New York City Live Music Calendar for January and February 2015

by delarue

The new calendar for Feb and March is here. There’s a comprehensive, recently updated list of places where these shows are happening at NY Music Daily’s sister blog Lucid Culture.

Showtimes listed here are set times, not the time doors open – if a listing says something like “9ish,” that means it’ll probably start later than advertised. If you see a show listed without the start time, that’s because either the artist, their publicist or the venue in question sent incomplete info: those acts are usually listed last on a particular date.  Always best to check with the venue for the latest information on set times and door charges, since that information is often posted here weeks in advance. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar.

Starting 1/20, 6:30-8:30 PM and continuing weekly on Tuesdays – February 3, 10 and 24 (skipping the 17th), Tamara Hey’s Alphabet City Music Workshop, Basic Theory 1 is a fantastic introductory course on music theory as it applies to songwriting, performing and writing charts. Classes are small and tailored to the needs of performing musicians, with lots of individualized attention. This blog attended the previous session: the work was intense, with a lot of material packed into a short time frame, but the lively debate and interaction in the class was great fun, definitely worth the $235 price (there are discounts for members of NSAI, SESAC and the NY Songwriters Collective as well as new members to the school’s email list). Classes meet at a convenient Astor Place location.

On select Thursdays and Saturdays, an intimate, growing piano music salon on the Upper West Side featuring iconoclastically insightful, lyrical pianist Nancy Garniez – a cult favorite with an extraordinarily fluid, singing, legato style – exploring the delicious minutiae of works from across the centuries. Thursday evenings at 7, a series of shows: the next ones are Jan 22 at 7 and Jan 25 at 4 featuring works b Mozart, Rameau, Ravel and Bach, sugg don $30 (pay what you can), delicious gluten-free refreshments, beverages and lively conversation included! email for info/location.

Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: as jazz goes, it’s arguably the most exhilarating show of the week, every week. The first-rate players always rise to the level of the material. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 and worth it.

Also Monday and Tuesday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Iguana, 240 W. 54th St ( Broadway/8th Ave) , 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering what you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).

Mondays in January at Barbes hard-hitting oldschool latin soul groove band Spanglish Fly take over the 9:30 PM slot held for so many years by the now temporarily disbanded Chicha Libre. A hard act to follow, but if anybody can keep the party going, it’s this crew. Heavier on the salsa than the soul, with a charismatic new-ish frontwoman and the same kind of relevance the old boogaloo bands had back in the 60s.

Mondays at the Vanguard the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – plays 9/11 PM, $30 per set plus drink minimum.

Mondays in January, 10 PM noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo leads his trio at the small room at the Rockwood. Now you can go see him since the Living Room, that hellhole where he used to rehearse on Monday nights, is closed forever!

Also Mondays in January Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Union Pool in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 11:30 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, sexy original songs and is one of the most charismatic, intense live performers of our time. It’s a crazy dance party til past three in the morning. Paula Henderson from Burnt Sugar is the lead soloist on baritone sax, with Dave Smith from Smoota on trombone, with frequent special guests.

Tuesdays in January, 7 PM Ninth House‘s hotshot lead guitarist Keith Otten plays his own tuneful, Britrock-influenced sounds at Isle of Skye, 488 Driggs Ave (btwn N9th/N10th St.) in Williamsburg

Tuesdays in January clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party  at 9 PM at Barbes. Get there as soon as you can as they’re very popular. $10 cover.

Tuesdays in January,  9 PM eclectic soul/Americana bandleader and excellent guitarist Miss Tess at Bar Chord

Tuesdays at around 10 Julia Haltigan and her band play 11th St. Bar. A torchy, charismatic force of nature, equally at home with fiery southwestern gothic rock, oldschool soul and steamy retro jazz ballads, and her band is just as good as she is.

Tuesdays at 10 PM in January jangly, smart rock/powerpop songwriter Rob Teter (of Romany jazz/blues band the Belleville Outfit) at Pete’s, presumably with his usual rotating cast of excellent Austin and ex-Austin players

Wednesdays in January, 8:30 PM guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg (of Dr. Lonnie Smith’s band) leads a trio at the Bar Next Door, $12.

Wednesdays at 9 PM Feral Foster’s Roots & Ruckus takes over the Jalopy, a reliably excellent weekly mix of oldtimey acts: blues, bluegrass, country and swing.

Fridays at 5 PM, adventurous indie classical string quartet Ethel (Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Kip Jones, violin; and Tema Watstein, violin) play the balcony bar with a rotating cast of interesting special guests at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm.

The first Friday of the month, anytime between midnight and midnight you can download four songs from Kiam Records artists – like Jennifer O’Connor, Mascott and Tim Foljahn – for free.  Each month’s theme is different (previously they have tackled covers, colors and money)  December’s the fourth edition and a holiday theme.  Available to download only on Friday and then archived and streaming at Soundcloud.

Fridays in January at 9 Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens play oldschool 1960s style gospel at the Fat Cat.

Three Saturdays in January: Jan 3, 10 and 17 plus February 28 at 4 PM at Bargemusic there are impromptu free classical concerts, usually solo piano or small chamber ensembles: if you get lucky, you’ll catch pyrotechnic violinist/music director Mark Peskanov and/or the many members of his circle. Early arrival advised.

Saturdays eclectic compelling Brazilian jazz chanteuse Marianni and her excellent band at Zinc Bar, three sets starting at 10 PM.

Sundays there’s a klezmer brunch at City Winery, show starts around 11:30 AM – 2 PM, $10 cover, no minimum, lots of good bands.

Sundays at 4 PM fun, hellraising booze-fueled acoustic Americana band Jumbo Brown at Skinny Dennis, 152 Metropolitan Ave. (next to Nitehawk Cinema), Williamsburg.

Sundays at 4:30 PM, 1/11 through 2/1 spectacularly eclectic viola virtuoso/composer Ljova plays with a revolving A-list cast including violinist Charlie Burnham, bassist Pablo Aslan, his other trio with Miki-Sophia Cloud & JP Jofre,  his wife and spectacular singer Inna Barmash’s Yiddish Lullabies & Love Songs project, and a new mystery project, at Silvana, free.

Sundays at 5 PM smart, politically-fueled Irish rocker Niall Connolly at LIC Bar

Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St. Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.

Sundays in January, 8:30 PM purist guitarist Peter Mazza – who gets the thumbs up from bop-era legend Gene Bertoncini – leads a series of trios at the Bar Next Door.

Sundays in January at 9 – check the Barbes calendar to make sure -Romany guitar genius Stephane Wrembel plays Barbes. He’s holding on to the edgy, danceable spirit of Django Reinhardt while taking the style to new and unexpected places like art-rock and post-Velvets noiserock. He’s also very popular: get there early.

1/1, 7 PM Americana/psychedelic guitar powerhouse Homeboy Steve Antonakos with Tim Heap followed by dark female-fronted new wave/punk band Ingrid & the Defectors at Bowery Electric, free

1/1, 7 PM elegantly tuneful bassist Iris Ornig leads a guitar-and-reeds quartet at 55 Bar

1/1, 8 PM ark, charismatic, mischieviously witty literate keyboardist/chanteuse Rachelle Garniez at Barbes. She’ll be gentle this time because she knows you’ll be in pain.

1/1, 8 PM powerpop/paisley underground guitar genius Chuck Prophet at City Winery, $20.

1/1-3, 8 PM and 1/4, 4 PM a rotating cast including pianist Ursula Oppens, multistylistic viola virtuoso Ljova, and the Horszowski Trio play new works by David Del Tredici, Annie Gosfield, Ljova Zhurbin himself and many others at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

1/2, 7:30 PM a great doublebill at Drom: accordionist/chanteuse Kamala Sankaram’s hot surfy Bollywood project, Bombay Rickey followed by awesome low-register original vintage-style Cuban groove band Gato Loco – with bass and baritone sax, baritone guitar, bass and drums, $10

1/2, 8 PM boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with the Jack Grace Band at Hill Country Brooklyn

1/2, 8 PM sly, rustic late 20s style jug band/hokum blues crew Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues at Branded Saloon

1/2, 9 PM creepy dark garage/punk soul band the Naked Heroes followed by the Motor City equivalent, more or less, the Detroit Cobras at Baby’s All Right, $20

1/2-3, 9/10:30 PM and 1/4, 8:30 PM it’s Jon Irabagon Fest at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 minimum. You want assaultive? The saxophonist plays 1/2 with Mary Halvorson, guitar;  Nasheet Waits, drums. You want devious and unselfconsciously fun and swinging? 1/3 he’s with Mark Helias, bass;  Barry Altschul, drums. You want (gasp) lyrical? 1/4 with Luis Perdomo, piano;  Yasushi Nakamura, bass;  Rudy Royston, drums

1/2-3, 11 PM Gogol Bordello at Terminal 5, $35 adv tix rec. You know them, you love them – reggaeton lyricist Ana Tijoux opens the 1/2 show at 10.

1/3, 11 AM (in the morning), the Harlem Gospel Choir at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early (yawn) arrival advised – don’t worry, they’ll wake you up.

1/3, 7:30 PM pianist Kristin Samadi and guitarist Dan Keene play works by Beethoven, Mauro Giuliani and others at Spectrum, $15

1/3, 8 PM dark urbane Romany song maven (and Berthold Brecht descendant) Sanda Weigl and band followed at 10 by Mexican ranchera/bolero brass crew Banda de los Muertos at Barbes

1/3, 9 PM accordionist/chanteuse Kamala Sankaram’s hot surfy Bollywood project, Bombay Rickey at Tea Lounge in Park Slope.

1/3. 9:30 PM hypnotic, fun, psychedelic-as-hell art-rock/prog instrumentalists You Bred Raptors – Epileptic Peat on 8-string bass, Zach Schmidlein on drums and Bryan Wilson on cello –  at the Mercury, $10

1/3, 10 PM the amazing Middle Eastern/Greek psychedelic sounds of the Byzan-Tones at Otto’s.

1/3, 11:30 PM intense, eclectic original Balkan clarinet/violin/oud/percussion quartet Sherita followed by the more jazz-oriented, clarinet-fueled and even more explosive NY Gypsy All-Stars at Drom, $10

1/3, 11 PM high-voltage Boston bluegrass/newgrass band Twisted Pine at the small room at the Rockwood. 1/6 there’s at Pete’s at 9

1/4, 7 PM brilliant violinist Dana Lyn‘s cinematic, oceanically-fixated, lively improvisaitonal Mother Octopus followed at 9 PM by Stephane Wrembel sparring partner and guitarist Roy Williams leading his own band the Bog Swing Group at Barbes playing similar Romany jazz along with western swing and other Americana.

1/4, 7 PM Cornelius Dufallo and Patrick Derivaz and probably special guests craft string-driven electroacoustic soundscapes at Spectrum, $15

1/4, 8 PM badass resonator guitarist and delta blues/oldtime hillbilly music maven Mamie Minch followed by ex-Dylan lead guitarist Larry Campbell with singer Teresa Williams at City Winery, $20 standing room avail.

1/4, 9 PM torchy, intense, literate, charismatic oldtimey ukelele siren/songwriter Kelli Rae Powell plays her final NYC show with her band and special guest Austin Hughes of M Shanghai String Band at the Jalopy, $10.

