1. The Rich Halley 4

Date: Monday, May 18, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Quinn’s (330 Main Street, Beacon, New York 12508)
Tickets: donation
Genre: jazz

Rich Halley is a saxophonist and composer based in Portland, Oregon who has released sixteen recordings as a leader. At Quinn’s this Monday, May 18, Rich leads the Rich Halley 4 which has released four critically acclaimed recordings and features trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley. Rich has performed with Tony Malaby, Julius Hemphill, Vinny Golia, Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, Michael Bisio, Obo Addy, Andrew Hill and Oliver Lake.

2. Lost In The Stacks

Date: Monday, May 18, 2015
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Venue: Brooklyn Public Library (10 Grand Army Plz, Brooklyn, New York 11238)
Ticket: free
Genre: pop/jazz/rock

Your favorite band of librarians and friends returns to the stage at Grand Army Plaza, opening for the renowned U.S. Navy Band, playing at BPL’s Central Library for fleet week. We’ll have ‘Stacks alums Enzo Milioto on bass and Richie Araldi on drums, and special guests Richie Robles on guitar, Jerome Croswell on trumpet, and Robert Aaron on tenor sax.

Lost In The Stacks, born in 2004 as a 7-piece with a different rhythm section, Brooklyn Public Library’s own Lost In The Stacks now plays all over Brooklyn and Manhattan beyond as a dynamic 10-piece unit. In addition to an expanding number of originals, LITS plays many rock, pop, and jazz standards in their own unique style.

3. Triple Bill: Smith + Sanford + Kakitani

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: ShapeShifter Lab (18 Whitwell Pl, between Carroll St & 1st St,Brooklyn, NY 11215, ph:  646-820-9452)
Ticket: $t.b.a.
Genre:  big band jazz

Asuka Kakitani Jazz Orchestra

Ben Kono (soprano, alto sax / flute)
Aaron Irwin (soprano, alto sax / flute)
Jason Rigby (tenor sax/clarinet)
Chris Bacas (tenor sax/clarinet)
Kenny Berger (baritone sax / bass clarinet)

Jeff Wilfore (trumpet, flugel horn)
David Spier (trumpet, flugel horn)
David Smith (trumpet, flugel horn)
Matt Holman (trumpet, flugel horn)

Mark Patterson (trombone)
Matthew McDonald (trombone)
JC Sanford (trombone)
Jeff Nelson (trombone)

Kenji Shinagawa (guitar)
Mike Eckroth (piano)
Davidnkim Ambrosio (bass)
Mark Ferber (drums)
Sara Serpa (voice)

JC Sanford Orchestra

JC Sanford – composer, conductor, trombone
Alejandro Aviles, Ben Kono, Chris Bacas, Kenny Berger – woodwinds
Taylor Haskins, Matt Holman – trumpets
John Clark – F horn
Mark Patterson – trombone
Jeff Nelson – tuba
Meg Okura – violin
Leigh Stuart – cello
Tom Beckham – vibraphone
Jacob Garchik – accordion
Evan Gregor – bass
Satoshi Takeishi – percussion

Nathan Parker Smith Tentet

Michael Thomas (Tenor Sax)
Alden Banta (Bass Clarinet)
Augie Haas (Trumpet)
Matt Holman (Flugelhorn)
Lis Rubard (French Horn)
Nick Grinder (Trombone)
Chris Ziemba (Piano)
Matt Clohesy (Bass)
Jeff Davis (Drums)
Nathan Smith (Alto Sax/Composition)

4. Peter Gordon and Love of Life Orchestra  & Das Audit

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Baby’s All Right (146 Broadway, Brooklyn, New York 11211)
Tickets: $10
Genre: big band jazz

5. Brooklyn Raga Massive Feat. Aditya Prakash

Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: Bluebird (504 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225)
Tickets: $10
Genre: Indian Classical Music/Carnatic vocal

BRM is proud to present 3 exciting, innovative Carnatic musicians this Wednesday. Coming together from LA, NY, and Chennai, these 3 artists share a common zest for creativity and exploration within Indian Classical music.

