1. God’s Untruly Friends
Date: Monday, March 9, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: Theater for the New City / Cino Theater (155 1st Avenue, b/w 10th & 11th street, New York City 10003, 212-254-1109)
Ticket: $15
Genre: psychedelic-ambient jazz/electric sitar music/improv
God’s Unruly Friends picks up where Dawoud’s previous ensemble Renegade Sufi left off. Featuring Latif Kurfirst (percussion), Chenana Manno (singing bowls, bass, dance, vocals), and led by Dawoud (exotic string instruments, such as the sitar and dilruba, laptop, vocals), and special guest t.b.a.. They offer music improvised from elements from many musical genres, and translates non musical concepts into musical ideas.
2. The Mike Dopazo Trio
Date: Monday, March 9, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Quinn’s (330 Main Street, Beacon, New York 12508)
Tickets: donation
Genre: jazz/improv
This Monday at Quinn’s, the Mike Dopazo Trio featuring Mike Dopazo on sax, Robert Kopec on bass and Dean Sharp on drums. They have been playing together for quite awhile and their improvisatory flights are becoming absolutely telepathic.
3. The Frikativ Quartet
Date: Monday, March 9, 2015
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: The Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., NY, NY 10014)
Ticket: $10
Genre: string quartet/improv
The Frikativ Quartet presents compositions by Sarah Bernstein for improvising string quartet. Four inventive and soloistic musicians create a sound that taps the orchestral power of string ensembles and the agility of the jazz quartet. With Scott Tixier, violin, Sarah Bernstein, violin, Stephanie Griffin, viola, and Malcolm Parson, cello.
SARAH BERNSTEIN is a violinist, composer, improviser, vocalist and poet based in NYC. She leads projects ranging from minimalist/experimental duo Unearthish with Satoshi Takeishi, to avant-jazz Sarah Bernstein Quartet with Kris Davis, Stuart Popejoy and Ches Smith, to noise/poetry band Iron Dog with Stuart Popejoy and Andrew Drury, to improvising strings Frikativ Quartet.
4. Near East River Ensemble w. Limbs, Mathias Kunzli and Kane Mathis & Luke Notary
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, NY, Phone: 917-515-5444)
Ticket: donation
Genre: Arabic-oriental music/percussion music
“First up, this Tuesday, March 10, I am doing a revival of my old Near East River Ensemble at Muchmore’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Performing at 9:30pm. This group performs my oud music with instrumentation based on traditional Arabic music: oud, violin, nay (Arabic flute), bass and percussion. I haven’t presented the music this way since 2008, since for the past several years I’ve been focused on my group Nashaz. As happens with such a long hiatus, there have been some personnel changes from the prior incarnation of the group (perhaps this should be a “reincarnation” rather than a “revival”?), I’m excited to have joining me Bridget Robbins on nay, Marandi Hostetter on violin, Sprocket Royer on Bass and Mark Katsaounis on percussion. I am hoping to do some more performances with this group in the near future. There will also be several other great musicians on hand before and after us: Kane Mathis/Luke Notary, Matthias Kunzli, and Limbs. Music starts at 8, we are performing at 9:30.
http://www.limbspercussion.com (percussion duo)
http://www.brianprunka.com (Arabic music)
http://www.mathiaskunzli.com (percussion solo)
http://www.lukenotary.com (percussion solo)
http://www.kanemathis.com (kora and oud music)
5. AFRO ROOTS: LARAAJI – CELESTIAL MUSIC
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: 647 Columbus Ave near W 92nd st (Goddard Riverside)
Ticket: donation
Genre: eletric zither music/ambient/New Age
Laraaji (born 1943) is an American musician. Born Edward Larry Gordon in Philadelphia, he studied violin, piano, trombone and voice in his early years in New Jersey. He attended Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C. on a scholarship to study composition and piano. After studying at Howard, he spent time in New York pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian and actor.
In the early seventies he began to study Eastern mysticism and believed he’d found a new path for his music and his life. It was also at this time he bought his first zither from a local pawn shop. Converting it to an electronic instrument, he began to experiment using the instrument like a piano. By 1978, he developed enough skill to begin busking in the parks and on the sidewalks of New York.
The following year he was “discovered” by Brian Eno while playing in Washington Square Park. The result was his most widely-recognized release, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, the third installment of Brian Eno’s Ambient series. This was his first album released under the name of Laraaji.
