspired Americana with Demolition String Band at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
10/8 intense, charismatic, wildly improvisational rock siren Katie Elevitch at Banjo Jim’s, 11 PM
10/8, 11 PM rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson at the Knitting Factory, $15 adv tix rec.
10/9 darkly gypsy-tinged, hypnotically swaying, rustic acoustic rockers Kotorino at 8 followed by the vintage 60s honkytonk sounds of the Jack Grace Band at 10 at Barbes
10/9, 8 PM phenomenally energetic horn-driven all-purpose noir ska/rock/blues band Tri-State Conspiracy at Bowery Poetry Club.
10/9, 8 PM the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – one of the most kick-ass bands in the universe, with a fat tuba groove, soul horns and live hip-hop beats – at Highline Ballroom, $12 adv tix rec.
10/9, 8 PM socially aware songwriters Jim Page and Dave Lippman at the People’s Voice Cafe, $15 sugg. don.
10/9, 8 PM the MV Carbon and Brian Chase darkwave duo at Issue Project Room, free; part 2 of the performance is “MV Carbon with sculptural instrument.”
10/9, 8:15 PM hypnotic Middle Eastern violin grooves with Copal at Caffe Vivaldi.
10/9, day two of the soul summit: 9ish Eli Paperboy Reed plus oldschool soul singers Betty Harris, Harvey Scales, Renaldo Domino, with the Sweet Divines at the Bell House, $20 adv or $40 2-day pass rec.
10/9, 9 PM Shmaptain Sheefheart (Beefheart cover band feat. members of Love Camp 7 and Plastic Beef) followed by the Nopar King at 9:45, groovy funkmeisters Baby Daddy at 10:30, then more Nopar King and Shmaptain S. plus a Beatles/Lennon jam in honor of his 70th birthday at 1 AM at 3 Jolly Pigeons, 6802 3rd Ave., Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
10/9, 9:30ish tuneful, quirkily smart garage rock duo the Fools followed by noir garage/punk rockers the Dead Sextons at Goodbye Blue Monday.
10/9, 9 PM hypnotic intense Mississippi hill country style blues guitarist Will Scott at 68 Jay St. Bar.
10/9, 9 PM always amusing faux-French garage rockers les Sans Culottes at Rock Shopin Gowanus, $10.
10/9 vintage honkytonk harmony goddesses the Sweetback Sisters at Union Pool, 10 PM.
10/9, 10 PM powerhouse Raya Brass Band trumpeter/composer Ben Syversen (whose intense, noisy new album Cracked Vessel is one of the year’s best) at I-Beam in Gowanus, $10
10/9, 10 PM a “surprise band from Mali” at Zebulon – Tinariwen? Vieux Farka Toure? How do you say “anybody’s guess” in Tamashek?
10/9 adventurous, mightily tuneful new jazz quintet the Flail at Smalls, 10:30 PM – they did a live album here and it was great.
10/9, 10:30 PM clever acoustic Americana jamband Tall Tall Trees at the Postcrypt
10/10 Reverend Billy + The Life After Shopping Gospel Choir do their hilarious, intensely apt, politically relevant punk-flavored gospel reunion show at Highline Ballroom, 1:30ish
10/10 deviously multistylistic, virtuosic all-female klezmer band Isle of Klezbos at the Eldridge St. Synagogue, 4:30 PM, $20/$15 stud/srs.
10/10, 7 PM at Barbes: “Asmira Woodward-Page. The Australian violinist will present works for solo violin as well as with the Momenta Quartet. The program will draw from a wide variety of composers with an emphasis on contemporary composers and a special focus on Indonesian music.”
10/10 Leonard Cohen protege, Egyptian-Canadian chanteuse Neema plays Rock Shop, time TBA
10/10 Bryan & the Haggards play sick, funny, virtuosic jazz versions of Merle Haggard classics at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
10/11 at Barbes 7 PM: “Adela y Lupita….is Mireya Ramo (violin/bass/vocal), and Shae Fiol (vocals/guitar/vihuela). They are Inspired by classic Mexican duets such as Las Hermanas Huertas or Lena y Lola but unlike their illustrious models, the two women are also phenomenal instrumentalists. While indebted to the the folk traditions, Adely y Lupita also draws from their background in contemporary music.” Followed by our favorite chicha band Chicha Libre at 9:30ish
10/11 80s British reggae-pop legends UB40 at B.B. King’s, 8ish.
10/11, 9 PM noir cabaret chanteuse/accordionist Marni Rice, the explosive and charismatic Vera Beren’s Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble and then Low Society feat. ex-John Cale guitarist Sturgis Nikides at Small Beast at the Delancey
10/11 jazz guitarist Russ Spiegel leads his Jazz Orchestra at Tea Lounge, 9:15 PM
10/11, midnight the Jack Grace Band at the Ear Inn, playing what the club’s calendar describes as “Weirdo Country Music from the Martini Cowboy.”
10/12 pianist Benjamin Moser plays Ravel, Debussy and Chopin at Merkin Concert Hall, 3 (three) PM, $16.
10/12, 7:30 PM April Smith and the Great Picture Show bring their swinging juke joint sound to Joe’s Pub, $14.
10/12 the adventurous Osso String Quartet followed by rock piano titan Greta Gertler’s deliciously lush, eclectic art-rock band the Universal Thump at Rock Shop, 8 PM $10.
10/12, 8:30 PM at the Tank “Janel & Anthony, an experimental cello and guitar duo comb their knowledge of jazz, surf, rock, free improvisation, Japanese traditional music, as well as western, Persian and Indian classical music.”
10/12-24 the Bill Charlap Trio at the Vanguard, 9/11 PM, $25.
10/12, 9:30 PM tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser & vibrophonist Behn Gillece play the cd release show for their excellent new boudoir jazz album at Smalls.
10/12, 10:30 PM Siouxsie-esque rocker/bassist Yula Beeri and the Extended Family at the big room at the Rockwood.
10/12, 11ish literate Americana rockers Fist of Kindness at Local 269
10/13, 7:30 PM the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble – whose compositions lately have been as smart and memorable as his live shows – at Littlefield. Check this out – all ages: over 21: $14 (+$6 drink min.), under 21: $10 (+$3 drink min.).
10/13, 8 PM virtuosically eclectic Russian/gypsy/tango/jazz behemoth Ljova & the Kontraband at the Stone, $10, early arrival advised, this will sell out
10/13, 8 PM west coast Americana chanteuse (and Neko Case pal) Carolyn Mark at 68 Jay St Bar.
10/13, 8 PM darkly ambient Bowie collaborator and guitarist Gerry Leonard, a.k.a. Spooky Ghost at the big room at the Rockwood
10/13, 9 PM lyrical southwestern gothic rocker Tom Shaner at Lakeside.
10/13, 9 PM confrontational, intense jazz with Talibam followed by artsy, creepy indie rockers Deerhoof at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.
10/13, 9:30 PM Thirteenth Assembly at Issue Project Room: cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, guitarist Mary Halvorson, violist Jessica Pavone, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, $10.
10/13, 10 PM soulful, bluesy Americana chanteuse Serena Jean Southam followed at 11 by the first-class alt-country Basement Band at Spike Hill
10/13 hilarious oldtime country band Susquehanna Industrial Tool and Die Co. at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM.
10/13, 11 PM darkly rustic Americana trio Rescue Bird at the small room at the Rockwood.
10/14, 1:30 PM, dark chamber pop songwriter Jeremy Messersmith plays a live show streaming online at his site, a good way to spend part of your lunch hour if you’re at a computer.
10/14, 7 PM noir avant-garde siren Carol Lipnik’s new project with piano genius Matt Kanelos, Ghosts in the Ocean at the Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 cover includes a drink
10/14, 7:30 PM smartly lyrical songwriter Kirsten Williams with the reliably phenomenal Andy Mattina on bass followed at 8:30 by Liza Garelik and Ian Roure, brain trust of the Larch (whose latest album Larix Americana is one of the year’s best) at the Parkside
10/14-16, 7:30 PM Evan Ziporyn’s new gamelan opera A House in Bali feat. 16-piece Balinese Gamelan Salukat and New York’s iconoclastic electric chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars.at BAM, $30 tix. avail.
10/14-17: the Apex (Rudresh Mahathappa and Bunky Green) cd release show: Rudresh Mahathappa – alto saxophone; Bunky Green – alto saxophone; Jason Moran – piano; Francois Moutin – bass; Damion Reid – drums at the Jazz Standard, 7:30/9:30 PM.
10/14, 8 PM Chicha Libre play the cd release show for the surfy, psychedelic Peruvian music anthology The Roots of Chicha 2 – arguably the best album of 2010 – at Zebulon.
10/14 this month’s Hipster Demolition Night, arguably the best rock show of the year, starts at 8 at Public Assembly with Jay Banerjee & the Heartthrobs – the missing link between the Byrds and the Raspberries – followed by the garage intensity of the Neutron Drivers and the Doughboys, ferociously smart, funny, anti-gentrification punk rockers the Brooklyn What and oldschool 60s soul rockers Love Struck headlining at midnight.
10/14, 8 PM the Reformed Whores: Marie Cecile Anderson on ukulele and Katy Frame on accordion, like Sarah Silverman meets June Carter, at Rose Bar in Williamsburg.
10/14, 8 PM powerpop legend George Usher at Banjo Jim’s.
10/14 So Percussion, Tristan Perich and Corps Exquis playing a bill of new music at Galapagos, 8 PM.
10/14, 8ish ska night at Otto’s with Small Axe and the Hard Times.
10/14 Metropolitan Klezmer, the world’s most stylistically diverse klezmer band – ecstatic experts in film music, latin music, dirges, freilachs, you name it – 8:30 PM at the Atrium at Lincoln Center, free, get there at least a half hour early or get shut out.
10/14, 9 PM two very, very different Americana vocal icons: Mary Gauthier followed by Laura Cantrell at City Winery, $22 standing room tix avail.
10/14, 10:30 PM Balkan madness with Veveritse Brass Band at the Jalopy, $10.
10/14 at midnight the Xylopholks – in their day-glo furry suits, playing vibraphone versions of oldtimey swing jazz – at the big room at the Rockwood
10/15, 7 PM Clash collaborator and Paradise by the Dashboard Light girl Ellen Foley at Lakeside; also here on 10/29 at 7.
