Lakecia Benjamin Invents a Brand New Soul Sound

Ever see some generic corporate band or singer on tv and wonder to yourself if the backing musicians are content to play cliches all the time…or if they have secret lives where they pull off their masks and play real music? Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin is one of those players. She’s toured with the kind of acts you hear in the laundromat – and also with Stevie Wonder. Last month, Motema released Retox, Benjamin’s debut album as a leader with her band Soul Squad, and it’s eclectic to the extreme, something you would expect from a musician who’s played as many styles as she has. Though drawing deeply on the classic sounds of James Brown, Maceo Parker, Sly and the Family Stone and the Meters, the album also includes several tracks that mix in a more current-day vibe. It won’t alienate those who’re satisfied with John Legend or Erykah Badu, but it’ll satisfy diehard fans of real oldschool artists from Sharon Jones to George Clinton.

It’s a blend of vocal and instrumental joints. Along with the blissfully peaceful, atmospheric Dreams, there are some serious party jams: the band’s signature, P-Funk flavored opening track, SoulSquad, which evolved out of a jam at a concert soundcheck; Maceo, a tribute to funky sax legend Maceo Parker that blends vintage JB’s with 70s P-Funk; and the horn-driven groove Get Down, a rousingly successful attempt to mix a 60s go-go feel with James Brown, right down to the fat but simple bass groove and tight, punchy horn riffs.

The rest of the tracks cover a lot of ground as well. Keep Talkin’, a casually seductive duet between Amp Fiddler and Tracey Nicole, mashes up a sweet mid 60s-style soul melody with more ambitious 70s stylings. Share My Life reaches for more of an early 90s soul/hip-hop feel, featuring airy, carefree vocals from Jacoria Marzett and a cameo from rapper Whosane over swirling, summery ambience. My Love features a nuanced, Sarah Vaughan-esque vocal by Krystle Warren, while Mavis Swan Poole sings Human Being, a hypnotically echoey jazz/funk fusion that brings to mind Digable Planets.

With its wickedly catchy hook, Jump and Shout holds nothing back, a driving but sultry kiss-off anthem: Benjamin had been looking for a singer to channel her lyrics’ righteous rage and when she heard Chinah Blac singing at a house party, she realized she’d found a match. The easygoing, satisfied, boudoir-pop song Smile bounces along with lead vocals by Maya Azucena and one of Benjamin’s signature lush, balmy horn charts – and an exquisitely warm, direct alto sax solo. And Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing pays homage to Benjamin’s longtime pal Stevie Wonder: Benjamin speeds it up, reinventing it for the dancefloor with latin sabor and a tight clave beat.

The closing track, Slow Juice originated as a studio mistake: when Benjamin heard an earlier composition being played back at halfspeed, she realized that she’d stumbled upon a tremendous slow groove. So she took out the horns and vocals and turned the new track into a sly, sultry downtempo/trip-hop anthem, a platform for Benjamin to subtly flex the jazz chops she’d originally honed as a teenager playing with Rashied Ali and the Clark Terry Big Band. Benjamin’s next NYC gig with this band is 8/20 at the Red Rooster, 310 Lenox Ave. (125/126), time/$TBA; she’s at the big room at the Rockwood the following day, 8/21 at 8:30 PM for $10.

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Istanbulive 2012: A Historic Night at Lincoln Center

Last night’s Turkish Woodstock, a.k.a. Istanbulive night at Lincoln Center Out of Doors was probably the closest in spirit to the original Woodstock, meteorologically speaking: with the rain, gently cool and comforting as it was, the sight of empty seats in Damrosch Park was surreal to the extreme. This year marked the fourth annual festival of Turkish music put together by Serdar Ilhan and Mehmet Dede, the brain trust behind Drom, the downtown world music mecca: as usual, the concert was brilliant, with a special historical significance. This show was especially notable for the American debut of legendary Turkish chanteuse and freedom fighter Selda Bagcan. It took her til age 64 to get here; she sang for almost two hours as the rain picked up and then abated, and got stronger as she went along. Dressed in her native Anatolian colors of red and white (and waving a Turkish flag during one song, to thunderous applause), she’d often sing a verse and then turn her mic to the crowd, or even let the audience open a song after a familiar intro. Known for her clever, satirical, politically-charged Turkish lyrics (which resulted in her imprisonment by the junta there in the early 80s), she frequently ad-libbed them to reference current events, which further energized the audience. Watching a circle of young people pushing their way to the front, linking hands in a circle, then spinning and bouncing to a psychedelic folk protest song that had to be at least 40 years old was heartwarming to the extreme: this kind of thing doesn’t happen in Bushwick, at least not in the trendy areas.

Much of the psychedelic rock that came out of the non-English speaking world during the 60s and 70s makes the American and British stuff seem sober and timid by comparison, often because the Peruvians, and Koreans, and Estonians and so forth used a broader sonic pallette. Bagcan was backed not only by electric guitar, keyboards and drums but also by saz (Turkish lute) as well as clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski and kanun virtuoso Tamer Pinarbasi, who comprised two-thirds of the evening’s extraordinary opening act, the Secret Trio. Microtones and overtones flew from the Turkish instruments as the rock band held the center, acoustic guitar and saz frequently blending together for an intoxicatingly, glimmering river of jangle and clang as the kanun flickered in the upper registers and Lumanovski added tersely plaintive washes of sound. With her minutely jeweled, muanced melismas, Bagcan sang like a woman forty years younger, as subtle as she was undeterred and defiant.

Yet a sense of longing pervaded much of what she and the band played. Big, sweeping anthems were bisected by quiet, tense interludes where the crowd quickly filled in the empty spaces with their voices. Hearing these many of these songs done as relatively straight-up, Pink Floyd-style art-rock was quite a change from the woozy textures (synths imitating a ney flute and tinny guitar without much sustain) of many of the original recordings. Bagcan has been called the “Turkish Piaf,” and there’s some truth in that considering her unwavering support for the working classes and her occasional penchant for drama: one of the evening’s best-received numbers was a torrent of lyrics, Istanbul cabaret style. As the end of the set neared, she and the band reached back for a more starkly acoustic, traditionally Middle Eastern flavored vibe, kanun and saz taking centerstage on an undulating, Egyptian-tinged anthem.

With grey skies overhead, the Secret Trio’s dark intricately pensive instrumentals set the tone perfectly and never let up through their abbreviated three-song set, Pinarbasi and Lumanovski’s lines grounded by oudist Ara Dinkjian’s terse countermelodies. Opening with the clarinet stark over a moody, neoromantic theme that could have been Ravel, or Morricone until an even darker detour into Arabic mode, they took it down even lower and more elegaically over a hypnotic web of prickly pointillisms. Then tenor saxophonist Ilhan Ersahin’s Wonderland treated the crowd to the most night’s most hypnotic moments, clarinetist Husnu Senlendirici spinning magical, ominously microtonal spirals in tandem with Ersahin over the ringing backdrop of Pinarbasi (who was doing triple duty tonight) and an electric rhythm section featuring a trance-inducing goblet drummer. Ersahin’s signature sound is swirling and dub-influenced: maybe because he and the band kept getting mixed signals about when they were supposed to wrap up their set (everybody seemed to be expecting a cataclysmic storm), there was a welcome edge and gypsy-flavored bite to the music along with the pulsing, shapeshifting atmospherics.

Beast Make Bomb Goes Out with a Bang

In their three years together, Brooklyn’s Beast Make Bomb were probably the kind of band who blew other bands off the stage. That statement cuts both ways. On one hand, they served as opening act for the Cold War Kids, Tokyo Police Club and the Whigs, a situation where just about anybody could go onstage, burp into the mic and by doing so, outperform the headliner: at least burping takes a little effort. On the other hand, Beast Make Bomb had good songs and played them well, something you wouldn’t expect from a group who met at NYU and described their music as “songs informed by twenty-something college life in urban grit” – the gentrifier subtext isn’t pretty. If you’re wondering why all this is in the past tense, it’s because Beast Make Bomb are finished – singer Ceci Gomez, guitarist Glenn VanDyke, bassist Sam Goldfine and drummer Hartley Lewis are calling it quits. You have one more chance to see them, at the downstairs studio space at Webster Hall tomorrow the 30th around 8 PM. But they’ve left a tantalizing legacy of recordings, all of them free downloads at their Bandcamp site. If this is the only thing in music the four band members ever do, it’s a good thing they did it – if they go on to other projects, it’s good reason to keep an eye on them.

Their final recording is an ep titled Double Dipper, which you can grab for free without having to sign up for an email list or such. The first track, Cotton Mouth sputters over a bright flurry of guitars, half U2’s the Edge, half dreampop. “I go up up and away,” Gomez sings in a coy come-hither tone -it sounds a lot like underrated early 90s Britrockers Echobelly. The title track opens with a suspenseful sway and blasts of feedback from VanDyke’s amp, Gomez reminding the world that she’s a “double dipper, a boy collector, a love rejector.” The darkest song, Arachnid kicks off with a spiraling bass hook into burning guitar chords, a chromatically-fueled menace underscored by Gomez’ disarmingly pretty vocals. Its insistent dreampop chorus spins back into the verse with a vicious pickslide. The last song, Dream Boat is a revelation: it’s as if legendary 80s New York noiserockers Live Skull reunited and teamed up with an early 90s version of Lush.

