Nels Cline's Stained Radiance at Winter Jazz Fest 2011 (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Winter Jazz Fest is returning to NYC in 2012 and will take place in multiple Greenwich Village venues from January 6-7 including Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, Kenny's Castaways, Zinc Bar, and The Bitter End. Artists performing this year include Bill Laswell, DJ Spinna, John Medeski, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Nels Cline Singers, Vijay Iyer Trio, Tyshawn Sorey, Mary Halvorson, Bernie Worrell, Marco Benevento, Jenny Scheinman, and many more. Two day passes and single day tickets are on sale now. There is also a kickoff show happening at Le Poisson Rouge on January 5 with Medeski / Skerik / Deitch, Red Baraat, and Marc Ribot's Young Philadelphians. You can also purchase a pass that includes a ticket for this show plus the two day festival pass (it's a little confusing, but if you click through on each LPR ticket link, you'll see the various options for each one).

The full schedule is below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest 2012 (January 5-7 in NYC)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

"Gene Ween closed the night with a set that boasted numerous Ween songs as well as a cover of Fiddler on the Roof's "If I Were a Rich Man" that featured the house group's string section. In addition to the show's house band, Ween's set featured accompaniment from longtime Ween bassist Dave Dreiwitz." [jambands.com]

First of all, sorry for the delay in this post - I was originally waiting for some video (coming soon!), and then I just fell behind. Second of all, the first-ever edition of Noncerts back on February 20th was a magical night of music at Cameo in Brooklyn with special sets by Gene Ween, Hamilton Leithauser, David Dondero, and Dave Godowsky, not to mention the 10-piece rotating house band full of acclaimed musicians who have played with everyone from Jay-Z to Bon Iver to Yo-Yo Ma. Plus, all proceeds form the show are being given to music funding at public schools in Brooklyn.

Stay tuned for video and audio, and for the lineup of the next Noncert (date TBA), but for now check out the full setlist and more pictures from the first one, below...

Continue reading "Noncerts #1 pics & setlist (Gene Ween, Hamilton Leithauser, David Dondero, Dave Godowsky & more)"

"Noncerts is a charity-based concert series in Brooklyn, NY. The idea is to bring together some of the finest musicians in the area to back-up prominent songwriters, putting established artists in a unique musical environment while encouraging community and collaboration."

BrooklynVegan is proud to be on board as co-presenter of this new series conceived by Dave Godowsky who is also performing at the inaugural event on February 20th at Cameo Gallery alongside David Dondero, Gene Ween, and Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen! Those great men will be backed by an unbelievable house band comprised of Pico Alt, CJ Camerieri, Dave Godowsky, Jesse Harris, Marika Hughes, Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, Ben Lester, Eivind Opsvik, Jenny Scheinman, and Doug Wieselman! It will be a special night, with all the money going to charity, and tickets are on sale now.

Stay tuned for more future Noncerts announcements. More Walkmen tour dates HERE.

Continue reading "introducing NONCERTS (tickets on sale now for Gene Ween & Hamilton Leithauser show at Cameo)"

"Recorded in Berkeley (Fantasy Studios) and San Francisco (Cafe Du Nord), this is a heapin' helpin' of The Singers: a studio and a 'live' disc. The studio disc sees us moving into some decidedly different terrain. I actually use my voice (wordlessly) on some tracks, Devin plays bass guitar... All hell has broken loose! There are special guests, even! The studio disc features David Witham and Yuka Honda on keyboards. The 'live' disc features Satomi Matsuzaki, Greg Saunier, and John Dieterich (AKA three fourths of Deerhoof) on percussion (on a blazing and/or totally indulgent version of Weather Report's "Boogie Woogie Waltz"). Produced by David Breskin and recorded and mixed by Ron Saint Germain, this is either the most friendly Singers recording to date or the most antisocial, depending on who you are and what you expect. The package features beautiful photographs of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN by Simon Norfolk throughout (as well as some 'live' shots from the Cafe Du Nord gig by Peak), so all in all you know this is another Cryptogramophone production of visionary packaging excellence. And you might like the music, too.