Aditya Prakash – vocal
Arun Ramamurthy – violin
Akshay Anantapadmanabhan – mridangam

Aditya Prakash is an award-winning, American-born Indian classical vocalist best known for his powerful and emotive voice. Although firmly rooted in Carnatic music, his style is heavily inspired by North Indian classical music, Sufi music, Western classical, jazz, flamenco, and hip hop. At the age of 16, Aditya was one of the youngest musicians to tour and perform with the legendary Sitar Maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar. He has toured as the lead vocalist for Shankar ji’s “Festival of India III” ensemble, taking him to the most prominent venues around the world. www.akpmusic.com/

Joining Aditya on mridangam will be Akshay Anantapadmanabhan, a familiar (and badly missed!) face to the BRM community. Akshay has made his name as a leading, young mridangist in Chennai accompanying many major artists. Currently Akshay is on a U.S. tour with vocalist O.S. Thyagarajan. www.akshaylaya.com/

On violin is our own Arun Ramamurthy. Arun has carved a niche for himself as a multifaceted artist, performing in both traditional Carnatic & Hindustani settings as well as bridging genres with his own creative cross-over projects. He is a BRM co-founder and regular performer at the Wednesday jam sessions. www.arunramamurthy.com

www.brooklynragamassive.com

6. Taikoza

NYC concerts

Taikoza is a Japanese Taiko drum percussion group that uses the powerful rhythms of the Taiko drums to create an electrifying energy that carries audiences in a new dimension of excitement.

The Taiko is a large, barrel-like drum that can fill the air with the sounds of rolling thunder. Drawing from Japan’s rich tradition of music and performance, Taikoza has created a new sound using a variety of traditional instruments. In addition to drums of assorted sizes, Taikoza incorporates the shakuhachi, the fue (both bamboo flutes).

Taikoza has performed in Europe, Asia and have extensively toured North America.

Members of Taikoza have performed in some of the most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden and Hammerstein Ballroom.

7. Cadence Fest – Improvised Music and Film

Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: ShapeShifter Lab (18 Whitwell Pl, between Carroll St & 1st St,Brooklyn, NY 11215, ph:  646-820-9452)
Ticket: $10
Genre: improvised music and story telling

The Improvisation Celebration: World Premieres in Music, Film and Story
featuring Steve Swell, Adam Lane, Jack DeSalvo, Ben Lee, Jay Rozen, Avram Fefer, Blaise Siwula, Jeremy Shaskus; Nadya Kadrevis, David Haney.

7pm Jazz Stories, Improvised music, David Haney and guests
8pm Film by Nadya Kadrevis
8:30-10pm Theme and Variations. Part One, World Premiere. with Steve Swell, Adam Lane, Jack DeSalvo, Ben Lee, Jay Rozen, Avram Fefer, Blaise Siwula, Jeremy Shaskus; Nadya Kadrevis, David Haney

About David Haney
DAVID HANEY studied composition for six years with Czech composer, Tomas Svoboda. After several years of working with the Society of Oregon Composers, Haney began applying his skills as a working jazz artist, often paired up with some of the greatest minds in jazz improvisation, such featured artists as Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Bud Shank, Bernard Purdie, Buell Neidlinger, Julian Priester, Han Bennink, Obo Addy, Wilbert de Joode, Gerry Hemingway, Wolter Weirbos, Perry Robinson, and Johannes Bauer. Haney has recorded 14 albums in ten years for C.I.M.P. Records and Cadence Jazz Records. David has also collaborated on 14 albums on other labels worldwide. He has received grants and commissions for his creative work from the U.S. State Department; Alberta Film Works; and the Oregon Ballet Theatre. Haney was awarded a travel grant from the U.S. State Department to present the music of composer Herbie Nichols in concerts throughout Argentina and Chile. David’s current release “Solo” received top ten honors in 2014 (Cadence Magazine). The Penguin Guide to Jazz has a half page entry on several David Haney albums.