10/15, 7:30 PM the Cassatt Quartet plays music by contemporary Mexican composers including Altar de Muertos by Gabriela Ortiz, and the premiere of Cartas de Frida, by Samuel Zyman at Symphony Space, $29 tix rec, $15 under 30/$10 stud/srs.
10/15 ferociously literate, anthemic, Americana-based rockers Wormburner at the Mercury, 8:30 PM, $10
10/15, 8 PM soulful and haunting Greek oud virtuoso/scholar Mavrothi Kontanis at Barbes.
10/15-16 the Cookers: Billy Harper, Eddie Henerson, James Spaulding, David Weiss, Geri Allen (sitting in for George Cables), Cecil McBee & Billy Hart – who have a killer new album out – at Iridium, 8:30/10:30 PM, $30.
10/15, crazed Balkan dance mavens Raya Brass Band at 9 PM at China1 Antique, 50 Ave B on the LES
10/15, 9 PM, joyously sprawling, funny, theatrical New Orleans soul/funk band Brother Joscephus & the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra at the Brooklyn Bowl, $5.
10/15, 10 PM amazingly authentic early 60s Bakersfield style honkytonk band the Dixons at Southpaw, $12. They’re also at Union Pool on 10/29.
10/15, 10 PM Southern Culture on the Skids at the Bell House $15 adv tix rec.
10/15 the DKs at Irving Plaza is not the original band – no Jello, which is like the Beatles w/o Lennon.
10/15 King Kahn & the Shrines play garage rock at Santos Party House, 8 PM, $15. They’re also at the Bell House on 10/16 for the same price.
10/15 free jazz luminaries Secret Orchestra: Yuko Fujiyama, Clif Jackson, David Gould – at Roulette, 8:30 PM, $15/$10 stud.
10/16 starting at 2 PM at Issue Project Room: the Drone Marathon. “Electric Temple will present a day-long musical event focusing on contemporary performers working with long sustained tones and sounds. The program will feature six musicians curating segments of the event.”
10/16, 7 PM pioneering new-music chamber trio Janus at Joe’s Pub playing the cd release show for their new one I Am Not.
10/16, 7 PM Iconoclast cd release show at Bowery Poetry Club with Julie Joslyn (alto saxophone, violin, live electronics, vocals) and Leo Ciesa (drums).
10/16, 7:15 PM hypnotic, sly, minor-key gypsy/klezmer/blues/reggae improvisers Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues.
10/16, 8 PM the Shanbehzadeh Trio plays hypnotic, swirling traditional southern Persian music at Symphony Space, $32/$20 stud/srs.
10/16 a ferociously good garage/punk night at Trash starting at 8 PM with the Edison Rocket Train feat. Jon Spencer, the Radio Birdman-influenced Mess Around at 9 and then retro soulsters Mighty Fine at 10,$7
10/16, 8 PM the world’s most popular early music choir, Stile Antico make their NYC debut at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 W. 46th St., 8 PM, $35 and worth it.
10/16, 8 PM Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra playing Mahler’s 5th Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto, Denis Matsuev at the keys at NJPAC in Newark, $29 seats avail.
10/16, 8 PM the first day of this year’s Django festival at the Jalopy starts at 8 with the Hot Club of Hell’s Kitchen, followed by the Hot Club Thing, Luke Hendon Trio, Stephane Wrembel and then at midnight the Blue Plate Special, $TBA.
10/16, 9 PM innovative new big band jazz with the Gotham Wind Symphony at Tea Lounge in Park Slope
10/16 the closest thing to the Pogues we still have, Shilelagh Law at Connolly’s 9 PM
10/16, 9:30 oldtimey ragtime fun with the 2 Man Gentlemen Band’s cd release show at Southpaw, $10
10/16 a killer reggae triplebill at Shrine starting at 9 with Finotee, followed by Zion Judah at 10 and then East Village Pharmacy’s hypnotic dub/reggaetone sounds at 11.
10/16, 10 PM Japanese gypsy punks Kagero at Mehanata.
10/16, 10 PM Buru Style plays roots reggae at Spike Hill
10/16, 11 PM goth/art-rock cello legends Rasputina at the Knitting Factory, $15 adv tix rec.
10/16 NYC’s answer to X – but with better vocals – Spanking Charlene at Lakeside 11 PM.
10/17, 2 PM cellist Maya Beiser & pianist Pablo Ziegler in Canyengue: the Soul of Tango at PS 321 Auditorium, 180 7th Ave., Brooklyn, $15
10/17, 4:45 PM Daniel Brondel plays an organ recital at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
10/17, 6 PM drummer Kresten Osgood plays a duo show with Oliver Lake on sax at Downtown Music Gallery
10/17 the Chiara String Quartet play Chou Wen-Chung: Streams; Gabriela Lena Frank: Milagros (New York Premiere); Alberto Ginastera: String Quartet No. 1 at le Poisson Rouge, 7:30 PM, $15.
10/17, 8 PMish a killer night of smart songwriting with the soul-influenced Jo Williamson, the Americana sounds of the Bowmans and art-rock keyboard genius Greta Gertler at Banjo Jim’s.
10/17, 8 PM second night of this year’s Django festival at the Jalopy starts at 8 with Jack Soref, the Hot Club of DC, Franglais Gypsy Jazz, Jason Anick and then a jam, $TBA.
10/17, 9:30 PM the Almeda Trio play Shostakovich, Copland and Schoenfeld at le Poisson Rouge, $10.
10/18, 6 PM Sarah Kirkland Snider’s cd release show for her new one feat. Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond at le Poisson Rouge. Two sets: “Beautiful Mechanical” by Son Lux; “Proven Badlands” by Annie Clark (NYC premiere); “Clearing, Dawn, Dance” by Judd Greenstein (NYC premiere); “Song” by Gabriel Kahane; “Presto” by Son Lux. The second set features Shara Worden performing Kirkland Snider’s Penelope in its entirety.
10/18 powerhouse pianist Tamir Hendelman and his Trio at Dizzy’s Club, 8 PM, $20/10 stud.
10/18 ferociously literate Aimee Mann-ish art-pop pianist/songwriter Krista Detor at City Winery, 8 PM.
10/18, 9ish ex-Mephiskapheles alto sax player Alexander McCabe plays the cd release show for his gorgeously retro new one Quiz at Rosie O’Grady’s Limerick Bar, 149 W. 46th St.
10/18, 7:30 PM, Trio Hotteterre (Immanuel Davis, baroque flute; Motomi Igarashi, viola da gamba; Dongsok Shin, harpsichord, a “new baroque instrument trio will perform works by French composers of the 18th century. Even if you are a fan of period instruments, you may never have heard this music performed live on a French style flute, gamba, and Franco/Flemish harpsichord at French pitch (a whole tone below modern pitch!).” Works by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Jacques Morel, Louis de Caix d’Hervelois and François Couperin at Advent/ Broadway Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd St.
10/18 smart literate Americana/folk/blues band the Sometime Boys’ cd release show – with cabaret/art-rock star Sarah Mucho of ferocious and recently reinvigorated System Noise on vocals – 8 PM at Don’t Tell Mama, free, reservations very highly recommended to 212-757-0788, 4-9 PM daily.
10/18, 9 PM the Noriko Ueda Jazz Orchestra at Tea Lounge in Park Slope.
10/18, 10 PM fiery, lyrical noir rock siren Randi Russo and band at Bowlmor Lanes, 110 University Place (12th & 13th Sts), $7 or $24 for the show and unlimited bowling
Starting 10/19 noisy, edgy female-fronted dancepunk band Deluka are in town for Colossal Musical Joke a.k.a. CMJ. Four shows. They’re at the Delancey on 10/19, at Matchless on 10/20, at Fontana’s on 10/22 and at Bowery Electric on 10/23.
10/19, 6 (six) PM wickedly smart lyrical indie pop songwriter Linda Draper and band at the Knitting Factory, $10
10/19 alt-country hellraiser Carolyn Mark backed by the similarly-inclined Jack Grace Band at Lakeside, 7 PM. She’s also at Banjo Jim’s on 9/21 at 8 PM.
10/19 hypnotic Indian psychedelic jazz/trance group Namaskar’s cd release party – with the reliably excellent Marc Cary on keys – at Aaron Davis Hall uptown, 7:30 PM, free w/rsvp.
10/19-20 the Tia Fuller Quartet: Tia Fuller – saxophone; Shamie Royston – piano; Mimi Jones – bass; Rudy Royston – drums at the Jazz Standard, 7:30/9:30 PM.
10/19 an intense, out-of-the-box jazz-inclined set starting at 8 PM with Shane Endsley & the Music Band, noir Waits-ish Gutbucket, and reliably savage, satirical alto sax monster Jon Irabagon with drummer Mike Pride doing their I Don’t Hear Nothin’ but the Blues project at Littlefield, $8 adv tix rec.
10/19-24 vibraphone jazz with “The New Gary Burton Quartet” feat. guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Antonio Sanchez at the Blue Note, sets 8/10:30 PM.
10/19, 8:30 PM the Klez Dispensers & SUNY Purchase World Music Ensemble, led by trumpet monster Frank London at the Sixth St. Synagogue, $15 includes a drink.
10/19, 10 PM at the Stone “Sanda Weigl experimental Romanian gypsy music ‘Alo Malo:’: Sanda Weigl (voice) Shoko Nagai (piano, accordion) Satoshi Takeishi (percussion) Stomu Takeishi (electric bass)”
10/20 French dark psychedelic pop trio Revolver at Cake Shop, free, 4:30ish – be aware that this is a CMJ show and that the place may be full of losers with badges.
10/20 literate, stark cello rockers Pearl & the Beard at 5 (five) PM at Spike Hill for all you unemployed or late shift people
10/20 a killer triplebill at the Rodeo Bar starting at 8 with the vintage 60s country of the Jack Grace Band followed by the creepy noir guitar wizardry of the Jim Campilongo Electric Trio at 10 and then an equally dazzling if funnier guitarist, Bill Kirchen at 11.
10/20,8 PM fascinating, tuneful jazz with the Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Satoko Fujii, piano; Natsuki Tamura, trumpet; with trombonist Curtis Hasselbring and accordion player Andrea Parkins.
10/20, 8:30 PM the Paul Shapiro Ribs & Brisket Review: Paul Shapiro, sax, clarinet, vocals; Cilla Owens, vocals; Glenn Turner, vocals; Dan Rosengard, piano; Booker King, bass; Mo Roberts, drums at the Cornelia St. Cafe, $10.
