A jewel of a venue tucked into one of the less-trendy corners of Williamsburg, close by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Rose Live Music celebrates its fifth anniversary this week -- and also its last. The intimate bar and restaurant, located at 345 Grand Street, is set to close at the end of February.

After hundreds of performances of jazz, classical, funk, African, Brazilian and Cuban music, the club is for sale. Its owners are ready to move on to other adventures.

"What do you want to do in this lifetime with the time you have?" asked Carlo Vutera, a Sicilian opera singer who opened the space in 2006 with his sister, Gina Vutera. They named it Rose, after their mother.
[Wall Street Journal]

Say goodbye to Rose Live Music during their final month which includes a Charlie Hunter residency and much more. A couple of flyers below...

Continue reading "Rose Live Music turning 5 and... closing"

by Andrew Frisicano

Ben Perowsky's Moodswing Orchestra w/ TK Wonder

Like the year before it, NYC Winter Jazz Fest 2011 was a hit. Capacity crowds filled the venues on both nights (all together 1,400 on Friday and 2,600 on Saturday), and it'd be hard to find two people who came away seeing the same acts, or with the same impression of the fest. From what I've heard and read of Friday night, the music was stellar, but after LPR closed around 9:30pm for another event the numbers overwhelmed the remaining two spaces, with long lines and many disgruntled jazz-heads.

(Le) Poisson Rouge, the largest of the venues, was crammed full on Saturday for a curious lineup of jam-band jazz (Charlie Hunter), noisy guitar improv + painting (Nels Cline and painter Norton Wisdom) and Steve Coleman & Five Elements (high-strung group improv with vocalist Jen Shyu scatting along). I only stayed for those, before heading to Kenny's Castaways for part of its Search and Restore showcase. Aethereal Bace - drummers Nasheet Waits and Eric Mcpherson, and saxist Abraham Burton - improvised as a duo after Mcpherson didn't show (their tight, restrained set mainly served to make me more curious about the two-drummer set up they usually employ). Talibam!, who followed, were something else entirely: spasmotic punk in jazz clothes. Back at LPR, at this point well after 2am, Ben Perowsky's Moodswing Orchestra backed up MC/singer TK Wonder for a criminally underattended set. Then I ended the night with trumpeter David Weiss's band at Bitter End, which, at 3:45am, it was.

Some pictures of the above-mentioned acts (plus Asphalt Orchestra who made an appearance at LPR) are below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest 2011 in pics & review"

by Andrew Frisicano

The annual NYC Winter Jazz Fest starts tonight (Friday, 1/7) and continues Saturday with shows that go late into both nights at a handful of Greenwich Village venues. Like last year's fest - a huge success that spawned a similar festival in the summer - one pass gets you into any of the venues. All are in close proximity, and show hopping is encouraged. You'll also be rewarded for staying put: Take, for example, Saturday's lineup at LPR, which features two guitar slingers, Charlie Hunter and Nels Cline (as Stained Radiance with painter Norton Wisdom), in consecutive sets. For the number of acts (46 on Saturday night alone) at the price ($25 for one day, $35 for both), the festival is pretty can't lose.

Jazz resource and show promoter Search and Restore has two showcases as part of the fest. They'll be celebrating the fact that their Kickstarter campaign met its $75,000 (!) goal. As a result they'll be launching an ambitious project to film four jazz shows a week over the next year (and post the results online as part of an expanded site). Congrats!

Also this weekend are a set of shows at Cornelia St. Cafe that are also part of the APAP conference (the ostensible reason for the Winter Jazz Fest, the show at City Winery tonight, the show at 92YTribeca tonight, GlobalFEST and others). Your Jazz Fest passes won't work there, but the lineups include Theo Bleckmann/Gary Versace/John Hollenbeck, Jon Irabagon & Mike Pride and Mario Pavone's Totem Quartet.

Saxist Tim Berne, who played Cornelia St. Thursday night with his band Los Totopos, will be at the Stone twice on Saturday. The second set is listed as "Tim Berne Duo," with keyboarist Matt Mitchell, but he mentioned that the whole band (Ches Smith on drums and Oscar Noriega on woodwinds) would be appearing. Mitchell will be at the venue on Sunday night too, to play with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet (who blew away a packed Bitter End at Jazz Fest 2010).

Check out the full Winter Jazz schedule below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest this weekend, shows @ Cornelia St. Cafe & other APAP events"

Shellac @ ATP NY (more by BBG)

today in NYC
* One Ring Zero @ Joe's Pub
* The Black Angels secret show
* Charlie Hunter @ Cameo Gallery
* Blonde Redhead @ Tribeca Grand Hotel
* Hanson, Dan Black @ Roseland Ballroom
* Shellac, Helen Money @ The Bell House
* The Shake, My Dear Disco, Push @ Pianos
* Big Boi, Dr Dog, The Knocks (DJ) @ NYU
* Delicate Steve, Blair, Bluejay @ Union Pool
* Joey Baron and Bill Frisell Duo @ The Stone
* Hank Williams III @ Northern Lights (Clifton Park)
* Pop. 1280, Wizzard Sleeve, Daily Void @ Cake Shop
* Hot Hot Heat, 22-20s, Hey Rosetta @ Bowery Ballroom
* Pennywise, The Riverboat Gamblers @ Starland Ballroom
* The Do, The Paper Raincoat, Aislyn, Papa @ Mercury Lounge
* Dinosaur Feathers, Shark?, I'm Turning Into @ Bruar Falls
* Liquor Store, Heavy Cream, Grooms, Hunters @ Death By Audio
* Happy Birthday, Awesome Tapes From Africa (DJ) @ Brooklyn Bowl (free)
* Ladycop, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers, The Vandelles, Nico's Gun @ Knitting Factory
* Altar w/ Sunn O))) & Boris, BXI (Boris & Ian Astbury), Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple

Tickets are now on sale for all BAM Next Wave Festival shows.