1/6, 7:30 PM purist oldschool Chicago-style blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker at B.B. King’s, $20 adv tix rec.

1/6 lyrical pianist and Mingus advocate Helen Sung leads a quintet with Seamus Blake – tenor saxophone; Mike Rodriguez – trumpet; Reuben Rogers – bass; Obed Calvaire – drums, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

1/6, 8 PM bluegrass fiddle star Melody Allegra leads her band at Hill Country Brooklyn. She’s back there on 1/22.

1/6, 9 PM Que Vlo-Ve play classic Greek hash smoking music and criminal underworld narratives from the 20s and 30s at Barbes.

1/6, 10 PM alto saxophonist David Binney leads his quartet at 55 Bar.

1/7, 7 PM the show by Balinese shadow and mask dancer Sidarta with music by bass god Shahzad Ismaily and members of NYC’s very own mesmerizing, hypnotically pointillistic Balinese orchestra Gamelan Dharma Swara has been moved from the Poisson Rouge to a free performance at 1665 Norman St (Wyckoff/Cypress) in Ridgewood (L to Halsey St) due to “sluggish sales” – looks like the Poisson Rouge is more interested in promoting the Miley Cyrus cover band that plays there on the weekend

1/7, 8 PM dark, smart, edgy post-Velvet rock songwriter and former Band of Susans guitarist Anne Husick and band at Sidewalk

1/6, 8/10 PM pianist Matt Mitchell (of Dave Douglas’ band) leads a quartet at the Jazz Gallery, $15 first set, $10 second

1/7, 8:30ish PM the reliably ferocious, fun Balkan madness of Raya Brass Band followed by Underground System at Brooklyn Bowl, $7

1/7, 9:30 PM eclectic, paradigm-shifting B3 jazz organist Brian Charette with “the Well Tempered Quartet” – Spike Wilner (piano), Behn Gillece (viibes), and Anthony Pinciotti (drums) at Smalls. The next night 1/8 he’s at 55 Bar with the Mighty Grinders w/ Eric Kalb (drums) and Will Bernard (guitar) at 10.

1/7, 10 PM Pistolera frontwoman Sandra Lilia Velasquez’s torchy, slinky, psychedelic downtempo/trip-hop/art-pop band SLV at Shrine.

1/7 grittily tuneful, 3rd generation Stooges-influenced rockers Swanky Tiger, 11 PM at Bowery Electric $8

1/8 and 1/13, 7:30 PM, also 1/9-10 at 8 PM the NY Philharmonic play an especially awesome triplebill: Ravel’s Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto and selections from Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake at Avery Fisher Hall, $33 tix avail.

1/8, 7:30 PM prizewinning up-and-coming pianist Larry Weng plays works by Ives, Ravel, Horatio Parker and Aaron Jay Kernis at Subculture, $25.

1/8-11, 8 PM otherworldly, politially relevant vocal theatre company Carmina Slovenica perform their intense dance/choral drama Toxic Psalms, ”an open-ended collection of scenes by Hanne Blank, Veljo Tormis, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Karin Rehnquist, Jacob Cooper, Hafiz and Bronius Kutavicius,” at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo,  $25 seats avail.

1/8, 8 PM a show aptly titled “from Red Hook to the real Alaska” with Ken Waldman, Alaska’s fiddling poet, ex-Mamou Playboys Cajun fiddler David Greely, dance/harp duo Nic Gareiss & Maeve Gilchrist, multi-instrumentalist oldtime blues powerhouse Blind Boy Paxton, thoughtful newschool Americana songstress Kristin Andreassen and the Ray of Sun, Binghamton Americana quartet Milkweed, exhilarating 1800s style string band the Down Hill Strugglers, and rustic banjo/washboard duo Dubl Handi at the Jalopy, $10. The promoters say that “this lineup is on par with a strong international festival stage” and they’re right.

1/8. 8 PM global chanteuse and Leonard Cohen collaborator Perla Batalla  sings his songs followed at 9 by the electric, jazz-oriented, explosive NY Gypsy All-Stars at Drom, $10

1/8-11, 8/10 PM lyrical jazz pianist Kenny Werner leads a series of intimate small ensembles at the Stone.

1/8, 9ish this era’s version of Steve Earle, Joe Pug followed by wild stoner newgrass band the Devil Makes Three at Irving Plaza, $28.50.

1/8, 9 PM tuneful, hypnotic sometimes dreampop-infused tunesmithing, gorgeous vocals, wry lyrics: ex-Aquanettas guitarist/singer Debby Schwartz at Union Hall, $8.

1/8, 9:30 PM a pretty crazy night at Smalls with Steve Cardenas and Brandon Seabrook – guitars, Ben Allison – bass , Allison Miller – drums

1/8, 9 PM violinist and cinematic loopmusic composer Cameron Orr at the Way Station

1/8, 10 PM Daria Grace’s torchy, delightful oldtime uke swing band the Pre-War Ponies at Barbes

1/8, 10 PM slyly shapeshifting B3 organ paradigm-shifter Brian Charette and his trio at 55 Bar

1/8, 11 PM intense, inscrutable, wickedly literate janglerock tunesmith Ward White at Pete’s

1/9-10 Winter Jazzfest takes over the cheesy clubs along the Bleecker Street strip and turns them into classy if sardine-can crowded for a couple of nights. The full lineup and ticket deal is here: your best bet is the two-day pass for $55 .

1/9, 5:30ish smart, politically-fueled Irish rocker Niall Connolly at the American Folk Art Museum

1/9, 6 PM crystalline-voiced, noir-tinged third-stream jazz chanteuse Tessa Souter and her band at 55 Bar

1/9, 7 PM the annual Maqamfest – a showcase for cutting-edge sounds from across the Middle East, its diaspora and beyond – at Alwan for the Arts in the financial district with explosive Bulgarian reedman Yuri Yunakov, sitarist Ustad Ikhlaq Hussein Khan, agelessly soulful Armenian clarinetist Souren Baronian, haunting Bukharan Jewish ensemble Shasmaqam, Brian Prunka’s eclectic oud jazz outfit Nashaz, Syrian oudist Kinan Idnawi, paradigm-shifting trumpeter Amir ElSaffar & the Two Rivers Ensemble and the Alwan Arab Music Ensemble, who jam out classic themes from Egypt, Syria and Iraq, $30/$25 stud/srs

1/9, the booking agents are in town for the convention this weekend and consequently there are some amazing multi-act bills happening. Like this incredibly cheap one at Drom which is $10 and starts at  7 PM with David Buchbinder’s exhilarating Odessa/Havana Jewish jazz project followed at 8 by Elizabeth Shepherd – the Canadian Norah Jones – at 8, Ghanian roots reggae songwriter Rocky Dawuni at 9:30, the voice of the Garifuna people, Belize-based singer Aurelio at 10, French-Canadian latin/reggaeton crooner Boogat at 11, infectious Brazilian maracatu/funk/New Orleans/surf/country band Nation Beat at 11:45 and then smartly aware Montreal reggae/hip-hop crew Nomadic Massive at around 1 in the morning. The following night 1/10 Aurelio is at Joe’s Pub at 11:30 followed by wickedly cachy, darkly keyboard-driven Colombian psychedelic cumbia band MAKU Soundsystem.

1/9, 7 PM pensive rainy-day atmospherics with the Samara Lubelski-Marcia Bassett guitar duo at Baby’s All Right, $12. Followed at 9:30 ($15 separate admission) by a killer African twinbill with the Nubian grooves of Alsarah & the Nubatones and Ethiopiques icon Hailu Margia & Low Mentality.

1/9. 7:15 PM  dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues

1/9, 7:30 PM tuneful jazz pianist/composer Frank Kimbrough leads a trio at Smalls

1/9, 8 PM Raquel and Ray (guitar/keys and drums) from darkly shapeshifting paisley underground/psychedelic postpunk rockers Mesiko at Cake Shop; 1/12 they’re at Pete’s at 11.

1/9, 8 PM the violin/piano duo of Tricia Frasure and Caitlin Foster play new and 20th-century works by emerging composers Stephen Lilly, Matt Magerkurth, Zane Merritt, Carter John Rice, Ryan Woodhouse and Viola Yip, alongside pieces by Ives, Rzewski and Prokofiev at the Firehouse Space, $10

1/9, 9 PM stark, terse ex-Old Crow Medicine Show oldschool folk crooner/guitarist Willie Watson at Rough Trade, $12 adv tix rec

1/9, 9 PM edgy, tuneful klezmer-infused jazz with Uri Gurvich – saxophone; Asen Doykin – Fender Rhodes; Edward Perez – bass; Ronen Itzik – drums at the Whynot Jazz Room

1/9, 9:30ish rare noir big band jazz and cinematic themes from the 30s and 40s with Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra at Barbes.

1/9, 9:30 PM up-and-coming jazz chanteuse Natalie John leads a quintet playing the album release show for her new one at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

1/9, 10 PM hypnotic, psychedelic dulcimer/bass/drums instrumentalists House of Waters at the small room at the Rockwood

1/9. 10 PM Thunda Vida play roots reggae and dub at Shrine

1/9, 10:30 PM sick Dolly Parton cover band Doll Parts – who mix straight-up rock versions of her schlockiest 80s crap with acoustic covers of her country classics – at Sidewalk

1/9, 11 PM soaring, brilliant singer Magda Giannikou’s lush, sweeping, pan-Mediterranean art-rock/chamber pop/jazz group Banda Magda followed at midnight by the electric, jazz-oriented, explosive NY Gypsy All-Stars at the big room at the Rockwood, free

1/9, 11 PM high-energy acoustic oldtime Americana band the Woes at Pete’s

1/9, 11 PM edgy jazz violinist Scott Tixier leads a trio at Something Jazz Club, $15

1/10, 1 (one) PM kinetic jazz and avant garde-inspired postrock instrumentalists the Cellar & Point at the Apple Store in SoHo, 103 Prince St., free

1/10, 2 PM a gathering in defense of freedom of expression, in solidarity with the surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo, at Washington Square Park

1/10, 4 PM violinist Dana Lyn and guitarist Kyle Sanna jam out on Celtic themes followed at 5 by likemindedly eclectic improviser Matt Kanelos and then Vic Thrill of the Bogmen at 6 at Pete’s

1/10, 5 and 7 PM dancers from popular Indian classical dance troupe Nrityagram  perform to set to an original live score composed by Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi at the first-floor Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum admin.

1/10, 6 PM eclectic third-stream jazz pianist Laila Biali followed at 7 by Tongues in Trees – vocalist Samita Sinha, drummer Sunny Jain of Red Baraat, and guitarist Grey McMurray from itsnotyouitsme and then at 8 by Dom Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the small room at the Rockwood

1/10 will there be a better show in NYC this year? Probably not. At Drom, starting at 7:30, check out this unbelievable lineup: pan-latin revolutionary anthem singer/banddleader Ani Cordero , ten-piece Balkan/Duke Ellington brass band Slavic Soul Party, nine-piece original psychedelic Afrobeat dancehall monsters Zongo Junction, intoxicating LA noir psychedelic soul band Chicano Batman,  politically-fueled latino punk band Las Cafeteras, Ethiopiques keyboard legend Hailu Mergia & Low Mentality, a bit of a lull and then at around 1 AM Chop & Quench playing Fela classics and their own originals. Cover is ten measly bucks.

