1. Pete Drungle Solo Piano
Date: Monday, November 5, 2010
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Delancy (168 Delancy Street, NY)
Ticket: free
Genre: Jazz piano
Pete Drungle (b. Chicago, 1972) is a composer/pianist with a diverse background in music who lives and works in New York. He has played duets with Ornette Coleman, performed internationally with Ronald Shannon Jackson’s legendary Decoding Society and Craig Harris’ Nation of Imagination, arranged music for the Kronos Quartet and composed for and conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, Drungle received the prestigious Bessie Award for Best Composer for his score to Michael Portnoy’s avant-dance piece THE ‘K’ SOUND. Drungle enjoys being involved in cross-disciplinary projects, and has performed in museums, art galleries, theaters, and music halls internationally, including The Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, all in New York.
2. Pamelia Kurstin with Vehicle of Ascension
Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217)
Ticket: $15
Genre: contemporary music/jazz/improve
The theremin, the first electronic instrument ever invented, was on the brink of historic oblivion when it was rescued from obscurity by director Steven Martin’s classic 1994 documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey . And while a few brave souls have sought to master this temperamental instrument since then, none have done so with more sly effervescence than Pamelia Kurstin. From the rock-steady composure she assumes behind the instrument (necessary lest her breathing drive the sensors out of tune), one might presume a shrinking conservatory personality, but a quick glance at the MySpace page or website of the self-described “bird-punching rollerskating thereminist” will quickly dash any of these quaint notions. Far from being a quirky curiosity, however, Kurstin is a sensitive, emotional stylist capable of coaxing sublime melodic content out of an instrument usually doomed to B-movie sci-fi soundtracks. (And her walking bass imitation is pretty cool too.) Born in Los Angeles, Kurstin currently resides in Vienna, and performs with acclaimed eccentric rockers Barbez, among many others. Her latest solo CD, Thinking Out Loud, was released in 2007 on John Zorn’s legendary Tzadik label. She’ll bathe your dog and give you a haircut (“if you’re daring,” she warns) in exchange for a six-pack.
Vehicle of Ascension is Pete Drungle, Jay Rodriguez and Victor Jones.
3. Omer Avital & His Band Of The East / The Gregory Tardy Quintet
Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Time: 6pm doors, 7pm show
Venue: 92YTribeca (200 Hudson Street, New York City)
Ticket: $15
Genre: jazz/worldy jazz
Omer Avital & His Band Of The East
Throughout his ever evolving career, composer and bassist Omer Avital has helmed a handful of genre-defying, jazz based ensembles, including Omer Avital Quintet and Ensemble, Yes! Trio (with pianist Aaron Goldberg and drummer Ali Jackson), Third World Love, Yemen Blues and The New Jerusalem Orchestra. Recently, Avital debuted his latest band, Omer Avital & His Band Of The East. This ambitious new project is the culmination of Avital’s unique experiences as a jazz musician heavily immersed in the playing and composing of Middle Eastern and North African music. Live, this new group proves to be an electrifying and logical creative step following the release of Avital’s already critically acclaimed recording, Suite of The East (Anzic Records). The band’s performance is romantic, reflective, festive and hard charging.
The Gregory Tardy Quintet
Born into a musical family, saxophonist Gregory Tardy began his musical career studying classical clarinet. While studying with renowned clarinetists Russell Dagon and Jack Snavely, Tardy began preparing for a symphony career. During college he discovered jazz and hasn’t looked back. In 1992, Tardy started playing with the legendary drummer, Elvin Jones, and he recorded his first CD, Crazy Love. He has gone on to play with many prominent jazz artists including Andrew Hill, Tom Harrell, Dave Douglas, Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, Betty Carter, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Ellis Marsalis and fellow saxophonists Joe Lovano, Mark Turner and Ravi Coltrane. In more recent years, Tardy has gone full circle, by bringing his clarinet out of retirement, using it on recordings by Tom Harrell, Ohad Talmor/Steve Swallow, Stefan Harris, Chris Potter and Andrew Hill. His latest recording, Monuments, was released in September 2010.
4. Pete Drungle / Daniel Carter Duo
Date: Thursday, November 8, 2012
Time: 11pm
Venue: L’asso East Villagec (107 1st Ave between 6th and 7th sts)
Ticket: donation
Genre: jazz/free jazz/improve
Pete Drungle (piano), Daniel Carter (woodwinds), plus special guest Kellie O’Dempsey (live video projections)
5. 9th Annual Encuentro NYC Colombian Music Festival
Date: Saturday, November 10, 2012
Time: 4pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474)
Ticket: $20
Genre: all kinds of Columbian music
(Special offer: two pairs of give away tickets. Please mail the names to sohrab.saadat@gmail.com by Friday 12 noon)
Traditional, jazz, rock, dance, classical, and urban sounds collide as Pablo and Anna Mayor present the 9th annual Encuentro NYC Colombian Music festival. Colombian musicians unite on one stage as they do each year, in a celebration of Colombia’s rich traditions and modern innovations told through the voice of New York-based Colombian artists. The festival will feature six hours of back-to-back performances featuring the rhythms of cumbia, puya, currulao, joropo, and bambuco, among a myriad other styles, both as they have developed in New York and in their traditional root forms.