Hanson and Dan Black at Roseland Ballroom tonight is free. Dan Black headlines Bowery Ballroom on Thursday. Both shows are timed for Fashion Week.

And Fashion Week is why Blonde Redhead is playing tonight.

Charlie Hunter begins a residency at Cameo tonight.

Delicate Steve continues their residency at Union Pool tonight.

Hank III does not play in PA tonight as originally scheduled. It's Northern Lights instead, and Music Hall of Williamsburg tomorrow.

A video of Helen Money performing live, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Charlie Hunter - High Pockets and a Fanny Pack (MP3)

Charlie [Hunter] has wrapped up the recording of his next record titled 'Gentlemen, I Neglected To Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid.' The lineup includes Eric Kalb (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, John Scofield) on drums, Curtis Fowlkes (Jazz Passengers, Lounge Lizards, Bill Frisell) and Alan Ferber (Don Byron, Kenny Wheeler) on trombone, and Eric Biondo (Antibalas, TV On The Radio) on trumpet! The official street date for the new album is January 12th!

Guitarist Charlie Hunter's residency at Brooklyn's Rose Live Music starts tonight (1/5) and runs through the month of January. Tickets are on sale. The shows coincide with Hunter's new record Gentlemen, I Neglected To Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid, a track from which is posted above.

Eric Biondo, who plays with Charlie, is also a member of Antibalas, who are continuing their Thursday night residency at Knitting Factory Brooklyn into 2010. They're on the schedule for January 7th (tix), 14th (tix), 21st (tix), and 28th (tix). Members of Antibalas play in the Broadway musical Fela!, which is currently selling tickets into June 2010 (we're rooting for it in light of the news that 10 Broadway shows are closing this month alone)...

...[Fela!]producer Stephen Hendel knows that developing audiences for Fela! isn't going to be easy: He needs to sell three times as many seats a week as he did off-Broadway. So he's enlisted rapper Jay-Z and superstars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith to lend their names as producers. He hopes Fela! will become a hot ticket, like it was off-Broadway.

"Suddenly, we were just sold out," he says. "Celebrities calling every day, world-famous musicians. We had no tickets. We'd squeeze them in."

Jones says he's already hearing good word of mouth when he stands at the back of the theater.

"It's a fun evening," he says. "Even with all the things that go down in that second act, I heard some people describing it as 'uplifting' the other day. Uplifting? Well, it ends with people bringing coffins into the theater, but I guess that's ... I've also heard people say, 'It made me want to go out and be an activist!' Well, that's good." [NPR]

More on Fela! here.

All Charlie Hunter tour dates and album info are below...

Continue reading "Charlie Hunter kicks off Brooklyn residency (w/ new album), Antibalas extends theirs (while Fela! continues on Broadway)"

Since the closing of LES spot Tonic in 2007, The Stone has been one of the venues that's attempted to fill the void left by the experimental-music-friendly space.

Like Tonic did, The Stone frequently brings on guest curators (not coincidentally Stone founder John Zorn was one of Tonic's most regular hosts and played at Tonic's final show). Now, with guitarist Grey Gersten's monthlong May curatorial run ending Sunday, May 31st, former Tonic co-owner Melissa Caruso Scott comes out of booking retirement to take the reigns in programing the first two weeks of June at The Stone.

Speaking about her choices Scott said, "These artists played some of my favorite Tonic shows and I can't wait to see them again." Her picks include Japanese musician Yuka Honda, who's also playing a Summerstage show with Mike Watt, guitarist Charlie Hunter, Elysian Fields, Vernon Reid, Joan as Polcewoman, cellist Erik Friedlander, and more. Her full schedule is posted below.

Speaking of Friendlander, he plays on Yoko Ono's new DON'T STOP ME! EP (out June 9th Via iTunes Exclusive Digital Download), and you can also catch him live on June 5th along with saxophone player Colin Stetson at the Abrons Art Space Recital Hall. The show is presented by The Manhattan New Music Project, and tickets are on sale.

Before the time of both Tonic and The Stone, the original Knitting Factory on Houston Street featured an ecclectic mix of avant and experimental music (frequently with Zorn and others). The co-founder of that venue, show promoter and current owner of City Winery Michael Dorf, will curate the second half of the June at The Stone.

Acts on his schedule include Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers (who have completed their Pianos residency and are also playing Citysol), Ethan Iverson (of the Bad Plus) with saxist Tim Berne, and Marc Ribot, the guitarist who's had considerable presence at each of the aforementioned venues -- gigging regularly at the Knit on Houston St, getting arrested for protesting the closure of Tonic, and hosting several nights of his 55th-birthday retrospective at The Stone in mid-May.

Check out the full June schedule for The Stone, below...

Continue reading "Tonic owner returns, joins City Winery's Michael Dorf to curate John Zorn's club The Stone in June - full lineup"