1/10, 7:30 PM anthemic, eclectic often haunting female-fronted Americana/acoustic funk/art-rock jamband the Sometime Boys at Hometown BBQ in Red Hook

1/10, 8 PM energetic acoustic Mexican folk-punk band Radio Jarocho followed at 9:30 by similarly influenced but funkier songwriter Rana Santacruz and then at 11 catchy, politically astute Mexican-American janglerockers Pistolera at 11 at Barbes.

1/10, 8 PM the Terry Dame Trio a.k.a. The Volar Portex with the irrepressible instrument inventor Terry Dame on her Dr. Seuss-like percussion instruments plua Jessica Lurie on sax and Chris Cochrane on guitar followed at 9 by pianist Gordon Beeferman with singer Dafna Natphtali at the Firehouse Space, $10

1/10, 8 PM a lute/guitar/bass version of pianist/flutist Diana Wayburn‘s hypnotically intense, spectacularly eclectic African/Middle Eastern/indie classical/improvisational Dances of the World Chamber Ensemble at the Shed Space, 366 6th Street (5th/6th Aves, entrance on 2nd floor up the stoop) Park Slope, Brooklyn

1/10, 9 PM a killer horn-fueled triplebill: John Brown’s Body trumpeter Sam Dechenne’s explosive, all-original Balkan Cocek Brass Band,  hip-hop oriented grooves with No BS! Brass Band and bouncy Afrobeat orchestra Emefe at Littlefield, $15

1/10, 9 PM Heights of Wisdom play African roots reggae at Shrine

1/10. 9:30 PM wickedly cachy, darkly keyboard-driven Colombian psychedelic cumbia band MAKU Soundsystem at Joe’s Pub, $15, Followed at 11:30 by Garifuna star Aurelio Martinez and band ($20 separate adm)

1/10, 10 PM oldschool Max’s Kansas City-style proto-punk rockers the New York Junk at Beast of Bourbon

1/10, 11 PM tuneful, pan-latin-influenced pianist Emilio Solla leads a killer quintet with accordionist Victor Prieto and saxophonist Chris Cheek at Something Jazz Club, $15

1/11, 11 AM (in the morning) a blazing klezmer/psychedelic cumbia/latin doublebill with Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer – who each have sensational live albums out – at City Winery, $10, kids free, no minimum.

1/11. 3 PM intriguing, intense, fun, lo-fi original punk blues resonator guitarist/singer Breanna Barbara Arneson at Palisades

1/11, 3 PM the North-South Chamber Orchestra with Lisa Hansen, flute; Jordan Dodson, guitar plays a half-dozen Robert Martin works inspired by the paintings of Arshile Gorky at aChrist & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 120 W 69th St.(bet Bway & Columbus, free

1/11, 5:30/8:30 PM up-and-coming eclectic, purist jazz singer Brianna Thomas, with an interesting band: Sullivan Fortner, piano; Yasushi Nakamura, bass; John Davis, drums; Tivon Pennicott, sax at Minton’s, $10 at the bar/$20 at tables.

1/11, 6 PM noir guitar twangmeister Jim Campilongo and band at 55 Bar. Pianist David Kikoski leads a trio there later at 10

1/11, 7 PM a killer LA psychedelic latin rock twinbill with Las Cafeteras and Chicano Batman at Club Open (formerly SRB), 177 Second Avenue @ 14th St in Gowanus, $15

1/11 vibraphone powerhouse Stefon  Harris & Sonic Creed with James Francies – piano; Joshua Crumbly – bass; Jonathan Pinson – drums; Elena Pinderhughes – flute, vocals; Mike Moreno – guitar, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20

1/11, 10:30 PM the well-named Well Tempered Quartet: Brian Charette – organ , Spike Wilner – piano , Behn Gillece – vibraphone , Anthony Pinciotti – drums at Smalls

1/11, 11 PM guitar-fueled postpunk/dreampop rockers Lazyeyes play the album release show for their new one at Baby’s All Right, $10

1/12, 6 PM tuneful pianist Jim Ridl leads his trio from behind the Fender Rhodes at 55 Bar

1/12, 8 PM at Smalls a quadruplebill of rarely heard French voices in jazz: alto saxophonist Pierrick Pedron leads a trio reinventing the Cure; Romany jazz guitar hellraisers Les Doigs de L’Homme join forces with accordion legend Marian Badoi; trumpeter Julien Alour leads a quintet inspired by a legendary/obscure Gore Vidal novel; saxophonist Olivier Boge, leading a quartet, and longtime Omer Avital sideman Yonatan Avishai, leading a trio, play after, $20 for the whole night

1/12, 8 PM Marta Hernández (aka Mar Salá) plays her acoustic flamenco rock at Pete’s

1/12, 9 PM pianist Orrin Evans‘ fearsomely majestic, shapeshiftingly epic Captain Black Big Band at Smoke, bar seats avail if you get there early enough They’re also here on 1/19 and 1/26.

1/12, 9/10 PM the perennially adventurous Del Sol String Quartet play works from their latest  album Peter Sculthorpe: The Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu at Cornelia St. Cafe.

1/13, 7 PM tuneful, edgy Texas tenor saxophonist Stan Killian and his quartet at 55 Bar

1/13, 7 PM dynamic, often haunting Balkan band the G String Orchestra  followed at 9 by explosive, wryly eclectic, Ellington/hip-hop influenced Balkan brass band Slavic Soul Party at Barbes.

1/13, 7/9 PM B3 organist Mike LeDonne‘s Groover Quartet with Eric Alexander [tenor saxophone], Mark Whitfield [guitar], Willie Jones III [drums] at Smoke, bar seats avail if you get there early enough. They’re also here on 1/20

1/13-14 bass and oud innovator Omer Avital leads a quintet with Joel Frahm – tenor saxophone; Michael Rodriguez – trumpet; Yonathan Avishai – piano; Daniel Freedman – drums, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

1/13, 7:30 PM new music piano luminary Lisa Moore plays an all-Philip Glass program at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

1/13, 8 PM one of this era’s greatest Americana songwriters and also one of the most shattering singers in any style, from classical to country, Mary Lee Kortes – whose cover album of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks is a genuine classic – at Concert Window, watch from your laptop, pay what you want! 1/20, 7 PM she’s at the big room at the Rockwood, $12

1/13, 8 PM Middle Eastern/Central Asian/jazz jamband TriBeCaStan, haunting all-female Bulgarian vocal choir Black Sea Hotel and elegant, sardonic art-rock pianist/bandleader Eve Lesov at Drom, $10.

1/13-14, 8 PM NOVUS NY and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street perform Ellen Reid‘s southern gothic choral opera Winter’s Child – sort of a mashup of the Virgin Suicides and the Adam & Eve myth – at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, $20.

1/13-18, 8/10:30 PM Ramsey Lewis celebrates the 50th anniversary of his iconic album The In Crowd at the Blue Note, $30 standing room avail.

1/13-18, 8:30/10:30 PM lyrical jazz piano icon Fred Hersch leads a quartet with saxophonist Mark Turner, trumpeter Ralph Alessi-tpt, and his usual rhythm section of bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson at the Vanguard, $25. He then plays a solo piano stand here 1/20-25.

1/13, 9 PM thoughtful newschool Americana songstress Kristin Andreassen followed eventually at midnight by eclectic, funky, compelling jazz violinist Zach Brock at the small room at the Rockwood

1/13, 9:30 PM saxophone powerhouse Lucas Pino‘s two-guitar No No Nonet at Smalls.

1/13, 10 PM Occitane chanteuse Fada a.k.a. Eleonore Weill sings classic oldschool French chanson and originals at the Way Station

1/13, 10:30 PM Cumbre Vieja, who alternate between kick-ass classic 70s stoner metal and riff-rock, and less interesting 90s sounds, at Arlene’s, $8

1/14-17, 7:30 PM (with a 10 PM show on 1/15 and a 2 PM show on the 17th in addition) hauntingly atmospheric, hypnotic Korean-American composer/performer Bora Yoon plays and sings from her brilliant new album Sunken Cathedral, “tracing a musical and archetypal journey through the subconscious” at LaMama, $25.

1/14, 7:30 PM pianist Weiyin Chen plays Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 with the Miró Quartet, who play the composer’s String Quartet, Op. 51, No2 in A Minor and Quartet in C minor, Op. 60  at Subculture. The following night there, 1/15 at 7:30 PM they join the American Modern Ensemble, JACK Quartet, PUBLIQuartet and conductor Delta David Gier for an evening of world premieres from Jacob Bancks, Sidney Boquiren and Robert Paterson plus music by Chinary Ung, Jessie Montgomery, John Zorn and John Luther Adams, $20 adv tix rec.

1/14, 8 PM a night of adventurous experimentation under an edgy jazz rubric with Joe Moffett, Brad Henkel, Sophie Delphis, and Mariel Berger at Panoply Performance Lab in Bushwick

1/14, 9 PM bracing Macedonian band Odglasi, the exhilaratingly trippy Choban Elektrik, who make guitar and organ-fueled psychedelia out of haunting Balkan themes, brass-fueled Ornamatik and Tom Waits-influenced blues-rockers the Darrin James Band at Muchmore’s, $10

1/14, 9 PM tuneful up-and-coming hotshot jazz pianist Christian Sands in a rare duo show with bassist Ben Williams at Mezzrow, $25. Sands is here with Noah Jackson on the four-string on 1/15.

1/14, 9:30 PM Bobtown – arguably the best, most eclectic and inarguably the most harmonically rich folk noir group around – play the album release show for their new one A History of Ghosts at Hill Country.

1/14, 9:30 PM atmospheric, acerbically witty jazz/downtempo saxophonist Ilhan Ersahin‘s Istanbul Sessions at Drom, $15 adv tix rec

1/14, 10 PM charismatic, sultry, torchy Americana songwriter/chanteuse Julia Haltigan and her fiery band at Union Pool

1/14, 11 PM guitarslinger Hugo G – whose darkly hypnotic, politically aware originals are a smart, original update on the slowly unwinding Texas blues pioneered by Lightning Hopkins in the 30s and 40s – at the small room at the Rockwood

1/15, 6 PM cleverly lyrical, edgily funny, spine-tingling powerpop/acoustic rock singer Tamara Hey at the small room at the Rockwood .

1/15, 7 PM a rare early evening show by careening soulpunk/psychedelic band Clear Plastic Masks at Baby’s All Right, $10. Be aware that their previous Williamsburg show sold out.

1/15-18 purist, terse pianist Aaron Goldberg leads a trio with Reuben Rogers – bass; Eric Harland – drums, 7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20.

1/15, 7:30 PM American Modern Ensemble play world premieres from Jacob Bancks, Sidney Boquiren and Robert Paterson, plus the Del Sol String Quartet playing Chinary Ung’s tribute to victims of Cambonian genocide, Spiral X “In Memoriam” (performed by San Fran-based Del Sol), the PUBLIQuartet play Jessie Montgomery’s Breakaway; the Jack Quartet play John Zorn’s The Dead Man and close with all the players performing Dream in White on White by John Luther Adams at Subculture, $20 adv tix a must

1/15, 8 PM virtuoso cinematic psychedelic/western swing steel guitar player Raphael McGregor leads his eclectic band at Freddy’s

1/15, 8 PM steel pan pioneer Ian Williams with Mantra Percussion at the World Financial Center atrium, free. Mantra Percussion return there the following night, 1/16 with works by Wet Ink Ensemble’s Sam Pluta, Alex Mincek and Eric Wubbels.