From all of this, it’s obvious that Beast Make Bomb had something good going on, referencing a kaleidoscope of other styles without sounding derivative. So why are they breaking up? That may be nobody’s business. Or maybe, they realized that they were fish out of water. They had “management,” whatever that means at this point in history; clearly, their industry connections were sufficient to get them booked on more than one national tour. But whatever’s left of that industry these days wants nothing to do with bands like Beast Make Bomb, who played music because they loved it and were good at it, not because they want to please anyone other than themselves. Take home a small piece of New York rock history tomorrow night at Webster Hall.

More Good Oldtime Songs from Tumbling Bones

The proliferation of new oldtime string bands has grown almost to the point of overkill. Is this a bad thing? Not if they sound like Tumbling Bones. The quartet of banjoist Jake Hoffman, fiddler Sam McDougle, guitarist Peter Winne and bassist Steve Roy are based in Brooklyn: they take the kind of stuff that was coming out of Memphis circa 1930 and do it nonchalantly and soulfully, 2012 style. Much as most of the tracks here are covers, this band isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, or copy and paste something that’s already been done to death.

Their latest album Schemes is a potent reminder of how much cross-pollination there was between country and blues back in the day, despite the obstacles against it. Forget for a second that there was no internet: throughout the Bible Belt, there were an awful lot of places where, if you were black, it could be a lethal mistake to associate with whites. But musicians have always been ahead of the curve. That’s not to say that there weren’t racist white musicians, but that the cool ones were playing black music, and vice versa: proof that good music will bust through any divide-and-conquer scheme, every time.

The album kicks off with Prison Wall Blues, inspired by a 1930 Cannon’s Jug Stompers recording, done as a steady backbeat banjo tune with a hot jazz bounce, a hillbilly melody, high lonesome harmonies and gospel allusions everywhere. “I once was lost but now I’m found,” goes one line, but it’s obvious that getting over life in the slammer was as tough then as it is now. Where the Palm Trees Grow, by Winne, is a plaintive update on a Stanley Brothers-style sad waltz, with soaring harmony vocals from Kristin Andreassen. McDougle’s Five Points is next, a catchy, countryfied Irish reel. Chris Connors joins the choir on an a-cappella version of the old spiritual Trouble Around My Soul: grounded in rich, low harmonies, it blows away anything you might have heard on the O Brother Where You Bound soundtrack.

Their take on the traditional ballad Moonshiner draws on the Dylan version, but with more of a wink and a grin: the drunk in this tale isn’t about to give up just yet. McDougle’s aching, overtone-drenched violin solo is one of the album’s high points. The album winds up with an unexpectedly and impressively majestic version of Viola Lee Blues with slide guitar, harmonica and Roy’s growling bass way up in the mix. There’s also a brief fragment of a song that fades up and then out in about thirty seconds, which is a good thing because it sounds like it was recorded on somebody’s old phone: all that treble will have you reaching for the mute button. Fans of vintage Americana will eat this stuff up: the whole thing is streaming at their Bandcamp site. The band is currently on European tour; their next New York gig is on Sept 25 at Dinosaur Barbecue, 700 W 125th St. at 12th Ave.

Jangle and Clang and Roar at Local 269

Thursday night at Local 269 began auspiciously with Tracy Island, the new project from Ian Roure and Liza Garelik Roure of the Larch (who have a reputedly excellent and far more psychedelic album than their usual literate, new wave-ish fare due out soon). This new band – a duo at this point – seems to be the newest edition of Liza & the WonderWheels, who had a good run through the zeros as wiseass  psychedelic popsters. Jauntily and methodically, they made their way through a mix of new songs and old favorites, voices and guitars hypnotically intertwining, Liza’s casual jangle and percussive riffage against Ian’s precise chords, terse accents and the occasional lickety-split wah-wah solo. The most stunning song of the bunch was a newer one, Cold Wind, which took on an unexpected gravitas and ominous majesty. Another especially interesting, and insightful moment was when they took Lou Reed’s Caroline Says back in time to the folky jangle of the Velvets’ third album – which is probably how Reed intended it, considering how vociferously he’s disowned Bob Ezrin’s production on the Berlin album.

An older song dating from Liza’s days as the leader of a band from the Continental scene – it’s hard to imagine this meticulously jangly couple on that overamped stage! – had a paisley underground Rain Parade/Mazzy Star vibe; one of the newer ones brought a Spanking Charlene punk-pop defiance. Nebulous verses built to harder-hitting, sometimes apprehensive choruses, best exemplified by the offhandedly dismissive No Exceptions, a track from the WonderWheels’ 2006 album Meet the Animal. Newer flavors appeared as well, particularly a slow, resolute, twangy southwestern gothic anthem. It became obvious early on that they’ve got plenty of material for an album, however they decide to do it, as a duo or with a full band.

Paula Carino and her band were next on the bill. NYMD’s sister blog rated her album Open on Sunday as the best one of 2010. Interestingly, this show went light on that material, heavy on both the very recent and also the deep-space edge of Carino’s consistently brilliant, tuneful catalog. This version of the band – Carino on Strat and vocals, Dave Benjoya on lead guitar, Andy Mattina on bass and Nancy Polstein on drums (and vocals on an irresistible, bluegrass-tinged version of Rise und Shine, from Carino’s classic 2003 Aquacade album) – roared more than it soared, mangled more than it jangled.

The opening song, Bad Actor rampaged like the early Jam. The tensely biting, bittersweet Never Saw It Coming, Carino’s reflection on the loss of her dad a couple of years ago, switched tempos artfully. Maybe because the guitars were so loud, maybe because the songs simply demanded it, Carino reached beyond her usual plush, velvety alto delivery with a raw insistence through the cold ending of the dead-end narrative Jimmyville and then an especially amped version of the pulsing Tip of the Iceberg, which as Carino explained, is about the subconscious: “Tip of the iceberg, meet your bottom half,” she intoned, cool and deadpan, letting the image speak for itself.

Chimp Haven burned slowly and ominously, with a poisonously serpentine Benjoya solo, followed by the irrepressible bounce of 3 Legged Race and then a surprisingly subdued version of the elegantly lyrical, aphoristic Paleoclimatology: “Let it go, that ancient snow that wrecked Tyrannosaurus,” Carino purred. They picked up the pace with the haphazardly shuffling Queen’s Tornado, backed off with the slow, brooding I Want Mars, an older song with the same sense of longing if not any melodic resemblance to the Bowie song about that planet. They wrapped up the show with a careening version of Mayor Beam, a wickedly catchy, off-center 80s-inflected janglerock number, and then the big audience hit Robots, a deviously shapeshifting Twilight Zone pop song.

The rest of the night was tantalizing: Out of Order, who’d transcended 112-degree heat to play an even more scorching set a couple of weeks previously at the East River Bandshell, were also on the bill, as were the K’s. Sadly, in this music blogging “business,” sticking around for an entire quadruplebill isn’t always in the cards. Watch this space for upcoming shows.

Live Music Calendar for August and September 2012 in New York City

The new September/October 2012 calendar is here.

 For directions and other information on the venues where these shows are happening, check the exhaustive guide to over 200 New York live music venues at NYMD’s sister blog, Lucid Culture.

Times listed here are set times, not the time doors open – if a listing says “9ish,” that means it’ll probably start later than advertised. 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:

Oldschool Chicago style blues guitarist Irving Louis Lattin has a lot of shows coming up.  He’s at  Terra Blues at 7 PM on 9/4, 9/6, 9/9/, 9/11 and 9/30. He’s also Lucille’s on 9/7 at 8 PM.

Mondays starting a little after 7 PM Howard Williams leads his Jazz Orchestra from the piano at the Garage, 99 7th Ave. S at Grove St. There are also big bands here most every Tuesday at 7.

Most Mondays at Rock Shop, 9ish it’s the Gowanus All-Stars feat. brilliant guitarist Chris Erikson (who’s got a great new album out) with a rotating cast of characters from his Americana rock circle, free

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 nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Sofia’s Restaurant, downstairs at the Edison Hotel, 221 West 46th Street between 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 at Tea Lounge in Park Slope at 9:30 PM trombonist/composer JC Sanford books big band jazz, an exciting, global mix of some of the edgiest large-ensemble sounds around. If you’re anybody in the world of big band jazz and you make it to New York, you end up playing here: what CBGB was to punk, this unlikely spot promises to be to the jazz world. No cover.

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.

Most Mondays in September (check the Barbes website for updates), 9:30ish Chicha Libre plays their home turf at Barbes. The world’s most vital, entertaining oldschool chicha band, they blend twangy, often noir Peruvian surf sounds with cumbia and other south-of-the-border styles along with swirling psychedelic jams and deep dub interludes. Show up early because they are insanely popular.

Mondays at 10 PM Gato Loco plays Zirzamin. One venues calls them a “psycho mambo band,” but that doesn’t translate their irrrestibly catchy but dark sound. Based in oldtime 1920s Cuban tunes and beats but with an irreverent current-day sensibility, they’re one of the funnest bands in town right now. Depending on who’s available, they may roll out their low-register unit which includes baritone sax, tuba, baritone guitar and bass.