10/20 smart, politically-charged lyrical duo Left on Red at the Bitter End, 9 PM
10/21, 6 PM retro soul superstar Eli Paperboy Reed at le Poisson Rouge, $12
10/21, 8 PM French southwestern gothic rocker Marianne Dissard – whose latest album Paris One Takes is one of our favorites of 2010 – at Barbes followed at 10 by jazz guitar god Matt Munisteri.
10/21, 8 PM separate sets by percussionist Jerome Cooper and pipa adventurer Min Xiao-Fen at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.
10/21 the charming but biting oldtimey swing sounds of Miss Tess & the Bon Ton Parade at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. She’s also at Barbes on 10/22 at 8
10/22 charismatic oldtime Americana/hillbilly hellraisers the Wiyos at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM, $15.
10/22 Yonder Mountain String Band at the Nokia Theatre, 8 PM
10/22 the Toneballs (feat. members of Blow This Nightclub and Love Camp 7) play wickedly guitar-driven, Richard Thompson-ish literate rock at the Parkside, 8 PM.
10/22, 8 PM Ensemble East play works by Matsuura Kengyo, Tadao Sawai, Michio Miyagi, Hikaru Sawai, and James Nyoraku Schlefer at Bargemusic, $25/$20 stud/srs.
10/22 terse Chicago expat blues guitarist Irving Louis Lattin at Lucille’s, 8 PM
10/22 NYC’s iconic oldtimey harmony band, the Moonlighters at Barbes, 10 PM.
10/22, 10:30 PM killer Americana guitar rock with Tom Clark & the High Action Boys at Banjo Jim’s.
10/22 smart, lyrical, aggressive Chicago powerpop/rock/funk band Jonny Rumble – who have an excellent album out this year on rockproper – at Local 269, 11 PM
10/22, 11 PM eclectically captivating Americana chanteuse Julia Haltigan plays the small room with her excellent band at the Rockwood
10/22, 11 PM soulful lyrical rock songwriter Elisa Flynn plays her stately, wryly haunting 6/8 songs at Building on Bond, 112 Bond St., Brooklyn. She’s also at the Loving Cup Cafe in Williamsburg on 11/12 at 8:30
10/22, 11 PM the Boss Guitars play surf classics and obscurities at Lakeside.
10/22 Ghostface Killah and a bunch of his homies at B.B. King’s, midnight-ish, $27 adv tix rec.
10/23, 1 PM, a free concert at Bargemusic, early arrival advised – piano music or string trio most likely
10/23, 5:30 PM Japanese jazz luminaries Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet play Miles Cafe.
10/23, 6:30 PM, Bahian dance band monsters Dende & Hahahaes at SOB’s, $10
10/23, 7 PM soaring, artsy Irish folk-rock legend Pierce Turner at Joe’s Pub, $23.
10/23 guitar god/lyrical songwriting icon Richard Thompson at the Town Hall, 8 PM $36.50 tix still avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc. as/of 10/1 – get yours now.
10/23, 8 PM, catchy, driving Boston jangle/garage rockers Aloud play Lit – be aware this is a CMJ show, the club may be full of losers with badges.
10/23, 8ish, ramshackle Americana juggernaut the Woes at Littlefield, $10 adv tix rec. Be aware this is a CMJ show, there may be losers in the house.
10/23 literate nouveau-popsters Elizabeth & the Catapult at 9 at the big room followed at 10 by the bluesy Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds and eventually by sprawling funk orchestra Turkuaz at midnight
10/23, 8:30 PM at Roulette “experimental kotoist Miya Masaoka premieres a new work for two kotos with Akiko Sasaki, and Channeling Scelsi, an interpretation of his 1965 composition Ygghur originally written for cello and arranged for 25 string koto; new work for Laser Koto.” $15
10/23, the North American debut of Norwegian darkwave band S K L S, 8:30 PM at Issue Project Room, $10.
10/23, 9 PM ferocious noir guitarist and first-rate lyrical songwriter Nathan Halpern (of Kerry Kennedy’s band) at Pete’s.
10/23 Egyptian vintage film music revivalists Zikrayat with Salma Habib on vocals and Youssef Kassab on percussion playing material from their new album Cinematic at Alwan for the Arts, 9 PM, $20 adv tix highly rec.
10/23, 9 PM A-list fiddler Diane Stockwell’s Freshly Baked Bluegrass followed by the reliably amazing Nashville expat Greg Garing and band at 10:30 at the Jalopy
10/23, 9 PM rustic acoustic Americana roots with the Manhattan Valley Ramblers at Banjo Jim’s.
10/23, 9:30 PM wry tongue in cheek oldschool country with Miller’s Farm at Hill Country.
10/23 Tris McCall – New Jersey’s ferociously lyrical keyboard-slinging immortalizer, with his band – at Maxwell’s, 10 PM
10/23 Chicago style blues triple threat Johnny Allen – soul vocals, impeccable taste, killer lead guitar – at Terra Blues, 10 PM
10/23, 10 PM hypnotic hip-hop/funk/downtempo grooves with Thousands of One at Shrine.
10/23, 10 PM legendary klezmer underground trumpeter Frank London at Mehanata
10/23, 10 PM Liliana Araujo, frontwoman of Nation Beat leads Forro Da Madame, her own band at Barbes.
10/23, 11 PM slashingly lyrical, brooding, intense, yet sometimes jaunty and funny songwriter Erin Regan at Sidewalk
10/23, 11 PM, smart, funny, intense, literate piano rocker Tris McCall at Maxwell’s.
10/24 Patrick Kreeger plays an organ recital at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 4:45 PM.
10/24, the Mark O’Connor Quartet plays innovative bluegrass-based works for strings at 6 PM at the Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W 17th St., $35
10/24 NYC’s own mesmerizing, competitive community gamelan Gamelan Dharma Swara at the Fat Cat, 8 PM.
10/24 8:30 PM at Banjo Jim’s, a first-rate bill with the psychedelic, witty, lyrical, utterly unique Lianne Smith, Americana rocker Tom Clark, nuevo-mod British songwriter Huw Gower and rockabilly chanteuse/host Monica Passin (of the Monicats).
10/24, 8:30 PM the amazing big band Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.
10/24, 10 PM the Peaceniks feat.Patti Rothberg and Moogy Klingman at P&G Bar on the upper west
10/25, 7 PM the Tiptons Sax Quartet with drums: Amy Denio – alto sax, voice; Jessica Lurie – alto & tenor sax, voice; Sue Orfield – tenor sax, voice; Tina Richerson – baritone sax, voice and Lee Frisari – drums at Barbes
10/25, 7:30 PM subversive comedienne/chanteuse Tammy Faye Starlite’s latest sick cover night: Chelsea Madchen – Ein Deutscher Evening mit Nico, at Joe’s Pub, $15.
10/25, 9 PM a typically marvelous dark rock night starting at 9ish with the ghoulish, garagey Dead Sextons, Nashville gothic crooner Mark Sinnis and then the extraordinary, charismatic, roaring fire of Vera Beren’s Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble at Small Beast at the Delancey.
10/25 charming oldtimey swing and Americana with Daria Grace and the Pre-War Ponies at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
10/26 Belgian barroom accordion music hellraisers Musette Explosion at Barbes, 8 PM.
10/26, 8:30 PM Susan & Elaine Hoffman Watts, who have “the deepest bulgar groove on the planet” make a rare appearance outside their native Philadelphia at the Sixth St. Synagogue, $15 includes a drink. This is sort of the klezmer equivalent of a Carter Family visit to New York. Elaine is one of the world’s great drum legends and a repository of centuries of klezmer knowledge, early arrival a must, this will sell out.
10/26, 8:30 PM horror movies with new soundtracks at the Tank: Whitney George leads her chamber orchestra though her scores to the 1928 films The Curiosity Cabinet, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Tell-Tale Heart, Jay Vilnai’s Vampire Suit does Nosferatu (great choice of composer!!!) and “Nicholas Nelson will present an all electronic score to the 1938 short ‘How to Undress in Front of Your Husband.’” $10 adv tix highly rec.
10/26 oldtimey jamband Vermont Joy Parade play Pete’s at 9 followed by Dr. Gasp and his cemetery blues Halloween spectacular
10/26, 9 PM, grand guignol steampunk intensity with Not Waving But Drowning at Spike Hill.
10/26-31 new generation jazz piano star Gerald Clayton with his Trio at the Vanguard, 9/11 PM, $25.
10/28-29 Steven Bernstein’s Millenial Territorial Orchestra at the Green Room at the 45 Bleecker St. Theatre (Mulberry/Mott) possibly doing Sly Stone stuff off their recently recorded album
10/28 the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Westminster Choir sing Brahms’ German Requiem at the Atrium at Lincoln Center, free, get there an hour early (7 PM) if you’re going.
10/28, 8 PM, Guitarist Jay Vilnai and bassist Reuben Radding will perform “a night of musical explorations of standards from the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East and Brooklyn” at the Castello Plan, 1213 Cortelyou Rd, Brooklyn, free
10/28, 8 PM stomping, smart, catchy rock en Espanol with New Madrid at Spike Hill. They’re also here on 11/11
10/28 Michael Franti & Spearhead, 9 PM at Terminal 5, $35 adv tix avail.
10/28, 9 PM Askold Buk & los Calcetines play “acid Americana” at Banjo Jim’s.
10/28, 9:30 PM lyrical trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and Group at Smalls
10/28, 10 PM low-register vintage latin band Gato Loco at Barbes.
10/29, 2 (two) PM Vittorio Forte plays Schumann, Clementi and the complete Chopin waltzes at the Yamaha Piano Salon, free
10/29 the Wayne Escoffery Quartet at the Rubin Museum of Art, 7 PM, $18 adv tix rec.
10/29, 7:30 PM at Alice Tully Hall, Alondra de la Parra conducts the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas doing a rare US performance of the complete Carlos Chávez Caballos de Vapor Suite; Aaron Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait (Chris Noth, narrator) and Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra , tix $15/up. Their new cd reached #2 on the pop charts in Mexico, the first time a classical recording cracked the top 100 there!
10/29, 8 PM intriguing indie chamber-pop band Colorform play and paint live at 440 Studios #4D, 440 Lafayette Street, just below Astor Place, “a pretty chill evening with free wine, music, and art.”
