1. Adam Rudolphs Go Organic Orchestra

Date: Monday, November 15, 2010
Time:  8:30pm
Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene St., NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre: Jazz/contemporary

Composer Adam Rudolph returns with another series of Go: Organic Orchestra at Roulette. In concert he will conduct between 20 – 35 musicians in a spontaneous way, using a newly created score of music/letter grids, language themes, tone rows, traditional and synthetic scales, diadic and intervalic harmonies, The compositions will also utilize Rudolph’s rhythm concept of “Cyclic Verticalism” to generate form and weave what he calls an “audio syncretic music fabric”. The music is “organic” in the sense that the compositions and conducting exist as an inspiration and context for the musicians to express themselves by using their instruments as an amplifier for their inner voice. 

2. Poetic Heritage Festival presents M. Nahadr aka M & Ntozake Shange 

Date: Monday and Wednesday, November 15 and November 17, 2010
Time: 7pm
Venue: Nuyorican Poets Cafe  (236 East 3rd Street, NY)
Ticket: $12
Genre: poetry/modern Jazz/improve

Literary Free Jazz, liberated diva:  Ntozake Shange and multi-Octave singer M. Nahadr find creativity in themMoment. Together in For Colored Girls f ilm and several shows at NYC’s Nuyorican this month. Read more.

To hear M.’s song, “I Found God In Myself” (as heard in the feature film For Colored Girls)

3. The M6 Ensemble

Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Time:  8:3o pm
Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene St., NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre:  vocal ensemble

The M6: Meredith Monk Music Third Generation (Sasha Bogdanowitsch, Sidney Chen, Emily Eagen, Holly Nadal, Toby Newman and Peter Sciscioli). The M6 is a vocal ensemble dedicated to continuing the legacy of legendary composer/singer/director Meredith Monk. The members of the group were among 19 singers chosen from around the world to participate in a professional training workshop offered by Monk and the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall in January 2006, culminating in the Meredith Monk Young Artists…(more)

4. Darmstadt: Classics of the Avant Garde – 6th Annual Reading of Terry Riley’s “In C”

Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474  
Ticket: $20
Genre: modern music

Darmstadt “Classics of the Avant Garde” is the Brooklyn-based contemporary music series led by composer-musicians Zach Layton and Nick Hallett. Originally started as a “listening party” of avant-garde recordings at Galapagos Art Space, Darmstadt quickly evolved into a live performance series, and in 2007 was included in the New York Times Best of New Music rundown. Darmstadt is sponsored by ISSUE Project Room, and presents two annual programs there: a month-long Institute of premieres, workshops, video screenings, and lecture-performances in June and an Essential Repertoire festival of cherished works from the experimental music canon in the Fall. A new initiative, Experiments in Opera is planned for 2011. Read more.

5. Gabrielle Herbst

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Time:  8:3o pm
Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene St., NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre: contemporary music

Original music featuring composer/vocalist Gabrielle Herbst with the Kalmia String Quartet, David Bloom (conductor), John Boggs (piano), Leila Bordreuil (cello), Conor Brown (clarinet), Elana Gleason (voice), Kylie Collins & Patricia Spencer (flutes), Anthony Kingsley & Matthew O’ Koren (percussion), David Nagy (bassoon), Allie Avital Tsypin (design and costumes).  Combining traditional notation with graphic scores and improvisation, the music is sensory and imagistic, pursuing an intimacy between instruments and voices, audience and spatial environment. Drawing from many influences she composes for her own and other voices with orchestra, chamber ensemble and electronics.

6. PARA

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Time:  9pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, N, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $15
Genre: Slovakian rock

On the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution Slovakia’s premier rock band in concert! Plus YOLI & YURE (Berlin) and DJ VALLO SADOVSKY (Slovakia).

 Slovak pop-rock band Para was formed in 1995 as “packaged punk.” After it’s formation pure punk became pure pop. They have released 5 studio albums and have a large following in Slovakia. In 2006 the band signed a contract with Sony BMG Music and released their first DVD “Live at Babylon.” In 2007 the band released the album “Para” featuring many guests including Jana Kirschner, Miso Kascak, Opak and others. This album won the Slovak Gold plate award 2009 and Carrots Music Award. 2010 saw the release of their new album “Povstanie.” 