Also Mondays in September 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 September clever, fiery, eclectic Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party play Barbes at 9. Get there as soon as you can as they’re very popular. $10 cover.

Tuesdays in September 10 PM dark eclectic 80s/goth rocker Alfonso Velez at Spike Hill

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.

Wednesdays at 9:30 Roosevelt Dime plays their unique mix of oldtimey string band music with a dash of classic 60s soul at Brooklyn Winery, 213 North 8th Street, Williamsburg.

Wednesdays at 10 PM Avi Fox-Rosen plays the Way Station in Ft. Greene. He’s one of the two lead guitarists in the completely over-the-top Yiddish Princess, a funky original songwriter with a lyrical bite, and fluent in klezmer as well. One of NYC’s smartest, most original talents

Wednesdays at midnight snarling imaginative lo-fi Bollywood rock band Yankee Bang Bang – who’ve got an intriguing new album out – play Broomies, 921 Broadway in Bushwick.

Thursdays in August starting 8/9 at 8 PM Manouche Bag plays original and classic gypsy jazz at Madame Claude Cafe, 364 4th St. (corner of Brunswick), Jersey City, Path train to Grove St. and walk straight up Newark Ave.

Thursdays and Fridays in September Bulgarian alto sax star Yuri Yunakov and band play Mehanata starting around 10. One of the most intense and gripping improvisers in gypsy music.

Thursdays in September), 1 PM, Julian Wachner conducts Novus NY performing works by a dozen recent Pulitzer winners in composition at Trinity Church, free.

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

Saturdays at 3 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 from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell and an A-list of players play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston). Free drink with your entree.

Weekly Sunday organ concerts resume the last week of September at St. Thomas Church, 53rd/5th Ave. at 5:15 PM, an international parade of A-list organists looking to give the mighty 1913 Skinner organ here a sendoff before it’s replaced.

Sundays in September at 6 PM clarinetist Thomas Piercy and pianist Claudine Hickman play an eclectic mix of Piazzolla, Gershwin and new compositions from their highly anticipated forthcoming album at Caffe Vivaldi, free.

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 September, 9/11 PM the cutting-edge Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra – a mighty beast that ranks with the Mingus bands as one of the city’s most fascinating jazz orchestras – at Birdland, $30 seats avail., res. req.

8/1, 7 PM the Imani Winds play all NYC premiere program plus appearances by the United States Air Force wind quintet and the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet at Advent Lutheran Church, 2504 Broadway at 93rd St, free.

8/1, 7:30 PM Harlem’s original eclectic punk band the Band-Droidz at the downstairs studio space at Webster Hall, $12

8/1-5 veteran soul/jazz tenor saxophonist Lou Donaldson leads a B3 organ quartet at the Jazz Standard, 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 ($30 on the weekend).

8/1, 8 PM the probably assaultive, gypsy-flavored New York Chamber Trio: Eyal Maoz (guitars) Ron Caswell (tuba)Chris Stromquist (drums) followed at 10 by one of the most reliably interesting improvisers around, Marty Ehrlich (reeds) with Drew Gress (bass) and Ches Smith (drums) at the Stone, $10.

8/1, 8:30 PM female-fronted, keyboard-driven band Changing Modes – whose artsy, literate new album is one of the year’s best – at the Knitting Factory, $10

8/1, 9 PM avant garde Ensemble Pamplemousse pianist David Broome followed eventually at 11 by intriguing jazz quartet Old Time Musketry, who blend oldtimey swing, modern bucolic styles and darker, more challenging improvisational sounds at Zirzamin

8/1, 9 PM Israeli Middle Eastern dance-funk orchestra Yemen Blues at Damrosch Park, early arrival advised. If you need to see them in air-conditioned comfort, they’re at City Winery at 8 on 8/4 for $22 and will probably sell out even though this is a free show.

8/1, 8 PM chanteuse/uke player Bliss Blood’s torchy, lurid noir cinematic duo Evanescent at 68 Jay St. Bar.

8/1, 9:30 PM richly twangy Americana rockers Alana Amram & the Rough Gems at the Mercury, $10.

8/1, 9:30 PM cello/drums free jazz duets with Daniel Levin and Juan Pablo Carletti at Culturefix

8/2, noon, Afrobeat hip-hop bandleader Blitz the Ambassador at Metrotech Park in downtown Brooklyn, free.

8/2, 6:30 PM intense, eclectic jazz composer/tenor saxophonist Geoff Vidal with Sean Conly on bass and Jochen Rueckert on drums at the Bar Next Door, free.

8/2, 7 PM eclectic oldtime acoustic blues powerhouse Blind Boy Paxton at Terra Blues.

8/2, 7:30 PM the clever, original, tuneful Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet (feat. brilliant baritone saxophonist Jenny Hill) at Zirzamin

8/2, 8 PM dark, charismatic, deviously witty literate keyboardist/chanteuse Rachelle Garniez at Barbes followed at 10 by New Orleans brass band Tuba Skinny.

8/2, 8 PM multi-instrumentalist Pete Lanctot and band play new oldtimey gypsy-tinged jazz at the Castello Plan in Ditmas Park.

8/2, 8 PM Symfinity – who mix oldschool art-pop sounds reminiscent of Renaissance and the Moody Blues with heavier Trans-Siberian Orchestra pomp – at Fontana’s, $7

8/2, 9 PM high-energy oldtime swing and blues with Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess at Radegast Hall. They’re also here on 8/23.

8/2, 9:30 PM eclectic funk orchestra Burnt Sugar plays Sun Ra at Sideshows by the Seashore, 1208 Surf Ave. in Coney Island, any train to Stillwell Ave., $15.

8/2, 10 PM artsy anthemic hypnotic dreampop rockers Slowness play Pete’s. Nice catchy jangle and clang, not your usual MBV ripoff.

8/2, midnight the Hsu-Nami play Taiwanese art-rock/metal instrumentals with electrified er-hu violin at Trash, $7 – this band is unbelievably intense and a lot of fun.

8/2, midnight, psychedelic downtempo/trip-hop indie pop band Vacationer at Union Hall, $12.

8/2, 8:30 PM the reliably devious, powerhouse Jon Irabagon on alto sax with Mark Helias, bass; Barry Altschul, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min; they’re here again on 8/4 at 9 and 10:30, same deal

8/2, 9ish noir guitar stylist Ben Von Wildenhaus with his band followed by the recently regrouped and amazing Dimestore Dance Band – the missing link between Django Reinhardt and Erik Satie, now more noir than ever – at Zebulon.

8/2, 9 PM hip-hop brass band grooves with PitchBlak Brass Band at Shrine, free. They’re also at Joe’s Pub on 8/19 at 9:30 PM for $12

8/2, 9ish irreverent oldschool Williamsburg vocal jazz crew the Old Rugged Sauce at Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club. They’re also here on the 23rh, same time.

8/2, 9ish the Bad Plus play Stravinsky’s Rites of Spring at Damrosch Park behind Lincoln Center – don’t say you weren’t warned.

8/2, 10 PM Stratospheerius – the original violin metal band, whose new album reputedly shreds (don’t they always) at the Delancey, $10.

8/2, 10 PM saxophonist Jacob Garchik’s tuneful, sometimes brooding 3rd-stream 4twenty project at I-Beam, $10

8/2, 10:30 PM Jack Grace’s edgy, recently reunited, funky jamband Steak – who were a sort of early zeros counterpart to Little Feat – at Bowery Electric, free

8/2, 10:30 PM hilariously filthy, theatrical punk girlgroup pop spoof Cudzoo & the Fagettes at the Mercury, $10.

8/2, 11 PM Spanish jazz guitarist Dave Juarez with his versatile band at Desmond’s of all places.

8/3, 6 PM the Matt Cross Gypsy Jazz Quartet at Radegast Hall

8/3, 7:30 PM psychedelic funk orchestra Turkuaz at the Cameo Gallery, $12.

8/3, 8 PM dark female-fronted 4AD-style dreampop rockers Dead Leaf Echo at the Knitting Factory, $10.

8/3, 8/10 PM bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz’s Abraxas plays the cd release show for their performance of John Zorn’s Masada: Book of Angels Vol. 19 with Aram Bajakian (guitars), Eyal Maoz (guitars), Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (on gimbri this time), Kenny Grohowski (drums) at the Stone, $10.

8/3, 9 PM Tracy Island (the psychedelic pop duo project from Ian and Liza of the Larch) followed by the dark, virtuosically eclectic female-fronted folk/Americana of the Sometime Boys at Branded Saloon in Ft. Greene. The Sometime Boys are also at Fifth Estate in Park Slope on 8/8 at 10.

8/3, 9ish chanteuse/pianist Kate Mattison’s torchy, hypnotic, catchy downtempo/trip-hop soul trio Mattison at the small room at the Rockwood.

8/3, 10:30 PM oldschool 60s organ/trombone soul-jazz with the Jared Gold /Dave Gibson Quintet at the Fat Cat.

