2015 is YEAR OF THE QUEER! Join the Eco-Music Big Band at Joe’s Pub for a New Years’ celebration of the LGBTQ experience.

The first of its kind in the tri-state area, YEAR OF THE QUEER! is a night that tributes the queer jazz experience. The Eco-Music Big Band presents works by Billy Strayhorn (featuring Philadelphia singer Rhenda Fearrington); the band’s bassist, Amanda Ruzza; bandleader Marie Incontrera; a new arrangement of Fred Ho’s work for the Brooklyn Womens’ Anti-Rape Exchange YES MEANS YES, NO MEANS NO, WHATEVER SHE WEARS, WHEREVER SHE GOES!; and a reimagining of Frank Zappa, called MY BIG BAND WANTS TO KILL YOUR HETEROPATRIARCHY!

The Eco-Music Big Band is a 15-piece professional big band that spans many generations and includes some of the nation’s most acclaimed jazz musicians. Our roster includes bass trombonist David Taylor (Gil Evans, New York Philharmonic), saxophonist Jay Rodriguez (Ornette Coleman, Craig Harris), bass trombonist Earl McIntyre (Mel Lewis, Thad Jones), Zack O’Farrill and Adam O’Farrill (Arturo O’Farrill, Randy Weston). The Eco-Music Big Band is lead by Marie Incontrera, who was Fred Ho’s final composition protégé.

Hailed as “talented… inspiring” (The Vermont Standard), The Eco-Music Big Band is committed to presenting the music of the legendary jazz composers of the 20th century that were overlooked (such as Cal Massey), to continuing the legacy its prodigious composer & founder (the late Fred Ho), and to providing a platform for the next generation of big band composers.

6. Adventures in Bluesland

Date: Saturday, January 3, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: Route 66 Smokehouse (79 Pearl St, New York, New York 10004)
Tickets: free
Genre: blues/rock

Saturday Jan. 3, Adventures in Bluesland bring their rocking and soulful blues music to Route 66 Smokehouse in lower Manhattan NYC from 9pm to 12. Special guests Lauren Dragon, Puma Perl and others will be joining us on stage for several songs!

Phil Gammage • Kevin Tooley • Don Fiorino • Johnny Cement • Robert Aaron

7. Sherita w/New York Gypsy All-Stars

Date: Saturday, January 3, 2015
Time: 11:30pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, NY, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $10
Genre: Balkan music/Gypsy

Sherita is happy to be bringing our acoustic magic to Drom on Jan 3. We’ll be opening the show for the NY Gypsy All Stars. Please join us to help start 2015 right. Doors at 11 pm.

Sherita is:
Rima Fand – violin, voice
Greg Squared – clarinet, voice
Renée Renata Bergan – percussion, voice
Adam Good – ud, tambura

Sherita, named for a pink, fossil fuel dinosaur whose portrait has adorned a Brooklyn billboard since the 1970s, gathers inspiration from the sounds of bygone eras to create music that is alive in the present moment. Through exploration of the acoustic traditions of the Balkans and the Near East, Sherita makes original music that is at once both ancient and modern; by turns haunting, exuberant, enchanting. This quartet opens a musical time capsule, sent for posterity. The old songs and dances they find inside come to life again, and give rise to new ones. The world of an aging billboard is reborn in the present-day city.

New York Gypsy All-Stars jump the turnstiles of Balkanalia, Turkish Roots, and Gypsy Soul with funky refinement

Ismail Lumanovski / Clarinet
Tamer Pinarbasi / Kanun
Panagiotis Andreou / Bass
Jason Lindner/ Keys
Engin Kaan Gunaydin / Drums

“Frontman clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski is an extraordinary player in his own right, leading the group through a blistering series of haunting dance numbers and a couple of one or two-chord jams that the players used to show off their sizzling chops.” – Alan Young, Lucid Culture Blog

8. Nicholas Horner/PascAli/Lucas Brode/Cinesthesia Soundpainting Ensemble

Date: Sunday, January 4, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, New York 11211)
Ticket: $t.b.a.
Genre: Improv extravaganza

Nicholas Horner does a solo vocal set, a bass duo by PascAli, solo guitar set by Lucas Brode, and a Soundpainted piece by Cinesthesia.