You can pre-order the CD online now at Indiejazz.com or check out the special BUNDLE offer (w/ CD, shirt & tote bag) here!" [Nels Cline] [

The Nels Cline Singers are on tour in support of the above-described double album, and they play two shows at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC tonight (7/6). From there they head to Philly and DC before Nels returns to NYC or a five-night stand at the Village Vanguard with Jenny Scheinman. On July 19th Nels will be speaking "about music, guitars and life" at The Stone. Also, not listed on Nels' tour dates, but I noticed he'll be sitting in with Jim Campilongo at the Living Room one day this month too.

Deerhoof, who you can see above contributed to the new live album, will be in NYC on Sunday, 7/11, as part of a collaboration with Xiu Xiu. All Nels' official dates below...

Continue reading "the Nels Cline Singers are on tour, Nels also appears soon @ Village Vanguard, the Stone, Living Room & more (dates)"

By Andrew Frisicano

Jenny Scheinman & Jason Moran @ Winter Jazz Fest @ LPR

Winter Jazz Fest 2010 brought a diverse lineup of contemporary jazz to six Greenwich Village venues on Friday, January 8th and Saturday, Jan. 9th. The sheer number of compelling acts in one place made the fest a great primer for anyone interested the current state of the scene (a topic many of the reviews have addressed). By all accounts it was a big success, with an engaged and diverse crowd turning out. The gigs I went to were all well-attended, mostly-standing affairs (NY Times reports 2,500 attendees at the fest's sold-out Saturday night). The tight schedule (short 40-minute sets) and the closeness of the venues gave a definite festival atmosphere to the shows (like the LES during CMJ). Though some venues had lines waiting to get in (like the cozy Zinc Bar), it was still totally possible to see who you wanted to with a little planning. At each show I managed to find spots close to the stage as the previous crowd shuffled to their next destination.

On Saturday I got a late start and still caught six sets: Jenny Scheinman & Jason Moran at LPR, Claudia Quintet with Gary Versace at the Bitter End, Vijay Iyer Trio at LPR, and Mary Halvorson, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Tyshawn Sorey's bands, all trios, at Kenny's Castaways.

Tonight (1/19) you can catch Vijay Iyer and some of the other Winter Jazz Fest names (Lionel Loueke, Dr. Lonnie Smith) at (Le) Poisson Rouge's jazz-based Haiti benefit concert. The lineup (with special guests TBA) includes organizers Groove Collective, DJ Logic, Bernie Worrell, Roy Hargrove, Yatande Bwakaiman Vodou Drums and Swiss Chris, plus Loueke with Richard Bona, Smith and Iyer. Tickets are on sale. Proceeds go to Haiti Action, Hands Together, The Lambi Fund of Haiti and Grassroots International.

Benefits are also happening this month at City Winery and The Bell House.

Pictures of the above-mentioned WJF acts, videos and more words about the music are below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest 2010 in pics & words ++ LPR jazz Haiti Benefit (with some of the same people) tonight"

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 "

by Andrew Frisicano

'Michelle' Watt w/ Black Fag 1/29/09...

Mike Watt is a musician seemingly without ego. He'll share a stage with anyone, and does - his upcoming dates have the bassist in no less than half a dozen settings. As you can see above, Watt even sat in on guest vocals with SoCal's Black Fag ('An absolutely FABULOUS tribute to Black Flag'). The group writes...

For those who haven't heard, Black Fag has extended an open invitation to all former members of Black Flag to join us on stage for a song of their choice at any of our shows.

The only requirement: they must perform in drag!

Mike Watt was never an official member of Black Flag, but his musical history is so intertwined with Black Flag's that we consider him an honorary member, so when we found out he'd be on the bill that night we contacted him to see if he would want to be the first to accept our invitation.

See a video of Watt + Black Fag taking on "Police Story," below.

Mike Watt was recently in NYC for the "Double Nickels on the Dime" 25th Anniversary Party at the Bowery Poetry Club on Saturday, July 25th. At the variety-style show he played a selection of the band's songs on bass and did poetic reading (appropriate in light of the venue) of Minutemen lyrics. See videos of both below.

This Saturday, August 1st, he'll be debuting Floored By Four, his band with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Cibo Matto multi-instrumentalist Yuka Honda and ex-Lounge Lizard/"downtown" drummer Dougie Bowne. M. Ward headlines.