JAZZ STORIES – combines improvised music and story telling. Classic life stories retold beautifully. 9 stories, told to David by the artists themselves, recorded and transcribed, and then retold by Haney with an improvised piano sound track. Listen to all nine Jazz Stories at www.davidhaneymusic.com

About Jazz Stories
Haney tells these tales with the dramatic flair of a Garrison Keillor with impish piano garnishes. He also throws in a few solo piano pieces like Nichols’ “Jamaica” at apt intervals and even includes his own story of how he came to collect all these anecdotes. Reading the stories here in Cadence is entertaining in its own right but this is a unique and fun presentation.
Jerome Wilson, Cadence Magazine

8. HARMONY MBIRA

Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: Bar Thalia (2537 Broadway, New York, New York 10025)
Price: free
Genre: African thumb piano music

Harmony Mbira embraces in the present the timeless experience of mbira, an experience born of the community creating beautiful music together. They will all play together and weave a beautiful sonic tapestry. The group features Dana Gae, Marsha Perry Starkes, and Kevin Nathaniel.

9. Dervisi

Date: Thursday, April 16 , 2015
Time: 8:30pm – 10pm
Venue: Espresso 77 (35-57 77th Street, Jackson Heights, NY 11372, 718-424-1077)
Ticket: t.b.a.
Genre: Greek traditional music/Rembetika music

DERVISI performing exotic Greek Gangsta Blues called Rembetika. Rembetika originally the songs of hashish clans and outlaws; and Smyrnaika, the elaborate oriental cafe music of the refugees from Greek Asia minor.

CHECK them out on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/barba-yiorgi/sets/dervisi-live-2014-3-songs

Greek Gangsta Blues and PunkRembetika: George Barba Yiorgi and Dervisi

10. Sarah Manning, Simon Jermyn & Jeff  Davis

Date: Thursday, May 21 , 2015
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: IBeam Brooklyn (168 7th St., Brooklyn, NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre: jazz/improv

New band! They played a 5 minute set at Roulette in October and it just seemed like they should keep on playing! Featuring compositions of Sarah Manning and Jeff Davis – and there WILL be a bit of music from 70’s detective show Columbo.

Sarah Manning – alto saxophone
Simon Jermyn – electric bass
Jeff Davis – drums

11. The Limbs

Date: Friday, May 22, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: Dixon Place  (161A Chrystie St, New York, New York 10002)
Price: free
Genre: oriental percussion

Kevin Sport and Mark Katsaounis make up the percussion duo Limbs. Using Kevin’s deft touch on the dumbek and Mark’s expert handling of more subtle frame drums as a starting point, Limbs constructs authentic music that evokes cultural source without losing modern edge.

12. HARMOLODICS 2015 with The Bern Nix quartet and the 12 Houses Orchestra

Date: Friday, May 22, 2015
Time: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Venue: ShapeShifter Lab (18 Whitwell Pl, between Carroll St & 1st St,Brooklyn, NY 11215, ph:  646-820-9452)
Ticket: $12
Genre: jazz/improv

In this epic event, we will visit the state of Harmolodics in 2015.

7:30 Sweet Lee Odom and John Chapman “Duo of Sounds”

8:30 The Bern Nix Quartet

Bern Nix:Guitar
Matt Lavelle:Flugelhorn
Francois Grillot: Contrabass
Reggie Sylvester: Drums

9:30 The 12 Houses Orchestra with special guests Bern Nix, Jamal Moore (woodwinds), and AR BRAF (Rap/spoken word)

Matt Lavelle: Trumpet, alto Clarinet
ART BARON:TROMBONE
Anders Nilsson: guitar
Jack DeSalvo: guitar
Gil Selinger:cello
Stephanie Griffin: Viola
Francois Grillot:bass
Chris Forbes:piano
John Pietaro:vibes
Mary Cherney:flutes
Claire De Brunner: Bassoon
Lee Odom:clarinet/soprano sax
Charles Waters:alto
Ras Moshe:tenor/flute/soprano
Tim Stocker: Baritone sax
Anais Maviel:vocals
Ryan Sawyer:drums

Special Guests:

JAMAL MOORE: Woodwinds

AR BRAF: RAP/SPOKEN WORD

BERN NIX: Guitar

Concert Review: The 12 Houses Orchestra – The Next Phase In The Development of The Big Band

13. East Village Pharmacy ft Shelita Thomas

Date: Friday, May 22, 2015
Time:  9;30pm
Venue: Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar (254 W 72nd St, New York, New York 10023)
Ticket: $10
Genre: reggae

The band originated as a jazzy dub reggae band in 2000 when Sugarcane (bass) and Tad Pain (trumpet) lived above the East Village Pharmacy hence the name. Since then their sound has moved to reggaeton with their hit animated video “A la Playa (con Big Mato)” and more recently a roots reggae record “Little Mama” recorded with Hempress Sativa at the 12 Tribes of Israel Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica pressed with VP Records. This track was featured in Sugarcane’s London award winning film “Countryman 2 : Listen to the Ocean”
Their current lineup features Bajan beauty Shelita Thomas, German sax man Welf Dorr (Underground Horns), Trini drummer Steve Romeo (Midnite), and Bolo, a keyboardist from Dominica.

14.  Morn and Friends

Date: Friday, May 22, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Lucky 13 Saloon (644 Sackett St, Brooklyn, New York 11217)
Ticket: $10
Genre: indie rock/space rock/blues

With a sparse two guitar line-up, Morn attempt to create equal parts terror and grace in their music. As plangent melodies give way to huge, cavernous riffs, each listener is asked to create a film in their own mind by which the music can become a soundtrack.

Created by guitarist John LaMacchia (formerly of Candiria, Spylacopa) and bassist Joseph Milazzo (Black Pig, Planet Earth), the two long-time friends took their mutual admiration for music, film and art and sought to create a unique band through which all their influences could be filtered. The result is Morn.

Morn 11PM
LAST 10PM
Pants Exploder 9PM
Codas 8PM

15. David Haney’s About Jazz Stories

Date: Friday, May 22, 2015
Time: 8pm – 10pm
Venue: the University of the Streets (2381 Belmont Avenue, 2nd Floor
Bronx, NY 10458)
Ticket: $t.b.a.
Genre: improvised music and story telling

David Haney narration and piano with Nadya Kadrevis, clarinet, and Jeremy Shaskus, bass clarinet.

JAZZ STORIES – combines improvised music and story telling. Classic life stories retold beautifully. 9 stories, told to David by the artists themselves, recorded and transcribed, and then retold by Haney with an improvised piano sound track. Listen to all nine Jazz Stories at www.davidhaneymusic.com

About Jazz Stories
Haney tells these tales with the dramatic flair of a Garrison Keillor with impish piano garnishes. He also throws in a few solo piano pieces like Nichols’ “Jamaica” at apt intervals and even includes his own story of how he came to collect all these anecdotes. Reading the stories here in Cadence is entertaining in its own right but this is a unique and fun presentation.
Jerome Wilson, Cadence Magazine

About David Haney

DAVID HANEY studied composition for six years with Czech composer, Tomas Svoboda. After several years of working with the Society of Oregon Composers, Haney began applying his skills as a working jazz artist, often paired up with some of the greatest minds in jazz improvisation, such featured artists as Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Bud Shank, Bernard Purdie, Buell Neidlinger, Julian Priester, Han Bennink, Obo Addy, Wilbert de Joode, Gerry Hemingway, Wolter Weirbos, Perry Robinson, and Johannes Bauer. Haney has recorded 14 albums in ten years for C.I.M.P. Records and Cadence Jazz Records. David has also collaborated on 14 albums on other labels worldwide. He has received grants and commissions for his creative work from the U.S. State Department; Alberta Film Works; and the Oregon Ballet Theatre. Haney was awarded a travel grant from the U.S. State Department to present the music of composer Herbie Nichols in concerts throughout Argentina and Chile. David’s current release “Solo” received top ten honors in 2014 (Cadence Magazine). The Penguin Guide to Jazz has a half page entry on several David Haney albums.