7. Jeff “Tain” Watts with Henry Grimes and Scott Robinson

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Time: 8pm & 10pm
Venue: The Stone (is located at the corner of avenue C and 2nd street)
Ticket: $20
Genre: contemporary/improve

Along with explosive power, blinding speed and mastery of complex rhythms and time signatures, Jeff “Tain” Watts brings a rare sense of elegance, tried-by-fire composure, and a gritty street funk to his music. His artistic ingenuity expresses itself in his incomparable technique, sweltering sense of swing, and extraordinary ability to imbue his music with majestic grace and elegant repose. A true jazz innovator, Watts never fails to deliver the percussive magic that has been his trademark since his emergence on the contemporary jazz scene. The members:  Jeff “Tain” Watts (drums),  Henry Grimes (bass, violin) and Scott Robinson (reeds).

8. INTERPRETATIONS: Jon Gibson & Ralph Gibson / Alexandra Gardner & NOW Ensemble

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Time:  8pm
Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene St., NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre:  visuals and music/new electro-acoustic chamber works 

An evening of stunning visuals and music from Jon Gibson and Ralph Gibson, and new electro-acoustic chamber works by Alexandra Gardner, featuring the NOW Ensemble. Music & Motion is Photographer/guitarist Ralph Gibson’s collaborative performance work with composer, multi-wind instrumentalist, and visual artist Jon Gibson. The work will incorporate Jon Gibson’s 1975 video piece entitled “One Way”, and Ralph Gibson’s film/performance work “Typography”. Electro-acoustic composer Alexandra Gardner and New York’s NOW Ensemble will present an evening of Gardner’s new and recent chamber works, featuring the premiere of “Mint Conditioner” for double bass and electronics.

9. Salon: Aaron Kernis

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Leonard Nimoy Thalia/Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY 10025-6990)
Ticket: $15
Genre:  Kernis’ chamber works

Acclaimed performers will play Kernis’ chamber works as well as pieces written in honor of his birthday. Members of the award-winning Contrasts Ensemble, including Ayako Oshima, clarinet; Sophie Shao, cello; Evelyne Luest, piano, and Nurit Pacht, violin, will play Trio in Red (2001) for clarinet, cello and piano and Two Movements with Bells (2007) for violin and piano.  Violinist Wendy Sharp will perform the New York premiere of one of Kernis’s works. Read more.

10. Anath Benais w. Duke McVinnie

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Time: 9pm
Venue: Zora Art Space (315 4th Avenue between 3rd and 2nd streets in Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Ticket: t.b.a.
Genre: singer-song writer

Anath Benais, a mesmerizing singer of North African heritage foraging her own style of moody art rock songwriting.
She will be performing songs from her upcoming CD – the introspective and personal Dark Lullaby. Tonight she shares the stage with legendary singer songwriter Duke McVinnie, Pablo Vergara (piano, guitar), Ian Riggs (Bass) and
Mathias Kunzli (drums)
Duke’s band includes Jane Scarpantoni on strings, Anath Benais on vocals and percussion, Pablo Vergara on keyboards and Tom Goss on drums.

11. NY Gypsy All-Stars

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Time:  9:30pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, N, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $15
Genre: Gyspy & Turkish

Under the leadership of the young Macedonian / Turkish clarinet virtuoso Ismail Lumanovski, the NY Gypsy All-Stars has amazed audiences with their jazz-inflected Gypsy and Turkish songs. In addition to Ismail Lumanovski from Macedonia on clarinet, the NY All-Stars showcases some of NY’s finest musicians including Tamer Pinarbasi from Turkey on qanun, Panogiotis Andreu from Greece on bass, Engin Gunaydin on drums and Jason Linder on keys. The band performed with such world music icons as Turkish clarinet master Husnu Senlendirici and Bulgarian virtuoso Ivo Papasov. Time Out New York calls Lumanovski “an adventurous, modern-minded frontman, who leads his band through a varied terrain of Balkan, Turkish and Romany selections, spiked with jazz and Western styles.” 

12. The Exposed Blues Duo: Fay Victor and Anders Nilsson

Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Venue: The Shrine (2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd, NY)
Ticket: $10
Genre: nu blues

 The ExPosed Blues Duo, featuring vocalist Fay Victor and guitarist Anders Nilsson, is about: “It’s a nice cross-section of American music rooted in the blues,” Ms. Victor explains, “and we feel these selections, and our approaches to each of them, are a strong illustration of what is honest and true about that idiom. We set out to show that a blues-based project doesn’t need to sound derivative. I’m a jazz singer and Anders is a metal guitarist and free improviser, yet the blues deeply inform both of our approaches to music. He’s not laying down any carpets for me to glide over and I’m not trying to turn him into a rhythm machine. Just like in the Fay Victor Ensemble, we aim to create a dialogue as equal musicians and performers.”

