Nels Cline at Winter Jazz Fest 2011 (more by Andrew Frisicano)

As mentioned, Winter Jazz Fest is returning to NYC and it begins today (1/11) and continues through Saturday (1/12) across multiple NYC venues, including Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, Zinc Bar, The Bitter End, Culture Project Theater, and The Bowery Electric with many artists including Colin Stetson, Rafiq Bhatia, Nels Cline, Debo Band, Vijay Iyer, Toshi Reagon, and more. Two day passes and single day tickets are on sale now.

Full schedule below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest kicks off in NYC"

Rafiq Bhatia's impressive debut album, Yes it Will, has turned up on a few year-end best-of lists, including coming in at #4 on JazzTimes critic Giovanni Russonello's Best of 2012 list. You can stream the album below if you haven't heard it.

After a busy fall, that included a residency at Pianos, Rafiq has lined up a few more NYC shows, including January 12 at the Bitter End which is part of Winter Jazz Fest which has over 70 artists playing at six Village clubs on 1/11 and 1/12. The same show also features a set from Colin Stetson (who recently helped close out Zebulon's final week of shows). You can see the entire 2013 Winter Jazz Fest schedule here and Tickets are on sale.

After that, Rafiq will play Glasslands on February 4. No openers have been announced yet but tickets are on sale.

Album stream below...

Continue reading "Rafiq Bhatia adds NYC show, playing Glasslands after Winter Jazz Fest"

Colin Stetson

Sax wizard Colin Stetson is working on his new solo album which will be out at some point in 2013, but before that you'll get a chance to see him at an intimate NYC show with many guests at Zebulon on December 6. The show includes Colin doing a solo set, along with sets by Holly Miranda and her band, Sarah Neufeld on solo violin (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre), and Lone Wolf (aka Ryan Saywer). Then Colin, Sarah and Ryan will do a collaborative set with Stuart Bogie, Adam Roberts, and Ryan Ferreira. No advance tickets for this show.

Colin Stetson is also part of the lineup for the 2013 Winter Jazz Fest which goes down across multiple venues in NYC on January 11 and 12. Colin will be playing The Bitter End on 1/12. Other artists on this year's tentative lineup include Nels Cline, Rafiq Bhatia, Debo Band, Vijay Iyer, and many many more. The full tentative lineup (with still more TBA) is below.

Continue reading "Colin Stetson playing NYC w/ Holly Miranda, Sarah Neufeld & more before Winter Jazz Fest (lineup)"

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)"

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"