Nicholas Horner
PascAli (https://www.facebook.com/pascalibass)
Lucas Brode (http://lucasbrode.bandcamp.com/music)

9. Sidarta, Balinese mask and shadow master 
w/ Shahzad Ismaily and members of Gamelan Dharma Swara & Gamelan Raga Kusuma

Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2012
Time: 7pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474)
Ticket: $15
Genre: Balinese mask dancing and shadow play and live gamelan music

Sidarta presents an evening of Balinese mask dancing and shadow play recounting the reincarnation of the buddha as Sutasoma, a prince who renounces his worldly wealth for a life of contemplation. The performance will open with an experimental collaboration between Sidarta and the renowned experimentalist Shahzad Ismaily. The shadow play will be accompanied by live gamelan music and the audience will be invited to try their hand at both the gamelan and the shadow puppets following the performance.

10. Swanky Tiger

Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Time:  7:30pm
Venue: The Bowery Electric (327 Bowery, New York, NY 10003)
Ticket: $8
Genre: punk-infused, hard rock

NYC-based, punk-infused, hard rock band Swanky Tiger who will be celebrating the release of the debut album Empires on January 7 at The Bowery Electric.

Stream and share “Half Light”

Stream and share the previous single “Empires”

“The pub band seems to ascend to new sounds like a cresting wave before calming to turbulent sea, full of promise” (Rock Industry Magazine).

“[Swanky Tiger] have honed the skills for kick-ass rock n roll. Add a little Seattle fury and Manchester, England heaviness, with the inherent snottiness of NYC and you get Swanky Tiger. Iggy would be so proud” (Audio Fuzz).

11. The 2015 NYC WINTER JAZZFEST
Thursday January 8th – Saturday January 10^th

2015 NYC WINTER JAZZFEST SCHEDULE:
***schedule subject to change***

Thursday January 8th 2015 (at LPR)
NYC Winter Jazzfest presents:
BLUE NOTE NOW!
w/ Robert Glasper Trio / Jose James / Derrick Hodge / Kendrick Scott Oracle
7pm – Doors / 8pm Show
$25 ADV, $30 DOS
$75  3-day WJF pass (includes this show and the Jan 9/10 WJF marathon nights)

Thursday January 8th 2015 (at The Quaker’s Friends Meeting House on 15 Rutherford Place)
NYC Winter Jazzfest supports:
Jazz Legends play for Disability Pride NYC
w/ Ron Carter, Renee Rosnes, Russell Malone, Brad Mehldau, George Coleman, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, Peter Bernstein, Buster Williams, Mike LeDonne, Harold Mabern, John Webber, Joe Farnsworth, Bill Charlap, Kenny Washington +more
7pm – Doors / 8pm Show
$100 – GA
$145  3-day WJF pass (includes this show and the Jan 9/10 WJF marathon nights)

Friday January 9th 2015
Saturday January 10th 2015
NYC Winter Jazzfest Marathon
5pm – Box Office Opens, Passes Available for Purchase and Pickup at Judson Church
$35  Single-Day WJF Pass
$55  2-day WJF Pass
$75  3-day WJF Pass (includes the Blue Note Now show at LPR on 1/8)
$145  3-day WJF Pass (includes the Jazz Legends play for Disability Pride NYC show on 1/8)
$40  APAP 2-Day Pass (Jan 9+10 only, contact rsvp@winterjazzfest.com for more details)
$55  APAP VIP 2-Day Pass (Jan 9+10 only, includes priority access, contact rsvp@winterjazzfest.com for details)

***FOR FULL SCHEDULE, PLEASE SEE WEBSITE SCHEDULE PAGE, HERE.

2015 WINTER JAZZFEST PARTICIPATING VENUES:
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street NYC
Minetta Lane Theater, 18-22 Minetta Lane NYC
Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South NYC
The Players Theater, 115 Macdougal Street NYC
Zinc Bar, 82 West 3rd Street NYC
The Bitter End, 147 Bleecker Street NYC
Subculture, 45 Bleecker Street NYC
Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery NYC
Carroll Place, 157 Bleecker Street NYC
The Quaker’s Friends Meeting House, 15 Rutherford Place NYC
Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street NYC

12. HAZMAT MODINE

Date: Friday, January 9, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: TERRA BLUES (149 Bleecker Street, NYC  212.777.7776)
Ticket: t.b.a.
Genre: nu blues/ New Orleans brass

One of New York’s most original bands, HAZMAT MODINE delivers a rustic, deliriously Dionysian blend of whorehouse Blues, Reggae, Klezmer, Country and Gypsy-tinged music.

AT MUTATO PRESENTS THE BELLOWS BALL AT S.O.B.S (204 Varick St. NYC (212) 243-4940)

http://sobs.com/2014/4628/matuto-presents-bellows-ball-featuring-hazmat-modine-matuto-revelers

Performing with MATUTO &THE REVELERS!