1/15, 8 PM a solid Americana triplebill: the amusing mandolin/fiddle duo of Mike Barnett and Jacob Jolliff, oldtimey string band Barefoot & Bankside and outlaw country duo North of Nashville at Union Hall, $10

1/15, 8:30 PM psychedelic powerpop/new wave rocker Mike Rimbaud plays the album release for his characteristically tuneful, snarling, politically smart, Elvis Costello-esque new one Put That Dream in Your Pipe at Bowery Electric

1/15, 9 PM edgy, intense, innovative Syrian and Argentine sounds; a killer doublebill and a good segue from clarinetist Kinan Azmeh‘s CityBand to bandoneon monster JP Jofre‘s Hard Tango Chamber Band at Drom, $15 adv tix rec.

1/15, 9 PM slyly humorous urban country bandleader Alex Battles followed by catchy oldtimey all-female string band the Calamity Janes at the Jalopy, $10

1/15, 10 PM hard-rocking Balkan band Tipsy Oxcart at followed at 11 by the similarly energetic, more trad Ornamatik at Barbes – fresh from Golden Festival and not out of gas yet!

1/15. 10 PM explosive guitar-fueled art-rock jamband Wounded Buffalo Theory at Fontana’s, $10

1/15, 10 PM brilliantly lyrical dark oldtimey songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Pete Lanctot and band at Pete’s. No, he doesn’t own the place.

1/15, midnight, noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton leads a quartet with  Dan Aran – drums , Jeremy Manasia – piano , Dave Baron – bass at Smalls

1/15, 10 PM Certain General guitarslinger Phil Gammage‘s noirish Adventures in Bluesland project at Shrine.

1/16, 6 PM edgy tenor saxophonist Tom Tallitsch leads a quaret at the Garage, free

1/16, 7 PM Ensemble Chartreuse plays new chamber works for string trio and winds by Katherine Young and David Bird, an electroacoustic piece by Ryan Pratt, plus “as a family of civilian ghosts phase-shifts through the fog lights” by Kurt Isaacson.at Spectrum, $15. Followed at 9 by Judith Berkson playing new microtonal music for piano and voice

1/16, 7:30 PM it’s Golden Festival, the wildest Balkan music extravaganza anywhere west of the Danube, at Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Ave. in Park Slope, lineup tba,  $35/$30 studs.

1/16, 8 PM theatrical traditional Korean dance/music ensemble Norian Maro at Flushing town Hall free but rsvp reqd

1/16, 8 PM a wickedly tuneful improvisational trio: Fabian Almazan – piano; Ryan Ferreira – guitar; Chris Dingman – vibes at I-Beam, $15

1/16, 8/10 PM lyrical pianist Glenn Zaleski leads a trio at the Jazz Gallery, $22

1/16, 8 PM tuneful, anthemic Americana rockers the Cornell Bros. at the Way Station

1/16-17, 9 PM a rare duo show by cerebrally tuneful pianist Orrin Evans with bassist Vicente Archer at Mezzrow, $25

1/16, 9:30 PM two intense female-fronted bands: soul-inspired rockers Bethany St. Smith & the Gun Show and diverse, often haunting original Americana/acoustic funk/art-rock jamband the Sometime Boys at Fontana’s, $10

1/16, 9:30 PM jazz chanteuse Stacy Sullivan with musical director/pianist Jon Weber – who succeeded Marian McPartland as host of NPR’s Piano Jazz – play a tribute to McPartland with songs from Ellington to Peggy Lee at the Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St, $25 plus 2 drink min.

1/16, 10 PM Ruby Rae of the Ex-Debutantes plays her Nashville gothic songs at Freddy’s.

1/16, 10:30 PM noir chanteuse Kerry Kennedy’s aptly titled, intense Americana/paisley underground band Ghostwise followed eventualy at midnight by hilarious faux-French rockers les Sans Culottes – whose new album Les Dieux Ont Soif is both great fun and potently relevant – at Muchmore’s, $tba

1/16, 11 PM fiery Canadian gothic rocker Lorraine Leckie and her psychedelic band with Hugh Pool on lead guitar at Sidewalk.

1/17, 2 (two) PM this blog’s new favorite songwriter, unselfconsciously haunting, richly lyrical great plains folk noir chanteuse Ember Schrag – whose recent adventures in dark psychedelic rock have been auspicious – followed by smart purist oldtime blues/Americana resonator guitarist Zeke Healey at Union Pool

1/17, 7 PM cult favorite Irish chamber pop crooner Pierce Turner – the missing link between the Pogues and the Moody Blues – at Joe’s Pub, $25

1/17, 7:30 PM Taylor Ward, voice; Arash Noori, guitar; and Doug Perry, percussion perform a diverse program “from the roots of Spanish song to George Crumb’s Spanish Songbook I: Ghosts of Alhambra, and from the beginnings of French and English lute song” at St. Peter’s Church, 54th/Lex, free

1/17, 8 PM Pierre de Gaillande’s Bad Reputation plays witty chamber pop English translations of Georges Brassens classics at Barbes.followed at 10 by mighty Indian funk band Brooklyn Qawwali Party.

1/17, 8 PM string trio Ensemble Chartreuse – Myra Hinrichs (violin), Carrie Frey (viola), and Helen Newby (cello) – double their size by adding a trio of winds and play intriguing new works by David Bird and Katherine Young at the Firehouse Space, $10

1/17, 8 PM, repeating on 1/18 at 4 PM Mark Peskanov, violin; Nicholas Tzavaras, cello; Olga Vinokur, piano play Haydn Piano Trio No. 41 in E-flat minor, Hob.XV:31, “Jacob’s Dream;” Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67; Beethoven Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

1/17, 8 PM new William Parker works performed by five improvising musicians Daniel Carter, Joe McPhee, Hamid Drake, Cooper Moore and Parker himself on bass plus a vocal ensemble featuring Fay Victor, Kyoko Kitamura and Anais Maviel at Roulette, $25

1/17, 9 PM smart, shapeshiftingly tuneful cinematic punks the Brooklyn What have organized a benefit for Ferguson, MO at the Gutter in Williamsburg; it’s a Lou Reed/VU tribute night  with a whole slew of bands including Jeff Lewis, 60s folk legend Peter Stampfel, No One and The Somebodys, Ghospal, the Planes, Electric People, Old Table and possibly  more.

1/17, 9 PM smart, anthemic, golden age-style roots reggae songwriter/bandleader Taj Weekes at the Knitting Factory, $12

1/17, 10 PM powerhouse bassist Dawn Drake & Zapote playing their groovalicious funk and Afrobeat-influenced bounce at the Way Station

1/18, 2 PM two Japanese theatre pieces by koto player Kento Iwasaki and Cris Ryan: the otherworldly “Moon Princess Song Cycle,” sung by soprano-piano duo Sara Heaton and Akiko Sasaki, plus Beloved Prey, a” portable opera” in English, about a lioness who adopts a baby antelope and the antelope’s mom, faced with the challenge of rescuing her child, at Flushing Town Hall, free

1/18, 2 PM the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra & Singers International play a Pan-American program including the New York premiere of Argentinian composer Martin Palmeri’s Misa A Buenos Aires plus a solo tango and flamenco dance performance by the Tierra Adentro de Nuevo Mexico Dance Ensemble at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $20 tix avail. The ensemble return the following night, 1/19 at 7 PM peforming music of Welsh composer Karl Jenkins

1/18, 3 PM the Budapest Festival Orchestra play Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 plus works by the Mendelssohns (Felix and Fanny) at Avery Fisher Hall, $35 tix avail. They’re also here at 1/21 at 8 playing Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and works by Mozart, same price.

1/18, 4 PM the Enso String Quartet play Haydn’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op.76, No. 1; Janacek’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ and works by Puccini and Verdi at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

1/18, 4 PM Erica Gould’s classical theatre piece More Between Heaven and Earth, a site-specific drama based on the letters of Thomas Jefferson and his singer/mistress/muse Maria Cosway, starring Jonathan Cake, Melissa Errico, and Kathleen Chalfant and featuring music of Corelli, Cosway, Hewitt, and Sacchini at Fraunces Tavern Museum in the financial district (where Jefferson reputedly wrote some of those letters), $35.

1/18, 5 PM a crazy post-Golden Fest Balkan party with the brass-stoked Cocek Nation, Moldovan accordionist Sergiu Popa‘s Balkan Camp Reunion Band, Macedonian group Odglasi, Pontic Firebird playing their Greek Black Sea repertoire and kick-ass zurna-fueled Turkish band MWE at Drom, $10/$5 with a Golden Fest ticket

1/18. 5 PM the Daedalus String Quartet play works by Schumann and Sibelius at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 128 Pinehurst Ave at 183rd St., $12 sugg don, reception to follow.

1/18, 5:30/8:30 PM powerhouse pianist Christian Sands – of Christian McBride’s band -leads his trio at Minton’s, $10 at the bar/$20 at tables

1/18, 7 PM legendary Piedmont blues guitarist Larry Johnson at Terra Blues. He’s also here on 1/25

1/18, 7:30 PM the world’s most interesting string quintet, Sybarite5 play works by Radiohead (from their Radiohead covers album) plus Taraf de Haidouks: Astor Piazzolla, Jessica Meyer, Dan Visconti and others along with Armenian folk songs at Subculture, $20 adv tix highly rec.

1/18, 10:30 PM catchy, propulsive, rippling posbop grooves with Ken Fowser – tenor sax , Behn Gillece – vibraphone , Jeremy Manasia – piano , Joseph Lepore – bass , Charles Ruggiero – drums  at Smalls

1/19, 7:30 PM dark, sardonic, brilliantly tuneful jazz pianist Danny Fox and his Trio at Smalls

1/19, 8 PM high-voltage oldschool 60s-style soul/funk band the Revelations at the Blue Note, $10

1/19, 11 PM Joseph West and band play morosely catchy, lyrical John Prine-ish country-folk at the Way Station

1/20, 7 PM a rare guitar/baritone sax duo show: Russell Malone and Joe Temperley playing Ellington, wow, at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, $20

1/20, 7:30 PM the pyrotechnic, all-star Kleztraphobix with Mike Cohen, Jordan Hirsch, Pesachya Septimuss at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W. 68th St, $15

1/20-25, 8/10 PM state-of-the-art jazz pianist Vijay Iyer leads a series of groups at the Stone, $20. Choice picks: the late set on 1/23 with an octet with two basses and Mat Maneri on viola, and the early show on 1/25, a duet with Wadada Leo Smith. 3 words: get there early.

1/20, 9/10:30 PM alto sax powerhouse Miguel Zenon plays duets with pianist Dan Tepfer at Mezzrow, $25

1/20, 9:50 PM (will you really miss a song if you show up at 9:53?) psychedelically tinged female-fronted electric blues band the Hurt Project play Chicago classics and their own guitar-and-organ-fueled originals at the Delancey, $10

1/21. 7 PM sitar player Ikhlaq Hussain plays classic North Indian ragas at the Rubin Museum of Art, $25

1/21, 7 PM classical guitarist Jason Vieaux plays music of Albeniz and legendary early 19th century composer/guitarist Mauro Giuliani at P.S. 321’s Auditorium, 180 7th Ave. in Park Slope, $15

1/21, 7:30 PM deviously fun cabaret/chamber pop chanteuse Grace McLean & Them Apples , popular if controversial Americana band David Mayfield Parade and a bunch of twee trendoid losers at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised.