6. Tom Chess
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: Cafe Nadery – Manhattan (16 W8th Street, New York, New York 10011)
Ticket: donation
Genre: oriental music/oud music
Tom Chess is a Multi-instrumentalist/
He has also conducted workshops and master classes/lectures and performances in the NYC Public school system as well as New Jersey and Universities and institutions such as Asia Society NY, Johnson State College Vermont, Columbia University, SUNY Fredonia College, McDaniels College, Carrol Community College, Md, and Gettysburg College Pa.
He currently lives in NYC where he performs with his different ensembles and works as a freelance musician. He has performed at Lincoln Center, The Turkish Embassy, The Pakastani Embassy, the Asian Society, The Natural History Museum, The Metropolitan Museum, The Himalayan Museum of Art and The United Nations among countless other venues in NYC and the United States. He has also performed on NPR and PBS. He has performed in Africa, Canada, Holland, and Italy. He has played on Grammy Nominated recordings. He has been awarded grants from the Turkish American Society and The Maryland Council For The Arts. He has been nominated for an 2012 Independent Music Award.
7. Tyshawn Sorey’s KOAN II
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217)
Ticket: $20
Genre: jazz
Tyshawn Sorey is a composer-performer, educator, and scholar working across an extensive range of musical idioms. Sorey performs (percussion, trombone, and piano) nationally and internationally with his own ensembles, as well as with such artists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Coleman, John Zorn, Misha Mengelberg, Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lehman, Tim Berne, and Myra Melford.
As a composer, Sorey has received commissions from Roulette and the International Contemporary Ensemble, with whom he also performs. In 2012, he was selected as an Other Minds Composer. Sorey regularly teaches composition and improvisation at the New School for Social Research and the School for Improvised Music. He has taught at the Banff Centre, International Realtime Music Symposium (Norway), Hochschule für Musik Köln, Musikhochschule Nürnberg, Rhythmic Conservatory (Denmark), Birmingham Conservatory of Music, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Cité de la Musique (Paris), and Vallekilde Højskole (Denmark).
Sorey has had works premiered at the Issue Project Room, Walt Disney Hall, the Bimhuis, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the Jazz Gallery, and Roulette. This is the second of 3 performances that Sorey will be holding in relation to his [RESIDENCY] at Roulette. His final performance will be held on Monday May 4, 2015 with his Double Trio.
KOAN II
Todd Neufeld (guitar)
Mat Maneri (viola)
Ben Gerstein (trombone)
Tyshawn Sorey (drums, trombone)
TBA – cello
8. MARTA SANCHEZ QUINTET
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Time: 8pm & 10pm
Venue: The Jazz Gallery (1160 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10001)
Ticket: 1st set at 8pm ($15) and 2nd at 10pm ($10)
Genre: fusion of rock, pop, jazz, classical and experimental music
Combining elements of rock, pop, jazz, classical and experimental music, Marta Sanchez‘s tunes are rhytmically complex but strongly melodic. Music that tells stories by integrating folk elements with the harmonic sophistication and spontaneity of jazz.
Roman Filiu OReilly on alto saxophone
Jerome Sabbagh on tenor saxophone
Matt Brewer on bass
Jason Burger no drums
9. Mai Dhai
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: Elebash Hall / The Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue, bet. 34th and 35th Streets, New York, NY
Ticket: $25
Genre: traditional Manganiyar/vocal music (from Pakistan)
US DEBUT!
This concert marks a rare opportunity to hear Rajasthani music from Pakistan featuring Mai Dhai, a traditional Manganiyar singer and dhol player from the Thar Desert region. Her driving percussion and other-worldly voice evoke the ancient rhythms of the subcontinent.
The Manganiyars are a caste of Muslim musicians who traditionally performed for the kings of Rajasthan. Their repertoire ranges from ballads about the kings to Sufi songs written by various mystics as well as songs for occasions such as birth, marriage, rains, and feasts. Even though they are classified as folk musicians, the Manganiyars’ music is classical and can be considered a root of classical music in the Indian subcontinent.
Dhai will be joined by her ensemble of three on percussion (tabla and dholak) and harmonium.
10. Miss Elie Sorbsel’ Release Party feat. Boots Riley
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Time: 9pm
Venue: The Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe (236 East 3rd St, between b & c, NYC, NY 10101)
Ticket: $10
Genre: singer-song writer
Speak Up, Talk More, and Louder And don’t forget to dance and sing!
