Author Archives: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Event feature: CHARLIE PARKER JAZZ FESTIVAL WEEK AUGUST 17 – 26

A full week of FREE concerts, workshops and discussions 

The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival annually assembles some of the finest musicians in the world who reflect Parker’s musical individuality and genius, to promote appreciation for this highly influential and world-renowned artist. In celebration of the 20th anniversary, City Parks Foundation will be presenting a variety of events, panels, and workshops leading up to the weekend festival that will help celebrate the legacy of Charlie Parker and further illuminate jazz in a diverse way. See below for the complete schedule of events!

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Film Feature: “Chicken with Plums” from the writers/directors of PERSEPOLIS!

Date: starts Friday, August 17, 2012
Venue: Angelika Film Center (18 W. Houston St. New York, NY 10012, 212-995-2570)
Buy ticket: here

About the film

Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Country: France
Language: French
Length: 1 hr 31 min
Directed by: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
Written by: Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud (based on the book by Marjane Satrapi)
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Edouard Baer, Maria de Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Eric Caravaca, Chiara Mastroianni, Mathis Bour, Enna Balland, Didier Flamand, Serge Avédikian, Rona Hartner, Jamel Debbouze and Isabella Rossellini

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Concert review: Bill Frisell Plays The Music of John Lennon at La Poisson Rouge

Date: Thursday, 2 August 2012
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)
Review by Matt Cole and photos by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

On Thursday, 2 August 2012, Bill Frisell and his talented band played an evening of John Lennon’s music before a packed, seated house at La Poisson Rouge. The band consisted of Jenny Scheinman on violin, Greg Leisz on pedal steel, Tony Scherr on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums. The band played selections from Frisell’s 2011 album, All We Are Saying, a collection of John Lennon’s songs played by the same band we were hearing live.

The music began with Frisell alone, then the rest of the band coming in one-by-one, in a dreamy jam that coalesced into “Across the Universe.” After an almost Beatlesesque treatment of the melody (helped along by Kenny Wollesen’s excellent and tasteful drumming in this idiom, which continued throughout the night), the band went back into free and dreamy territory. This pattern would continue for most of the night, with most songs starting free, and then alternating between Beatles-like sounds and free but not dissonant improve sections. A few times, no doubt aided by the sounds of Leisz’ pedal steel, the band entered the edges of country-rock territory, one example being on Lennon’s ode to his son, “Beautiful Boy,” another in “In My Life” towards the end of the set (the psychedelic ending of which, curiously, also reminded me a little of the intro to Rush’s epic “Xanadu”).

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Special Women around us: The Pussy Riot Trial in Moscow – read Yekaterina Samutsevich closing statement!

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I still don’t know what’s going to happen with the Pussy Riot women. Madonna and Sting did their best to get them out of jail. I hope that Yekaterina Samutsevich ‘s official statement, who’s a member of the band, clears things up in Russia. They are accused not only of hooliganism, but also of blasphemy, religious hatred and terrorism. They could be sentenced to seven years in prison. I disagree with those accusations and believe they just did, what any Russian would do, who is progressive political conscious. All the young three women are concerned about their country and use music as a media to spread out their message. They had the courage to speak out and knew that public protests carried serious risks in Russia. I wish the best for them.

If you don’t know anything about the Pussy Riot, please read my post about them here.

Text from the Russian blog http://olenskae.tumblr.com/ or http://olenskae.tumblr.com/post/29137327674/yekaterina-samutsevich-closing-statement-at-the-pussy

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Concert review: Melvin Gibbs’ Elevated Entity explores “the Black Atlantic continuum”

Date: July 25, 2012
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)
Review by Eulas Pizarro

Melvin Gibbs Elevated Entity at Le Poisson Rouge was nothing short of amazing. As I got there a few minutes late and entered the room the band was already laying down a seething web of polyrhythms and tangled vocal call and responses enveloping the audience.

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