Music Listings – 9/30 through 10/6/2013

1. Timo Vollbrecht NY & Drew Williams Nonet

Date: Monday, September 30, 2013
Time: 8pm & 9pm
Venue: LaunchPad (721 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11238)
Ticket: $5
Genre: jazz

8pm – The four jazz musicians who sign under the name of the Timo Vollbrecht New York Group are passionate improvising artists. This explains the diverse, dynamic and at the same time constantly creative musical style of this New York based group. The musicians, who come from different continents, bring their cultural backgrounds to the bandstand in order to collectively explore the unknown. Melodic elements from classical music merge with the colorful harmonies and intricate rhythms of jazz, creating a vibrant, genuine sound.
They were brought together by the city of New York: Here, German saxophonist Timo Vollbrecht and Berliner guitarist of Japanese origin Keisuke Matsuno met bassist Sam Anning (Australia) and drummer Jason Burger (USA). Their high quality of musicianship, as well as the looseness with which they improvise, make this band a powerful cultural cocktail that captivates the audience from the first note on.

Timo Vollbrecht, who is one of Germany’s most important up-and-coming voices in jazz, studied with Mark Turner and performed alongside Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner and Brian Lynch. He won numerous awards and appeared on important stages such as the Blue Note Jazz Club New York or Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The members: Keisuke Matsuno – guitar, Sam Anning – bass, Jason Burger – drums and Timo Vollbrecht – sax plus guest appearance by the vibraphonist Chris Dingman.

9pm – The Drew Williams Nonet (www.williamsdrew.com) plays creative, original music that encompasses the loose improvisational elements from jazz with the progressive abandon of modern concert music. They will be joined by the great saxophonist Timo Vollbrecht and his NY Group.

Drew Williams Nonet:
Drew Williams-Bass Clarinet
John Blevins-Trumpet
Charlotte Greve-Alto Saxophone
Eric Trudel-Tenor Saxophone
Nick Grinder-Trombone
Keisuke Matsuno-Guitar
Marta Sánchez-Piano
Jesse Bielenberg-Acoustic Bass
Nathan Ellman-bell-Drums

2. Kaveh Haghtalab with guest Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (from SoSaLa)

Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Time: 8:30pm til 9:30
Venue: Cafe Nadery – Manhattan (16 W8th Street, New York, New York 10011)
Ticket: donation
Genre: Persian classical music/nu Iranian music

Kaveh Haghtalab on kemancheh and guest musician Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (member of SoSaLa) on tenor sax and soprano sax.

Kaveh Haghtalab,Iranian kemancheh player and drummer, grew up listening to his parents playing Persian classical music. His mother taught him music when he was 9 and he started to play kemancheh when he was 11. He started to perform professionally at concerts and festivals in Iran with various music ensembles when he was 14.  He studied kemancheh under two masters Saeed Farajpoori and Ahmad Mirhashemi. Later he studied under supervision of ostad Majid Kiani which was a significant turning point in his life. Later he became a member of the music ensemble “Center for Preservation and Research of Iranian Music.”
As a drummer he has worked with different bands and musicians in Iran. He holds a bachelor degree in computer engineering. He lives now in New York and studies the drums at “The Collective School of music”.

Kaveh is going to play on the kemancheh in the first set. And in the second set he invited Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi to play with him on three of Sohrab’s compositions.

3. Leni Stern

Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Time: 7pm
Venue: Barbes (376 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Ticket: $10
Genre: west African pop

LENI STERN.  An acclaimed guitarist and vocalist  brings her African music ensemble to Barbés. 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 (guitar & vocals), Mamadou Ba (bass), Yacouba Sissoko (cora), and Makan Kouyate (percussion)

4. Oded Tzur/Johanna Warren/Valerie Kuehne/Mark Rogers & Mary Byrne/Christopher Paul Stelling

Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Panoply Performance Laboratory (104 Meserole Street, Brooklyn, New York 11206)
Ticket: t.b.a.
Genre: a night of jazz, performance art and singer-song writers
The line up:

Oded Tzur  (Israeli sax player based in NY)
Johanna Warren (singer-song writer)
Valerie Kuehne (Valerie Kuehne is a cross-pollinated work of chaos. Fusing together music, performance art, narrative, and experimental curation, she has been told that, “if this music thing doesn’t work out, she’d probably make an awesome cult leader.” (Boston Public Space).
Mark Rogers & Mary Byrne (Folk / Neo-Folk/Indie Americana / Alternative Folk/Indie Folk/Alternative Singer-Son)
the songs of christopher paul stelling (“The musical storytelling of Christopher Paul Stelling embodies a long road full of lush folkloric, mythological and religious imagery.” – WNYC)

5. Sean Conly: TRUE NORTH

Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: The Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., NY, NY 10014)
Ticket: $10
Genre: jazz

Bassist/composer Sean Conly, will premier his new project “TRUE NORTH” featuring stellar pianist Kris Davis and the spectacular drummer Tom Rainey. They will be playing all new pieces written for the occasion as their musical compass , and as a starting point for the new group’s journeys.

SEAN CONLY: TRUE NORTH is: Sean Conly, bass; Kris Davis, piano and Tom Rainey, drums

6. Gian Luigi (sitar) + Jonathan Singer (tabla)

Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Time: 5pm – 7pm
Venue: Rubin Museum (150 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011,  212-620-5000)
Ticket: free
Genre: Indian classical music

G. L. Diana is a sitar player based in New York. He lived for more than 6 years in India studying sitar and vocal Dhrupad style in Vrindavana, Uttar Pradesh and has been studying for 4 years under the guidance of the world renowned sitar master Ustad Shahid Parvez.

Included among the Village Voice’s “Best of New York,” percussionist Jonathan Singer has been praised for his “superb four-mallet technique” (New York Times).

7. Go: Organic Orchestra – Sonic Mandala [CD Release]

Date:  Thursday October 3, 2013
Time:  8pm
Venue: The Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217)
Ticket: $20
Genre: jazz

Go: Organic Orchestra, the dream project of composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph, marks the release of their long-awaited debut studio recording, Sonic Mandala on Meta Records, with a blow out celebration concert. A 33-player orchestra that covers an astounding number of instruments, everything from the Malian hunter’s harp and bamboo trumpets to the Fender Rhodes and the Japanese noh-kan flute, Go: Organic Orchestra emphasizes the healing power of improvised music with an emphasis on percussion traditions from across the globe. A testament of a long-standing musical association among like-minded musicians who are multigenerational and international, this performance ofSonic Mandala encompasses the Orchestra’s deep engagement with world traditions and their deeper devotion to a community through shared creative expression.

8. Iron Dog/Superlith/Louise DE Eckhardt

Date: Thursday October 3, 2013
Time: 8pm
Venue: Panoply Performance Laboratory (104 Meserole Street, Brooklyn, New York 11206)
Ticket: $5 – $15
Genre: soundscapes/electronics/saxophon music

IRON DOG  creates spontaneous soundscapes where minimalist structures erupt into psychedelic onslaughts. Sarah Bernstein imparts enigmatic spoken word and violin distortions, Stuart Popejoy maneuvers synthesizer and bass collisions, and Andrew Drury commands a sonic sphere of drums and manipulated materials. The Brooklyn-based trio has been together since 2009, and has released two albums: Field Recordings 1 (2010), and Interactive Album Rock (2012).
http://irondogmusic.com/

Trombonist Dan Blacksberg (who has performed with Anthony Braxton Quartet and Archer Spade with Nick Millevoi) and Casio keyboard modifier Julius Masri (Electric Simcha, Avant-rock band Lionshead, and the out-improv Keir Neuringer/Julius Masri Duo) formed Superlith, an experimental musical duo based out of Philadelphia. Blacksberg works to push the trombone to its limits as an unlikely pair to the circuit bent sounds of Masri’s Casios. They recently released their first album Plasma Clusters, comprised of five songs blending harsh noise, drones, rhythmic counterpoints and occasional melodies. Their improvisational efforts have been honred from years of playing together (preiously in the Hasidic punk band, Electric Simcha). Live, they provide an uncanny experience where the unlikely pairing of trombone and electric noise begin to blend and meld together. As reviewed by Something Else: “Just when you think you’ve heard it all – literally – some really crafty cats come along and create sounds that hadn’t quite been previously contemplated.”
http://superlith.bandcamp.com/

Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, a native of Sønderjylland, has led an uncompromising career that has taken her abroad to Amsterdam, Berlin and New York. She continues her relentless quest for brutal honesty and innovative artistic vision around the world, as well as in her native Sønderjylland. Utilizing her voice, flute and sometimes electronics in addition to her primary instrument, the saxophone, she is best known for her duo The Home of Easy Credit with her husband Tom Blancarte, her new post no-wave improv quartet Sweet Banditry, her introspective solo performances, as well as work with musicians such as Mike Pride, Tim Dahl, Michael Evans, Han Earl Park and Weasel Walter.

9. BIG LAZY

Date: Thursday October 3, 2013
Time: 10pm
Venue: Barbes (376 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY)
Ticket: $10
Genre: noir, spaghetti western, Lynch and Tarentino soundtracks, crime jazz and burlesque music

BIG LAZY. is an instrumental trio from New York City. ‘The Big Apple’s Creme de la Creme’ according to the Village Voice. “The elegantly gritty trio plays stunningly beautiful music that evokes everything from trucker’s romps to the haunting film scores of Bernard Hermann”, says the New Yorker. References have been made to noir, spaghetti western, Lynch and Tarentino soundtracks, crime jazz and burlesque but Big Lazy’s organic and uncontrived music remains beyond category.

10. Renegade Sufi

Date: Saturday, October 5, 2013
Time: 7pm
Venue:  Alphabet Lounge (104 Avenue C  Manhattan, NY 10009)
Ticket: $ t.b.a.
Genre: sitar-based electronic jazz

Dawoud; sitar & dilruba, Holly Cordero; bass, and Jimmy Lopez; percussion

Renegade Sufi plays a singular blend of sitar-based electronic jazz. Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Dawoud—who has performed and recorded with such artists as Lauryn Hill, James Blood Ulmer, and Nona Hendryx—the group expands upon classical raga with otherworldly electronics, hypnotic drum loops, and free-jazz-style improvisation to produce deep, trancelike grooves. He will be joined by Jimmy Lopez on percussion and Holly Cordero (bass).

11. Aparna Ramaswamy

Date: Saturday, October 5, 2013
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts (3 Spruce Street,New York, NY 10038)
Ticket: $25, 35 & 40
Genre: Indian dance and music

Curated by Livesounds.org

Aparna Ramaswamy’s choreography and performance have been described as “a marvel of buoyant agility and sculptural clarity” (Dance Magazine), “thrillingly three-dimensional,” and “enchantingly beautiful,” (The New York Times). Ms. Ramaswamy, a protégé of legendary Bharatanatyam artist Alamel Valli, will perform Sannidhi, illuminating the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine whose timeless duality forms the continuous pulse of the universe. In five sections, this work weaves together music and movement, rhythm and lyric, spirit and emotion, creating an invisible link between dancer, musicians and audience. A must see!

12. CHERYL PYLE & CLAIRE DE BRUNNER DUO

Date: Sunday, October 6, 2013
Time: 7pm
Venue: ABC No Rio (156 Rivington Street between Norfolk and Suffolk, Lower East Side. F train to Delancey)
Ticket: sliding scale $5 to $20
Genre: jazz/free jazz/experimental/improv

CHERYL PYLE  on flute and CLAIRE DE BRUNNER on bassoun.

12. TYSHAWN SOREY QUARTET

Date:  Sunday, October 6, 2013
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: The Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., NY, NY 10014)
Ticket: $20
Genre: jazz

Angelica Sanchez, piano;  Jeremy Viner, clarinet, alto saxophone;  Ben Gerstein, trombone;  Tyshawn Sorey, drums

The music we will perform on this night are excerpts from an extended work-in-progress.