by Andrew Frisicano

As announced a few months ago, the four-night Undead Jazz Fest kicks off tonight (6/23) with music at Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall and Kenny's Castaways. The format is similar to that of the Winter Jazz fest (and the inaugural Undead fest last year): one ticket that covers entry to a handful of neighboring venues. This year, each night offers something a little different.

Thursday night the venues are in Greenwich Village and music include Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Dave King Trucking Company, Gerald Clayton and Alan Licht & Brian Chase. Friday night features a "round robin of improvised duets" at the Bell House. Scheduled participants for that are: "David Torn, Elliot Sharp, Jim Black, Erik Friedlander, Dean Bowman, Chris Lightcap, Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs!), David King (Bad Plus!), Darius Jones, Chris Speed, Jamie Saft, Chris Dingman, Eivind Opsvik, Charlie Burnham, Marco Cappelli and Kirk Knuffke."

Saturday the music will be in the Gowanus/Park Slope area (at Littlefield and unconventional spots Homage Skateboard Training Facility and Cross Fit) where you'll be able to see Elliott Sharp (playing Thelonious Monk), David S. Ware, the Darius Jones Trio and more, all on the same Degraw Street block.

Sunday, the music (a super-varied lineup that includes The Claudia Quintet, Peter Brotzmann's FULL BLAST, Bobby Previte Quartet, Erik Friedlander and UB313 with Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen) is in Williamsburg, split between four stages at three venues: Public Assembly, Cubana Social and the Cameo.

Tickets for all days are still available, including four-day and two-day tix.

There are copies of the Undead Jazz Fest Review floating around town that come with an excellent sampler CD, which you can stream below.

We should note that last week, the New York Times published news about an online petition asking for an increase in musician pay for the Undead and Winter Jazz Fests. Initially, it was unclear whether that situation would affect this year's festival (some of the signees are scheduled to perform), but the organizers of the petition have since clarified some points, mainly that they support this year's fest and that they didn't mean for the press to find out about what they thought was a private email, but that they're hoping to negotiate for a pay raise at future fests. Some more info on that is below, if you're interested...

Now that that's out of the way... the fest recently put together a trailer containing one second of music from each artist on the bill. That and the full schedule are below...

Continue reading "Undead Jazz Fest begins (full schedule, an event trailer & a small controversy included)"

Founded in June 2010 the Undead Jazzfest is new kind of festival, bringing together an incredible array of artists from the new jazz and improvised music community currently exploding in New York City. With no headliners, affordable tickets, unorthodox venues and no drink minimums, the Undead Jazzfest aims to shake the public perception of what jazz can be today, celebrating the incredible music being made in a setting that is inviting to both the veterans and curious new fans.

Encompassing eleven venues over its four days (6/23 - 6/26), the Undead Jazzfest will feature appearances from more than 50 bands including names like Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Mountains and many others. The full list of participating bands is below. Four day passes are on sale for $45 until 4/28. The price increases to $50 after.

Undead Jazzfest is also responsible for curating another show outside of said festival, this one going down at Central Park Summerstage on June 11th with Medeski Martin & Wood, Josh Roseman's King Froopy All Stars and Jim Black's AlasNoAxis. It's one of many free 2011 Summerstage shows that have been announced.

AND, Undead Jazz presents a show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (4/25) with Orchestre National de Jazz with Daniel Yvinec and John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble with special guests Theo Bleckmann , Kate McGarry and Uri Caine. Undead Jazz also presents Todd Sickafoose's Tiny Resistors and Mary Halvorson Trio at the same venue on May 18th.

Full Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup below.

Continue reading "Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup announced, tix on sale now, and other related shows too"

If you've got some extra cash lying around, want to give to a good cause, want to help Elliot Sharp celebrate his 60th birthday in a very special way, and don't already have a ticket, note: limited VIP tickets will be available at the door of tonight's E#@60 event at Issue Project Room's 110 Livingston space. If you can't make it to the BrooklynVegan-sponsored shindig but you're free Saturday, grab a ticket now for the second part of the celebration which goes down at the (OA) Can Factory.

"Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He pioneered the use of a lap top computer in live performance with his Virtual Stance project of the 1980s. He has used algorithms and fibonacci numbers in experimental composition since at least 1987. He has cited literature as an inspiration for his music and often favors improvisation. He is an inveterate performer, playing mainly guitar, saxophone and bass clarinet. Sharp has led many ensembles over the years, including the blues-oriented Terraplane and Orchestra Carbon." [Wikipedia]

Experimental/avant-garde musician Elliott Sharp will celebrate his 60th birthday in the best way possible, by giving back to the musical community. On March 4th, three days after his actual birthday, he'll perform multiple pieces with help from Jo Andres (film), Steve Buscemi (text and narrative), and JACK Quartet and Sirius Quartet. "

E#@60" is taking place at Issue Project Room's new location (110 Livingston), and the show is a benefit for IPR, a nonprofit and an important pillar of experimental/innovative music in our community. All proceeds will go towards "ISSUE's year-round critically acclaimed programs supporting hundreds of artists in the creation and presentation of groundbreaking new work." Tickets are on sale in various levels, including tax-deductible access to a VIP coctail reception with Jo Andres, Steve Buscemi, Jack Womack, and Tracie Morris.

BrooklynVegan is a proud sponsor of this event.

More details on the show and a stream of Eliott Sharp's Syndakit is below.

Continue reading "Elliott Sharp turning 60, celebrating at Issue Project Room (with Steve Buscemi, JACK Quartet, Jo Andres & more)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Grouper @ Terminal 5 in May 2009 (more by Natasha Ryan)

So we managed to sneak into Grouper's rare Brooklyn gig on Friday night and still aren't sure what we witnessed over the course of her main 60-minute set. (She also presented a new tape collage piece.) To be honest, the entire thing looked/sounded incredibly creepy, as if one of The Shining's redrum-happy twins suddenly learned how to sculpt dronescapes and acoustic something-or-others from an ancient keyboard and several effects pedals. It didn't help that the room was humid as hell--literally--with Issue Project Room's single, solitary fan getting switched off in the middle of the first 'song' because it was interfering with Liz Harris' signal. [self-titled]

Grouper's Friday, June 4th show at Issue Project Room was one of the events that opened the venue's Darmstadt series, which pairs new and old boundary-crossing music and art over the month of June.

Coming up, Matt Mottel (Issue's artist-in-residence) brings his jazz duo Talibam! to the venue for a free performance on Wednesday, June 9th. On Friday, June 11th, composer and tape artist William Basinski presents his piece "Vivian and Ondine" at a free show at 110 Livingston (Issue's new being-remodeled space).

Man Forever (Kid Millions from Oneida's new composition for multiple rock drummers) performs with composer/musicians Elliott Sharp, Zeena Parkins, Frank Vigroux and Hélène Breschand on June 25th. Tickets are on sale. Man Forever have a new record almost out, and the project will be touring this summer.

The self-titled debut - two monolithic, hypnotic improvisations for arrays of carefully tuned drums- is due out [June 22nd] in an edition of 300 LPs featuring hand-pulled screens on recycled record jackets from Jagjaguwar vinyl imprint St. Ives. The touring quintet of Kid Millions, YEAH YEAH YEAHS drummer Brian Chase, Oneida cohort and KNYFE HYTS drummer Shahin Motia, drummer Allison Busch of AWESOME COLOR, and SIGHTINGS bassist Richard Hoffman, will be augmented by local percussionists in each city.

(Oneida has a new record, Absolute II , due too.)

Man Forever plays tonight (June 8th) at the Tank with Dump (James McNew of Yo La Tengo), M&M and the New York debut of the Sloppy Heads (who have a new Kid Milions-produced 7", First Gasp, which you can download here as a ZIP). That show has tickets on sale.