13. Dobet Gnahore / Kellylee Evans

Date: Friday, January 9, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003, 212-967-7555)
Tickets: $20
Genre: Côte d’Ivoire pop muisc

Dobet Gnahoré, a singer, dancer and percussionist from the Ivory Coast, inherited the force of the “Bété” tradition from her father, Boni Gnahoré, a master percussionist who plays with the Abidjan-based Ki-Yi Mbock Company, directed by Werewere Liking.

Rising star singer/songwriter Kellylee Evans is a chameleon-like performer, whose natural charm and improvisational jazz vocal style have shined on her adventurous journey through jazz, soul, pop and hip-hop over the past decade.

14. Red Baarat

Date: Friday, January 9, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Sub Rosa (63 Gansevoort St., New York, NY 10014, 212-997-4555)
Ticket: $25
Genre: hard driving North Indian bhangra rhythms with elements of jazz, go-go, brass funk, and hip-hop.

Formed in 2008, Red Baraat is a pioneering eight-piece band from Brooklyn, New York. Conceived by Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound — a merging of hard driving North Indian bhangra rhythms with elements of jazz, go-go, brass funk, and hip-hop.

15. Tongues in Trees

Date: Saturday, January 10, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St, New York, New York 10002)
Ticket: free
Genre: Sonic Youth meets Bjork meets Sufi trance

TONGUES IN TREES. Inspired by ragas, mantras and forces of nature, Tongues in Trees is the project of vocalist Samita Sinha, drummer SunnyJain (Red Baraat), and guitarist Grey McMurray (itsnotyouitsme). Drawing from North Indian classical and folk music, sonic texturing, propulsive beats and multiple languages, the trio blurs the line between East and West, traditional and experimental, acoustic and electronic. Each a lauded composer in their own right, longtime collaborators Sinha and Jain bring their distinctive musical voices as Indian-Americans alongside McMurray’s avant new music textures.

16. 75 Dollar Bill

Date: Saturday, January 10, 2015
Time: 8pm and 10pm
Venue: Troost (1011 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11222)
Ticket: donation
Genre: Wood / Metal / Plastic. Pattern / Rhythm / Rock

Rick Brown was born in San Francisco, CA and is a clerical worker at a law school in NYC. And Che Chen was born in New Haven, CT and works for a cancer diagnostics company in Stonybrook, NY. They met via myspace and started playing together as 75 Dollar Bill approximately eight years later.

This show is a celebration of their release, by Other Music Recording Co, of their first record Wooden Bag. This is a 500 copy vinyl release (with download) with hand-stamped covers, with a pretty raw, maraca-heavy sound with just the two of us. We’re excited to have it coming out and look forward to having people hear this side of our sound. Official release date is Jan. 13, but they’ll have copies to sell at the show.

17. RPS (Rock Paper Scissors) PR Open House

Date: Saturday, January 10, 2015
Time: 8pm and 10pm
Venue: Meridian 23 (161 W 23rd St, New York, New York 10011)
Ticket: free
Genre: meet up/open house

Publicity curious? Want to hear what’s up in the ever-changing world of media, music, and pr? Come meet the whole RPS crew Dmitri, Tristra, Ryan, and Ron and learn more about how they work and what we might do for your next music-related project.

18. A Cross-Cultural Vision: globalFEST, North America’s Springboard Showcase Festival, Returns in January 2015

Date: Sunday, January 11, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Webster Hall (125 East 11th Street, NY)
Ticket: $45
Genre: Traditional and Contemporary World Music

Cross-cultural hybridization has gone deeper. So exclaims the line up for the 2015 edition of globalFEST (globalfest.org), North America’s premiere international music springboard. Pioneers of Afropolitan a cappella and DIY nerd-funk, third-generation Hawaiian swing and American-made Sufi devotion. Gospel fervor and North African Jewish ecstasy. New voices from the Arab Spring, the Latin underground, and the British Isles.

All in one night, on three stages at the non-profit’s twelfth annual flagship event at Webster Hall, January 11, 2015.

Designed to showcase striking, unexpected, and groundbreaking sounds from tour-ready artists from across the global scene, globalFEST’s January festival is one of several initiatives—from the globalFEST (gF) Touring Fund and a gF-branded North American tour, to yearly stages at high-profile events like Bonnaroo and SXSW—the fast-growing organization undertakes to support its mission of bringing more global music to more venues and audiences around the US and Canada.

