Music listings – 2/6 through 2/12

Lost In The Stacks

Date: Saturday, February 11, 2012
Time: 9pm
Venue: Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe (236 East 3rd Street Between Ave B & C)
Ticket: $10
Genre: jazz/blues/pop

Born in 2004 as a 7-piece with a different rhythm section, Brooklyn Public Library’s own Lost In The Stacks now plays all over Brooklyn and beyond as a dynamic 10-piece unit. In addition to an expanding number of originals, LITS plays many rock, pop, and jazz standards in their own unique style.

They’re pleased to announce their CD release show at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe on Saturday. They’ll be playing most of their new CD, as well as some of our other favorites, and probably at least one new tune. They’re also looking into having a to-be-determined special guest play with them.

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CD Review: Brandon Terzic’ Xalam Project

Artist: Brandon Terzic Xalam Project
Title: s/t
Label: self released
Genre: arabic jazzy fusion

Review by Dawoud Kringle

Earthy notes spill from an oud, like raindrops on ancient wood. A saxophone seeks out an exotic note somewhere between an equally tempered E and an Eb, and seduces it into a counter melody. The two voices converse, sharing each other’s ideas and passions. Percussions hang ornaments in the air, and the bass reaches under this dancing visceral language between two cultures, and lifts it into flight. Eventually, the oud asserts itself and makes a final statement.

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Music listings – 1/30 through 2/5

4. Hossein Alizadeh and Pejman Hadadi: Monad آن و آن

Date: Friday, February 3, 2012
Time: 8pm & 10pm
Venue: Asia Society (725 Park Avenue, New York)
Ticket: $30
Genre: Persian classical music

The legendary Hossein Alizadeh, composer, tar and setar player, and renowned percussionist/tombak player Pejman Hadadi come together to share and perform an evening of passionate and meditative improvisations in Persian classical music. The concert title is inspired by the two artists’ extraordinary collaborative CD by the same name released in 2009.

This program is part of Asia Society’s ongoing initiative Creative Voices of  Muslim Asia, made possible by support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

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Opera review: Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the South? Vidas Perfectas (Perfect Lives)

Date: December 15, 2011
Venue:  Brooklyn’s Irondale Center
Photos by Phillip Stearns
Review by Augusta Palmer

Alex Waterman’s production of Vidas Perfectas is a new Spanish translation of Robert Ashley’s 1979 opera, Perfect Lives. It’s a Buddhist soap opera, a series of visual and vocal images simultaneously held together and pulled apart by illusion.

In addition to the eloquence of the libretto, a recent performance at the Irondale Center in Fort Greene brought together an amazing cast of characters. Ned Sublette’s Raoul de Noget was an incredible creature, a lounge lizard dressed in black, never obscured by the brim of his Stetson but casting a large shadow with his physical presence and his voice. Elio Villafranca coaxed beautiful sounds out of the piano at center stage, embodying more than merely playing the role of Buddy, The World’s Greatest Piano Player. Ably supported by Elisa Santiago and Abraham Gomez-Delgado as a chorus of other roles, de Noget and Buddy propel us through a series of worlds.

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Special women around us: Meshell Ndegeocello KCRW broadcast of LIVE in studio performance on ‘MORNING BECOMES ECLECTIC’

Text by Kim Smith

Just couldn’t help myself – had to send this performance from Jan 5, 2012 through to you. So inspiring. Just a glimpse of what Meshell has been getting into + a nice way to go through her latest gift to us, the album, WEATHER. Hope you enjoy as much as I did. – Love, Kim

Recommended post: Special women around us: Meditations on Meshell Ndegeocello by Dawoud Kringle