16. George Lewis: Afterword, The AACM (as) Opera + International Contemporary Ensemble

Date: Friday, May 22 & Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time:  8pm
Venue: The Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217)
Ticket: $30
Genre: opera

George Lewis’s Afterword is an opera developed with longtime collaborators Catherine Sullivan and Sean Griffin, that constitutes an aesthetic extension of Lewis’s 2008 book about the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (University of Chicago Press). Founded on the South Side of Chicago in 1965, the AACM has played an internationally recognized role in American experimental music. Now in its fiftieth year, the AACM’s unique combination of artistic communitarianism and ardent experimentalism inspired the Afterword project.

This concert version serves as a preview of the musical elements of the project. Despite its nominal designation as an “opera,” Afterword departs markedly from operatic convention. Future, fully staged performances are envisioned as combining pre-structured music, text, scenography, and movement in juxtaposition with analogous elements improvised in real time. The opera’s singers will be called upon to act and move, as well as taking on multiple roles, creating and transforming their own appearances and personae.

George Lewis is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University. A 2002 MacArthur Fellow, Lewis studied composition with Muhal Richard Abrams at the AACM School of Music, and trombone with Dean Hey. A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, Lewis’s work has been presented by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonia Orchestra, Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Wet Ink, Ensemble Erik Satie, and others, with commissions from American Composers Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Either/Or, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Library of Congress, 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad, IRCAM, Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and others. Lewis has served as Paul Fromm Composer in Residence, American Academy in Rome; Resident Scholar, Center for Disciplinary Innovation, University of Chicago; and Ernest Bloch Visiting Professor of Music, University of California, Berkeley. Lewis received the 2012 SEAMUS Award from the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, and his 2008 book, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (University of Chicago Press) received the American Book Award.

Los Angeles composer and director Sean Griffin’s performance and musical works are animated by dense rhythmic structuring and improvisation, and range from instrumental works to immersive operas, extended choral techniques, installation, rhythmic games and movement patterns. Griffin is the Director of Opera Povera, an interdisciplinary consortium devoted to the creation and performance of new operatic and interdisciplinary performance and exhibition projects for which he received a grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation in 2011. Recently, he was a Mellon Fellow for Arts Practice & Scholarship at the University of Chicago’s Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry. Griffin has received numerous residencies, including Yaddo, MacDowell, and EMPAC, and his collaborative works have been presented at venues including REDCAT, LACMA, Armand Hammer Museum, June in Buffalo, MATA Festival, Berlin’s Volksbühne, Secession Vienna, London’s Royal Academy and the Tate Modern, Walker Art Center, He received an MFA from CalArts and a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Catherine Sullivan has produced several films, performances and theater works wherein the performers are often coping with written texts, stylistic economies, re-enactments of historic performances, gestural and choreographic regimes, and conceptual orthodoxies. The works address a broad spectrum of historical and cultural reference and often involve multiple collaborators. She holds BFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts and and MFA in Fine Art from Art Center College of Design. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at a wide variety of venues such as the UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Secession, Vienna; Tate Modern, London; Opéra de Lyon, Lyon; Volksbühne, Berlin and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. She is represented by Metro Pictures, New York, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Brussels and Galerie Christian Nagel, Antwerp/Berlin and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.

Afterword is supported by the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, Mellon Fellowship for Arts Practice and Scholarship; the Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and the Edwin H. Case Chair in American Music, Columbia University.

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), described by the New York Times as “one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music,” is dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. With a modular makeup of 35 leading instrumentalists, performing in forces ranging from solos to large ensembles, ICE functions as performer, presenter, and educator, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. Since its founding in 2001, ICE has premiered over 500 compositions––the majority of these new works by emerging composers––in venues spanning from alternative spaces to concert halls around the world. The ensemble has received the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award for its contributions to the field, the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming, and was most recently named Musical America Worldwide’s Ensemble of the Year in 2013. In 2011, with leading support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ICE created the ICElab program to place teams of ICE musicians in close collaboration with six emerging composers each year to develop works that push the boundaries of musical exploration. ICElab projects have been featured in more than one hundred performances from 2011–2014. In 2014 ICE launched the OpenICE initiative to bring the full scope of ICE’s programming and educational activities for free to broader audiences around the world.