8/3, 11 PM edgy, upbeat bluesy original swing tunes with guitarist Miss Tess & the Talkbacks at the 92YTribeca, $10

8/3, 11 PM intriguing dark indie folk group Colorform – who combine live painting with live music – at Culturefix. Colorform at Culturefix – how’s that for 3 syllables?

8/4, sets 1 and 3 PM, the Jack Quartet play works by Guillaume de Machaut, Charles Ives, Brian Baumbush, Ken Thomson, Payton MacDonald and David Crowell on Colonels Row on Governors Island, free.

8/4, 2 PM surf music on the Coney Island boardwalk next to the Wonder Wheel: ferocious originals with Commercial Interruption andStrange But Surf , psychedelic Ohio instrumentalists Purple k’niF at 4, Connecticut’s retro, purist Clamsat 5, Boston’s maniacal macabre Beware The Dangers Of A Ghost Scorpion at 6 followed by the sly sci-fi women of Alien Surfer Babes at 7. Some of these bands play Unsteady Freddie’s thing at Otto’s later that night.

8/4 well-loved Malian bandleaders/crooner-and-chanteuse duo Amadou & Mariam at Central Park Summerstage, 5ish, early arrival advised.

8/4, 6:30 PM oldtime and bluegrass night with Spirit Family Reunion, Cahalen Morrison & Eli West and Del McCoury and band at Prospect Park Bandshell.

8/4, 7ish one of the year’s most unlikely but best triplebills: reliably hilarious faux-French garage rockers les Sans Culottes, psychedelic country/blues/bluegrass band American String Conspiracy and the unstoppably ferocious noir/ghoulabilly monster that is the Reid Paley Trio at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook, $12

8/4, 8 PM “Music of Early Spain and beyond… bridging the ancient to the present with exotic songs, compelling dances and virtuosic improvisations, ALBA perform early Mediterranean music on traditional instruments. ALBA evokes the haunting melodies and dynamic rhythms of the Iberian peninsula as well as music from its Middle-Eastern and European neighbors. Through the time of La Convivencia when Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures flourished together to the Golden Age of Spain, ALBA makes this passionate music contemporary. With Margo Gezairlian Grib, voice, vielle; Rex Benincasa, percussion; Haig Manoukian, oud; Christopher Morrongiello, lute, guitarra Española at Bargemusic, $35 ($30 senior, $15 student).

8/4, 8 PM “an international quartet of improvisers dedicated to charming the Snake with sounds inspired by the Berber trance music of a real and imaginary Morocco: Satoshi Takeishi: percussion, Mat Maneri: viola, Brahim Frigbane: oud, Michaël Attias: alto saxophone” at Barbes followed at 10 by high-energy Mexican style Banda Sinaloense De Los Muertos playing polkas and more.

8/4, 8 PM atmospheric, haunting soundscapes by Spooky Ghost at the small room at the Rockwood.

8/4, 8 PM a rare Brooklyn appearance by purist bluegrass/honkytonk rockers Demolition String Band at 68 Jay St. Bar.

8/4, 8 PM B3 grooves with the Masami Ishikawa Organ Quartet at Cleopatra’s Needle, free

8/4, 8:30 PM fiery avant accordion music with Kimmo Pohjonen & Helsinki Nelson at Damrosch Park.

8/4, 9 PM at Otto’s it’s Unsteady Freddie’s monthly surf music shindig and this is one of the best, with the Initials, the ferocious, Link Wray inspired Howlin Thurstons, the eclectic TarantinosNYC at 11 and George Sempepos’ phenomenally good, psychedelic Middle Eastern surf rockers the Byzan-tones at around midnight.

8/4, 9ish intense gypsy punk with Bad Buka at Mehanata.

8/4, 9 PM M Shanghai String Band – NYC’s original citybilly band, with a lead singer who pla,ys spoons – at the Jalopy, $10.

8/4, 9 PM the Piccadilly Weepers sing sea chanteys at Pete’s.

8/4, 9:30 PM chanteuse Farah Siraj & the Arabian Jazz Project play their intriguing, sultry East/West improvisations at Drom, $10 gen adm. Followed at 10 (separate admission) by a “reggae festival” with a dancehall vibe feat. Catalyst, Cocobrains, Illspree, Ras T and Sister Nancy backed by a live band, $15 w/rsvp, or call 646-200-2332.

8/4, 9:30 PM thoughtful, terse desert blues guitar star Sidi Toure at Joe’s Pub, $18.

8/4, 10 PM smart, funny, female-fronted, indelibly NYC urban pop band Delusions of Grand Streetat Trash, $8

8/4, 10 PM Jerry Adler of the Blam’s latest excellent project, lush dreampop rockers Wave Sleep Wave at at the Stone, $10.

8/4, 11 PM dark, smart, anthemic 80s flavored rock with Alfonso Velez at Muchmore’s, 2 Havemeyer St. (at Union), Williamsburg, free

8/4, 11ish PM hilarious cowpunk satirists Uncle Leon & the Alibis at Union Hall, $8.

8/4, half past midnight brilliant, cruelly satirical soul/funk man/filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative at the Blue Note, $10

8/5, 3 PM the Imani Winds play world premieres by emerging composers Joelle Zigman, Matt Siffert, Phil Taylor, Alex Weston, Matthew Taylor, Sam Parrilla, Molly Joyce, and Yuan-Chen Li at the Concert Hall at Mannes College of Music, 150 W 85th St.,hosted by Mohammed Fairouz, free.

8/5, 4:45 PM organist Stephen Fraser plays a recital at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

8/5, 5 PM Nashville gothic band Maynard & the Musties at Lady Jay’s, 633 Grand St. in Williamsburg

8/5, 6 PM creepy jazz improvisation with a couple of guys from creepy improvisers Dollshot: bassist Giacomo Merega, tenor saxophonist Noah Kaplan, plus guitarist Andy Bianco and trumpeter Joe Moffett at Downtown Music Gallery, free

8/5, 7 PM Que Vlo-Ve (Wade Ripka & Nick DiFeo, guitars; Quince Marcum, vocals) play classic Greek rembetiko followed at 9 by the Hot Club of Flatbush pinchhitting for the temporarily AWOL Stephane Wrembel at Barbes

8/5, 7:30 PM a tribute to salsa composer Tite Curet Alonso with Viento de Agua feat. special guest Lalo Rodríguez plus the NYC debut of Grupo Esencia de Ponce at Damrosch Park behind Lincoln Center, early arrival advised.

8/5, 8:30 PM tenor saxophonist Tom Tallitsch – whose new album has swing and bite – at Caffe Vivaldi with his group.

8/5, 8:30 PM jazz violinist Scott Tixier with his group: Frank Locrasto , piano; Matt Parker, saxophone; Burniss Earl Travis II, bass; Gerald Cleaver, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

8/5, 9ish Esquela – fiery female-fronted oldschool country/honkytonk band – at Rodeo Bar

8/5, 9 PM the Red Hook Ramblers playing their own hot jazz soundtracks to Fatty Arbuckle in “A Reckless Romeo” (1917) and two of his funniest silent comedies with Buster Keaton: “The Cook” (1918), and “Coney Island” (1917).at the Jalopy, $10.

8/5, 10 PM guitarist Yoshie Fruchter’s delightful klezmer metal/surf rock band Pitom at the Stone, $10

8/6, 7:30 PM weird segue, great show: slamming salsa with the Pedrito Martinez Group followed by Malian desert blues guitarist Sidi Toure at Marcus Garvey Park.

8/6, 7:30/9:30 PM tuneful third-stream original jazz compositions with composer Marshall Gilkes, trombone; Donny McCaslin, saxophones; Adam Birnbaum, piano, Yasushi Nakamura, bass; Eric Doob, drums at Dizzy’s Club, $25

8/6, 8 PM freak-folk legend Brute Force and Daughter of Force open with a cameo before NYC’s original gypsy punk brass band, Hungry March Band at Brooklyn Bowl, $8, free before 7 PM.

8/6, 8 PM popular 90s roots reggae crooner Barrington Levy at B.B. King’s, $25 adv tix rec.

8/6, 8:30 PM cerebral, intense latin jazz pianist/composer Arturo O’Farrill leads a trio at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

8/6, 9 PM swirling, hard-hitting dreampop/garage rockers the K-Holes at the Knitting Factory, $10.

8/6, 9 PM trombonist David White leads his massive Jazz Orchestra at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free

8/6, 9 PM the tuneful, atmospheric, purist retro 50s Behn Gillece Vibraphone Quintet at the Fat Cat – if you can imagine anything approaching “atmosphere” at the Fat Cat…

8/6, 9 PM Swingadelic play their monthly show at Maxwell’s, free.

8/6, 9:30ish, exhilarating retro 60s latin soul revivalists Spanglish Fly – who should have won the WNYC Battle of the Bands contest – at Barbes. They’re also here on 8/13.

8/6-7, 10 PM Lucinda Williams at Bowery Ballroom, $35 tix have not sold out yet as of 7/25.

8/6, 10:15 PM dark female-fronted new wave/punk band Ingrid & the Defectors at Trash, $10

8/7, 7 PM the queen of Coney Island phantasmagorical noir rock and soul, Carol Lipnik & Spookarama at Barbes.