1/21, 8 PM ludicrously bad segues, good triplebill: flamenco/Middle Eastern rocker Khaled Dajani and band followed at 9 by terse, purist cool-voiced Americana singer Vienna D’Amato Hall and then hypnotic ambient soundscape project Letters to Nepal at the Way Station

1/21, 9 PM vicious noiserock jamband the the Skull Practitioners– led by Steve Wynn sparring partner/genius guitarist Jason Victor – at Bowery Electric, $8

1/21, 10:30 PM  eclectic, tuneful pastoral jazz/cinematic violinist-composer Skye Steele with Nate Wood and Masu  at Littlefield, $10

1/22, 7 PM Barbes’ first annual oud festival featuring “featuring some of the best American oud players in the city” – Brandon Terzic, Brian Prunka, Mavrothi Kontanis, Kane Mathis, Adam Good and Tom Chess – wow!

1/22, 7:30 PM the Calidore String Quartet play works by Mozart, Caroline Shaw and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

1/22, 7:30 PM and 1/23-24, 8 PM the NY Philharmonic plays a Chen Qigang NY premiere, the Mozart Horn Concerto No. 4 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 at Avery Fisher Hall, $33 tix avail.

1/22, 7:30 sprawling guitar-and-keys-driven psychedelic funk band Allies at the Delancey $8

1/22, 8 PM a rare NYC show by Argentine tango composer/singer/bandoneonist Josefina Rozenwasser – leader of pan-Latin band Tia Juanita – at Shrine

1/22, 8 PM dark and possibly savagely bluesy improvisation: Joe Morris, electric guitar; Mat Maneri, viola; Chris Lightcap, double-bass; Gerald Cleaver, drums at Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St. in the west village, $15/$12 stud/srs

1/22, 8:30 PM Dervisi feat. guitar god Steve Antonakos play “exotic Greek gangsta blues” at Espresso 77, 35-57 77th Street, Jackson Hts., free.

1/22, 8:30 PM Cajun party hellraisers the Lost Bayou Ramblers at le Poisson Rouge, $10

1/22, 9 PM balmy, sardonically individualistic vocal jazz stylist Dorian Devins and her trio at Bar Thalia adjacent to Symphony Space, free

1/22, 10 PM Dahlia Dumont and her accordion-bass Trio Du Monde sing original ska, reggae, tango and French chanson at Pete’s

1/23, 8 PM accordionist/chanteuse Kamala Sankaram’s hot surfy Bollywood project, Bombay Rickey followed by the rambunctious oldtime Baby Soda Jazz Band at Barbes

1/23, 8 PM darkly sardonic art-rock pianist Eve Lesov at the Way Station

1/24, 8 PM popular lyrical jazz pianist Renee Rosnes with an interesting quartet: Steve Nelson, vibraphone; Peter Washington, bass; Bill Stewart, drums at the Miller Theatre, $20 tix avail.

1/24, 7 PM dark intense lyrical rocker LJ Murphy and his unstoppable noir band at Sidewalk

1/24, 7:30 PM individualistic, witty pianist Jean-Michel Pilc improvises with Petros Klampanis on bass and Gilad Hekselman on guitar at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

1/24, 8 PM spellbinding oud virtuoso George Ziadeh backed by kanun and string quartet performing classic Arab-Islamic poetry (Khayamm’s Rubiyat, and Tarjuman al Ashwaq by Ibn Al Arabi)  at Alwan for the Arts, $25/$15 stud/srs

1/24, 8/10 PM saxophonist Mario Castro leads a nonet (quintet plus string quartet!) at the Jazz Gallery, $22

1/24, 8 PM the St. Lawrence String Quartet plays two Haydn quartets and a NY premiere by Jonathan Berger at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St., $25

1/24, 10 PM the most monstrously creepy noir twang instrumental band on the planet, Big Lazy – whose latest album was rated best of 2014 here – at Barbes

1/24, 10 PM fuzztone garage rock monsters the Mystery Lights at the Knitting Factory, $10

1/24, 10 PM hellraising rockabilly chanteuse/bassist Little Lesley & the Bloodshots at the Way Station

1/25, 11 AM (in the morning) up-and-coming duo Paul Huang, violin and Jessica Xylina Osborne, piano play works byJanácek, Sibelius, Sarasate and Grieg at Walter Reade Theatre, 165 W. 65th St, in the Lincoln Center complex, $22 adv tix req., these morning shows frequently sell out

1/25, 4 PM early music luminaries Pomerium perform music by Isaac, Josquin, Senfl, Gombert, and Crecquillon written for the Augsburg Empire at Corpus Christi Church, 529 W 121st St, $10 seats avail.

1/25, 4 PM baroque chamber quartet Ensemble Leonarda with Lauren Alfano, soprano perform early French music: Monteclair’s cantata, “Pan et Syrinx” (because love is not all it’s cracked up to be…) plus works by Boismortier, Barriere, and Couperin at the French Church du St. Esprit, 109 E. 60th Street (betw. Park and Lex, $25/$15 stud/srs

1/25, 5 PM creepy noir chamber pop/murder ballad duo Charming Disaster play a show streaming at Concert Window, pay what you want, 1/27 at 8 they’re at Silvana

1/25, 5:30/8:30 PM jazz harpist Brandee Younger – this generation’s counterpart to Dorothy Ashby – leads her quintet with Rashaan Carter, bass; E.J. Strickland, drums; Chelsea Baratz, tenor sax at Minton’s, $10 at the bar/$20 at tables

1/25, 6 PM accordion powerhouse Ismael Butera‘s Velvet Jubilee play”blues ballads, cajun and spicy southern tunes” at Silvana

1/25, 8 PM a rare Jersey City house concert by sharply lyrical, sometimes uproariousl amusing purist janglerock songwriter Sharon Goldman with fellow tunesmiths Karyn Oliver and Meg Braun, email for info/location

1/26, 7 PM pianists Nina Schumann and Luis Magalhães play works for four hands by Mozart, Brahms, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Ravel at the Bulgarian Consulate, 121 E 62nd St, 2nd Floor, free

1/26, 7:30 PM pianist Michael Riesman and violinist Chase Spruill play “works from the bloodiest film scores by Philip Glass” at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix req.

1/26, 7:30 PM – 100 years ago Claude Debussy began a project of six large-scale sonatas for “diverse instruments” but completed only three before his death in 1918. Three contemporary composers – Thomas Adès, Marc-Andre Dalbavie and Libby Larsen – completed those six final large-scale works; a stellar eleven-piece chamber ensemble plays them along with the three that Debussy himself finished, in a world premiere at Advent/ Broadway Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd St., free

1/26, 8 PM site-specific, arttfully orchestrated new works by Jakub Ciupinski, Chris Cerrone and Ricardo Romaneiro at the American Irish Historical Society,  991 5th Ave (80/81) $30/$20 stud. Chamber ensembles playing echoey music throughout the several stories and rooms of a Gilded Age NYC townhouse, amplified by an electronic component. You want trippy?

1/26, 8 PM oboeist Ian Shafer with the Voxare String Quartet premiere Mohammed Fairouz’s cinematic new suite, Locales – portraits of Beirut, Dubai, Paris, London and NYC – along with works by works for oboe and strings by Mozart, Britten, and Barber at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall

1/26, 8 PM eclectic, vivid jazz cellist/singer Marika Hughes & Bottom Heavy at the Blue Note

1/26, 9 PM perennially smart, tuneful Texas Americana/rockabilly guitarslinger Rosie Flores at Hill Country

1/26, 9 PM hilariously bad segue, good twinbill: purist, clear-voiced front-porch folk songstress Cara Scarmack followed at 10 by Czech jazz guitarslinger Martina Fiserova at the Way Station

1/27, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, Vicky Chow, piano; Jennifer Choi, violin;Michael Nicolas, cello play trios by John Zorn at the Miller Theatre, free

1/27, 7:30 PM the oldschool purist intense clarinet-and-accordion klezmer Ken Maltz/Sy Kushner Duo at the Steven Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W 68th St., $15

1/27-31 the eleven-piece Chris Potter Underground Orchestra – including a five-piece string section! -7:30/9:30 PM at the Jazz Standard, $20

1/27-2/1 intense singer/oudist Basya Schecter of anthemic Middle Eastern groove band Pharaoh’s Daughter leads a series of bands at the Stone, $15. Choice pick: the 1/29. 10 PM show with singer Eden Perlstein and pyrotechnic kanun player Tamer Pinarbasi

1/27-2/1, 8:30/10:30 PM the reliably sweeping, melodic Vanguard Jazz Orchestra celebrate 49 years in business on their home turf, $25. They’ve also got a killer new album of Bob Brookmeyer tunes just out.

1/27, 9 PM harmony-driven folk noir trio Doll Magdalene – sort of a minor league Bobtown – followed eventually at 11 by the Doolittle Family playing their jangly mix of 60s Laurel Canyon psych-pop and country at the Way Station

1/27, 9:30 PM trumpeter Josh Evans leads 15-piece his big band at Smalls – a good choice if you don’t want to fight the crowds at the Vanguard.

1/27 a killer triplebill with 70s Britrock/art-rock maven Edward Rogers, Britfolk legend John Ford (ex-Strawbs) and blue-eyed soul songwriter/guitarist Don Piper at Bowery Electric.

1/28, 7 PM poignant, eclectic Yiddish singer and songwriter Miryem-Khaye Seigel plays the album release show for her new one Toyznt Tamen = A Thousand Flavors with a killer klezmer band at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, $20/$15 stud/srs

1/28, 7 PM otherworldly Tibetan chanteuse Yungchen Lhamo and band at Symphony Space, $30/$20 stud/srs.

1/28, 7:30 PM the MSM Jazz Orchestra with alto saxophonist Dave Liebman plays a tribute to Wayne Shorter’s 1960s compositions at Borden Auditorum at Manhattan School of Music, free

1/28-29, 7:30 PM and 1/31 at 8 pianist Emmanuel Ax with the NY Philharmonic play Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise plus works by Chopin, Stravinsky and Bartok at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail.

1/28, 8 PM Big Eyed Rabbit – Ross Martin – guitar, Max Johnson – bass, Jeff Davis – drums.- make electric free jazz out of old bluegrass themes at Barbes

1/28, 8:30 PM tuneful, purist classic pop maven Elisa Peimer at the Delancey, $10

1/28. 9 PM accordionist Eva Zollner plays classical works by Christian Wolff, Rebecca Saunders,Carl Bettendorf, Georgia Debrez, Knut Muller and Bent Sorensen at Spectrum, $15

1/29, 7:30 PM dynamic, intense cellist Maya Beiser plays works by Hildegard von Bingen, Gershwin, Eve Beglarian, the U.S. premiere of Rest These Hands by Anna Clyne, Byzantine chant arranged by Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece at the Jewish Museum, 5th Ave./92nd St. (enter on 92nd), $18/$15 stud/srs

1/29, 7:30 PM allstar indie classical pianist Sarah Cahill plays an all Terry Riley program at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix req.