17. Vinyette

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: Mercury Lounge (217 East Houston St., New York, NY 10002)
Price: $12
Genre: indie/ alternative grunge

Vinyette is a New York City rock band that was established originally in 2008. Nathan Frye is the lead vocalist with Danny Monico on guitar, Marc Ligenza on bass guitar and Jonathan Crowley on drums and synth. Vinyette has a high energy sound, with a reverential core. Sonic versatility for the active mind and body, in a vast catalog ranging from uninhibited rock to endearing ballads. The deep rhythms of the songs dance and fuse with bright guitar licks and silver tongued, honey lunged vocals that give the imagination a ride. Rocking your dancing voices. The debut album Every Little Mouse Run is out now!

Vinyette released two new  singles, “Just to Get Away,” which was recorded at New York City’s legendary Magic Shop (featured in Foo Fighters’ HBO series Sonic Highways) and produced by Jimi Zhivago (Norah Jones, Rufus Wainright),  and “Charlie “ a track the band self-recorded in Michigan during their retreat away from NY.

18. T.S.Krishnamurthy & A. R. Balaskandan

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Venue:  IDA K. LANG HALL, HUNTER COLLEGE (North Building 4th Floor # 424, Entrance on East 69th St. Bet. Park & Lex. Ave. NYC)
Price:  $30
Genre: South Indian Carnatic music

Rageshree Music Institute Proudly Presents An Unique South Indian Carnatic Duo Violin Concert with: Violin Maestro VID. T.S. KRISHNAMURTHY And his disciple violin master TARUN RAVIKUMAR. Accompanied by MRIDANGAM MAESTRO SRI. A.R. BALASKANDAN Kanjira Master – KABILAN.

About The Artists

Violinist: Vid. T.S.Krishnamurthy

Vidwan Sri. T.S.Krishnamurthy (Sri.TSK) hails from a family of musicians. His grandfather Late Sri. T. Krishna Shastry was an eminent violinist & vocalist. His father Late Sri. T. K. Subramanya Shastry was an renowned violinist. He began his training on the violin at the age of five under the guidance of his father & started his musical career as a violinist at an early age of 12. He has established himself as a reputed classical solo violinist, as well as an exemplary accompanying violinist over the past 35 yrs. He has received several Accolades, Awards & Titles from prestigious institutions all over the world.
He established a school “TSK School of Music”, in Bangalore & US, and he has been training several students over the past 15 yrs, significant number of them are leading performing artists. He has conducted several workshops worldwide.

Mridangist: Sri. A. R. Balaskandan

A.R. Balaskandan is a performer/teacher of both Carnatic Violin and Mridangam. As a mridangist, he belongs to the school of Sri Karaikudi R. Mani of Chennai. Balaskandan has accompanied many established artists such as TV Gopalakrishnan, Chitraveena Ravikiran, OS Thyagarajan, Carnatica Brothers, Bombay Sisters and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Balaskandan is the lead musician of Akshara, a NY based group that takes its roots from Carnatic music. He has also conceptualized and developed many music and dance productions in the UK, Canada and the US. In 2007/08 he had the distinction of teaching and conducting the first Carnatic student recital at the prestigious Juilliard School of music.

19. Gamma Pope/Invisible Circle/Elizabeth Colour Wheel/Macula Dog/Tom Swirly

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Bohemian Grove (64-66 Grove St, Brooklyn, New York 11221)
Price: $5
Genre: indie rock/electro pop/shoe punk noise

Dandelion Booking Presents:

Gamma Pope *radioactive dog people from Boston*
http://gammapope.bandcamp.com/

Invisible Circle *drone shaman from Brooklyn*
https://invisiblecircle.bandcamp.com/

Elizabeth Colour Wheel *loud shoe punk noise from Boston*
https://elizabethcolourwheel.bandcamp.com/