Nels is another musician who gets around quite a bit. Last night (July 30th) he was at the Stone in a trio called The BBC with Tim Berne on saxophone and Jim Black on drums (check out their initials for a clue about the name ).

"...Cline had a neat trick wherein he looped a watery guitar part through his electronic setup, and then used an octave pedal to get a distorted bass sound out of his guitar that he proceeded to play live over the loop. At other times, he went from solo line noodling to crunchy, unpredictable time-signature riffing that still kept heads bobbin'. There was flow there. Occasionally he had a scratch palette like Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, but instead of Bomb Squad-style guitar turntablism, it was spazzy like Christian Marclay. Meantime, Berne mostly kept to a subtle supporting role, coming out front most nakedly during the quiet interludes of the hour-long piece. Hopefully someone recorded this beast of a thing." [The Awl]

On August 4th, he'll be playing with NYC violinist Jenny Scheinman's Mischief and Mayhem, as a quartet with Jim Black (again) on drums and Matt Penman on bass. Tickets for that are still on sale.

The show will be your last chance to catch Cline on his current run of NYC engagements. It'll also be your last chance to catch Scheinman for a while, as she'll be taking a break to have a child (that's due a little more than a month after the gig). Best wishes to her!

Check out the above-mentioned Watt videos, all Watt/Cline tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Mike Watt w / Black Fag, Bowery Poetry, Summerstage Saturday, Nels Cline & a very pregnant Jenny Scheinman"

Jeff Tweedy @ Beacon High School (more by Eric Townsend)

"Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy gave fans a scare Saturday night at the recently refurbished Fox Theater in Pomona when he declared, 12 songs into the band's set, that the Chicago-based act was "approaching the end of an era," and promised more details later.

Those aren't words to be taken lightly for Wilco followers. Depending on who's doing the counting, the group has had as many as six different eras since releasing its country-obsessed 1995 debut, "A.M." Yet its audience has remained loyal through a host of lineup changes, Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt being the only constants in Wilco's career.

While the comment raised concerns about a future without, say, the participation of local guitar slinger Nels Cline or rhythmic contortionist Glenn Kotche, the truth turned out to be nothing so worrisome. After 45 minutes, Tweedy revealed only that multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone was turning 40." [LA Times]

The 25-song setlist from Saturday night's show is below.

"Due to production changes, field tickets have just been released" for Wilco's upcoming show at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn. Yo La Tengo is opening.

Nels Cline has three non-Wilco NYC shows coming up. One of those shows is the previously-mentioned M. Ward Central Park Summerstage gig where Nels will play in a band with Mike Watt, Yuka Honda, Dougie Bowne. That foursome is called Floored by Four, and according to Mr Watt, they "plan to record a album the two days before the gig." Add it to the list. All Nels dates below...

Continue reading "Wilco played the Fox Theater (setlist), more NYC tix released, Nels Cline & Mike Watt are Floored by Four"

The forthcoming and still-untitled next Wilco album is nearing completion. Jim Scott and the band spent the last few weeks mixing in Jim's studio in Valencia, California and [below is] a list of song titles spied on the reels -- note this is not necessarily complete and not in sequence.

Rumors and blogs regarding a guest appearance on that last track are, amazingly, quite true. Feist does indeed lend a great vocal to You and I. Other details will emerge in the coming weeks. The release is currently scheduled for late June on Nonesuch.

Wilco's live concert film "Ashes of American Flags" will have its New York premiere on Monday, April 13 at the IFC Center as part of Movie Night with Fred Armisen, go here for more details. The film had its world premiere February 20 at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana where it won an award for Best Cinematography. The DVD is now available for pre-order via the Wilco store by clicking here.

More information about the film is available at ashesofamericanmovie.com, including a full screening schedule and we've just added a Google calendar as well which you can access here. The DVD release via Nonesuch Records is set for April 18. You can watch the trailer here, and [BELOW].

The film was co-directed by Fugazi's Brendan Canty who will also be at the IFC screening in NYC on April 13th. He, co-director Christoph Green and Fred Armisen will be discussing the movie after the show. Tickets are still on sale.

Wilco don't have any NYC dates coming up, but Fugazi member Joe Lally does, as does but Feist. She plays the Dark Was The Night fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall on May 3rd.

