1. Chicha Libre

Date: Monday, December 20, 2010
Time: 9;30pm
Venue: Barbes (376 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Ticket: $10
Genre: a mixture of latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop

Chicha Libre plays a mixture of latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop inspired by 1970′s Peruvian music from the Amazon. The Brooklyn-based band mixes up covers of forgotten Chicha classics with French-tinged originals, re-interpretation of 70’s pop classics as well as cumbia versions of pieces by Satie and Ravel. With Greg Burrows – percussion; Joshua Camp – Hohner Electravox; Olivier Conan – Cuatro & Vocals – Nicholas Cudahy – bass; Vincent Douglas – Guitar – Neil Ochoa – percussio

2. Mike Stern

Date: Monday, December 20, 2010
Time: 10pm
Venue:  55 Bar (55 Christopher Street just east of Seventh Avenue. West Village, 212-929-9883)
Ticket: $10
Genre: Jazz/Fusion

In a career that spans three decades and a discography that includes more than a dozen eclectic and innovative recordings, six-time GRAMMY nominee Mike Stern has established himself as one of the premier jazz and jazz-fusion guitarists and composers of his generation.

Mike Stern…Guitar, Tom Kennedy…Bass and Lionel Cordew…Drums

3. Shahzad Ismaily

Date: Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Time: 10pm
Venue:  The Stone (is located at the corner of Avenue C and 2nd Street)
Ticket: $10
Genre: bass & electronics improve

Shahzad Ismaily (analogue synths, electric bass) was born to Pakistani immigrant parents and grew up in a wholly bicultural household. While he holds a masters degree in biochemistry from Arizona State University, he is a largely self-taught composer and musician, having mastered the electric and double bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, flute, drums, various percussion instruments and various analog synthesizers and drum machines. Ismaily has recorded or performed with an incredibly diverse assemblage of musicians, including Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Jolie Holland, Laura Veirs, Bonnie Prince Billy, Faun Fables, Secret Chiefs 3, a.o.

4. Yumi Kurosawa

Date: Wednesday, December 22 , 2010
Time: 5pm – 7pm
Venue:Rubin Museum (150 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011,  212-620-5000)
Ticket: free
Genre: Japanese koto music

Yumi Kurosawa, an innovative musician born and raised in Japan, began studying the thirteen-string koto at the age of three and began studying the twenty-string koto at the age of fifteen. As well as extensive performance in Japan, she has toured in Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, and the United States.

5. Jay Rodriguez presents Sacred Works

Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010
Time: 8pm
Venue: Zora Art Space (315 4th Avenue between 3rd and 2nd Streets in Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Ticket: t.b.a.
Genre: Jazz

Jay Rodriguez, an extraordinary woodwind player and musical director, is probably best known for his role in Groove Collective and the NYC groove and jazz scenes, but he¹s worked with many musical giants from just about every genre, not the least of which is Miles.

Featuring: Jay Rodriguez: sax, DK Dyson: vocals, Dean Bowman: vocals, Craig S Harris: trombone, Frank London: trumpet and Souren Baronian: clarinet. About the musicians read more.

6. Raoul Bjorkenheim & Anders Nilsson Nordic Guitar Duo

Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010
Time: 6pm
Venue: The Shrine (2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd, NY)
Ticket: donation
Genre: blues

Raoul Bjorkenheim guitarist/composer born in the US, now lives in Finland, has played and recorded with many of the top names on the experimental jazz scene such as Bill Laswell, Hamid Drake, William Parker and John Zorn. Anders Nilsson guitarist/composer born in Sweden, lives in New York since 10 years, performs and records with many musicians associated with the downtown scene including Fulminate Trio, Fay Victor Ensemble and Paquito D’Rivera. He also leads AORTA – a Swedish jazz-rock group and has written and performed with larger experimental ensembles all over the US and Europe. www.andyhot.com

7. A Jazz Nativity

Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: B.B.KING (237 West 42 St., New York, NY 10036)
Ticket: $37.50 (advance), $40 (door)
Genre: bigband Jazz

On Dec. 23rd at 7:30pm Bending Towards the Light ..A Jazz Nativity will burst onto the stage at BB King’s for the first time. The Christmas story is told in full costume with great jazz players and singers playing the roles of the Shepherds, Kings, Angels and Mary and Joseph. This swinging, joyful holiday show warms the hearts of families and jazz fans of all faiths.

This year/s Kings, who present the gift of their talent, will include trombonist Steve Turre, tap-dancer Max Pollak and Warren Vache. The all star band will feature Latin percussionist Candido, trumpeter Lew Soloff, saxophonists Jon Gordon and Bob Kindred and trombonist Art Baron. The role of Mary will be sung by Amy London, that of the Archangel by mezzo-soprano Stephanie McGuire and a boy soprano from the Newark Boys Chorus School will be the Shepherd Boy. Special guests will include famed trombonist Slide Hampton, saxophonist Frank Wess and Latin Jazz pianist Arturo O’Farrill.

8. Live Kora with Griot Saliu Suso

9. NY Gypsy All-Stars

Date: Saturday, December 25, 2010
Time: 9pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, N, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $15
Genre: Gypsy music/Balkan beat

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.” 

10. Dayna Kurtz

Date: Sunday, December 26, 2010
Time: 6pm
Venue: Barbes (376 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Ticket: $10
Genre: singer-song writer

With vocal comparisons to Nina Simone and a musical style that pulls from jazz, blues and country, singer/songwriter Dayna Kurtz has found her best success not in America but in Europe. Kurtz started out as a folkie, but has expanded her influences over the years, creating a sound that fits in best with an Americana umbrella”