Singer, composer, improviser, and bandleader, Emilie Lesbros will perform on March 12th at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe to celebrate the release of her EP, Miss Elie Sorbsel Sings Emilie Lesbros. Her band includes JJ Jungle (bass), and Hassan Hurd (drums) from the revolutionary Oakland hip hop group, The Coup, and Christopher “Zumbi” Richards (trombone). Featuring a guest appearance by The Coup’s charismatic front man, Boots Riley, who will perform several songs with Elie Sorbsel’s band and discuss his screenplay, Sorry To Bother You.
Miss Elie Sorbsel (aka Emilie Lesbros) is a multi-instrumental composer, vocalist and poet. Join Emilie to celebrate the release of her new EP, which features JJ Jungle on bass and Hassan Hurd on drums. Emilie’s music shifts between rock and groove, folk and poetry. Born in Marseille, Emilie has worked on dozens of musical projects that range from rock to electronic music. Her work channels the many modalities of the human voice and examines inequalities in modern society. Seeing her show is like flirting with freedom.
11. X+N: Jessica Meyer and Halim El- Dabh
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: Spectrum (121 Ludlow, Second Floor, New York, NY, 650-400-5100)
Ticket: $t.b.a.
Genre: elctronics/contemporary
In this concert, violist Jessica Meyer meets electroacoustic pioneer Halim El-Dabh. This incredible program pairs El-Dabh’s seminal Wire Recorder Piece (widely considered the first piece of tape music), Leila and the Poet, and Michael and the Dragon, with brand-new works by Eric Moe, Rex Isenberg, and Meyer herself.
PROGRAM:
Halim El-Dabh: Wire Recorder Piece
Leila and the Poet
Michael and the Dragon
Rex Isenberg: Doublet (World Premiere, with Miranda Cuckson)
Jessica Meyer: Afflicted Mantra (viola and loop pedal)
Eric Moe: Uncanny Affable Machines (NYC Premiere, viola and fixed media)
12. ARTURO STABLE & CHANGUI PROJECT
Date: Friday, March 13, 2015
Time: 9:30pm
Venue: Terraza 7 (4019 GLEANE Street, Elmhurst, New York 11373, 718-803-9602)
Ticket: $7
Genre: Changui and Son are styles of Cuban music
A night dedicated the Changui music and Son Montuno. Come and dance to the rhythms of this authentic Cuban experience!
Changui and Son are styles of Cuban music, which originated in the early 19th century in the eastern region of the Oriente Province. It arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities.
Arturo will be joined by a band of stellar Cuban musicians:
Performing:
Pablo Moya / Tres guitar; Vocals
Jorge Bringas / Bass; Marimbula
Dennis Hernandez / Trumpet; Percussion
Arturo Stable / Percussion
13. Les Yeux Noirs
Date: Friday, March 13, 2015
Time: 11:45pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, NY, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $20
Genre: Gypsy music
It’s not just because Les Yeux Noirs are fronted by two violin-wielding brothers that the word ‘fraternity’ comes to mind. Eric and Olivier Slabiak have produced a band that, while scoring extremely highly on the musical front, also come with a peace-love-and-understanding vibe fitted as standard. Considered and complex yet wild and occasionally raucous, Les Yeux Noirs (The Black Eyes) certainly give notions of musical purity a good bruising.
Theirs is a sound that ignores the divisions of political maps, sneaks past border patrols and extends the hand of – it’s that word again – fraternity right across Central and Eastern Europe. Equal parts gypsy and klezmer (with plenty of jazzy flourishes to boot), the band draw on music from right across the region, from Hungary down to Armenia.
It’s an exhilarating, winding journey, most often conducted at a pedal-to-the-metal, breakneck speed. Fans of Taraf de Haidouks or Nigel Kennedy’s work with the Polish band Kroke are well-advised to get on board. Their new favourite band has just arrived.
14. Jarana Beat
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015
Time: 10pm
Venue: Terraza 7 (4019 GLEANE Street, Elmhurst, New York 11373, 718-803-9602)
Ticket: $7
Genre: Afro-Amerindian music/Mexican & Latin folk music
Jarana Beat is a world music band that uses the fusion of Mexican and Latin American folk instruments and rhythmic elements that create an environment for expressing popular themes using traditional verse structures as the pastern, sextuplet or décima.