The artists of globalFEST 2015

Bixiga70 (US debut; Brazil): Brazil’s brassy Afrobeat orchestra
Emel Mathlouthi (Tunisia/France/US): Electro-inspired voice of Tunisia’s Arab Spring
Emil Zrihan (Morocco/Israel): Soaring Moroccan improvisations and Jewish songs by Israel’s beloved counter tenor
The Jones Family Singers (US): Hard-driving Gospel funk from Texas
Just a Band (Kenya): Nairobi’s Super-Nerdy Electronic Music & Art Collective
Kahulanui (US): Hawaii’s kings of swing
Kevin Johansen + The Nada (Argentina): De-genre-ate Sub-tropicalia from Argentina
The Nile Project (US debut; various): Trans-border collaboration across the Nile Basin
Puerto Candelaria (NYC debut; Colombia): Colombia’s rebellious cumbia experimentalists
Riyaaz Qawwali (various): Pakistani Sufi Music made in the USA
Sam Lee (NYC debut; UK): Unconventional Songs of the British Isles
Zap Mama (Belgium): Polyphonic a capella Afropop pioneers

World music has come to embrace all the permutations of how culture develops and recombines—with a world of influences streaming into artists’ ears—and over time, as generations embrace and challenge the past.

“Tradition may inform or inspire, but it doesn’t stop very personal and profound expressions of artistry and emotion,” says globalFEST co-producer Shanta Thake.

“We’ve got a number of artists, like Emel Mathlouthi and Sam Lee, who demonstrate how effortlessly and seamlessly contemporary production and traditional roots can work together,” explains co-producer Bill Bragin. “Musicians are coming up with new generational approaches to traditional music, how they speak to their peers.”

“We’ve also invited artists who are really sticking to tradition, who highlight the same kind of cultural fusion, just in a traditional context,” notes co-producer Isabel Soffer. “Emil Zrihan and Riyaaz Qawwali both point to how hybrid even very traditional forms are, to the exchange and give-and-take that musicians have practiced for ages.”

Deep-rooted hybridization comes naturally to ensembles like The Nile Project, which unites musicians from around East Africa for a collaborative composing experience that reflects the region’s unique sounds and raises awareness around environmental and cultural issues. Or to Puerta Candelaria from Colombia, who mix whimsy with driving Afro-Latin rhythms and soulful arrangements.

globalFEST also continues spotlighting more homegrown traditions: Highlighting American roots forms like The Jones Family Singers’ joyful Lone Star gospel or Kahalanui’s swinging snapshot of Hawaiian musical life.

And returning world music trailblazers to the spotlight: Zap Mama’s distinctive pan-African a cappella sound changed the way the world thought about world music. “Zap Mama helped invent a new pan-global approach to music-making that is both rooted and utterly contemporary, and opened the door for many cross-cultural artists and styles,” reflect the globalFEST producers.

Line up subject to change. globalFEST is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization generously supported by The Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, Bureau Export and dedicated individuals.

globalFEST 2015 is part of “January is Performing Arts Month in New York City,” celebrating the unmatched convergence of performing arts professionals, audiences, and events in New York City. Every January over 45,000 people from around the globe flock to New York City for public festivals and industry gatherings, featuring over 1,500 performances by thousands of world-class artists of all disciplines and genres, including world music, theatre, dance, jazz, and more.

19. TriBeCaStan w. Black Sea Hotel & Eve Lesov

Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Time: 11:30pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, NY, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $10
Genre: Balkan/gypsy/Middle Eastern/jazz

In the imaginary land of TriBeCaStan the sounds of Africa meet New York loft jazz, Balkan rhythms merge with Appalachian bluegrass, and traditional Afghan melodies mingle with good old American rock and roll. Here folk instruments from all over the globe coexist in harmony (and mayhem) alongside banjos, mandolins, buzzing reeds, and thoroughbred jazz horns. The final package is the result of a virtuosic and exuberant collaboration between some of New York’s finest jazz and world musicians—many of whom have played and collaborated with legendary innovators, including Ornette Coleman, Violent Femmes, John Corigliano, James Brown, Taj Mahal, Willy DeVille, and Eddie Harris.

At once lyrical and ethereal, dissonant and driving, Black Sea Hotel’s three distinct yet unified voices create a harmonic blend that’s often called otherworldly, haunting, even spellbinding. Affectionately dubbed the “punk rock version of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares,” the New York-based trio draws its inspiration from the rich traditions of Balkan folk song, generating their own unique, gutsy sound.

Eve Lesov‘s compositions start with Eve and the piano, allowing for the band to unravel the beauty and intricacy of Eve’s songs in thought-through, polished and moving arrangements. Eve’s influences include but are not limited to Radiohead, Portishead, Bjork, Blonde Redhead, Tori Amos and Depeche Mode. Eve is also a fan of psychedelic trance, dubstep and pretty much any genre of music that is done tastefully. The artist applies her influences in her own music with a grace and skill of a composer, who is not there to settle for cliché chord changes and overused melodies. As a pianist with extensive training and experience, Eve often performs her songs by herself.