Man Forever also headline a Monster Island show on Friday, June 11th.

The night after Man Forever at Issue - Zs, who just put out a new record, play Issue with sound/multimedia artist David Linton (on Saturday, June 26th).

Separate from Darmstadt is the venue's ISSUE Project Room's Sunday Concerts in the Courtyard series that'll be bringing a Sunday, June 27th lineup of Omar Souleyman (who plays Central Park the day before with Tinariwen) and CSC Funk Band (featured here) to the Old American Can Factory courtyard. Tickets are on sale. The other shows in that series are posted below.

On top of all that, Issue will be participating in the two-venue, 65th-birthday celebration for improv legend Anthony Braxton (father of Tyondai from Battles) happening on June 18 and 19th. It's at (Le) Poisson Rouge on the 18th and Issue on the 19th. Details, tickets links and video are below.

The full Issue/Darmstadt schedule, video from Zs' Gulf Coast benefit show at Shea Stadium on June 2nd, and more are posted below...

Continue reading "Darmstadt continues @ Issue Project Room, Man Forever, Zs, James McNew, Omar Souleyman & Anthony Braxton's birthday"

by Andrew Frisicano

"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Marc Ribot (but were afraid to ask)" is the first of the Stone's new Monday night seminar series and, as previously mentioned, it happens tonight (1/4). The first 13 of those events, which the venue describes as "a special series of workshops, lectures, seminars and Q&As on a variety of fascinating subjects by some of the world's most unique, cutting edge musical thinkers," are laid out below and cover a huge spectrum of musicians and topics.

Ribot will be performing as part of the NY Guitar Festival on January 14th (doing a live improvised score to Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid") and playing with his stellar group Ceramic Dog on February 2nd at (Le) Poisson Rouge (with Skeletons, who played NYE and New Year's Day shows at Zebulon, opening). Tickets for the LPR show, which is also part of the NY Guitar Fest (more on that later), are on sale.

Another interesting, very different Q&A event is also coming up. On February 23rd, Santos Party House will host "Ask Andrew W.K. Anything: An intimate evening of unpredictable performance." Presumably the event is being held to further address the internet rumor that Andrew W.K. is an actor who plays the part of Andrew WK. Tickets are on sale. In other news, he's re-releasing his formerly-import-only-record Close Calls With Brick Walls with a new "lost" disc Mother of Mankind on February 23rd, and he's on this year's Warped Tour.

More info on the Andrew W.K. event and the Stone's seminar series are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot & Andrew W.K. answer your questions and other upcoming events (The Stone, Santos, LPR & more)"

by Andrew Frisicano

two of these three guys will be there (one w/ Jenny Scheinman, also on the cover)

NYC's Winter Jazz Fest will be happening Friday, January 8th and Saturday, January 9th at a handful of Village venues. Both nights include more than a few worth-while acts (Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Jamie Saft's Whoopie Pie, Vijay Iyer Trio, Jenny Scheinman & Jason Moran, the late-night triple-play of Mary Halvorson, Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition and Tyshawn Sorrey Guitar Trio). Tickets for Friday-only and Saturday-only are on sale, and two-day passes are available too. The full schedule is below...

Continue reading "NYC Winter Jazz Festival - January 2010 @ various venues "

P.S.1 has announced the lineup for its annual series of Saturday afternoon dance parties in Long Island City. Last year's program featured live music and DJ sets by James Murphy, James Chance & the Contortions and Tony Conrad to name a few.

This year, we get the Arthur Russell ensemble Arthur's Landing, Talibam! and The Phenomenal Handclap Band (on the same bill), Xeno & Oaklander, Growing, Glenn Branca and more. Full schedule, and more info, below...

Continue reading "PS1 'Warm Up' 2009 - Long Island City music series lineup"

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"