Monthly Archives: December 2011

Music listings – 12/5 through 12/11

1. Rez Abbasi: INVOCATION

Date: Tuesday & Wednesday, December 6 – 7, 2011
Time: 7:30 & 9:30 pm
Venue: JAZZ STANDARD  (116 East 27th Street, New York, NY 10016-8942, 212-576-2232)
Ticket: $20
Genre: Nu Jazz

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, raised in Southern California, and a New Yorker for the past 18 years, Rez Abbasi has been hailed as one of the most talented and adventurous guitarists in jazz today. As a sideman, he has performed with American artists ranging from Ruth Brown to Marilyn Crispell, and with such major Indian musicians as Pandit Kadri Gopalnath and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. This much-anticipated JAZZ STANDARD appearance celebrates the 11/8 release of Invocation (Enja Records),the artist’s 8th career album as a leader; and the show features the disc’s all–star cast including alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, pianist Vijay Iyer, and drummer Dan Weiss. “Coltrane, Ellington and Gillespie all immersed themselves into music from around the world and then brought it back home,” says Rez Abbasi. “If I can have that kind of unifying affect, I’ve succeeded!”

Rez Abbasi – guitar
Rudresh Mahanthappa – alto saxophone
Vijay Iyer – piano
Johannes Weidenmueller – bass
Dan Weiss – drums
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Video Daughters – Get Me A Body…..the Video……..

Text by Jim Hoey

The new Video Daughters album hits the world on Dec. 6th, and this video is proof of real tangible gains and successes since an earlier demo, sweat and blood-like in the studio to make it all appear before you as it is. What I take away from watching it is a real pastiche of the classic NYC thing, someone from there comes to do what they did before, but HERE, for the fun and hell and chance and challenge of it. The vocals remind me of American hope too smart to be blind, and some disgust and joy and whatnot. Who the hell knows though, cuz this video blinks from a platform station outside to faces and morphing torsos gimping at the shoulder, and then we’re back on the street and I catch a line about future businessmen of the world with shit on their dicks, then hypnotic swirls and baby faces, and mouths open with eyeballs superimposed on backs, and then tongues with littler mouths singing from their surface. Great editing within this one visually, and the music is glitchy on the edges and lo-fi centrally, but really pure new Americana overall. Check it for yourself.

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Dance Theatre: Lorca! Duende by Carolina Fonseca

Date: November 12, 2011
Venue: TheaterLa (NY)

Dance review by Sarah Rayani

As performers, we all hope to communicate something through our art, to our audience. I find,  that sometimes we get so engrossed in the actual technicality of a song or dance, that we forget about this communication with the audience. The philosophy of Duende, a word and idea conceptualiser in Spain and tied closely to Flamenco,  places this communication of intense emotion over any other aspect of performance. Although one could easily spend years studying what Duende is, what it means and how to capture it, my cliff notes understanding is this: Duende is the emotion that a performer makes the audience feel – which is so new, intense and deep for both,  that it moves the audience to a place of discomfort.  Duende is a dark force of the Earth that borders on death and evil, and overtakes the performer involved.

Although  I had never seen the dance form of Duende before, I find the philosophy fascinating and important for all artists to ponder. After all, if we don’t leave our audience moved to a new place, what have we really given them? Federico García Lorca wrote an essay about Duende called “A Poet in New York and Theory of Duende.”  Lorca! Duende, by Carolina Fonseca is a physical manifestation of Lorca’s explanation of Duende. Find the essay here.

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