8/7, 7 PM trombonist Michael Dease leads his tuneful, purist Big Band at the Garage Restaurant in the west village.

8/7 7:30 PM wild gypsy band Romashka on the roof of the Manhattan JCC ($20 cover includes free vodka!!!)

8/7, 7:30 PM violinist Lara St. John and friends celebrate the 25th anniversary of Astor Piazzolla’s 1987 Central Park concert at the Naumburg Bandshell, early arrival advised if you want a seat.

8/7, 7:30 PM six-piano new music powerhouse Grand Band – whose titanic performance was one of the highlights of this year’s Bang on a Can Marathon – playing Steve Reich’s ‘Six Pianos’ and Julia Wolfe’s Aretha Franklin-inspired ‘my lips from speaking…’ plus works by Philip Glass and Kate Moore at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix highly rec.

8/7, 9ish eclectic tuneful indie folk from multi-instrumentalist Alice Bierhorst and another multi-instrumentalist, hauntingly anthemic neoromantic/rock songwriter Serena Jost at Freddy’s.

8/7, 9 PM the Simple Minded Predators play bluegrass at Pete’s.

8/7-12, 9/11 PM vibraphonist and Christian McBride bandmate Warren Wolf – whose latest album is superb – at the Vanguard with Allyn Johnson on piano, Eric Wheeler on bass and Billy Williams on drums, $30

8/7, 9:30 PM Ethiopian jazz powerhouse Either/Orchestra – whose marathon concert last year at the New School featured a lot of recently unearthed stuff from Ethiopia and was absolutely off the hook – at the Jazz Standard, $20

8/8, 7 PM retro soul sensation Bettye LaVette at Madison Square Park.

8/8, 7 PM Marty Hroncich Co. mix old Italian favorites from the Istria & Kvarner region at Athens Square Park in Astoria, N to 30th Ave., free.

8/8, 10 PM pensive, sometimes haunting indie folk/gothic band Little Embers at at LIC Bar

8/8, 10:30 PM oldtimey hot jazz with Ted Hefko & the Thousandaires at Cafe Steinhof in Park Slope; 8/9 they’re at Radegast Hall at 9 and then on 8/29 at LIC Bar at 10.

8/8, 9 PM tuneful, intense alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius leads an equally intense quintet with Orrin Evans – piano; Ben Wolfe – bass, Rudy Royston – drums, Nick Vayenas – trombone at Smalls.

8/8, 9:30ish upbeat acoustic Americana and bluegrass with PartyFolk at Rodeo Bar

8/8, 10 PM the reliably eclectic 101 Crustaceans’ Ed Pastorini at Zirzamin

8/8, midnight, lead guitarist to the stars of the underground Thad Debrock – a brilliant, eclectic player on his own stuff too – at the small room at the Rockwood

8/9 cumbia party monsters Chico Trujillo plays the Rocks Off Cruise aboard the Harbor Lights, boarding at 6, leaving at 7 from behind the heliport at 23rd St. and the FDR, $25.

8/9, 6 PM Frankie Bambara’s ageless, perennially fresh salsa jazz grooves at Shrine.

8/9, 6:30 PM the fascinating, lush, moody Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet come downtown from their Tutuma Social Club homebase in midtown for an East Village show at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, $20

8/9, 7:30 PM dark Americana with Kelli Scarr and Alana Amram with Jim Campilongo at le Poisson Rouge, $15.

8/9, 8 PM smart artsy retro 80s keyboard-driven rockers Overlord at Union Hall, $8.

8/9, 9 PM Veveritse Brass Band– as intense as Slavic Soul Party but without the hip-hop influence, and more improvisational, at the Jalopy, $10.

8/9, 9 PM Kurt Neumann leads a Sam Llanas-less version of literate heartland rock legends the BoDeans at City Winery, $25 standing room avail. Avoid the 8 PM opening act at all costs: she plays putrid Aaliyah-style corporate “R&B” disguised as country.

8/9, 9:30ish the Doc Marshalls– who mix hard-edge Texas zydeco with oldschool honkytonk – at Rodeo Bar

8/9, 9:30 PM the Brian Charette Organ Sextette – whose new album is one of this year’s most enjoyable jazz releases – at Smalls with Brian Charette – organ, Mike DiRubbo – alto sax, Seamus Blake – tenor sax, Itai Kriss – flute, John Ellis – clarinet, Jochen Rueckert – drums at Smalls

8/9, 10 PM a solo show by brilliantly lyrical pianist Brian Marsella of the Flail and Cyro Baptista’s band (and also a foppish indie band, and that hasidic stoner reggae abomination – hey, rent isn’t cheap) at the Stone, $10

8/10, 8 PM East African chanteuse Alsarah & the Nubatones followed at 10 by the self-explanatory Cumbiagra at Barbes.

8/10, 8 PM powerpop bandleader Mikal Evansplays the small room at the Rockwood followed eventually at 10 by surfy Colombian rock duo Il Albanico; next door the self-explanatory NY Funk Exchange plays the big room there at half past midnight

Bard Summerscape Festival starts August 10. Yeah, it’s out of town, but this year’s program is pretty amazing, an examination of the world of Camille Saint-Saens and his turbulent artistic world. Transportation from NYC for ticketholders is available via a $30 shuttle from Lincoln Center or a free shuttle from the Poughkeepsie Metro North commuter train station.

8/10, 9 PM the reliably charming, hilarious, sharply literate Amy Allison – whose new album is reputedly sensational – at Dixon Place, $18

8/10, 9 PM psychedelic Americana and blues with American String Conspiracy at Freddy’s.

8/10, 9:30 PM Choban Elektrik – who put a keyboard-driven psychedelic rock spin on Balkan music – at Rock Shop in Gowanus.

8/10, l0 PM Shane MacGowan-esque folk noir band Thee Shambels followed at midnight by fiery, female-fronted gypsy punks Amour Obscur at Zirzamin.

8/10, 10 PM the self-explanatory Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout at 55 Bar.

8/10 10 PM the garage-punk-gospel Lost Crusaders return with a bang with a rare duo show with frontman Michael Chandler and guitarist Johnny Vigneault at Otto’s

8/10, 10 PM Ianbassa play roots reggae at Shrine.

8/10, midnight, amazing, high-energy gypsy punk brass monstrosity March Fourth Marching Band at Brooklyn Bowl, $10

8/11, 3 PM banjoist/folksinger Abigail Washburn at Central Park Summerstage. Buckwheat Zydeco headlines afterward.

8/11, 8 PM Kamala Sankaram’s hot surfy Bollywood project, Bombay Rickey at Barbes.

8/11, 8 PM the Avalon String Quartet play Beethoven String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 in C-sharp minor; String Quartet No. 16, Op.135 in F Major at Bargemusic, $35/$30srs/$15 stud.

8/11, 8:30 PM Lyle Lovett at Prospect Park Bandshell- you might have to listen from outside the arena for this one unless there’s a lot of rain beforehand.

8/11, 10 PM diverse Americana songwriter/blues guitar genius Will Scott at 68 Jay St. Bar.

8/11, 11 PM sly satirical theatrical retro rock with Alien Surfer Babes and Witches in Bikinis at Local 269, $10

8/12, 1 PM haunting, politically fueled, powerfully relevant klezmer band Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird on the plaza at Lincoln Center

8/12, 3 PM eclectic steel pan virtuoso/cinematic composer Andy Akiho and ensemble at the Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Rd. at Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City, free w/museum adm ($10/$5 stud). N/Q to Broadway or F to Queensbridge/21st St.

8/12, 5:30 PM Afrobeat band Toubab Crewe in the parking lot behind City Winery, free.

8/12, 6 PM Jose Valente on viola, Daniel Levin on cello and Jason Hwang on violin improvise at Downtown Music Gallery, free.

8/12, 9 PM badass alt-country siren and Neko Case collaborator Carolyn Mark at Red Hook Bait & Tackle

8/12, 9 PM the LES Hot Club play classic gypsy jazz at Barbes.

8/13, 9 PM the Gil Evans-influenced Florencia Gonzalez Big Band at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free. She leads her smaller candombe jazz project here on 8/23 at 9.

8/13 perennially intense, psychedelic jangle/punks Band of Outsiders at the Ding Dong Lounge in Harlem at 10.

8/13, midnight the sly oldschool 60s C&W sounds of the Jack Grace Band at the Ear Inn

8/14, 7 PM jazz guitarist David Ullmann’s quintet play the cd release show for their reputedly excellent new one, Falling at Barbes with Chris Dingman – vibes; Karel Ruzicka Jr. – sax; Vinnie Sperrazza – drums and Gary Wang – bass followed at 9 by Slavic Soul Party (whose new album is more than reputedly excellent).

8/14, 8:30/10:30 PM tasteful, eclectic jazz guitarist Mike Baggetta with Cameron Brown on bass and Jeff Hirschfield on drums at the Bar Next Door

8/14, 9ish the self-explanatory, horn-driven, psychedelic NY Funk Exchange at Lucille’s. A good room for this band. They’re also at Groove on 8/22 at 8 and 8/25 at 9.