This year, the energy will reach new heights with the newest voice on the world stage, MAKU Soundsystem (featured at globalFEST 2011). Their driving rhythms are grounded in Afro- Colombian traditions and their gaitas come from Colombia’s indigenous heritage (like their name), as they present their music with the freedom of young Colombians hailing from urban Queens.
The annual Encuentro/Encounter of Colombian Musicians in New York music festival, founded by Colombian bandleader, pianist, and composer Pablo Mayor and his wife flutist Anna Povich de Mayor, continues its effort to provide a platform for Colombian artists in New York to present their art, while bringing these treasures to the attention of the international audience.
The festival coincides with PAMAR’S Latin American Culture Week, using the opportunity to showcase Colombia’s rich musical heritage and developments to the broader international and Latin American community. The six-hour extravaganza will begin with a dinner set featuring the sophisticated Andean sounds of Alejandro Flórez-Tibaguí, gaita, bullerengue, and other Afro- Colombian rhythms with Grupo Rebolú (for those who wish to dance from the beginning), New Orleans jazz-with-a-Colombian twist (drummer Martin Vejarano’s Chia’s Dance Party), Caribbean vallenato with Alejandro Zuleta Vallenato Collective, and other artists ranging from rock to classical guitar (including Lucía Pulido’s right-hand man Sebastián Cruz and his Cheap Landscape trio), gradually transforming as the night unfolds into an all-out dance party with Pablo Mayor’s driving Folklore Urbano Orchestra and the wildly fun Gregorio Uribe Big Band. Special guests to include Limon Dance Company’s Daniel Fetecua and his Pajarillo Pinta’o Dance Company. The energy in the room will erupt once MAKU takes over as the closing act, and the audience is guaranteed to leave dancing!
Participating bands: Sebastián Cruz Cheap Landscape Trio, Martin Vejarano-Chia’s Dance Party, Nilko Andreas Guarín, Alejandro Flórez- Tibaguí, Alejandro Zuleta Vallenato Collective, Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano Orchestra, Daniel Fetecua and Pajarillo Pinta’o Dance Company, Gregorio Uribe Big Band, M.A.K.U. SoundSystem, and Grupo Rebolú
Watch interview with two members of M.A.K.U. Soundsystem here.
M.A.K.U. SoundSystem
Martin Vejarano – Chia’s Dance Party
Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano Orchestra
6. DeLeon
Date: Saturday, November 10, 2012
Time: 11:30pm
Venue: Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003, 212-967-7555)
Tickets: $12
Genre: modern Sephardic folk music
DeLeon uses their own distinctive style of rock to transform ancient Sephardic folk music into a sound that is both brand new and centuries old. The band, named for 12th Century Kabalistic philosopher Moses DeLeon and front man Daniel Saks’ great-grandfather Giorgio DeLeon, reconciles Saks’ family’s cultural journey with his modern influences. By re-imagining these ancient melodies as contemporary pieces, DeLeon has given the world at large a unique chance to experience the deeply mysterious and entrancing cadences of the ancient Sephardic tradition, and to do it while dancing. They’ve released two albums on JDub Records (DeLeon, Casata) and have toured the US, England, Canada and Mexico with other like-minded bands such as Gogol Bordello, Os Mutantes, Ozomatli and Balkan Beat Box. Their 3rd LP Tremor Fantasma recorded in Mexico City will be released October 23rd.
7. IRON DOG (cd release!)+HOME OF EASY CREDIT+HAN BLASTS PANEL
Date: Saturday, November 10, 2012
Time: 8pm
Venue: JACK (505 1/2 Waverly Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238)
Ticket: $10
Genre: improv/modern music
Aural Dystopia presents:
Starting off with HAN BLASTS PANEL, with Briggan Krauss working visuals and music alongside Curtis Hasselbring and Jim Black, each appending electronic wizardry to their already-excessive instrumental capacities.
8. CHICO HAMILTON
Date: Sunday, November 11, 2012
Time: 7:15pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, NY, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $12.00 – $32.00
Genre: jazz
As evidenced on his latest recording Revelation (Joyous Shout!), 90 year-old drummer/leader Forestorn “Chico” Hamilton is still creating vivid, positive, uplifting, and relevant music. Saluted by the Kennedy Center as a “Living Jazz Legend”, and appointed to the President’s Council on the Arts, this NEA Jazz Master is considered one of the most important living jazz artists and composers. DROM presents EUPHORIC – Celebrating the Life & Music of Chico Hamilton for three Sunday night performances this Fall (OCT – DEC) featuring Chico and his long-time touring band featuring Nick Demopoulos (guitar), Paul Ramsey (bass), Evan Schwam (flute + reeds), Mayu Saeki (flute), and Jeremy Carlstedt (drums + percussion) as well as special featured guests TBA. Program includes mostly Chico originals off of Revelation ranging from the samba-ish gem “Footprints in the Sand” to the ballad “Every Time I Smile.”