10/29, 8 PM third-wave ska with the Royal City Riot, Hub City Stompes, Pietasters & Toasters at B.B. King’s, $15 adv tix rec.
10/29 fiery, eclectic Chicago blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff at Lucille’s, 8 PM.
10/29, 9 PM, slinky, moody, downtempo/shoegaze rock trio El Jezel at Spike Hill.
10/29, 9 PM Alloy Orchestra play a new live score to accompany Fritz Lang’s silent classic Metropolis at the 92YTribeca, $20 adv tix rec.
10/29, 9:30 PM clarinetist Thomas Piercy and his trio at Caffe Vivaldi playing Piazzolla and other composers from his eclectic new Caffe cd
10/29, 9:30 PM tuneful, swinging, witty oldtimey band Roosevelt Dime at Hill Country
10/29 NYC’s own #1 latin soul revivalists Spanglish Fly at Barbes, 10 PM
10/30, 5 PM a solo show by guitarist/frontwoman Debra from Devi – who’s a hell of an acoustic player – at the Downtown Live Halloween Party in Jersey City, details TK
10/30, 7:30/9:30 alto sax powerhouse Jaleel Shaw leads a trio at the Bar Next Door.
10/30, 8 PM at Symphony Space a dynamite choice of Halloween show with Alessandra Belloni and I Giuliari di Piazza doing witches’ dances and all sorts of sepulchral singing and dancing from ancient Italy
10/30, 8 PM gypsy punk madness with Bad Buka at LIC Bar in Long Island City, $10.
10/30, 8 PM the Omni Ensemble plays Jai Vilnai’s concerto for flute and piano along with works by Gorecki, WC Handy (?!?) and the Debussy Cello Sonata at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 7th Ave, Park Slope
10/30, Celtic chanteuse Susan McKeown plays songs from her new concept album about darkness and madness at Symphony Space, 8 PM, $28 adv tix rec.
10/30, 8 PM Czech chamber music stars the Skampa Quartet play Haydn: Quartet Fragment in Dm, Op. 103; Dvorak: Quartet in G Major, Op. 106; Shostakovich: Quartet No. 8 in c minor, Op. 110 at Washington Irving HS Auditorium, $12
10/30, 8 PM Cypress Hill at the Nokia Theatre, $36.50 – almost as expensive as a bag of weed – did we just say “substance abuse?”
10/30, 9 PM a steampunk big band doublebill with Drew Nugent & the Midnight Society followed by Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Orchestra playing a pre-Halloween show at the Green Building, 450 Union St. in Brooklyn, $20, F/G to Carroll St.
10/30 first-wave girlpunk/punk-funk legends the Bush Tetras at 9 PM at Bowery Electric.
10/30, 9:30 PM a raucous cowpunk doublebill with I’ll Be John Brown followed by the Nightmare River Band at Spike Hill
10/30, 10 PM virtuosically innuendo-driven oldtimey blues/harmony/country goddesses the Roulette Sisters’ annual Halloween costume ball at Barbes
10/30, midnight, up-and-coming roots reggae star Taj Weekes & Adowa at Joe’s Pub, $14.
10/31, 3 PM and 9 PM (2 separate sets) World Inferno at the Brooklyn Bowl, $15 adv tix rec.
10/31 at Bargemusic, 3 PM Jesse Mills, violin; Chris Gross, cello; Steven Beck, piano play CPE Bach Sonata in F# minor for Violin and Keyboard, Wq. 80 “Empfindungen”; Mauricio Kagel Piano Trio No. 2; Rachmaninoff 6 Études-tableaux, Op. 33; Beethoven Piano Trio No. 5 in D major, Op. 70 No. 1 “Ghost.”
10/31, 4:45 PM Christopher Dekker plays an organ recital at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Organ music in a gothic cathedral on Halloween, yum.
10/31, 6 PM, Jacob Wick and Nate Wooley play a duo show at Downtown Music Gallery.
10/31, 8 PM Vermont Joy Parade play “suspender swing” at Banjo Jim’s
10/31, 11 PM System Noise play Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album all the way through at the Producers Club at 44th St. and 9th Ave., discount tix $15 at showclix.com with promotional code “starman.” These shows are legendary and this one will sell out. Refunds for tix at the previously scheduled venue, the now-shuttered 45 Bleecker Theatre are available from broadwayoffers.com.
10/31, 8:30 PM the Thrift Store Cowboys play jangly, Morricone-esque southwestern gothic rock at Union Hall
10/31, 9 PM vintage obscure Egyptian film music revivalists Zikrayat with singer Youssef Kassab at Alwan for the Arts, $20 adv tix rec., $15 stud/srs.
10/31, 9 PM songwriter Adam Stevens followed by the Felice Bros. at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, $20.
10/31, 10 PM this year’s ultimate Halloween concert is at the Stone with Jen Shyu (vocals) and Mark Dresser (bass). Slasher avant jazz.
10/31 glimmering, catchy, sultry, artsy downtempo piano pop with Mattison at Pete’s at midnight.
11/1 Elvis Costello’s 8:30 PM show at the Greene Space – his only NYC live date on this tour – is sold out, but you can watch the show live here.
11/2, 2 (two) PM the Afiara Quartet plays Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5; John Halle: Spheres; Dan Becker: Lockdown; Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op.13 at Merkin Concert Hall, $16
11/2, 7:30 PM at le Poisson Rouge: the cd release show Enescu Reimagined – the pioneering Romanian composer reinterpreted by a bunch of like-minded jazz peeps: Joyce Hammann – violin; Mat Maneri – viola; Andrew Bishop – tenor sax; Ralph Alessi – trumpet; Lucian Ban – piano; John Hébert – bass; Badal Roy – tabla; Gerald Cleaver – drums
11/2-7 at Birdland the Django Reinhardt Festival feat. legendary gypsy guitarist Dorado Schmitt, , top gypsy guitarist Kruno Spisic, bassist Xavier Nikq, violinist Pierre Blanchard plus Schmitt’s teenage guitarist phenom son Amati plus special guests harpist Edmar Castaneda, clarinetist Anat Cohen and others at Birdland, $30 seats avail.
11/2, 9 PM NYC all-star banda norteno Banda de los Muertos followed by the Mexican-American Go Go’s, Pistolera at Zebulon
11/2 Clinic do their newfound chamber pop thing at Bowery Ballroom, 9ish, $15. They’re at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on 11/3 for the same price. Adv tix available at the Mercury.
11/3 sharp, smoky, literate, Aimee Mann-inflected chamber rockers Elizabeth & the Catapult at Joe’s Pub
11/3 Kent Tritle conducts the MSM Symphony and Symphonic Chorus in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, 7:30 PM at Manhattan School of Music, $10.
11/3-7 Christian McBride & Inside Straight: Steve Wilson – saxophones; Warren Wolf – vibraphone; Christian Sands – piano; Christian McBride – bass; Carl Allen – drums at the Jazz Standard sets, 7:30/9:30 PM, $25
11/3 torchy chanteuse Sari Schorr at Southpaw 8:30 PM with Liberty DeVito from Billy Joel’s band (good player, actually) on drums
11/3, 9 PM, haunting, mesmerizing, intense improvisational somewhat noir rock siren Katie Elevitch at Banjo Jim’s.
11/4, 6 PM a screening of Fred Zara’s new documentary film Average Community about Italian-American kids in decaying NJ cities in the punk and hardcore scenes, at the John D. Calandra Italian-American Institute, 25 W 43rd St. (5th/6th Ave.).
11/4, 8 PM artsy, smart, funny pop siren Elaine Romanelli at Banjo Jim’s followed by Americana chanteuse Drina Seay with diversely talented, ubiquitous lead guitarist Homeboy Steve Antonakos at 9.
11/4, 8 PM intense yet emotionally diverse piano powerhouse Karine Poghosyan plays DeFalla, Komitas and Stravinsky at the Church of the Ascension, 221 W 107th St., 8 PM, $10 sugg don
11/4 celebrated Brazilian pianist Marcelo Bratke and Camerata Brasil play a Villa-Lobos retrospective at Carnegie Hall, 8 PM, $30 includes free cd/dvd box set.
11/4 tuneful, intense, smart powerpop from the Brooklyn What’s John-Severin & the Quiet 1s at Union Hall, 8 PM
11/4, 8 PM, an amazing Middle Eastern-flavored triplebill: vintage Egyptian film music revivalists Zikrayat, rockers Raquy & the Cavemen and then hypnotic groove/trance band Copal playing the cd release for their new one at Drom, $15 adv tix highly rec.
11/4 bluegrass band Hot Rize play their first NYC show in ten years at B.B. King’s, 9 PM, $25 adv tix rec.
11/4, 9 PM DIY rock legend R. Stevie Moore followed by the equally legendary Brute Force playing the cd release show for the reissue of his 1967 debut album (also including bonus tracks including the legendary banned single The King of Fuh, produced by George Harrison), at Secret Project Robot, 210 Kent Ave. (corner of River St., enter through the loading dock), Williamsburg. Does this mean that the bedhead-and-trust-fund set has discovered these guys and thinks they’re kitschy?
11/4, 9 PM Evanescent (the Moonlighters’ Bliss Blood’s new project with Al Street of Spacemen 3) at Castello Plan, 1213 Cortelyou Rd. (Argyle/Westminster) in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, 2 1/2 blocks from the B/Q train. They’re also here on 11/18.
11/4 Victoire at Smack Mellon Gallery in Dumbo, free.
11/4, 7 PM long-running retro 60s R&B revivalists the Brilliant Mistakes at the big room at the Rockwood
11/4, 10 PM the Black Angels – who absolutely ripped up the Orensanz Center a month ago – at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, $20
11/5, 7 PM the comedic, virtuosic Erin & Her Cello at the small room at the Rockwood
11/5, 8 PM at Dave Liebman and Randy Brecker with the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra performing John Coltrane’s “Meditations Suite” arranged by Gunnar Mossblad at Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Avenue (Broadway and 122nd St).$10 adults; $5 srs/stud.
11/5, 9 PM the Dandy Warhols at the Bell House are SOLD OUT. Good for them.
11/5, 9:30 PM fiery Nashville gothic rockers Ninth House at the Knitting Factory, get on the guest list for $5 (half price)
11/5, 11 PM Exit Clov at the big room at the Rockwood.
