1. Lakecia Benjamin and Soulsquad

Date: Monday,  August 26, 2013
Times: 10:30 pm
Venue: Blue Note (131 West 3rd St., New York, NY 10012, 212-475-8592)
Tickets:  $10/$15
Genre: jazz/funk

A streetwise New York City native born and raised in Washington Heights, Lakecia Benjamin has become one of the most highly sought-after players in soul and funk music. Charismatic and dynamic as both a saxophonist and bandleader, she has worked with Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, The Roots, Macy Gray, and more. She has performed on four continents, and her extensive recording credits include saxophone and arrangements for Santigold, Maurice Brown, the Clark Terry Big Band, Krystle Warren, and Talib Kweli, among others.

Lakecia Benjamin – alto sax, Jesse fisher – keys, Chris Rob – keys, Jameison – guitar, Solomon Dorsey – bass, Joe Blaxx – drums and Jonathon Powell – trumpet. Nicole Phiefer – vocals, Akie Bermiss – vocals and Collette – vocals.

2. Tomchess

Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Cafe Nadery – Manhattan (16 W8th Street, New York, New York 10011)
Ticket: donation
Genre: oriental music/oud music

Tomchess is a Multi-instrumentalist/Improviser/Composer. He plays Reeds, Western Flute, Arabic/Turkish Ney flute, Oud, and Guitar. He also has a history of using electronics /sampling/live-sampling/loops/fx. He has performed with Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson’ Decoding Society, Butch Morris’s Sheng Skyscraper, recorded with Tenor players Dewey Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Morrocan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun and Butch Morris. He has also led a guitar trio with Drummer Phil Haynes and bassist Drew Gress called Seven Times a Year. He has studied Middle/Near Eastern and West African musics, spending time in West Africa playing and performing. He has studied with Bassam Saba, Omer Erdogdular, Tidiani Bangoura, Abdul Aziz Tourè and Mohammad Camarra. 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.

3. Leni Stern

Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Time: 10pm
Venue: The 55 Bar (55 Christopher St., (Sixth/Seventh Avenue), New York, ( 212 ) 929-9883)
Ticket: $10
Genre: desert blues

LENI STERN. Acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Leni Stern brings her African music ensemble to the 55 Bar. The music juxtaposes Stern’s trademark inventive guitar and vocal explorations with the indigenous sounds of accomplished African instrumentalists. The result is at once haunting, exuberant, cinematic, personal and resoundingly assured. Featuring Leni Stern (n’goni, electric guitar, vocals) with Mamadou Ba (electric bass) and Alioune Faye (djembe, sabar).

4. SoSaLa

Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Time: 9pm – 11pm
Venue:  Nublu  (62 Avenue C, bet. E. 4th and 5th st., New York, NY 10009)
Ticket: $10
Genre: nu world trash

SoSaLa performing “nu world trashy” music based on desert-Persian-Spanish blues styles and jazzy improvs.

The members are: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi on sax and vocals, Lautaro Burgos on drums and Greg Zweigen on electric bass.

SoSaLa will be playing a 90 minutes long set performing the hit songs from the new CD SoSaLa “Nu World Trash”: “New Welcome Iran”, “Sad Sake,” “Happy April Fool’s Day”, and new songs.

5. Terry Dame’s Weird Wednesday’s Episode 5 – Weird Glass w. New Born Trio

Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Time: 8pm
Venue: BrandedSaloon (603 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11238)
Ticket: $ t.b.a.
Genre: glass music?

Weird Wednesday is a monthly series at the Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn curated by composer, multi-instrumentalist and instrument inventor Terry Dame. The series is dedicated to presenting the works of NYC area instrument inventors and players of found objects and other oddities This special “glass episiode” will present the work of New Born Trio. Musicians Katie Down, Jeffrey Lependorf and Miquel Frasconi play handmade and found instruments of glass, along with flutes from around the globe. Haunting, hypnotic, and sometimes even catchy, they create spontaneous compositions for your pleasure. Glass, water, flutes, sonorous objects and gizmos = music! www.sites.google.com/site/jeffreylependorf/newborntrio
As always yours truly, curator, host and chief weirdo Terry Dame will present a short set of new works. This month, ‘ll be playing improvisational duets for tuned glass and glass related samples with guitarist Chris Cochrane. www.terrydame.com

6.  Kotorino

Date: Thursday, August 29, 2013
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003, 212-967-7555)
Tickets: $12
Genre: darkly elegant, trippy, gypsy-flavored “parlor rock”

Creaky Brooklyn band Kotorino plays darkly elegant, trippy, gypsy-flavored “parlor rock” with carnivalesque touches. Compared to the Fishtank Ensemble, Radio Fantastique, Piñataland, Starhead and Sufjan Stevens, they perform European waltzes, Latin Tangos and rural Americana on guitar, fiddle, tuba, bass clarinet, tenor sax, horn, piano, drums, and acoustic bass. Vocal harmonies are haunting and lyrics flirt with adventure, unease and triumph.

7. Grex (SF) w. Martin Bisi, Valerie Kuehne and Eli Wallace