Composed of professional immigrant musicians from Mexico interacting with performers from all over the world. Using dance rhythms and footwork like Son Jarocho, Son Guerrerence, Son Huasteco, Cumbia and Rumba, among others. Jarana Beat has been offering for more than two years, a journey through the Afro-Amerindian culture in New York’s art scene.
15. The 12 Houses Orchestra
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Firehouse Space (246 Frost St., East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211)
Ticket: $10
Genre: modern jazz/ original big band music
***This concert we will be joined by trombone master Art Baron!!!***
Matt Lavelle: Flugel,Cornet, alto-clarinet
Tim Stocker: Baritone Sax
Charles Waters: Alto and clarinet
Ras Moshe: Tenor and flute
Sweet Lee Odom: soprano sax and clarinet
Laura Ortman: Violin
Stephanie Griffin: Viola
Gil selinger: Cello
Jack DeSalvo: Guitar and banjo
Francois Grillot: Bass
Chris Forbes: piano
John Pietaro: vibes
drums: Ryan Sawyer
Voice: Anais Maviel
16. 75 Dollar Bill
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015
Time: 8:30pm & 11pm
Venue: TROOST (1011 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11222)
Ticket: donation
Genre: Wood / Metal / Plastic. Pattern / Rhythm / Rock
75 Dollar Bill (Che Chen-guitars and Rick Brown-percussion) return to their favorite venue. They’ll have the pleasure/worry of having the astounding Mal Devisa play a set between their 2, thereby potentially blowing them right off the stage! But they have their own reinforcement/anchor in the person of Sue Garner, who’s joining us again for part of the night on bass, percussion and vocals.
Their first legit album is out now on Other Music Recording Co. Wooden Bag 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 have a limited supply for sale at these gigs.
17. Camané / Dead Combo
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2015
Time: 7pm
Venue: NJPAC Prudential Hall (1 Center Street, Newark, NJ 07102)
Tickets: $29-$69
Genre: Fado/nu Fado
The hallowed traditions and exciting future of the dramatic, passionate fado music of Portugal will come together in Newark, N.J., on March 15 when NJPAC presents an unprecedented double bill featuring Camané and Dead Combo, two of that European nation’s greatest stars, in concert at Prudential Hall.
Camané, who will be making the only NYC-area stop on his first major U.S. tour, has been called “one of his generation’s leading fado singers” by The New York Times, with CD sales in the millions. Dead Combo, sharing the bill, is a forward-thinking instrumental duo that’s building a new modern hybrid sound atop the venerable fado tradition.
The NJPAC engagement marks the only joint appearance by the two breakthrough Portuguese artists during their current, otherwise separate U.S. tours. The program is in keeping with the artists’ shared mission of honoring fado’s revered traditions while opening the music to new generations.
Camané is a rare male superstar within the female-centric fado world, following in the footsteps of the legendary male fado singer Carlos do Carmo.
A deeply emotional and elegant vocalist, Camané – born Carlos Manuel Moutinh — is a bona fide superstar at home, having sold more than six million recordings in a country whose population exceeds just 10 million. But more important than his volume of sales is Camané’s cultural impact on the international Portuguese community and beyond.
Camané’s rise to massive popularity in Portugal began in 1979 at age 12 when he won the prestigious Grande Noite do Fado (Great Fado Night) honor. Soon he was selling albums in increasingly greater quantities and filling concert halls not only in Lisbon and other Portuguese cities but throughout Europe. Camané’s several million-selling albums include 2008’s Sempre De Mim, 2010’s De Amor e Dos Dios and the 2013 greatest hits collection O Melhor de Camané: 1995-2013.
Dead Combo – at its core Tó Trips (electric guitar, acoustic guitar) and Pedro V. Gonçalves (double bass, electric guitar, melodics, keyboards) and often augmented by other musicians-came together in 2002 after its two permanent members contributed to a tribute album to the late Portuguese guitarist Carlos Paredes. Their music is a contemporary mix of fado, Ennio Morricone-inspired guitar twang and both suave and edgy elements of jazz, alternative and world music, best exemplified on their recent album release, last year’s A Bunch of Meninos (meninos = boys). Their appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations: Lisbon brought Dead Combo to the attention of American audiences.
Camané and Dead Combo are not only mutual admirers of one another but have collaborated on recordings, including “Inquietação,” “Vendaval” and “Ouvi o texto muito ao longe.”
Now, for the first and only time in America, these two giants of contemporary Portuguese music will be appearing on the same stage, exclusively at NJPAC’s Prudential Hall on March 15th.