11/6 Serial Underground (Jed Distler, Celia Cooke, Kathleen Supove) plus the cd release for the new one Reflections by the wonderful violinist Ana Milosavljevic at the Cornelia St. Cafe, 6 PM, $10
11/6 jazz pianist Vijay Iyer solo at Flushing Town Hall, free, 7 PM, early arrival highly advised.
11/6 noir rocker night: Lorraine Leckie at Banjo Jim’s 7 PM followed by Carol Lipnik and Spookarama at 8.
11/6, 8 PM Adela y Lupita at Barbes – violin/guitar/vocals in the classic Mexican tradition of Las Hermanas Huertas or Lena y Lola
11/6, 8 PM Adrienne Cooper plays the cd release show for her new Yiddish song cd at Drom with an all-star band: Marilyn Lerner (piano) Mike Winograd (clarinet), Benjy Fox-Rosen (bass), Avi Fox-Rosen (guitar), Patrick Farrell, (accordion), Chris Berry (drums), Jon Singer (marimba), Ben Holmes (trumpet), and Sarah Mina Gordon (back-up vocals), $15 adv tix rec.
11/6 Ameranouche play gypsy jazz at 68 Jay St. Bar, 8 PM.
11/6 a doublebill at the Parkside starting at 8 with – gasp – two jangly bands influenced by middle-period REM who actually don’t suck, the louder Cementhead followed by the janglier Electric Engine at 9
11/6 surf music night at Otto’s has been moved to the Delancey in the wake of the fire: for a cheap $5 cover you can see the amazingly multistylistic Tarantinos NYC at 9, the ferociously macabre Coffin Daggers at 11 and the equally intense El Muchacho at midnight.
11/6, 9 PM: Jay Banerjee & the Heartthrobs’ cd release show at Crash Mansion. Not only is Banerjee the best rock promoter in town (his Hipster Demolition Nights will be legendary someday), he’s also a first-class powerpop/janglerock songwriter with a Byrds fixation. Which is a very good thing. This typically first-class quadruple bill begins at 9 with the Neutron Drivers followed by the Naturals at 10, the Hotcakes at 11 and then Banerjee and his band at midnight
11/6 the most eclectic and entertaining klezmer revivalists on the planet, Metropolitan Klezmer at the Brooklyn Museum, free, 9 PM.
11/6 Dance and Music Performance – Raqs Arabi: Karim Nagi and the Arab Dance Seminar at Alwan for the Arts, 9 PM, $20.
11/6, 9:30 PM clever, sometimes funny experimental pop duo Goli – marimba/cello/vocals – at Caffe Vivaldi, 9:30 PM.
11/6, 11 PM the Subway Surfers – instrumental rockers who are more subway than surf – at Lakeside.
11/6 soaring, ethereal, anthemic, socially aware art-rock band My Pet Dragon play 11 PM at the Cameo Gallery. Their Saturday residency here last winter was intense.
11/6, 1 AM (wee hours of 11/7, actually) Streams of Whiskey at Arlene’s playing Pogues classics.
11/7 violin/cello duo the Tiger Lilies play western and Indian classical music at Caffe Vivaldi, 6 PM
11/7, 6:30 PM Bloodshot Records’ annual BBQ at the Bell House feat. (probably in reverse order) the Bottle Rockets, Graham Parker, Cordero, the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir and Lydia Loveless, $10.
11/7 at Bruar Falls the Moonlighters’ Bliss Blood’s edgy ukelele night starting at 8 featuring Jamie Scandal, Evanescent (Bliss Blood & Al Street) and ambitiously noirish gypsy punk/cabaret band Not Waving But Drowning.
11/7, 8 PM low-register (tuba/baritone guitar/baritone sax/bass) vintage Cuban revivalists who play excellent originals in the same vein, Gato Loco at Bowery Poetry Club.
11/7, 8 PM bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley at B.B. King’s, $29.50 adv tix highly rec.
11/7 and 11/14 violinist to the stars, Susan Mitchell at Caravan of Dreams (the vegetarian place that doesn’t believe in salt or spices) on E 6th St., just east of Sidewalk, 8 PM
11/7 Memphis groove band and Booker T. soundalikes the City Champs at Rose Bar.
11/7, 9 PM powerpop guitar god Pete Galub plus band at Banjo Jim’s
11/7 cutting-edge trombonist Josh Roseman with Peter Apfelbaum on organ and bass plus Dave Treut on drums and special guests at Zebulon, 9:30ish.
11/8 Natacha Atlas – who’s reinvented herself as a Fairouz-class chanteuse, playing stuff from her amazing new cd Mounqaliba – at le Poisson Rouge, 7 PM.
11/8, 7:30 PM the Borromeo Quartet playsWebern: Quartet in E flat major for String Quartet, Langsamer Satz; Bartok, String Quartet #6; Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 95, “Serioso,” free at Advent Lutheran/ Broadway United Church, NE corner of Broadway/93rd St.
11/8 the reliably inspired, innovative Sospiro Winds play quintets by Ravel, Haas, Barber, and Villa-Lobos (a composer whose work they really excel at) at CUNY’s Elebash Hall, 365 Fifth Avenue (34th/35th), 8 PM.
11/9 underground Manhattan songwriting legend Willie Nile 7 PM at Joe’s Pub, full band show, $25.
11/9, 8 PM at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall classical guitar luminary Benjamin Verdery plus students playing world premieres and works by nine Yale composers: Martin Bresnick; Aaron Jay Kernis; Ezra Laderman; David Lang; Ingram Marshall; Jack Vees; Kathryn Alexander; Samuel Adams, $15 tix avail.
11/9 authentically oldschool LES punk/folk acoustic rocker Donna Susan at Banjo Jim’s, 8 PM
11/9-10 bassist Kyle Eastwood (Clint’s kid – he’s actually good, like his dad) and band at the Blue Note
11/9 haunting gothic Americana with Whispering Tree at R Bar, 11 PM.
11/10, 8 PM Americana chanteuse Stephanie Finch followed by her longtime bandmate/mentor, guitar monster Chuck Prophet – one of the few players in the world who can solo for ten minutes straight and leave you wanting more – at Union Hall, $12
11/10, 8ish at Littlefield the Anat Cohen Quintet. All ages: over 21 $14 (+$6 drink min.), under 21: $10 (+$3 drink min.).
11/10, 9ish hypnotic, intense noise-rock band Adult Themes – who mix swoopy organ with fuzz bass, screaming guitar and surprisingly interesting drums – at Coco 66
11/10 Deer Tick at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9 PM, $17 adv tix. rec. at the Mercury box office.
11/10 oldschool country satirists/revivalists Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM
11/10 grasscore pioneers Slim Cessna’s Auto Club at the Mercury, 10:30 PM, $10.
11/11, 7:30 PM Paul Rosenthal, violin and Kazuko Hayami, piano play sonatas by Bach, Taneyev and Beethoven at the marvelous Gilded Age confines of the Fabbri Library, 7 E 95th St.
11/11-13, 8:30 PM it’s the Vital Vox fest of avant-garde vocal music at Issue Project Room, 8:30 PM, $10. The 11/11 program includes Inner Chapters performed by Jen Shyu; Songs for Double Bass and Voice by the Dirty Projectors’ Nat Baldwin; River of Painted Birds by Sabrina Lastman; and The Art of the Diff by Chris Mann.
11/11 Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye at Southpaw – benefit for FortnightJournal.com
11/11, 8 PM dark, gritty rock legend Ian Hunter at Highline Ballroom, adv tix $27 rec.
11/11-12, 8 PM Trio Vela (Olga Vinokur, piano; Asmira Woodward Page, violin; Amy Barston, cello) play trios by Lera Auerbach, Victoria Bond, Lili Boulanger, Germaine Tailleferre, and Joan Tower at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud.
11/11 the diversely bluesy, captivating Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds’ cd release show at Sullivan Hall
11/11, 8:30 PM and 11/13-14 8 PM the Cypress String Quartet in their NYC debut at the Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A W 13th St., releasing their last cd of the late Beethoven quartets in 2011.
11/11, 9 PM dark, pensive songwriter Stephanie Finch and then Chuck Prophet – arguably the greatest American rock lead guitarist right now – at 10 at Bowery Electric, $12 adv tix highly rec.
11/11, 9 PM literate southwestern gothic rocker Tom Shaner at Lakeside
11/11 9 PM Toots & the Maytals at the Brooklyn Bowl $26 adv tix rec.
11/11, 9 PM neo-bluegrass with Trampled by Turtles followed by the Infamous Stringdusters at Bowery Ballroom, $15.
11/11, 10 PM Nation Beat frontwoman Liliana Araujo’s Forro de Madame project at Barbes
11/11 noir retro rock menace with the Reid Paley Trio at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM
11/12 the Orchestra of St. Luke’s plays an all-Faure program at St. Thomas Church including the iconic Requiem along with the Cantique de Jean Racine
11/12, 8 PM oldtimey stars the Asylum Street Spankers play their farewell NYC show – for real – at Highline Ballroom, $25 adv tix rec.
11/12, 8 PM literate funk/soul songwriter Chocolate Genius with his band at the Bell House, $15.
11/12 edgy acoustic songwriter Jessi Robertson plays her birthday show at Bar 4, 8 PM.
11/12, 8:30 PM the Vital Vox Fest at Issue Project Room continues with Inflections in a Vibratory Field by Samita Sinha; Improvisations 11-12-10 by C Spencer Yeh; and Gatekeeper by Joan La Barbara
11/12, 8:30 PM the Ghazal Ensemble feat. Kayhan Kalhor and Shujaat Hussain Khan at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $38 tix avail.
11/12-13 Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society at the Jazz Gallery, 9 PM, $20.
11/12, 9 PM hilarious, lyrically intense lyrical rock songwriters: Marcellus Hall followed by Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby at Bowery Electric, $12 adv tix highly rec.
11/12 Man or Astroman – the original band – at Bowery Ballroom, 9 PM, $15. They’re also at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on 11/13 for the same price, adv tix available at the Mercury.
11/13 soaring, sharply literate, slyly amusing Americana chanteuse Robin Aigner at Barbes with her band, 8:30 PM.
11/13, 8:30 PM the final night of the Vital Vox Fest at Issue Project Room has the Takadimi Duo (Lori Cotler with Glen Velez); Untitled for 2010 by Audrey Chen; Present, Past and Future Sees by Sasha Bogdanowitsch; and Gisburg’s The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Songs performed by Magic Names.