13. Volume (III)

Date: Friday, November 19, 2010
Time:  8:30pm
Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene St., NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre: electro-acoustic sound pieces

Volume (III) is an improvising quartet featuring electro-acoustic harpist Shelley Burgon, turntable-ist Maria Chavez, laptop artist Stephan Moore and electro-acoustic flutist Suzanne Thorpe.  Harpist Shelley Burgon is a member of Stars Like Fleas and the chamber ensemble Ne(x)tworks.  Peruvian avant-turntablist Maria Chavez’s work is focused on short solo electro-acoustic sound pieces using a collection of new and broken needles that she calls “pencils of sound” and a selection of records, which provide the palette.   Suzanne Thorpe is a composer and performer of electronic music who enjoys revealing the peripheral consciousness, exposing coexisting perspectives and concurrent realities via composition, performance and installation.

14. Glenn Branca: World Premiere of Symphony No. 15 – “Running Through The World Like An Open Razor” (Music for Strange Orchestra)

In this performance Branca will be conducting an ensemble of 12 musicians playing more than 100 varying instruments, both acoustic and electric, many built, altered or prepared specifically for this production. 

Like a music that’s never been heard before might sound this piece creates an extraordinarily unusual symphonic ambiance in a massive range of sound that thus far may be unprecedented in modern music.

15. COMPOST Q: Morgan Powell, Dorothy Martirano, Yu-Chen Wang, Erik Lund, Armand Beaudoin, Kirstie Simson

Date: Saturday, November 19, 2010
Time:  8:30pm
Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene St., NY)
Ticket: $15
Genre: contemporary music, improve and dance

A seasoned, multi-dimensional collective steeped in improvisation, composition, and dance presenting active, rich, organic, dark, loamy and finished collaborations.  Performers include violinist Dorothy Martirano, trombonist Morgan Powell, Gu-Zheng player Yu-Chen Wang, bassist/cellist Armand Beaudoin, trombonist Erik Lund, and dancer Kristie Simons.

16. Ruben Gonzalez

Date: Saurday, November 20, 2010
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Venue: The Shrine (2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd, NY)
Ticket: donation
Genre: guajira blues/Argentinian singer-song writer

Rubén “Flaco” González is a composer and guitarist from San Juan, Argentina, where he studied classical guitar and was also part of the Rock en Español movement in the ’80′s as a guitar player and a songwriter. With songs about Mother Earth, alcoholism, and pixilated love on the Internet, among others, Rubén’s performances are an excellent opportunity to taste original music with Spanish words in an intimate and rhythmic environment

Don Babatunde Eaton: conga, surdo, percussion
Michael Wimberly: djembe, percussion, voice
Michael J. Campbell: electric guitar
Ruben Gonzalez: guitar, voice

17. Oumou Sangare

Date: Sunday, November 21, 2010
Time: 8pm
Venue: Lehman College (250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, NY 10468)
Ticket: $45
Genre: Afro-pop/Mali

This six-foot-tall goddess is indisputably one of modern Africa’s greatest singers. Her magnificent, throaty alto and exotic yet accessible style have already won her an impressive international following.  Oumou Sangare’s  lyrics are nearly as compelling as her voice and person; her open affirmation of female sensuality and diatribes against polygamy have irritated conservative elders but delighted her contemporaries. She is an exponent of the blues-like Wassoulou tradition, which takes its name from a province in Southern Mali. Oumou Sangare draws deep from the wealth of musical traditions of southern Mali. She comments on all aspects of life in her country, especially the problems that women face on a daily basis because of polygamy, but also on the sensuality of young love, on the pain of exile, on the need to cultivate the land, and on the frailty of human life. Some of her songs use metaphor and irony; others are more direct. They are spirited expressions of her own philosophy and wisdom, born from her experience growing up in a poor family in Bamako and being catapulted to stardom at only the age of 21. And her idiom is the hauntingly beautiful homegrown music that has become her trademark: wassoulou.

18. Annette-Guh

Date: Sunday, November 21, 2010
Time:  6pm
Venue:  Downtown Music Gallery (13 Monroe Street, NY)  
Ticket: free
Genre: Jazz/contemporary/imporove

In stote show of Anette-Guh featuring Evan Gallagher (keyboard) and Anders Nilsson (guitar).