20. SADHANA OF SOUND & LISTENING: Absorption in Indian Classical Melodies featuring Eric Fraser on the Bansuri (bamboo) flute, Samarth Nagarkar (vocal) and Sameer Gupta (tabla)

Date: Thursday, January 15, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Sacred Arts Research Foundation (107 Green St #G55, Brooklyn, New York 11222)
Ticket: $15 online/$20 at the door. Buy your tickets at http://sacredartsresearch.org/
Genre: Indian Classical music

Featuring Eric Fraser on the Bansuri (bamboo) flute, Samarth Nagarkar (vocal) and Sameer Gupta (tabla)

Join us for two sets of captivating sound meditation in the form of an Indian Classical music concert. These renowned and highly accomplished Indian music artists will present raga music in a traditional format: improvising within the structure of ancient melodic formulas to invoke particular subtleties of mind and emotion, contained within and supported by trance-inducing rhythm cycles..

The sadhana (rich, heartfelt practice) of this music can extend beyond the deep meditation of the artist to you as the audience. As a listener, you can engage in a sadhana of deep listening. The melodies and rhythm cycles of the Indian Classical format offer the active listener pathways into inner landscape of emotion and consciousness. The music tells stories, teaches, inspires and transports, and develops gradually, building slowly to ecstatic realms.

Program:

1st set
Eric Fraser- bansuri
Sameer Gupta- tabla

2nd set
Samarth Nagarkar- vocal
Rohan Prabhudesai- harmonium
Sameer Gupta- tabla

Samarth Nagarkar is acknowledged to be one of today’s foremost and prolific artistes representing Hindustani classical music traditions. He is known for his eclectic, captivating performances reflecting extensive training and an artistic vision encompassing tradition and modernity in a rare balance.
Samarth currently divides him time between the US and India pursuing an active career as a leading performer, composer, teacher and author. Visit Samarth on the web at http://samarthnagarkar.com/

Eric Fraser is an emerging exponent of a rare style of Indian classical flute playing. Known for its purity and antiquity, this West Bengal lineage conjures an Old World India aesthetic of meditative depth, lyrical beauty, and ecstatic technicality. A 2011 Fulbright Senior Scholar for Indian music and has been learning intensively in the guru/ shishya parampara tradition under the training of his Guru, Pandit Gopal Roy since 2003.
Eric regularly performs for enthralled audiences in both India and the USA. he has a diverse background playing for Indian Classical dance, as well as in projects ranging from World, Indie, Jazz, and more. In addition to Indian Classical flute, Eric is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music therapist (MA, BC-MT) working with children in NYC

Sameer Gupta is known as one of the few percussionists simultaneously representing the traditions of American jazz on drumset, and Indian classical music on tabla. He has held workshops on Indian music and cross over drumming styles, at Carnegie Hall Global Encounters, The Jazzschool in Berkeley and Berklee College of Music in Boston. By combining traditional and modern improvisational styles drawing from his Indian heritage and American roots, Sameer has already established himself as an original musical voice in jazz, world, and fusion music. From bebop to avant-garde jazz, and European classical percussion to North Indian classical tabla, Gupta continues to compose and perform music from a true multi-cultural perspective that now bridges several continents.
Visit Sameer on the web at http://sameergupta.com/

21. David Simons at Dark Circuits Series

Date: Saturday, January 17, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: Spectrum (121 Ludlow, Second Floor, New York, NY, 650-400-5100)
Ticket: $t.b.a.
Genre: solo theremin/theremin activating and manipulating audio samples

David Simons: Theremin is reading my thoughts.

Taking a few steps beyond Leon Theremin’s invention, Simons uses motion and proximity to activate and manipulate audio samples. This non-linear compositional method is a unique and hyper-sensitive interactive design. Two electro-magnetic spheres of possibility are created by the instrument’s antennae.

He also will perform his recent compositions for solo Theremin, Pythia and Occupational Therapy (2013-14).

Guest vocalist Lisa Karrer joins with Dear Officer, their nightmarish collaboration from 1998 on a suicide note which made headlines; her voice will also trigger samples. A webcam will provide live motion tracking to trigger sound and image in Gamelan in Motion, from 2013, with Simons playing a virtual gamelan “in the air”.

And finally video projections are manipulated via theremin proximity, along with filmic soundtracks. In these works David Simons is investigating how one medium can be used to control another: sound alters image and light triggers sound. Other new works to be announced.