11/13, 9 PM Wind of Anatolia feat. Esat Seyho – vocals; Ismail Siglam – baglama; Fatih M. Bayram – guitar; Ozcan Atav – darbuka, bendir, drums playing classic and obscure folk music from all over Turkey at Alwan for the Arts, $15.
11/13, 10:15ish punk/surf/soul/rockabilly rock guitar genius Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside
11/13, 11 PM dark nuevo garage rockers Obits at the Knitting Factory, $13 adv tix rec.
11/13, 11 PM hip-hop/trance/funk with Thousands of One at Shrine
11/14, 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra play Bruch – Violin Concerto no. 1 in G Minor, with special guest 12-year-old violin sensation Alice Ivy Pemberton (whom we’ve seen, and is the real deal); and Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 2 “A London Symphony” at Washington Irving HS Auditorium, Irving Pl./17th St., $20 don., a steal.
11/14, 4 PM new music titans ACME play Philip Glass, Phil Kline, Nico Muhly, and Sarah Kirkland Snider at PS 142, 100 Attorney St., $15.
11/14 violinist Jennifer Choi and pianist Kathleen Supove play Vijay Iyer, Preston Stahly, Jacob TV and Randall Woolf at the Cell Theatre in Chelsea, email for info.
11/14 7 PM violist Jennifer Stumm at Barbes playing Bach, Britten and Ligeti
11/14 at Bruar Falls the Moonlighters‘ Bliss Blood’s edgy ukelele night starting at 8 featuring Boston’s clever Craig Robertson, haunting Piaf scholar/accordionist/chanteuse Marni Rice, the hilarious master of oldtime banjo innuendo songs, Al Duvall and Evanescent (Bliss Blood & Al Street)
11/14, 9 PM smart, fiery, politically aware new music chamber orchestra Newspeak play the cd release show for their new one Sweet Light Crude at Littlefield
11/14, 9 PM Nick Cave’s noisy power trio Grinderman at the Nokia Theatre, $37.50.
11/14 Dysfunctional Family Jazz Band at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM
11/15, 7:30 PM the launch party for Meet the Composer Studio feat. previews of new works by Kati Agócs, Marcos Balter, Yu-Hui Chang, Glenn Kotche, Dohee Lee, and Ken Ueno at the 92YTribeca, $15 adv tix rec.
11/15, 9ish Semi-Free feat. chanteuse Janine Nichols with guitarist Brandon Ross and Shahzad Ismaily followed by phantasmagorical noir siren Carol Lipnik & Spookarama at 10 and then the equally noir, haunting Sally Norvell at 11 at Small Beast at the Delancey.
11/15, 9 PM Americana violinist Hilary Hawke and her band at Banjo Jim’s.
11/16 at le Poisson Rouge the 6th annual reading of In C by Terry Riley: you can never have too much Terry Riley, Nick Hallett, Zach Layton, Kathleen Supove, le Poisson Rouge, or In C in your life…..
11/16, 7 PM star jazz violinist/Americana singer Jenny Scheinman at Barbes.
11/16, 9 PM Americana/soul songwriter Jo Williamson followed eventually at 11 by noir accordionist Marni Rice at Banjo Jim’s
11/16, 11 PM trumpeter Ben Syversen’s amazingly intense noiserock/jazz/Balkan project Cracked Vessel at Korzo in Park Slope/Sunset Park; also at University of the Streets, 130 E 7th St. at 10 PM for $10 on 12/7.
11/17 charming, boisterous Americana harmony trio Red Molly at City Winery, 8 PM.
11/17, 9 PM darkly anthemic Slovakian rockers Para at Drom, 9 PM, $10 adv tix rec.
11/17, 9 PM Uncle Monk (Tommy Ramone’s bluegrass project) at Banjo Jim’s
11/18 the Hot Club of San Francisco play gypsy jazz at the Atrium at Lincoln Center, 7:30 PM arrival advised
11/18, 7:30 PM, “The second concert of this season’s Reflections Series takes us inside the celebrated Parisian salon of famed salonière Winnaretta Singer, heiress to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune. Music to be performed includes works commissioned by her, dedicated to her, or premiered at her salon by Ravel, Fauré, Stravinsky, Debussy, de Falla, Satie and Percy Grainger. Soprano Deborah Selig and pianist Donald Berman will join violinist Gil Morgenstern for this performance,” at WMP Concert Hall, 31 E 28th St., $25.
11/18, 8 PM Terry Dame (mastermind of the phenomenally psychedelic Electric Junkyard Gamelan) at Barbes playing new works on newly created instruments along with fellow instrument inventor Ken Butler and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck
11/18, 8 PM torchy, bluesy, no-nonsense piano chanteuse Jeanne Marie Boes at Bar 4 in Brooklyn.
11/18, 10 PM the electric NY Gypsy All-Stars feat. sensational clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski at Drom, adv tix $10 very highly rec.
11/19, time TBA, the Amina Claudine Myers/Reggie Nichols Duo and the Wadada Leo Smith Silver Orchestra at Community Church of New York, 40 East 35th Street, $30/$15 srs/stud.
11/19 at Symphony Space, 7 PM (and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 11/20, 7 PM) the NY Phil’s CONTACT series features Alan Gilbert conducting the world premiere of a new work by Magnus Lindberg (a New York Philharmonic commission), and Gerard Grisey’s Quatre Chants Pour Franchir le Seuil, featuring soprano Barbara Hannigan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $20 adv tix highly rec., this will sell out
11/19 a very cool diverse bill at Trash starting at 8 PM with energetic, noisy indie duo Eleanor, the Highway Gimps – the Jesus & Mary Chain meets My Bloody Valentine – Suzanne Beale, then the Shirts (Annie Golden’s new wave legends?) and then at 11 the fiery, hilarious, brilliantly punk/soul inspired anti-gentrification rockers the Brooklyn What, absurdly cheap at $7.
11/19, 8 PM soulful twangy country-rock with the Karen Hudson River Band feat. special guest Deb O’Nair of the Fuzztones at Banjo Jim’s at 7 followed eventually at 9 by Austin noir cabaret cello/accordion duo Just Desserts.
11/19, 8 PM Gyan Riley (Terry’s talented guitarist kid) at Barbes.
11/19, 10ish a cool study in contrasts: funk madness with the MK Groove Orchestra followed by the hypnotic atmospherics of Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber at Coco 66
11/19, 10:30ish Katie Elevitch at Banjo Jim’s full band show promising “improv, experiments, new songs, 1 AM police activity?”
11/19 surf music classics and obscuities with the Boss Guitars at Lakeside, 11 PM.
11/20, 1 PM a free concert at Bargemusic, early arrival advised, piano or string quartet most likely.
11/20, 3 PM Antisociales (Puerto Rican power-pop), Un Final Fatal (hardcore punk from Puerto Rico), Philly punk band Stockpile at ABC No Rio
11/20, 7 PM NYC noir rock legend LJ Murphy at Banjo Jim’s.
11/20, 7-8:30 blue-eyed soul siren Meg Braun and Red Molly multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Carolann Solebello at Caffe Vivaldi followed at 9 by Kristin Hoffmann and her ornate goth-tinged piano pop.
11/20, 8 PM the hilarious, lyrically charged, philosophically inclined, sultry cello/guitar trio the Debutante Hour at Barbes
11/20, 8 PM NY Polyphony sing a program titled Giants of the Flemish Renaissance at Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 W 4th St., $35 tix avail.
11/20, 9 PM artsy, counterintuitive, lyrically potent, gorgeously melodic 90s style Britrock with Special Patrol Group at Arlene’s
11/20, 9 PM Irish-American punk/literate rock legends Black 47 at Connolly’s; they’re also here on 12/11
11/20, 9 PM an oldschool soul/funk summit: Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band followed by Lee Fields & the Expressions at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, $17 adv tix rec.
11/20, 9 PM a female-fronted, more newschool funk doublebill at BAM Cafe with the latin flavored Dawn Drake & ZapOte and Shelley Nicole’s blaKbüshe.
11/20 Spanking Charlene plays their frontwoman Charlene McPherson’s birthday bash at Lakeside, 11 PM. The edgy punk/Americana rockers promise special treats and surprises: you might get to spank Charlene (dangerous idea: she’s not somebody you would want to hit), or she might spank you…
11/20, 11 PM gypsy punks Karikatura followed by Akilles playing roots reggae at Shrine.
11/21, 3 PM the Third Street Philharmonia Orchestra under guest conductor Leslie B. Dunner with soloists Raul Jaurena, bandoneon, Nadav Lev, guitar, and Marguerite Krull, soprano are performing De Falla’s “El Amor Brujo”, Arriaga’s “Los Esclavos Felices,” and Piazolla’s double concerto for guitar and bandoneon.at St. Mark’s Church at 2nd Ave. and 10th St.
11/21 at Bruar Falls the Moonlighters’ Bliss Blood’s edgy ukelele night starting at 8 with the delightfully named Sonic Uke, the satirical Ukemen, Jamie Scandal, Evanescent (Bliss Blood & Al Street with Jim Fryer on horns) and rockers Tom Clark and Craig Chesler (of Clark’s High Action Boys)
11/21 Zikrayat plays dance instrumentals of Mohammed Abdel-Wahab at Galapagos
11/21 the JC Hopkins Big Band open for Mose Allison at City Winery, 8 PM, $30 tix avail.
11/21 pianist Bobby Avey’s cd release show for his brilliant new one A New Face at the Cornelia St. Cafe, shows 8:45/10 PM, $10.
11/21 hilarious cowpunk band Uncle Leon & the Alibis at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
11/22 the Marc Cary Focus Trio at the Blue Note, sets 8/10:30 PM, $10 seating avail. Ridiculously cheap way to see the intense, brooding, brilliantly eclectic and melodic jazz pianist in a sonically superb setting.
11/22 charming oldtimey swing/Americana with Daria Grace and the Pre-War Ponies at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM
11/23-28 the Maria Schneider Orchestra at the Jazz Standard, sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $35.
11/23, 7:30 PM the phenomenal, intense, Balkan-tinged two-clarinet-and-piano Grneta Duo+ at WMP Concert Hall, 31 E 28th St., $25
11/23 Darker My Love 8 PMish at Webster Hall.
11/23-25 lyrical Jamaican jazz piano legend Monty Alexander leads a quintet at Birdland sets 8:30/11, $30 seats avail.