1/29, 7:30 PM LA noir soul/Nashville gothic pop band Spain at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival very highly advised. 2/3 they’re at Rough Trade.

1/29, 8 PM lushly sweeping, cutting-edge vocal jazz like you’ve never heard it before: Sara Serpa, vocals; Andre Matos, electric guitar; Thomas Morgan, double-bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums, plus three-part choir at Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St. in the west village, $15/$12 stud/srs

1/29, 8 PM violin duo String Noise – Pauline Kim Harris and Conrad Harris play new works by Bernhard Lang, Petr Bakla, Spencer Topel, Dan Siegler; Montreal’s Bozzini Quartet perform works by Canadian composers Nicole Lizée and Martin Arnold, as well as James Tenney’s Koan For String Quartet at Roulette, $20/$15 stud/srs

1/29, 8:30 PM bluegrass night at the Jalopy with the Kings County Cut Ups followed by an allstar lineup of Elio Schiavo, Grant Gordy, Rob Hecht, James Genus & Ellery Marshall, $10

1/29, 8:30 PM pianist Karl Larson (of Bearthoven) premieres pieces by Robert Honstein and David Lang at Spectrum, $15

1/29, 9 PM haunting, dusky, jangly southwestern gothic rock band And the Wiremen at Troost, 1011 Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint

1/29, 9 PM the Kings County Ramblers play bluegrass followed by crepuscular, lo-fi, intense blues guitarist/singer Breanna Barbara Arneson – this blog has never seen her, so whoever told her that New York Music Daily said that her live show was whatever is pulling her leg.

1/29, 9:15 PM the Nat Osborn Band – whose wry piano-based New Orleans sounds come across somewhere in between Dr. John and Brother Joscephus – at the big room at the Rockwood

1/29, 10:30 PM kick-ass guitar-and-organ-fueled original psychedelic garage rockers the Electric Mess at Union  Pool

1/30, 6/7:30 PM, two sets of swing and postbop standards, Ellington to Miles to Max Roach performed by an insanely good crop of jazz talent including but not limited to groups led by Jenny Scheinman, Linda Oh, Amir ElSaffar, Marvin Sewell and Matt Mitchell at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm., the full lineup and whereabouts of the groups playing through the galleries is here 

1/30, 7 PM hilarious, politically spot-on faux French garage rockers les Sans Culottes – whose new album Les Dieux Ont Soif is the closest thing to the Clash, lyrically speaking, that’s been released in this city lately – at Grand Victory

1/30, 7 PM pianist Joan Forsyth plays works by Brahms, Arensky, Schwendinger, Dawe and Anderson at Third Street Music School Settlement, free

1/30, 8 PM a rare Brooklyn appearance by pianist Lucian Ban and violist Mat Maneri playing duos off their haunting, intense, mysterious Transylvania Concert album at Barbes, $10

1/30, 8:30 PM, repeating 1/31 at 7:30 PM the Chelsea Symphony play  Segal: Caprice for Cello and Orchestra with Erich Schoen-René on cello; Dai: World Premiere; Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story; Sibelius: Violin Concerto with solist Emanouil Manalov at St. Paul’s Church, 315 W 22nd St, $20 sugg don.

1/30, 9:30 PM theatrical, darkly funny noir folk band Thee Shambels at the Postcrypt Coffeehouse

1/30, 9:30 PM socially aware, oldtimey-flavored Americana band 2/3 Goat at Hill Country, free

1/30, 10 PM psychedelic folk legend Peter Stampfel and the Ether Frolic Mob at the Jalopy, $10

1/30, 10 PM the high-energy, oldtimey Dirty Waltz Project at Freddy’s.

1/30, 10 PM Ay Mayo & Los Colombian Roots throw a dance party at Drom, $10

1/30, 11 PM vicious noiserock jamband the Skull Practitioners– led by Steve Wynn sparring partner/genius guitarist Jason Victor – at Matchless, $8

1/30. 11:30 PM sardonically lyrical, Jayhawks-ish janglerock/powerpop/Americana band Frontier Ruckus at the Mercury, $10 adv tix very highly rec

1/31, 4 PM chamber pop trio the Trouveres – Max Zeugner, bassist for the New York Philharmonic; renaissance viol player Doug Balliett) and ethereal classical singer Charlotte Mundy – play standard repertoire, ancient obscure treasures and originals in the same vein at Pete’s.

1/31, 6 PM darkly kinetic Israeli-Ethiopian funk band Lions at Barbes

1/31, 7 PM psychedelic Indian funk/downtempo guitarist Shubh Saran and his instrumental jamband at Shapeshifter Lab, $7

1/31, 7:30 PM hip-swaying instrumental twinbill: intriguing, cinematic New Haven psychedelic funk band the Mushroom Cloud at the Delancey followed eventually by the similar but slightly more straightforwardly funky Newton Crosby at 9:30, $5

1/31, 7:30 PM Jon Irabagon on saxophone with Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Rudy Royston on drums at the Bar Next Door – is this the swing set or the slyly amusing one?

1/31, 9 PM purist, straightforward, warmly tuneful front-porch folk songwriter Joanna Sternberg plays the album release show for her excellent solo acoustic cd Lullaby to Myself at the Jalopy, $10

1/31, 9 PM the dubby, trippy, Middle Eastern-inflected Brooklyn Gypsies play the album release show for their new one at Drom, $7 adv tix rec

1/31, 11 PM, LMFAO segue, two completely different but good bands: roots reggae group Royal Khaoz followed at midnight by fiery, hard-rocking Balkan band Tipsy Oxcart at the small room at the Rockwood

1/31, 10 PM a rare appearance by the hilarious, politically astute Paranoid Larry & His Imaginary Band at Freddy’s.

2/1, 4:30 PM learn haunting Ukrainian polyphony from the great Mariana Sadovska, composer of Chernobyl: The Harvest, connoisseur of both the avant garde and ancient folk sons! At 440 Studios, Room 3D, 440 Lafayette St. (between Astor Pl. and E. 4th St), $10/$5 stud/srs, kids free space is limited, rsvp reqd

2/1, 11 PM intriguing, enveloping slowcore/postrock/soundscape band Aquadora at the Delancey, $5

2/2, 8 PM bewitchingly assaultive art-rock duo Naked Roots Conducive – violinist Natalia Steinbach and cellist Valerie Kuehne play an event lovingly entitled Fucking Strings. Also on the bill: bassist Sean Ali, violinist Jeffery Young,  bassist Shayna Dulberger and guitarist Chris Welcome’s Hot Date,  and thereminist the Use at Torus Porta, 113 Stockholm St, storefront 1A (just off Myrtle), Bushwick, M to Myrtle Ave.

2/2, 8 PM a composer portrait of Missy Mazzoli feat. string quartets Ethel and the Mivos Quartet, soprano Marnie Breckenridge, cellist Jody Redhage, violist Nathan Schram, violinist Robert Simonds, playing new and recent, meticulously enveloping, often achingly intense chamber works at the Miller Theatre, $20 tix avail.

2/3, 7 PM high-energy newschool honkytonk band American Aquarium at the Mercury, $12 adv tix rec

2/3, 7:30 PM choreographer/ethnic dance maven Avia Moore & Matt Temkin‘s wild klezmer jamband at the Steven Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W 68th St., $15

2/3-8, 8:30/10:30 PM saxophonist Wayne Escoffery shows off his purist side with a quartet including pianist David Kikoski, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and monster drummer Ralph Peterson- at the Vanguard, $25

2/4, 7 PM Vanguel Tangarov, clarinet and Ekaterina Tangarova, piano play duo pieces by Weber, Poulenc, Chiamparini, Joseph Horovitz, Marin Valtchanov and Béla Kovács at the Bulgarian Consulate, 121 # 62nd St, 2nd Floor, free

2/4, 7:30 PM pianist Jenny Lin plays brooding works by Valentin Silvestrov plus Stravinsky: Piano Sonata and Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4  at Le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

2/4, 8 PM the Jake Schepps Quintet play their fascinating cross-pollinating blend of newgrass and classical chamber music at Subculture – plus Bartok for bluegrass band! $20 adv tix highly rec.

2/4, 9:30  PM irrepresible, sometimes punk-jazz, sometimes edgy postbop composer/guitarist Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord play the album release show for their new one Jeremiah – which includes a medley of wiccan songs – at Cornelia Street Cafe

2/4, 9:30 PM cellist/singer Meaghan Burke and the Rhythm Method play Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 1 plus her own darkly kinetic songs at Joe’s Pub, $16

2/5, 7:30 PM, repeating 2/6-7 at 8 the NY Philharmonic with violinist Lisa Batiashvili play Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 plus the Barber Violin Concerto at Avery Fisher Hall, $32 tix avail. There’s also a 2/7, 2 PM concert with the Rachmaninoff preceded by the Dvorak Piano Quintet.

2/5, 7:30 PM experimental vocal works by avant garde composers and extended voice pioneers Joan La Barbara and Pamela Z at the Lincoln Center Atrium, early arrival advised.

2/6, 7 PM excellent blues cover band Boxing the Needle – who reinvent classics from across the ages as psychedelia or dub followed by irresistibly named, darkly sizzling psychedelic garage punk rockers Anderson Council at 8 and then Stones/Social D-influenced guitar band Anchor Lot at the Delancey, $5.

2/6, 7 PM Cantata Profana put renaissance polyphony in sharp context/contrast with a “semi-staged chamber concert: 17th century Monteverdi next to Salvatore Sciarrino’s modern orchestrations of Gesualdo madrigals, Aribert Reimann’s modern string quartet recreations of Brahms songs, along with George Crumb’s fantastical first book of Madrigals, ending with Monteverdi’s most ambitious madrigal, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” at the Fabbri Library, 7 E 95th St. (just off 5th Ave), $23/$10 stud/srs

2/6, 7 PM irrepressible, historically informed, folk noir/jangly rock songwriter Elisa Flynn with the reputedly like-minded Jim Knable and Maharajah Sweets at Branded Saloon.

2/6, 7:30 PM violinist Rachel Lee Priday and pianist David Kaplan play contemporary works by Eric Shanfield, Matthew Aucoin, Hannah Lash, Caroline Shaw, Scott Wollschleger, Samuel Carl Adams, Sayo Kosugi, Eric Shanfield and Christopher Cerrone at Subculture, $20/$15 stud.

2/6, 8 PM eclectic jam-oriented mostly-female klezmer/tango/jazz band Isle of Klezbos – playing lots of new material off their subversive forthcoming album J. Edgar Klezmer:  Songs From My Grandmother’s FBI Files – at the Actors’ Temple, 339 W. 47th St., $15/$10 stud/srs

2/6, 8 PM violinist Jason Kao Hwang pulls out all the stops, playing two improvisational sets with two extremely interesting units: Sing House with Andrew Drury – drum set; Ken Filiano – bass; Chris Forbes – piano and Steve Swell – trombone and Amygdala with Rami Seo on the haunting, tone-warping Korean gayageum and Michael Wimberly on percussion at Roulette, $20

2/6, 8 PM sprawling gospel-rock orchestra Jesus on the Mainline – featuring spectacular frontwoman Mel Flannery – at the Mercury, $12 adv tix rec. How are they gonna fit all those people on that little stage?