8/14, 9ish a promising improvisational night: Mike Pride, drums + compositions; Jon Irabagon, alto & tenor sax; Alexis Marcelo, piano; Peter Bitenc, bass; Jonathan Moritz, tenor sax; Jason Stein, bass clarinet at Korzo.

8/14, 9:30ish badass country siren and Neko Case collaborator Carolyn Mark at Rodeo Bar

8/14, 10 PM intense Armenian-tinged improvisations with Lou Reed lead guitarist Aram Bajakian and singer Julia Ulehla at the Stone, $10

8/15-16,7:30ish a mini bachata nueva festival at Highbridge Park uptown. On the 15th it’s Henry Santos from Aventura; the 16th has K Rose and 24 Horas.

8/15, 8 PM at the Stone: Louie Belogenis (soprano and tenor saxes) Russ Lossing (piano) Kenny Wollesen (drums)followed at 10 by Project Fukushima NYC, a benefit for Japan with Kaoru Watanabe (fue, taiko) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass, oud) Yuka (voice, taishogoto, ukulele, electronics); Pet Bottle Ningen: Dave Scanlon (guitar) Nonoko Yoshida (sax) Dave Miller (drums); Aya Nishina + Miho Hatori’s NEW OPTIMISM: Miho Hatori (vocal) Timo Ellis (bass) Shoko Nagai (key) Ahmed Gallab (drums) Aya Nishina (piano).”The benefit marathon concert in NYC hosted by three bands (20 minutes each) dedicates all its proceeds to Project Fukushima in Japan.”

8/15, 9ish the jaunty, oldtimey Two Man Gentlemen Band – whose new album of drinking songs is surprisingly loud and hard-hitting – at Rodeo Bar; 8/16 they’re at Rock Shop at 8ish, $10.

8/16, 7:30 PM the jaunty, oldtimey Two Man Gentlemen Band – whose new album of drinking songs is surprisingly loud and hard-hitting – at Rock Shop in Gowanus, $12.

8/16, 8 PM John Zorn improv night with bassist Shanir Blumenkranz plus a parade of usual suspects at the Stone, $25, get there early.

8/16, 8ish Gladys Knight – how old is she now, about 90? – in the parking lot adjacent to the baseball stadium in Coney Island. You may want to bring binoculars and take this one in from the boardwalk since the PA is good and loud but space is cramped and quickly gets fenced off into a labyrinth by the cops. If you really need more laundromat music, the Commodores (“I’m lea-ee-hee-vin on a Sunday moanin, yeah-eh!”) open the show at 7:30

8/16, 8:30ish the Gentlemen Callers play oldschool honkytonk followed by the amusing but spot-on all-female Dolly Parton cover band Doll Parts at Union Hall, $7.

8/16, 10 PM powerpop guitar genius Pete Galub at Zirzamin

8/17, 7 PM Colombian Caribbean jazz with Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano Orchestra and the Alejandro Zuleta Vallenato Collective with special guests Gregorio Uribe and Alejandro Florez at le Poisson Rouge, $15

8/17, 7 PM indie classical ensemble Percussia -whose name pretty much defines their repertoire – at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City, free.

8/17, 7:30 PM Roberto Prosseda, piano plays”Midsummer Nocturnes” by Mendelssohn, Chopin, John Field, Debussy and Scriabin at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

8/17, 8:30ish a mixed bag of funk and soul with Austin’s exhilarating New Orleans-flavored Mingo Fishtrap, John Legend-ish smoov G Tre Williams & the Revelations and then the oldschool JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound at Brooklyn Bowl, $10

8/17, 10 PM creepy noir guitar soundtrack magic with Stephen Ulrich and Itamar Ziegler at Barbes.

8/17, 10 PM two of NYC’s best-loved bluegrass crews with Demolition String Band followed by Freshly Baked Bluegrass at the Jalopy, $10.

8/17, 10 PM the queen of rockabilly, Wanda Jackson at Maxwell’s, $20 adv tix avail. at the club and in Manhattan at Other Music.

8/17, 10ish entrancing cello/marimba duo Goli at Caffe Vivaldi.

8/17 irrepressible, entertaining punk/garage/hardcore band the Hussy – on tour for their new album Weed Seizure – at the Parkside, 10ish.

8/17, 10 PM Royal Khaoz play roots reggae at Shrine.

8/17, 10ish stoner hip-hop/punkmetal legends the Kottonmouth Kings at B.B. King’s, $25 gen adm. “You will find no traces of tight jeans or trendy indie trash!”

8/17, 10:30 PM raucous, high-energy country blues and hillbilly stuff with Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band at Hill Country, $12.

8/17, 11 PM the Binky Griptite Band a.k.a. most of the Dap-Tone posse playing oldschool soul and funk at Littlefield, $10

8/18, 5 PM a Daptone kind of soul/Afrobeat dance party with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Antibalas, free at Williamsburg Park, N 12th St/Kent Ave., get there early

8/18, 5 PM Lee Feldman at Something Jazz Club. He’s got a fascinating, often haunting album of piano/cello duets of traditional Jewish music out as well as a playful album of original songs. For fans of chamber pop and Steely Dan.

8/18, 6 PM metal guitar shredder Steve Marchena (of the artsy Superbug) followed at 7 by the irrepressibly funny, satirical retro rock spoof Witches in Bikinis in front of the Wonder Wheel on the Coney Island boardwalk

8/18, 8 PM violinist/singer Mireya Ramos, frontwoman of Mariachi Flor de Toloache – NYC’s only all-female mariachi band – plays Barbes followed at 10 by the ferocious, wild Balkan sounds of Raya Brass Band (whose new album might be the year’s best).

8/18, 8:30 PM the aptly titled Argentinian J.P. Jofre Hard Tango Chamber Band at le Poisson Rouge, $15.

8/18, 9:15 PM torchy, intense, slyly literate ululele songstress Kelli Rae Powell at Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club

8/18, 11:30 PM exhilarating retro 60s latin soul revivalists Spanglish Fly at Brooklyn Bowl, $5

8/19, 3 PM get to Central Park Summerstage when the gates open if you want to see roots reggae harmony legends the Mighty Diamonds and Israeli Vibration. What’s left of Inner Circle play afterward (one can only imagine what the late Jacob Miller would have thought of the Fox network using a song by his old band as the theme for the most racist show on tv).

8/19, 4:45 PM organist David Christopher plays a recital at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

8/19, 7 PM Albuquerque band Le Chat Lunatique mix gypsy jazz with reggae and other unexpected sounds at Barbes followed at 9 by newschool gypsy jazz virtuoso Stephane Wrembel. Le Chat Lunatique court tres tres vite to the Jalopy afterward for a 9 PM set.

8/19, 7 PM a marathon dancehall-and-roots reggae party with Iris Ation, Prince Polo, Rootz Underground and then Inner Circle, straight from their Summerstage gig, playing a free show plus “an exclusive listening session, artist meet-and-greet, promotional giveaways” on the roof at Midtown 1015, 2nd Ave/53rd St, free.

8/19, 9 PM arguably the most haunting triplebill of 2012: Twin Peaks guitar duos with Ulrich Ziegler, the equally cinematic klezmer-tinged chamber-rock of Barbez – whose Paul Celan tribute from a couple of years ago is amazing- and then dark sweeping female-fronted art-rockers Bee & Flower at the Gutter bowling alley in Williamsburg, $10.

8/19, 10ish Cleveland stoner metal legends Poobah – in their first NYC show since maybe the 90s – at R Bar of all places. These guys deserve to be playing Madison Square Garden!

8/20, 11:30 AM the four-day festival of Debussy piano music at the One Liberty Plaza lobby, 165 Broadway kicks off with Taka Kigawa followed at 1 by Geoffrey Burleson.

8/20 versatile oldschool/newschool soul avatar and saxophone powerhouse Lakecia Benjamin at Ginny’s Supper Club, 310 Lenox Ave (125/126), time/$TBA. 8/21 she’s at the big room at the Rockwood.

8/20-28 New Orleans piano titan Henry Butler plays solo “early blues” followed by the reliably entertaining Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra at the Jazz Standard, 7:30/9:30 PM, $25/$30 on the weekend.

8/20, 9 PM Middle Eastern-flavored jazz with the Idan Santhaus Big Band at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, free.

8/21, 11:30 AM 8/20, 11:30 AM the four-day festival of Debussy piano music at the One Liberty Plaza lobby, 165 Broadway continues with Melody Fader followed at 1 by Kathleen Supové

8/21, 8/10 PM two generations of avant garde legends: Pauline Oliveros (digital accordion) with Susie Ibarra (drumset, percussion) at the Stone. At 10 they’re joined by Thollem McDonas (piano), $10.

8/21, 10 PM eclectic, brilliant Nation Beat violinist Skye Steele’s Glorious Sunshine Band at Pete’s

8/21, 10 PM Bow Wow Wow – yup, the latest incarnation of Annabella Lwin’s sassy, badass new wave band from the 80s – at B.B. King’s, $22.50 adv tix rec.