11/23, 9:30 PM PUBLIQuartet play Bach Cello Suites arranged for bassoon, Mozart Flute Quartet, arranged for bassoon by Rebekah Heller along with the Britten String Quartet No. 2 at Caffe Vivaldi.
11/24, 8 PM paradigm-shifting pan-Asian avant garde siren Jen Shyu at Barbes, $10, early arrival advised, this will sell out quickly.
11/24, 9 PM a Guinness-fueled Irish dance party with Shilelagh Law at Connolly’s.
11/26 a country music summit with Nashville legend Greg Garing at 8 followed by one from NYC, Jack Grace at 10 at Barbes
11/26 tuneful, ferociously lyrical powerpop siren Patti Rothberg at Caffe Vivaldi, 9:30 PM.
11/27, 8 PM Czech-American choral group Kackala at Barbes: “Hilary Binder as Backdoor Bobbi; Eva Kubesová as Luscious Lucille; Katerina Kubesová as Pretty Pink Pussy; Stacey Rubin as Ruby Royale and Lexa Walsh as Black Belt Betty”
11/27 oldschool soul duo Dwight & Nicole’s cd release show at the Blue Note, half past midnight, $15. Dwight Ritcher’s purist Steve Cropper guitar and Nicole Nelson’s breathy yet unselfconscious intensity create the kind of ambience you rarely see these days, perfect for a wee hours show like this.
11/28, 3 PM The Queen’s Chamber Trio (Robert Zubrycki, violin; Peter Seidenberg, cello; Elaine Comparone, harpsichord) continues their popular Haydn cycle at St. Marks Church (2nd Ave/10th St.), $25/$12.50 stud/srs/musicians half price.
11/30-12/1 the Peter Bernstein Quartet Peter Bernstein – guitar; Mike LeDonne – piano; John Webber – bass; Joe Farnsworth – drums at the Jazz Standard, sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $20.
11/30 proto-hip-hop lyrical soul/funk legend Gil Scott-Heron at SOB’s, 8 PM, adv tix $30 highly rec.
11/30, 9 PM the original steampunk songwriter, Dan Hicks at City Winery, $28 tix avail.
11/30, 10 PM third-wave garage rock with the Greenhornes at Bowery Ballroom, $15
12/2, 2 PM, cellist Friedrich Kleinhapl plays Zemlinsky, Schittke, Beethoven, Gulda and Rachmaninoff at Town Hall, $12.
12/2 Katie Elevitch’s birthday show at Banjo Jim’s 10 PM.
12/3 soul, funk and Ethiopian-tinged instrumental grooves with the Budos Band at Bowery Ballroom, 9 PM, $15
12/4, 8 PM, Beefstock comes to Bay Ridge at 3 Jolly Pigeons, 6802 3rd Ave. for jamband drum legend Joe Filosa’s bday bash feat. Beefheart cover band Shmeefbrain, plus retro soul crew the Nopar King, spectacular all-female noise-punk trio Out of Order, punk/metal monsters Black Death and others.
12/4, 8 PM the Brentano Quartet plays Schumann: Quartet in F Major, Op. 41, No. 2; Berg: Quartet, Op. 3; Beethoven: Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 127 at Washington Irving HS Auditorium, $12.
12/4, 9 PM an “Evening of Tarab” (ecstasy) with levantine singer/multi-instrumentalist George Ziadeh at Alwan for the Arts
12/5, 2 PM klezmer violin titan the Alicia Svigals Trio at Flushing Town Hall, $16
12/6 Ted Leo Pharmacists at 9 followed by the New Pornographers at Terminal 5, all ages, $30 adv tix rec.
12/8-9, 9 PM witty oldschool country followed by one of the more popular alt-country bands of the 90s: Hayes Carll followed by the Old 97s at Bowery Ballroom, $25
12/10, 8 PM the Chelsea Symphony play Dai: The Night Before Christmas; Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 at St. Paul’s Church, 315 W 22nd St., $20 sugg don.
12/10, 8 PM Latin-Jazz Coalition Big Band led by Demetrios Kastaris performs with special guest, trombonist, Steve Turre; bouzouki player Theofilos Katechis plays folkloric Greek music with jazz trumpeter Yiannis Economides. Making their debut, Conjunto Kathari plays gospel salsa with four trombones at Flushing Town Hall, $15
12/11, 8 PM Nellie McKay playing stuff from her new one Home Sweet Mobile Home at Highline Ballroom, $20 adv tix rec.
12/11 Amazigh Music of Morocco at Alwan for the Arts
12/12, 8 PM and repeating 12/13 at 2 PM Gamelan Dharma Swara play their annual holiday concert featuring music from this year’s Bali concert tour/competition at the Indonesian Consulate, 5 East 68th St. between 5th and Madison. The program will include “‘a performance of Kebyar Legong, the famously challenging 30 minute dance work of the virtuosic kebyar repertoire, the first time the complete work, composed in the 1920s by I Wayan Wendres, will be performed outside of Bali’” These concerts sell out fast, get your tickets now.
12/14, 9 PM alt-country husband-and-wife duo Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis at Bowery Ballroom $25
12/16, 8:30 PM Balthrop Alabama play a Xmas show at the Atrium at Lincoln Center, free, get there at least a half hour early or get shut out. Just letting you know a little ahead of time.
12/16-18, 7:30 PM and repeating 12/19 at 3 PM, Craig Harris’ God’s Trombones – a musical interpretation of James Weldon Johnson’s 1927 collection of poems – at Aaron Davis Hall uptown, $35 adv tix highly rec.
12/18, 8 PM legendary third-wave ska/soul band the Slackers at Brooklyn Bowl, $12 tix rec.
12/19, 3 PM the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra plays Saint-Saens: La Muse et Le Poete with Judy Spokes, violin and David Cho, cello followed by Dvorak: Symphony #6 at St. Ann’s Church in downtown Brooklyn.
12/31 the most lyrical and probably most cost-effective New Years Eve show is Black 47 at Connolly’s – they’re just far enough away from Times Square amateur city for you to make your getaway via an east side train.
12/31 this year’s most danceable New Years Eve show is retro 60s latin soul/bugalu revivalists Spanglish Fly at Barbes, 11 PM, $15
1/7-8/11 Winter Jazzfest is coming; just to give you a heads-up, last year’s (known as the Undead Jazz Festival) was amazing by all accounts.
1/9 Globalfest at Webster Hall, 3 stages including Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal, Creole Choir of Cuba, Diblo Dibala, Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole, La-33, Mustafa Özarslan (U.S. debut), Novalima, Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda, Pedro Martinez Project (not the ex-Red Sox hurler), RAM, Red Baraat, Rhythms of Rajastan, Yoro Ndiaye (U.S. debut), tix $35 before Nov 30 at the World Music Institute box office
3/18/11, 8 PM, repeating 3/19/11 at 9 PM at Symphony Space, legendary Lebanese expat oud icon/composer Marcel Khalife in the US premiere of his Concerto Al Andalus for oud and orchestra; Armenia’s most renowned kanun (zither) virtuoso, Karine Hovhannisyan, performing the concerto for kanun and orchestra by Khachatur Avetisyan; and clarinetist David Krakauer playing the NY premiere of the Klezmer Concerto by Ofer Ben-Amots for strings, harp, percussion and clarinet; plus the eclectic Orchestra Celebrate, conducted by Laurine Celeste Fox, $25 adv tix avail. at the World Music Institute box office and highly rec.
Victoire’s Debut Album Beckons from the Shadows
Cathedral City, the debut album by all-female chamber-rock group Victoire is a sometimes lush, sometimes austere, otherworldly beautiful suite of nocturnes. Hypnotic, psychedelic, often casually seductive, keyboardist/composer Missy Mazzoli’s songs blend simple, memorable rock melodies with elements of minimalism, horizontal music and classical music from the baroque to the Romantic to the avant garde. Despite the complexity of some of the arrangements here, she doesn’t waste a note: the casual solidity of her melodies gives the jungle of textures swaying overhead a solid foundation. As heavily processed and produced as this music obviously is, it retains a totally organic feel: there’s none of the rote mechanical coldness that you find in, say, Radiohead. The electronic keyboards of Mazzoli and Lorna Krier blend with Olivia De Prato’s violin, Eileen Mack’s clarinet and Eleonore Oppenheim’s upright bass to the point where the playing, and the arrangements, are perfectly seamless: the individual parts often become one.
The album opens with the aptly titled, darkly alluring Door into the Dark, solo Wurlitzer giving way to violin, casually noir menace shifting to warmer, soul-inflected ambience. It segues into the second track, I Am Coming for My Things, which like many of the cuts here has a disconcerting ambiguity: is it supposed to be funny? Plaintive? Menacing? All of the above? Over slowly unwinding atmospherics, a voicemail sample gradually reveals that someone’s coming for her things and she doesn’t have any money: electric piano and strings rise and fall, first with a jazzy riff, then stately with distant echoes of ELO. The title track evokes Stereolab at their most minimal, with some marvelously emphatic, brooding bass work by Oppenheim and a distantly towering vocalese antiphon.
The suspenseful, cinematic Like a Diver masterfully builds a series of slow crescendos, swirly Wurly pitted eventually against the violin, a playful dance emerging amidst the drama before it subsides again. A Song for Mick Kelly is anthemically elegaic, guest guitarist Bryce Dessner (of the National) providing menacing, reverb-drenched guitar that eventually grows to a fullscale roar, natural overtones shrieking from his amp. The album closes with the catchy trip-hop of A Song for Arthur Russell, referencing the late cellist and disco-era cult figure, and then India Whiskey, shifting suddenly and dramatically from out-of-focus, late-night wooziness to a joyous dance and a majestic, triumphant swell with the whole band going full-tilt – as full-tilt as a slow song can go, anyway. When the deadpan male voice reciting a series of numbers (a Philip Glass quote, maybe?) reaches zero, it’s over. There is so much more on this album that it’s impossible to mention all of it: in its own ethereal, methodical way, it’s a blast to listen to with the lights out. Victoire play the cd release show for Cathedral City at Joe’s Pub on October 2 at 7 PM; Mazzoli is also at Galapagos on October 5 for the world premiere of her string quartet Death Valley Junction.