2/6, 8 PM the cleverly tuneful, individualistic, witty Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet playing bandleader Charley Gerard’s Bukowski-influenced new suite with guest singer Kristin Slipp at I-Beam, $10

2/6, 9 PM guitarslinger Hugo G – whose darkly hypnotic, politically aware originals are a smart, original update on the slowly unwinding Texas blues pioneered by Lightning Hopkins in the 30s and 40s – at Beluga Bar, 75 Murray St, Tribeca, $10

2/6, 11 PM St. Croix roots reggae stars Midnite play a Bob Marley bday celebration at SOB’s, $28 gen adm

2/6, midnight Bombrasstico – sort of the trombone version of Moon Hooch – play their explosive, improvisational organic dancefloor grooves followed by  infectious Brazilian maracatu/funk/New Orleans/surf/country band Nation Beat at Drom, $10 gen adm

2/6, 1 AM (wee hours of 2/7) conscious Rasta dub reggae sensation Jah9 with the Dub Treatment Band, at Milk River Cafe, 960 Atlantic Ave (Grand Ave/St. James Pl.), Brooklyn, 2/3 to Dean St.

2/7, 5 PM ecstatic, original, jazzily psychedelic New Orleans funk band Water Seed at the Brooklyn Museum, free

2/7, 8 PM deviously intense, funny, charismatic oldtimey ukelele siren/songwriter Kelli Rae Powell at at Hill Country Brooklyn

2/7, 8 PM Cuban crooner Pepito Gomez and band at Roulette, open mojito bar 7-8 PM, $25

2/7, 8 PM indie classical chamber stars American Contemporary Music Ensemble and the always awesome avant-garde choral ensemble Roomful of Teeth join forces for a concert full of firsts including the world premiere of a new version of Caroline Shaw’s ever-evolving Ritornello 2.3 plus works by Purcell and Gavin Bryars at the Kasser Theatre at Montclair State University, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ, $20, charter bus available from the Port Authority arcade on 41st St between 8th and 9th Aves to the theatre, ($10 per person, round trip), bus reservations may be made at 973-655-5112 or http://www.peakperfs.org

2/7, 9 PM ferociously tuneful southwestern gothic rockers the Downward Dogs at Sidewalk.

2/7, 9:30  soaring, brilliant singer Magda Giannikou’s lush, sweeping, pan-Mediterranean art-rock/chamber pop/jazz group Banda Magda at Joe’s Pub, $20

2/7, 10 PM intense, smart, tuneful janglerock guitarist Jennifer O’Connor at Union Hall, $10

2/8, 11 AM (in the morning), pianist Steven Osborne plays a tantalizingly biting all-Russian program of Rachmaninoff etude-tableaux plus Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition at the Walter Reade Theatre, 165 W 65th St.  $22 adv tix highly rec.

2/8, 3 PM the Shanghai Quartet premieres Du Yun’s Tattooed in Snow alongside Beethoven’s String Quartet, no. 12 in E-flat Major, op. 127 as well as Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major at the Kasser Theatre at Montclair State University, 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, NJ, $20, charter bus available from the Port Authority arcade on 41st St between 8th and 9th Aves to the theatre, ($10 per person, round trip), bus reservations may be made at 973-655-5112 or http://www.peakperfs.org.

2/8, 4 PM the Apollo Trio perform Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op.1 No.1, Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17 and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

2/8, 4:30 PM world premieres by exciting contemporary composers: Miranda Cuckson is the soloist in Wendy Griffiths‘ Concerto for Violin; new works by Thomas Addison, Carolyn Lord, Faye-Ellen Silverman and David Tcimpidis also on the bill at Mannes College Auditorium, 150 W 85th St., free

2/8, 7:30 PM NYC’s very own mesmerizing, hypnotically pointillistic Balinese orchestra Gamelan Dharma Swara play the North American premiere of “Geregel,” a landmark in contemporary gamelan composition by leading Balinese composer Dewa Ketut Alit at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

2/8, 8 PM adventurous, fun, quirky female-fronted psychedelic pop duo Robin’s Egg Blue at Bowery Electric. 2/28 they’re at the Bitter End playing the album release show for their new one at 11

2/8, 8 PM the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra play a characteristically dark orchestral program with Brahms’ Tragic Overture and the Shostakovich Cello Concerto with soloist Julian Schwarz at Symphony Space, $25/$18 stud/srs

2/9, 7:30 PM soprano Jennifer Zetlan and the Claremont Trio play an all-Shostakovich program including Trio No. 1 in C Minor, op. 8; Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, op. 127; Trio No. 2 in E Minor, op. 67 Music Mondays, Advent/ Broadway Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd St., free.

2/9, 7:30 PM a subset of the NY Philharmonic plays new music by Israeli composers Avner Dorman, Yotam Haber, Shulamit Ran and Josef Bardanashvili at Subculture, pricy at $35 but could be worth it.

2/9, 7:30 PM Ward Stare conducts a chamber ensemble including Elizabeth Pridgen, piano and Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin playing music of John Adams, Elliot Goldenthal, and Béla Bartók at le Poisson Rouge, $15 gen adm.

2/10, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, guitarists Alec Holcomb, Jiyeon Kim, Xiaobo Pu and Hao Yang play works by Paul Lansky and Steve Mackey at the Miller Theatre, free

2/10, 7 PM NYC’s preeminent literate janglerock/chamber pop crooner/bandleader Ward White at the big room at the Rockwood, free

2/10, 7 PM explosive Malian percussionist Awa Sangho and her band at Elebash Hall at CUNY, 365 5th Ave. north of 34th St., $25

2/10, 7;30 PM intense clarinet and violin-fueled klezmer group Litvakus at the Steven Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W 68th St., $15

2/10, 8 PM sizzling sarod superstars Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan at Symphony Space, $25 adv tix a must

2/10-15, 8:30/10:30 PM John Zorn does his Stone thing, leading a bunch of different groups at the Vanguard, $25. Choice pick: the 2/10, 10:30 PM set with Bill Frisell, harpist Carol Emmanuel and Kenny Wollesen on vibes, reprising their ethereally gorgeous set at the Met Museum a couple of years ago.

2/10, 11 PM brilliantly eclectic, original Asheville bluegrass band Town Mountain at the big room at the Rockwood, free

2/11, 7 PM intuitive, magically dynamic pianist Karine Poghosyan plays rare Aram Khachaturian works in conjunction with an exhibition by her painter dad Razmik at the Louis Meisel Gallery, 141 Prince St., $35/$25 stud

2/11, 8 PM quirky, sarcastic, lyrically-driven, XTC-ish clang/jangle/postpunk band the James Rocket followed by the more comedic, considerably louder faux-arenarocking Bunkbed, the similarly hard-charging, distantly Replacements-esque, restkess Kenny Chambers & the Electric Ears and the catchy, jangly Big Star-ish Nu-Sonics at Cake Shop

2/11-12, 7:30 PM the NY Philharmonic play Faure’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite. a James MacMillan NY premiere and Tschaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 at Avery Fisher Hall, $29 tix avail.

2/11, 9:30 PM tuneful third-stream pianist Yaniv Taubenhouse and his trio play the album release show for their new one at the Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St

2/12, 7:30 PM Talea Ensemble joins forces with the unstoppable John Zorn for a program of new and classic works; Zorn’s “Prophetic Mysteries” for solo flute and two foley performers, with Ikue Mori, plus the world premiere of a new trio for piano, bass and drums featuring Tyshawn Sorey and Trevor Dunn along with Talea pianist Stephen Goslingl and two of Zorn’s notorious game pieces, “Rugby” and “Hockey,” the latter including John Zorn on saxophone. Talea perform the ensemble work “Bateau Ivre,” composed for them, and the world premiere of a new string trio, at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

2/12, 7:30 PM the Chamber Orchestra of NY plays a handful of baroque treats including Albinoni’s Adagio for strings and organ plus works by CPE Bach, Corrette and Vivaldi at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $25 tix avail.

2/12, 8 PM Robert Sirota’s harrowing 9/11-themed suite for strings, Triptych performed by violinists Sarah Koenig-Plonskier and Karen Dekker, violist Michael Davis, and cellist Benjamin Larsen at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place, Park Slope, free

2/12, 8 PM the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra plays  the Shostakovich Cello Concerto and Franck’s Symphony in D minor at Symphony Space, $25/$18 stud

2/13, 8 PM viola Duo Folie a Deux – Nora Krohn and Nick Revel – play a program TBA at Flushing Town Hall, free but rsvp reqd

2/13, 8 PM pianist Kumi Ogano and violinist Rolf Schulte play works by pioneering, cross-pollinating Japanese composer Akira Miyoshi plus Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and Donald Martino’s 1962 Fantasy-Variations for solo violin at the Tenri Institute, 43 W 13th St, $15/$10 stud/srs

2/13, SF’s raging, Nirvana-influenced gutter blues guitar/drums duo Two Gallants at the Mercury. 2/14 they’re at Rough Trade.

2/14, 7 PM pianists Mira Armij Gill and Marc Ponthus play works by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Lyapunov, Beethoven and Boulez at Third Street Music School Settlement, free

2/14, 7 PM viola da gamba virtuoso Lisa Terry and lutenist Richard Stone perform music of Marin Marais plus solo lute and theorbo pieces by Sainte-Colombe, Francois Couperin, and Robert de Visée  at St. Peter’s Church, 54th/Lex, $25

2/14, 7:30 PM anthemic, eclectic, often haunting female-fronted Americana/acoustic funk/art-rock jamband the Sometime Boys at Hometown BBQ in Red Hook

2/14, 8 PM the New York Virtuoso Singers perform amorous choral works by Josquin des Prez, Purcell, Monteverdi, Haydn, Ravel, Daniel Pinkham, Cole Porter, Paul Simon, Thea Musgrave and others at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

2/15, 4 PM early music choir Blue Heron perform early music by Ockeghem, Binchois, & Du Fay at Corpus Christi Church, 529 W 121st St, $10 seats avail.

2/15, 8:30 PM catchy, Americana-tinged North Carolina janglerocker Jeffrey Dean Foster at 12th St. Bar & Grill,1123 8th Ave @ 12th St, Park Slope (F/G to 7th Ave;) 2/17 he’s at the small room at the Rockwood at 6. If you’re into Big Star, vintage REM or the whole chimy 80s southern pop thing, he’s the man.

2/18, 8 PM tuneful, lyrical, inscrutable cellist/multi-instrumentalist/siren Serena Jost and irrepressible, improvisationally-inclined pianist/guitarist Matt Kanelos at LIC Bar

2/15, 8 PM groovealicious Philly psychedelic soul band Needle Points, a Cure wannabe and then terse, wickedly tuneful garage/jangle/powerpop band Aloud at the Mercury, $10

2/15, 10 PM haunting Nashville gothic crooner Mark Sinnis – whose recent turn into hard honkytonk is absolutely kick-ass – upstairs at 2A

2/17, 7 PM an evening of new music hosted and curated by Bright Sheng featuring scenes from his new opera Dream of the Red Chamber at the National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue (at 29th St), $15

2/17, 7:30 PM intense guitarist Allen Watsky’s Jewish/Romany jazz Djangle Box Project at the Steven Wise Free Synagogue, 30 W 68th St., $15

2/17, 8 PM Jim Jarmusch’s legendary noiserock/post-Velvets band Squrl play live soundtracks to four classic Man Ray silent films: Retour a la Raison (1923); Emak Bakia (1926); Les Mysteres Du Chateau Du De (1929); L’Etoile De Mer (1928) at the World Financial Center, free, early arrival advised

2/17, 8 PM intense, lyrically brilliant Americana/soul/janglerock tunesmith Matt Keating plays the album release show for his long-awaited new one at the big room at the Rockwood

2/18 and 2/20, 8 PM the US premiere of Pablo Berger’s film Blancanieves with live soundtrack provided by Wordless Music Orchestra with Alfonso Vilallonga at the World Financial Center, free, early arrival advised

2/18, 11 PM Des Roar – whose tuneful mix of punk and post Jesus & Mary Chain late 80s/early 90s rock includes the classic Ted Bundy Was a Ladies Man – at Rough Trade, $12 adv tix very highly rec.