8/22, 11:30 AM 8/20, 11:30 AM the four-day festival of Debussy piano music at the One Liberty Plaza lobby, 165 Broadway continues with Jung Lin followed at 1 by David Witten, piano & Elena Mindlina, soprano

8/22, 7:30 PM pianist Anthony Tobin celebrates Debussy’s 150th birthday with a solo concert and premiere of his film Claude Debussy: The World Will Change In His Sound at WMP Concert Hall, $20

8/22, 8 PM jazz vocals with Tammy Scheffer and her Sextet followed by guitarist Assaf Kehati and his Trio at 9:30 at Shapeshifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Pl., Park Slope, $10.

8/22 9ish the Byzan-tones – one of NYC’s best bands, playing wild dark psychedelic Greek remebetiko and surf music – at Zebulon

8/22, 9 PM the atmospheric indie classical Portland Cello Project at City Winery, $15 standing room avail.

8/22 9 PM veteran Memphis garage/Americana rocker John Paul Keith at Maxwell’s, $8; he’s at Grand Victory in Williamsburg on 8/24 at 10, $10

8/22, 11 PM torchy Americana chanteuse Megan Reilly at Zirzamin

8/22, midnight Stringbean & the Stalkers play dark eerie chromatic harp blues at the Ear Inn.

8/23, 11:30 AM 8/20, 11:30 AM the final day of the festival of Debussy piano music at the One Liberty Plaza lobby, 165 Broadway has Jed Distler followed at 1 by Wolf’s Gang, including Alexandra Honigsberg, viola; Demetrius Spaneas, flute/clarinet/saxophones; Jed Distler, piano

8/23, 7 PM eclectic psychedelic funk band Mamarazzi open for reggae/Afrobeat stars the Refugee All-Stars of Sierra Leone at East River Park, free.

8/23, 8 PM klezmer/bluegrass legend Andy Statman at Barbes, $10.

8/23, 8 PM the reliably charming, politically aware, theatrical, harmony-driven Ukuladies at Freddy’s.

8/23, 8 PM Sweetheart of the Rodeo-style country band Whisperado plays Kenny’s Castaways, free

8/23, 8:30 PM clarinetist Josh Rutner leads a klezmer jazz sextet at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

8/23, 9 PM powerpop maven Daniel Stampfel (late of the Inevitable Breakups) at Zirzamin

8/23, 9:30 PM Wendy Rule at Caffe Vivaldi. If you’re too broke for (or want something darker than) Missing Persons and Gene Loves Jezebel at B.B. King’s, this is cheaper (it’s free) and it’s a lot better.

8/23, 10ish Charlene Kaye & the Brilliant Eyes at the Gramercy Theatre, $15. The new album is slick and overproduced, but the songs rock, they’re smart and she’s a hell of a guitarist.

8/24, 5 PM postpunk/powerpop/”midwestern gothic” band Wojcik, Katie E. and then Mass at the Timeshare Backyard, 145 Ludlow St., free

8/24, 6ish smart, literate, oldtime western noir songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Karen Dahlstrom at the American Folk Art Museum, free

8/24, 7 PM the theme of this year’s Charlie Parker Festival at Marcus Garvey Park is Bird with Strings, a supposedly all-star lineup recreating pieces of that classic record. Then on the 25th, same place, same time it’s Jamire Williams’ Erimaj project, Derrick Hodge, singer Rene Marie and the presumably immortal Roy Haynes.

8/24, 8 PM International Strange Music Day at New Spectrum, 121 Ludlow, 2nd Fl., $10 feat. an insane lineup: in no particular order, Kathleen Supove, Angela Babin + Cristian Amigo = Much Les Paul; the Dreamscape Floppies; Now Eleonor Sandresky; An Intimate Moment w/ Glenn Cornett;Hotdog Snotty R.I.P.; Jesse Krakow’s Greatest Hits; Micro-Tons o’ Fun w/ Johnny Reinhard; Jolly Ramey (Steve Carter & Maddi Horstmenn); Card Tricks with Kathleen Supove; Rahrahree! (Kurt Gottschalk vs. Tamara Yadao); Miguel Frasconi LLC; Symphony Baby & Wormhole Chili and Jed Distler as himself

8/24, 8 PM deviously charming, eclectic, hyperliterate torch song/Americana/quirk-pop trio the Debutante Hour at Dixon Place, $18

8/24, 9 PM Junior Toots (Toots Hibbert’s kid) and the Top Shotta Band followed by the CCB Reggae All-Stars at Brooklyn Bowl, $10.

8/24 a rare reunion show by the Hangdogs – the great NYC band who were sort of the alt-country version of the Dead Kennedys – at Rodeo Bar, 9ish

8/24, 9ish suave baritone western swing crooner Sean Kershaw & the New Jack City Ramblers at Brooklyn Rod & Gun Club.

8/24, 9 PM adventurous guitarist Roberto Pianca along with drummer Flin Van Hemmen and fiery Balkan-influenced trumpeter Ben Syversen at I-Beam. They’re also at Brooklyn Launchpad, 721 Franklin Ave in Bed-Stuy on 9/8 at 8.

8/24, 10 PM powerhouse chanteuse Kamala Sankaram’s stupendously fun, multistylistic Bollywood/surf/art-rockers Bombay Rickey at Branded Saloon.

8/24 10 PM darkly psychedelic Ameicana rockers Mesiko (with Rachael Bell and David Marshall from the late, great Norden Bombsight) at Pete’s

8/24, 10 PM eclectic, smart latin jazz bassist Pedro Giraudo leads a sextet at Barbes.

8/24 11 PM fiery southwestern gothic rockers the Downward Dogs play the album release show for their new one at the National Underground

8/25, 4 and 8 PM keyboardist Michael Hearst’s Songs for Unusual Creatures at Barbes. Playful, psychedelic instrumentals about weird animals from around the world, suitable for kids, pray that the yuppie contingent with their whiny brats doesn’t show up.

8/25, 5 PM brilliant oldschool powerpop/psychedelic guitarist/songwriter Pete Galub and band at Pete’s. Candy Store, that is.

8/25, 8 PM ferociously lyrical, intense, defiant, dreampop/powerpop rockers the Brixton Riot at Maxwell’s

8/25, 8 PM, repeating on 8/26 at 2 PM the St. Petersburg String Quartet play Tchaikovsky: String Quartet in B-flat Major, “ Unfinished” Op. Post.1865) (1); Schubert: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 29, D. 804 “Rosamunde”; Ravel: String Quartet in F Major at Bargemusic, $35/$30srs/$15 stud.

8/25, 8:30 PM psychedelic Middle Eastern/Balkan/Asian jamband Tribecastan at Sullivan Hall, $15 adv tix rec.

8/25, 8:30 PM Mostly Other People Do the Killing’s bassist Moppa Elliott leads a sextet version of the insane, amazingly fun jazz terrorists at I-Beam, $10.

8/25, 9 PM weird segue, great bands: macabre surf monsters the Coffin Daggers and psychedelic latin-influenced dub reggae crew El Pueblo at Paper Box, 17 Meadow St., Bushwick, $8

8/25, 9ish hypnotic retro psych-rockers Brian Jonestown Massacre at Webster Hall, 9ish, $30.50 tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc.

8/25, 9:30 PM dark 80s style keyboardist/songwriter Kristin Hoffmann at Caffe Vivaldi.

8/25, 11ish the Brooklyn What – powerful, anthemic, literate punk/soul rockers who represent smart native-born Brooklyn better than any other band – at Littlefield

8/26, 1 PM intense Scottish bagpipe music with Great Highland Bagpipes and Mor, “The Pied Pipers of New York” at Flushing Town Hall, free, early arrival advised.

8/26, 4 PM a Ukrainian dance party on the Coney Island boardwalk at Brighton 2nd St. with music by Andriy Milavsky and Carpathian folk ensemble Cheres.

8/26, 6ish this year’s bill at the Charlie Parker Festival at Tompkins Square Park is uncharacteristically weak – although it’s nice to see chanteuse/organist Ernestine Anderson get the headline spot she’s deserved for a long time.

8/27, 8 PM lyrical Nashville gothic rockers Maynard & the Musties at Cowgirl Seahorse, 259 Front St, close to South Street Seaport

8/26, 8 PM goth legend and Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy at the Well, 272 Meserole St. in Bushwick, $25 adv tix rec.

8/27, 8 PM avant pianist Taka Kigawa tackles Bach’s Art of the Fugue at le Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix rec.

8/27 wickedly lyrical Americana songwriter Marcellus Hall (ex-Railroad Jerk and White Hassle) at Zirzamin, 8:30 PM

8/27, 8:30 PM pianist Melody Fader and violinist Emily Popham play Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata plus works for solo piano by Debussy and Chopin at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

8/27, 9:30ish devious powerpop cult artist Patti Rothberg and her scorching power trio Wet Paint at Rodeo Bar

8/28, 7 PM eclectic pan-latin chanteuse Marta Topferova at Barbes.

8/28-9/2 the Ron Carter Big Band – enough said, right? – at the Jazz Standard, 7:30/9:30 PM, $30.