Wilco member Nels Cline has also been playing guitar as part of the Jenny Scheinman Trio at the Blue Note here in NYC. You can catch them twice a day tonight (4/9), Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

No other Feist dates at the moment, but all Wilco ones, and the movie trailer, are below...

Continue reading "new Wilco album & documentary, Feist, movie night w/ Fred Armisen, Nels Cline & Jenny Scheinman live & whatnot"

Monday July 7, 2008 @ The Living Room

Songs Of The Band featuring Steve Rosenthal, Chris Bergson, Jim Boggia, Lee Feldman, Jesse Harris, Charlie Burnham, Kieran McGee, Common Rotation, Milton, Richard Julian, Joy Askew, Noam Weinstein, Chris Lee, Mamie Minch, Jonah Smith, Ken Webb, Hope DeBates, Jim Allen, Eric Feigenbaum, Orba Squara, Smokey Hormel, Jenny Scheinman, Scott Sharrard, Bari Koral, Rod Alonzo, Dina Regine, Dave Phelps, Sam Barron, Mike Erb, Daru Oda, Sasha Dobson, Greta Gertler, Debbie Deane, Sheri Miller, Jan Bell, Emilie Cardinaux, Chrissi Poland, Ben Carroll, Leif Arntzen, Jon Dryden, and more!! ($10 all night, buy now)

This lineup includes many Living Room regulars including 2/3 of Sloppy Joannes, a grammy winner, an artist known for an iPod commercial jingle, and a violinist who often plays shows at Barbes in Park Slope.

DOWNLOAD: Jenny Scheinman - Moe Hawk (MP3) (clip)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Scheinman - June 21 (MP3) (clip)

Jenny Scheinman, band & Nels Cline in Chicago - Feb 2007 (CRED)

Drawing from a deep reservoir of musicians, violinist Jenny Scheinman has experimented with innumerable permutations at her regular Tuesday night Barbès gigs. This past April she found something special when combining upright bassist Todd Sickafoose, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Jim Black (the first meeting of Cline and Black), so she brought them back together for a mini-tour, stopping at Joe’s Pub for two sets (Aug. 6th). Her music’s inherent lyricism, with folk and traditional influences, tamped the wilder impulses of Cline and Black, who both creatively served the songs. [NYC review @ All About Jazz]

Check out a video from that show on YouTube. As many already know, one of Nels Cline's other jobs (since 2004) is playing guitar with Wilco.

"Jenny Scheinman, violinist/composer, was voted the #1 Rising Star Violinist in the 2005, 2004 and 2003 Downbeat Critics' Polls, has performed and recorded extensively with Bill Frisell as well as Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, Nels Cline, Vinicius Cantuaria, Marc Ribot and Myra Melford." [Jenny's biography]

"Her carny blend of jazz, Americana and rock finds its closest kin in the music of Tom Waits, former Bay Area neighbors Tin Hat and fellow roots-jazz hybridizer Bill Frisell, who has collaborated often with her." [Philly.com]

"Busy downtown violinist Jenny Scheinman’s records tend to get filed in the jazz bin, and she works out her more pop-oriented inclinations at the Living Room. In her semiregular hang at Barbès, anything goes." [Time Out]

It's that 'everything goes' attitude by a talented musician that makes Jenny's regular Tuesday night shows at the intimate Barbes in Park Slope so special - not to mention the regular cast of super-talented musicians that regularly play with her at the shows while she sings and plays violin.

One of those special collaborators is jazz guitarist Tony Scherr, and that's exactly who will be joining Jenny at her next very special appearance at the free BrooklynVegan party upstairs at Pianos, NYC - on Wednesday October 17, 2007 (4:45 pm - right before Bon Iver). Stay tuned for more details.

Thanks to Araneo for the above picture of Jenny and Norah at The Living Room in 2005.

“It’s weird,” she says, finding a surreal humor in it. “Probably George Bush has heard me, come to think of it. He’s probably heard me on Norah Jones’ record. If 20 million records are sold, they’ve got to get to people’s ears you’d never imagine.” [All About Jazz]

Among countless other things, Jenny also plays violin on the new Lucinda Williams album. The MP3s above are clips from her own 2005 album entitled 12 Songs