Macula Dog *manic electronic pop from Queens*
https://haord.bandcamp.com/album/macula-dog

Tom Swirly *laser wielding spell caster from Brooklyn*
http://tom.swirly.com/index.php?%2Fmusic%2Ftom-swirly%2F

20. The Mast w. KYLIAN & Ben Bromley

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Fine and Raw (288 Seigel St , NY)
Price: $10
Genre: Electronic/Alternative/Experimental

8:00 Doors
8:30 Super Special Tasting for early arrivals
9:00 Ben Bromley
10:00 KYLIAN
11:00 The Mast

Concert Review: The Mast – moving into a different realm than it was on their previous release “Wild Poppies.”

CD review: The Mast “Wild Poppies”…How did profit trump well-being?

21. Fester/Chris Pitsiokos/TobiasBaronPruitt/LopezLipscomb & Fracken

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: 28 Locust Street, #404, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Price: $10
Genre: percussion/free style/improve/tape/electronics

9PM
FRACKEN
Cory Bracken-percussion
Michael Foster- sax

930PM
Brandon Lopez-bass
John Lipscomb-guitar

10PM
Jeff Tobias-sax
Derek Baron-percussion
Zachary Pruitt-guitar

1030PM
CHRIS PITSIOKOS {TAPE RELEASE)

11PM
FESTER
Sean Ali-Bass
David Grollman- Percussion

22. Raya Brass Band and Sandaraa

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Littlefield (622 Degraw St, Brooklyn, New York 11217)
Tickets: $12 – $15
Genre: South Asian fusion/Balkan Beat

SANDARAA  http://www.sandaraa.com/  is a new band from Lahore, Pakistan and Brooklyn, New York. The group is fronted by vocalist Zeb Bangash (Zeb and Haniya) and features Brooklyn musicians Michael Winograd on clarinet, Eylem Basaldi on violin, Patrick Farrell on accordion, Yoshie Fruchter on guitar, Benjy Fox-Rosen on bass and drummer Richie Barshay. Sandaraa explores a vast repertoire of South Asian material (from Balochistan, Afghanistan and beyond,) while blending it with the sounds of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and more. The group was founded in the fall of 2013, with the help of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, and the MAP fund.

Since 2008 Raya Brass Band (http://rayabrassband.com/) has thrilled audiences with its energetic brand of soul shaking, border defying dance music. Given the way these five musicians electrify clubs, festivals, underground parties, and even subway cars with their riotous performances, it’s no wonder that they’re often mistaken for a band twice the size. The members of the band all bring their unique voices to the group, creating a sound informed as much by their love for the fierce and seductive music of the Balkans as it is by New Orleans brass bands, punk rock, out jazz, and a host of other international sounds. When they put it all together, this hard working band gets straight to the point, dancing, sweating, and shouting alongside its audience.

23. Sarah Bernstein & Satoshi Takeishi

Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Time: 6pm
Venue: The Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., NY, NY 10014)
Ticket: $10
Genre: jazz/music and spoken text/improv

Violinist/vocalist Sarah Bernstein is joined by percussionist Satoshi Takeishi for a set of original music and spoken text. Bernstein’s compositions deftly integrate form, improvisation, processing and poetry, complemented by Takeishi’s expressive mastery on the drums. The duo performs pieces from the release Unearthish plus new material for their upcoming record.

24. 75 Dollar Bill

Date: Sunday, May 24, 2015
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: TROOST (1011 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11222)
Ticket: donation
Genre: Wood / Metal / Plastic. Pattern / Rhythm / Rock

75 Dollar Bill (Che Chen-guitars and Rick Brown-percussion) return to their favorite venue.  This month they’re happy to be playing again with Steve Maing on 2nd guitar and Andrew Lafkas on bass, though they’ll also play some duo stuff. Maybe some guest appearance

Their first legit album is out now on Other Music Recording Co. Wooden Bag is a 500 copy vinyl release (with download) with hand-stamped covers, with a pretty raw, maraca-heavy sound with just the two of us. We have a limited supply for sale at these gigs.