Album of the Day 9/30/10
Every day our 1000 best albums of all time countdown continues all the way to #1. Thursday’s album is #852:
The Jack Grace Band – Drinking Songs for Lovers
This brand-new 2010 album has the Martini Cowboy reverting to the classic 1960s C&W party vibe of his 2005 cd I Like It Wrong, but with a better band, better songs and an unbeatable concept: this is party music for smart people. With a swing jazz rhythm section of Grace’s wife Daria on bass, Russ Meissner on drums and either longtime Johnny Cash pianist Earl Poole Ball or New Orleans bluesman Bill Malchow on keys, Grace himself takes over the lead guitar here, with literally delirious results. It’s a tribute to all states of drunkenness and those who indulge in it: the crazy neighborhood guy you run into at the bodega on a beer run right before four AM, the guys at OTB, the serious dude who watches his roommate drink himself into a dangerous state, and the drunken parent (on the album’s absolutely brilliant centerpiece, If You’re Gonna Raise a Drunk). The titles pretty much say it all: Morning Margaritas; Drink a Little Hooch; Drinkin’ and Gamblin’; I Drank Too Much Again; and a surprising, vividly cautionary cameo from Daria, Drank Yourself Into a Corner. Jack’s George Jones-inflected baritone offers just the hint of a tequila-infused wink as the band sway and careen behind him. For nondrinkers who find the appeal of this album utterly impossible to fathom, consider that reality – woops, we mean sobriety – might just be a little less fun.
The Hottest New Big Band in NYC
The Ayn Sof Orchestra and Bigger Band are the most exciting new development in big band jazz in New York. To call them the “Jewish big band” is to say that they play large ensemble jazz works liberally sprinkled with themes and motifs from Jewish music. Some of the compositions are jazz arrangements of folk songs; their originals, contributed by several members of the ensemble, draw sometimes deeply, sometimes loosely on klezmer or Middle Eastern melodies. The group, a mix of some of the most highly sought-after jazz talents in the city, has been playing together for about a year, with a monthly residency at bandleader/tenor sax player Greg Wall’s Sixth Street Synagogue. Monday night’s sold-out show at the Cell Theatre in the West Village was a revelation.
They opened with a lush, sweeping, bracingly layered number by former Lou Reed tenor player Marty Fogel, a showcase for a slinky, klezmer-tinged solo from trumpeter Frank London and a bit later a no-nonsense one from trombonist Reut Regev. A composition by guitarist Eyal Maoz was a characteristically surfy sprint, complete with his own joyously showy, increasingly unhinged solo and some effect-laden, shuffling B3 organ groove work from Uri Sharlin (who’d switched from piano, and would later move to accordion). Wall sardonically announced that someone in the crowd had promised their grandmother some klezmer, so they blasted through a towering, majestic Fogel arrangement of the traditional Kiever Bulgar dance, more jazz than klezmer, with long, expressive trombone and accordion solos and a tricky false ending. A tune by alto player Paul Shapiro worked a bouncy soul organ groove that took on a latin vibe as it motored along. Another Fogel original introduced the night’s most darkly bracing tonalities, a 6/4 stomp featuring a blazing Balkan solo by trumpeter Jordan Hirsch; trumpeter Pam Fleming’s Intrigue in the Night Market was downright sexy, her own slyly cosmopolitan solo growing more rootless, the band restlessly and suspensefully rising to a big crescendo out of it.
The second half of the concert began with jazz poetry on Talmudic themes, Wall or London offering energetic accompaniment for a series of animated spoken-word interludes, sometimes playing in tandem. The whole band joined in as they went along; some were wryly humorous, but ultimately they preached to the choir, if as heatedly as that hardcore punk band who celebrate the virtues of learning Torah. The band eventually wound up the show on a blissfully carnivalesque note with a humor-laden latin soul groove featuring an uninhibitedly buffoonish Maoz solo, a similarly amusing, blippy one from Sharlin on organ and a typical monster crescendo from London, who’d been doing them all night whenever the moment appeared. Watch this space for upcoming live dates.
Album of the Day 9/29/10
Every day our 1000 best albums of all time countdown continues all the way to #1. Wednesday’s album is #853:
Israel Vibration – Vibes Alive
There are few more heartwarming music success stories than Israel Vibration. The vocal trio of Wiss (Lascelle Bulgin), Skelly (Cecil Spence) and Apple (Albert Craig), all crippled by polio in early childhood, met in their early teens in a Jamaican orphanage. They discovered Rastafari, left for the bush and the rest is history, as documented in the film Israel Vibration: Reggae in the Holy Land. Over the course of their 35-year career, they’ve released over a dozen albums and all of them are worth owning, if you like classic reggae. Their harmonies may be wobbly, but their songwriting, even by roots reggae standards, is firmly entrenched in the here and now, whether attacking the inequalities of the system, standing up for the sufferahs or simply celebrating a good time. They’ve also released two first-rate live albums, this one from their 1992 US tour being the first, including a good, inspired mix of their many styles: the confrontational Vultures and Racial Discrimination; a defiantly careening version of the ganja-smoking anthem Red Eyes; a raw, guitar-fueled take of the prisoner’s lament On the Rock; and a lusciously jangly, redemptive, practically rock version of Pay Day, which might be their best song. Behind them, bassist Flabba Holt leads the Roots Radics band through one joyous vamp after another as the audience enthusiastically eggs them on to stop the song and start it all over again. Craig left the band in the early zeros; Bulgin and Spence carry on under the same name and continue to tour worldwide. Here’s a random torrent.
The NY Gypsy Festival Closes Summerstage With a Blast of Sound
Year after year, the NY Gypsy Festival remains one of New York’s most consistently exciting concert series. There are four shows remaining, all of them at Drom: flamenco band Espiritu Gitano on the 30th; eclectic world dance group Delhi 2 Dublin on October 1; ferocious Balkan brass with Veveritse Brass Band and Zlatne Uste on the 2nd, and the Django Reinhardt tribute on the 3rd with Stephane Wrembel and Balval. A festival pass is $32, which translates to $8 a show, or about six bucks a band. But a vastly more persuasive enticement for prospective concertgoers was put on display Sunday at Central Park, with upbeat and often deliriously fun performances by a global cast including Yuri Yunakov, Tecsoi Banda, the NY Gypsy All-Stars and Mahala Rai Banda.
Yunakov hails from Bulgaria, where he famously collaborated with the legendary Ivo Papasov. Wedding gigs there got out of hand when literally thousands of people would crash the party to see them. Running his alto sax through a glistening veneer of reverb and delay, his tone was so close to a string synthesizer at times that it was hard to differentiate between him and his two keyboardists. But when he’d light into a casually frenetic solo riddled with lightning, chromatic doublestops, there was no doubt it was him. In fact, everyone in the band made it look easy, including his sparring partner, clarinetist Salaedin Mamudoski and also his percussionist, who kept a smoothly sputtering clatter going throughout the set, adding a hypnotic edge. Chanteuse Gamze Ordule joined them as they introduced her with a tongue-in-cheek striptease theme and added a bracing, throaty insistence as she swayed and undulated out front. One of her vocal numbers bounced along on almost a reggae bassline; another was a punchy, cocek-style dance. For all the ominous, brooding minor keys and bracing chromatics, it was a party, as the growing line of dancers to the left of the stage made absolutely clear.
Tecsoi Banda had made their North American debut the night before at the Ukrainian National Home, but they hit the stage ready to party again. Like American blues musicians of the 1920s and 30s, they’re all-purpose entertainers. They’ll do a Russian Orthodox wedding, a Jewish one, it doesn’t matter: they’re sort of the ultimate Ukrainian roots band. With Joska Chernavets on accordion, Ivan Popovych on fiddle, Vassili Gudak sadly pretty much inaudible on his tsymbaly (a kanun-style hammered dulcimer), bass drum player/singer Juri Chernavets with his little plastic mouth flute that he’d occasionally squawk on like a Jamaican with a whistle at a reggae show, and American klezmer fiddler Bob Cohen sitting in and adding a brisk intensity, they ran through a mix of upbeat and more stately material. As far removed from Ireland and Appalachia as their music is, there were familiar licks and melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in an Irish reel or a bluegrass breakdown. They used a lot of dynamics, varying their tempos, going doublespeed and then back again. Their best numbers had a somber, minor-key klezmer tinge; they closed with a couple of scurrying Carpathian dances, the second one finally featuring a funny solo from the drummer’s mouth flute.
The NY Gypsy All-Stars had the most modern sound, which ironically gave them the most authenticity of any of the acts on the bill: their fusion-tinged bounce is the one you’ll find in clubs all the way around the Black Sea. Compounding the irony is that they kept it very terse: Jason Lindner’s electric piano and Pangeotis Andreou’s five-string electric bass never took it to Jaco-land. Frontman/clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski is one of this era’s giants of the instrument – check him out sometimes with the Grneta Duo +1 with Vasko Dukovski and intense pianist Alexandra Joan for his more austere, purist side. Like Yunakov, he has blistering speed, but he doesn’t make it look easy: there’s an untamed, feral side to his playing that contrasted well with guest Selim Sesler (a frequent sparring partner). Sesler may be known as the Coltrane of the clarinet but his style is closer to vintage Lee Konitz, or for that matter, Miles Davis, and he chose his spots to cut loose against Lumanovski’s barrages. The rapidfire rivulets flowing from Tamer Pinarbasi’s kanun added yet another layer of turbulence, a very good thing considering the slick sonics.
By the time the headliners, Mahala Rai Banda (which in Roma, the gypsy language, means “hot ghetto band”) hit the stage, the occasional drizzle had subsided and the arena was clearly filled to capacity, most everyone dancing. The eleven-piece Romanian brass orchestra may play traditional instruments, but their vibe is pure gypsy punk (Gogol Bordello, naturally) with a frequent ska beat and the occasional hint of reggae or hip-hop. And with all those horns, the sound is titanic: they use them the way Gogol Bordello use guitar, at full volume. Accordionist Florinel Ionita is their lead player, blasting through one supersonic, microtonal riff after another, Peter Stan style, with the pulse of the tuba and the drum skulking behind the horns’ chromatic assault. They even did a song with an oldschool disco beat – for whatever reason, the crowd decided that was the time to pelt the band with the cheap foam rubber frisbees that were being handed out (BAD idea). Another hitched an oldschool American soul feel to a dancehall reggae interlude. But the best was what they started with, three blistering, anthemic minor-key numbers that shifted tempo suddenly, hitting the crowd with a trick ending and then restarting when least expected. They ran out the clock until their last second of stage time with a long series of outros: the crowd wanted more but didn’t get them, sending this year’s Summerstage series out on a deliriously high note.
Lucid Culture 