2/19-22 a celebration of the freedom songs of the Civil Rights Movement with a compelling current-day focus on inequality in NYC organized by the Brooklyn anti-gentrification movement and Equality for Flatbush with artists including Justin Hicks and Heritage Blues Orchestra frontwoman Chaney Sims at Jack in Ft. Greene, details tba

2/19, 7 PM chamber ensemble Canta Libre play works by Piazzolla, Jean Cras, Francaix,Villa-Lobos and Ginastera at the Salmagundi Center for American Art, 47 5th Ave, $15

2/19, 7:30 PM the Daedalus Quartet play Bartok: String Quartet No. 2 and Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor (“Voces intimae”) at the Lincoln Center Atrium, early arrival advised

2/19, 8 PM a “composer portrait” featuring the dissociative, acerbically kinetic work of Stefano Gervasoni performed by Yarn/Wire, Mivos Quartet and Ekmeles at the Miller Theatre, $20 tix avail

2/19, 9:30 PM ethereal, Middle Eastern-tinged Malagasy chanteuse Razia Said plays the album release for her new one at Joe’s Pub, $20

2/19, 10 PM sick Dolly Parton cover band Doll Parts – who mix straight-up rock versions of her schlockiest 80s crap with acoustic covers of her country classics – at Rock Shop, $10

2/20, 9 PM haunting, intense, wickedly tuneful Nashville gothic songwriter Jessie Kilguss and her band at Red Hook Bait and Tackle.

2/20, 11 PM Canadian gothic chanteuse Lorraine Leckie and her phenomenal, ferocious band at Sidewalk

2/21, 8 PM Kiran Ahluwalia sings mystical Sufi songs with a west African desert rock edge with her husband guitarist Rez Abbasi, sensational accordionist Will Holshouser and a rhythm section at Roulette, $30/$25 stud/srs

2/21, 8 PM the choir of Trinity Wall Street presents epic rarities by Ginastera & Ives at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall with further epic enhancement from three additional choirs (!!), $15 tix avail.

2/22, 3 PM organist Adam J. Brakel plays Healey Willan’s iconic Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue plus Jeanne Demessieux’s Six Etudes, as well as music of J.S. Bach, Bossi, Rameau, Reger, Whitlock and de Grigny at St. Ignatius Loyola Church, Park Ave at 84th St., $20

2/22, 3 PM the Park Ave. Chamber Symphony plays Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps and Lorin Maazel’s arrangement of Wagner themes, The Ring Without Words at Rose Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center

2/22, 8 PM pensive, dark Americana/country blues songwriter Jeffrey Foucault – sort of a younger, more somber Steve Earle -at Subculture, $18 adv tix a must

2/24, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, the Jack Quartet play the American premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’ String Quartet No. 8 at the Miller Theatre, free

2/24, 9 PM irrepressible, historically informed, folk noir/jangly rock songwriter Elisa Flynn presents a night of murder ballads – everybody does one of their own and one of somebody else’s – artists include Chris Q. Murphy, Maharajah Sweets, the Halsey Hellhounds, Jim Knable, Neville Elder of Thee Shambels and others at the Way Station

2/24, 11 PM NYC’s preeminent literate janglerock/chamber pop bandleader Ward White does a stripped-down acoustic show at Pete’s

2/25, 7 PM striking, stark, soaring sounds from the global Jewish diaspora with Bukharian Jewish singer Muhabbat Shamayeva and Persian Jewish singer/composer Galeet Dardashti and their ensembles at Symphony Space, $30/$20 stud/srs

2/26, 7:30 PM the Skip James Project  featuring trombone powerhouse Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Kevin Ray, and Andrew Drury with special guests J.D. Allen and Justin Hicks at the Lincoln Center Atrium. “Eschewing chordal instruments, they deploy trombone/flumpet, bass, drums, and vocals to re-examine the material of 1930s delta blues legend Skip James’s musical legacy,” at the Lincoln Center Atrium, early arrival advised

2/26, 7:30 PM, repeating 2/28 at 8 the NY Philharmonic play Sibelius’ Oceanides and Violin Concerto plus Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail.

2/26-27. 7:30 PM, repeating on 2/28 at 5:30 PM Norwegian actress Nina Bendiksen stars in a performance of Flagstad – Triumph and Tragedy, the one-woman bioplay written and directed by Norwegian playwright Einar Bjorge in celebration of legendary soprano Kirsten Flagstad’s debut with the Metropolitan Opera 80 years ago that launched her to stardom, at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave (at 38th St).  $20

2/26 timeless noiserock legends Swans at Bowery Ballroom

2/27, 7 PM Yi-Fang Huang, piano; Dana Pielet, piano; Shanda Wooley, cello with flutist Susan Friedlander and violnist Caitlin Lynch play works by Aitken, Bach, Brahms, Ian Clarke, Farrenc, Hétu, Mauthe and Piazzolla at Third Street Music School Settlement, free

2/27, 8 PM the NYU Symphony with conductor Jens Georg Bachmann and piano competition winner Tadeusz Domanowski perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Stravinsky’s Firebird and student works at Symphony Space, free, early arrival advised

2/28, 2 PM brilliant Britrock tunesmith/crooner Edward Rogers at Rough Trade, free

2/28, 2 PM flutist Daphna Mor’s slinky East of the River ensemble doing their bracing Mediterranean/Middle Eastern mashups at Flushing Town Hall, $13

2/28, 8 PM, repeating 3/1 at 4 PM William Hite, tenor and Gilles Vonsattel, piano play Schubert’s creepy, doomed, thinly veiled existentialist political suite Winterreise at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud

2/28, 8 PM celebrated, magical UK early music choir Stile Antico join the rest of the choral world in resuscitating renaissance music written for the court of the Hapsburgs by Josquin, Crequillon, Tallis and others at Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 W 46th St, $35 tix available via the Miller Theatre box office

2/28, 8 PM the Sweet Plaintain Quartet play their kinetic originals and other material at Subculture, $20 adv tix req.

2/28, 9 PM a killer (sorry, couldn’t resist) twinbill: Nashville gothic/circus rock icons O’Death followed by the more theatrical but similar Murder by Death at Bowery Ballroom, $20 adv tix highly rec

2/28 dark, sardonically lyrical Swedish paisley underground psych rockers the Plastic Pals at Sidewalk. 3/4 they’re at Bowery Electric

3/1, 3 PM Ann Kim, violin; Benjamin Larsen, cello; Juliana Han, piano; Ian Rosenbaum, percussion play a Mozart Violin Sonata, then Golijov’s “Mariel”, before moving on to Sirota’s Cello Sonata, and wrap up with Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E flat, Opus 70 no. 2.at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Park Slope, 139 St. John’s Place at 7th Ave., any train to Grand Army Plaza and walk downhill

3/6, 8 PM the extraordinary Lebanese-American composer/multi-instrumentalist Bassam Saba and his ensemble playing haunting, sweepingly majestic original works at Roulette, $30/$25 stud/srs.

3/12,7  PM searingly intense, charismatic, fearless acoustic punk blues siren Molly Ruth followed by fiery Canadian gothic rocker Lorraine Leckie and her psychedelic band with Hugh Pool on lead guitar at the Mercury

3/13, 9 PM legendary, sweepingly majestic,timelessly relevant Australian psychedelic rockers the Church – who were arguably the best rock band in the world for a good fifteen years back in the 80s and 90s – at Bowery Ballroom, $30. 3/14 they’re at Rough Trade for the same price and will undoubtedly sell out. Adv tix rec at the Marcury, from 5-7 PM, M-F

3/14, 5 PM edgy Argentine classical pianist Mirian Conti plays a solo recital tilted “$5 for 5 Composers” at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St.

3/14, 8 PM the sixteen-piece Caribbean and south-of-the-border big band flavors with the Gregorio Uribe Big Band at Roulette, $25

3/18 the CTMD puts on one of their occasional, hellraising Jewish/Slavic Yiddish Zingeray dance parties at City Lore Galley,  56 E 1st St., performers tba

3/20, 8 PM, repeating 3/21, 7:30 PM the Chelsea Symphony play Bedford: Flushing Meadows, 1964 for Saxophone and Orchestra (world premiere) with soloist Aaron Patterson; Vaughan Williams: Oboe Concerto with soloist Kelly Jo Breczka; Grafe: Cello Concerto with soloist Eric Allen; Sibelius: Overture to the Tempest and Tchaikovsky: The Tempest at St. Paul’s Church, 315 W 22nd St, $20 sugg don.

3/22, 3 PM Hannah Min, violin; Monica Davis, viola; Isabelle Fairbanks and Benjamin Larsen, cello; Zach Mo, piano play Faure’s C minor Piano Quartet, and Arensky’s haunting A minor Quartet for violin, viola and two cellos at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Park Slope, 139 St. John’s Place at 7th Ave., any train to Grand Army Plaza and walk downhill

3/24, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, indie chamber group Yarn/Wire play electroacoustic works by Thomas Meadowcroft and Chiyoko Szlavnics at the Miller Theatre, free.

3/26, 7 PM badass, torchy Irish swing singer Tara O’Grady plays the album release for her new one Irish Bayou – tracing the rich history of the Irish in New Orleans – at the Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22 St

3/28, 5 PM pianist Rosa Torres Pardo plays an all-Iberian program including works by Soler-Scarlatti, Albeniz, de Falla at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St., $5

4/11, 9 PM Trapper Schoepp – a Milwaukee minor-leaguer with some promise, in a growling, lyrical Jeffrey Foucault Americana vein – opens for noiserock/paisley underground/noir rock legend Steve Wynn at Bowery Ballroom

4/12, 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra play an all-Tchaikovsky program with the Festival Coronation March, the Violin Concerto with soloist Siwoo Kim, and Symphony No. 4 at Washington Irving HS Auditorium, 16th St./Irving Place, $15 sugg don., reception to follow

4/18 Australian sensation the Cat Empire – quirky, latin-and-ska-inflected and great fun organic stoner dance grooves – at the at Webster Hall

4/22, 7 PM Norway, Sweden and the Shetland Islands’ virtuoso fiddling traditions represented by Olav Luksengård Mjelva, Anders Hall and Kevin Henderson at Symphony Space, $30

4/24 the queen of otherworldly, exhilarating Romany ballads, Esma Redžepova at le Poisson Rouge

5/16, 8 PM the band that put Haitian psychedelic funk on the map in the 90s, Boukman Eksperyans at Roulette, $25