8/28-9/2, 9/11 PM jazz/Americana violinist/composer Jenny Scheinman leads a killer quartet with Jason Moran on piano, Greg Cohen on bass and Rudy Royston on drums at the Vanguard, $30

8/28, 9:30 PM dazzlingly eclectic virtuoso string ensemble Trio Tritticali play originals, Latin, Middle Eastern, jazz and clever pop/rock arrangements at Caffe Vivaldi.

8/28, 11ish dark intense minimalist Persian-flavored indie rock duo the Mast at Glasslands

8/29, 7 PM Italian folk music of the Istria region by Damir and Joe and band at Athens Square Park in Astoria, N to 30th Ave., free.

8/29, 8 PM, a latin jazz summit: Jerry Gonzalez & the Commandos de la Clave plus the Pedrito Martinez Group featuring Ariacne Trujillo at Highline Ballroom, $25 adv tix rec.

8/29, 8:30 PM original, eclectic bossa-tinged chanteuse Nina Moffitt leads a quartet with Chris Pattishall, piano; Jackson Hill, bass; Alex Ritz, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

8/29, 9 PM Sean Wayland leads his B3 organ jazz band at Freddy’s

8/29, 9:30ish Demolition String Band– whose gorgeous new album Gracious Days is as purist and edgy as their earlier stuff – at Rodeo Bar

8/30, 7:30 PM blue-eyed soul crooner Don Piper and his excellent, jangly band followed by eclectic, literate Britpop/glam/art-rock songwriter Ed Rogers – whose latest album Porcelain is amazing – and then the Last Days (chanteuse Lisa Burns and powerpop icon George Usher) at Zirzamin.

8/30, 8 PM Chicago style blues powerhouse Bobby Radcliff plays a rare Brooklyn gig with his band at Freddy’s

8/30, 8 PM psychedelic funksters Groove Collective at Brooklyn Bowl, $10.

8/30, 8:30 PM down-to-earth Chilean jazz vocal stylist Camila Meza leads a quartet with Glenn Zaleski, piano; Sam Anning, bass; Greg Ritchie, drums at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

8/30, 8:30 PM the Lysander Piano Trio play a program TBA at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised.

8/30, 10:15 PM haunting, lush art-rockers the Snow – whose new album is reputedly as excellent as their last two – at Joe’s Pub, $15.

8/31, 7:30 PM funk orchestra Burnt Sugar (feat. many Melvin Van Peebles collaborators) “freaks every other song in the book- a JB, Steely, Ra, Jimi, Bowie, Miles, Van Peebles and BS Monsta-Mosh” at Le Poisson Rouge, $10 adv tix rec.

8/31, 7:30 PM an eclectic south-of-the-border jazz doublebill: talented NYU ensemble Karachacha followed by trumpeter Gabriel Alegria and his Afro-Peruvian Sextet at Drom, $20 adv tix rec.

8/31, 8 PM badass resonator guitarist/blues chanteuse Mamie Minch followed at 10 by psychedelic funk with the People’s Champs at Barbes.

8/31, 9 PM hilarious, satirical Merle Haggard cover band Bryan & the Haggards – who do sick jazz versions of honkytonk classics – at Red Hook Bait & Tackle

8/31, 1 AM (actually wee hours of 9/1) explosive two-sax-and-drums funk/trip-hop instruental band Moon Hooch at Brooklyn Bowl, $10.

9/1 Unsteady Freddy’s monthly surf rock show at Otto’s starts at 9 PM with a rare live show by This Spy Surfs, followed at 10 by the cinematic Commercial Interruption; at 11 the Maui Hurricane and midnight the Nobs.

9/1, 9 PM reggae singer Dahlia Dumont plays with her roots band at Shrine.

9/1, 9ish crazy gypsy punk with Bad Buka at Mehanata.

9/1, 9 PM NYC’s original musically purist citybilly crew, M Shanghai String Band at the Jalopy, $10

9/1, 10 PM bouncy Mexican polkas and more with Banda Sinaloense De Los Muertos at Barbes.

9/2, 7 PM long-running, eclectic jazz/chamber pop quartet the Four Bags at Barbes followed at 9 by gypsy guitar virtuoso Stephane Wrembel.

9/2 and 9/16, 7 PM purist jazz guitarist Peter Mazza leads a trio at the Bar Next Door

9/2, 11 PM charismatic frontman Sekouba and his huge, intense, politically charged African roots reggae band at Shrine

9/3, sets at 1 and 3 PM pyrotechnic, unpredictable avant violinist Todd Reynolds with Jordan Tice on guitar, Jonny Rodgers on glass harmonica andspecial guests play new arrangements of American folk music on Colonels Row on Governors Island, free.

9/3, 7 PM western swing bandleader Dennis Lichtman with jazz pianist Ehud Asherie at Barbes followed at 9:30ish by Chicha Libre.

9/4, 7ish surfy, haunting eclectic Bollywood rock band Bombay Rickey – whose show here last month was one of the year’s best – at Barbes

9/4, 7 PM the king of the downtown NYC literate rock anthem, Willie Nile at Joe’s Pub, $25.

9/4, 8 PM alt-country chanteuse Alana Amram & the Rough Gems open for noir guitar genius Jim Campilongo’s High Space with Nels Cline, Tony Mason, Erik Deutsch and Jeff Hill at Brooklyn Bowl, $8.

9/4, 8:30 PM Ed Cherry on guitar with Pat Bianchi on organ and Jerome Jennings on drums at the Bar Next Door

9/4, 8:30 PM the Toomai String Quintet play two sets, the second a performance of Jessica Pavone’s understatedly haunting Hope Dawson Is Missing with guitarist Mary Halvorson at I-Beam, $10.

9/5, 9 PM triple-threat blues legend Lucky Peterson – as intense on organ and piano as he is on guitar – with his talented chanteuse daughter Tamara at B.B. King’s, $15 adv tix rec.

9/6, 7:30 PM the reliably entertaining, cutting edge Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet at Zirzamin

9/6, 8 PM eclectic desert blues guitar star Bombino and his jamband at Highline Ballroom,$15 adv tix rec.

9/6, 8 PM performances by flutist Carol Wincenc, the Escher String Quartet, and Da Capo Chamber Players in celebration of legendary composer Joan Tower’s birthday at Symphony Space, $20 adv tix at the box ofc. rec.

9/6, 10 PM intense eclectic bluegrass/Balkan violinist Sarah Alden at Barbes with her band

9/7 is Brazilian World Music Day, check their blog for NYC happenings.

9/7, 7:30 PM atmospheric noir art-rockers Elysian Fields at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

9/7, 8 PM the West Side Chamber Orchestra plays Haydn: Symphony no. 21, Chevalier de Saint-George; Symphonie Concertante in C, Op.9 No.1; Luigi Boccherini: Symphony in D minor, Op 12 No 4, “La casa del diavolo”; Philip Glass: Harpsichord Concerto with Christopher D. Lewis, solo harpsichord; Kevin Mallon, conductor at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 346 W 20th St, $20/$15 stud/srs.

9/7, 8 PM a rare evening of chamber and film music by David Amram featuring an all-star cast including Amram himself on French horn and piano at Symphony Space, $20 adv tix very highly rec.

9/7, 8 PM eclectic, improvisational ex-Soviet Georgian guitarist Ilusha Tsinadze at Barbes with his jazz group: Richie Barshay (drums), Chris Tordini (bass), Rob Hecht (violin and bass clarinet), Liam Robinson (accordion), and guest vocalist Jean Rohe.

9/7, 8:30 PM new wave legend/raconteur Wreckless Eric with his fierily amusing wife Amy Rigby at Bowery Electric, $15.

9/7, 9 PM Mecanica Popular (f.k.a. Llama) play psychedelic oldschool Fania-era salsa at Shrine. They’re also at Barbes on 9/27 at 10.

9/7, 9 PM the Henry Grimes Quartet – “miraculously resurgent bassist, violinist and poet Henry Grimes with an intensely promising foursome, featuring Dave Burrell at the piano, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, and rising Argentine saxophonist Roberto Pettinato”- at Something Jazz Club, $20 + $10 min.

9/7, 10:30 PM the Roulette Sisters’ sultry oldtime resonator guitarist/songwriter Mamie Minch at the Jalopy, $10.

9/7, 11ish sly tongue-in-cheek Americana/bluegrass songwriter Luther Wright & the Wrongs at Rodeo Bar.

9/8, noon, it’s the Jalopy Busker Fest on Governors Island, free ferries leave on the half-hour from the old Staten Island Ferry terminal south of Battery Park. Many of the oldtime blues, country and jazz acts who make the Jalopy such a magical place play outdoors in various spots around the island: performers include Pat Conte & Joe Bellulovich, Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues, the Whiskey Spitters, M Shanghai String Band, Feral Foster, the 4 O’Clock Flowers, Willy Gantrim, the Unnamed String Band, Karen Duffy, the Jalopy Student Busker Band and the Easy Rollers. There’s an afterparty with a show by Baby Gramps…at the Jalopy of course, $10.

9/8-30 this year’s NY Gypsy Festival once again has a bargain $45 festival pass available at the Drom box office which if you catch every concert (other than the Fanfare Ciocarlia show at Pace University downtown, which is single ticket admission only), comes to less than $10 a show. Individual concerts listed below.

9/8, 3 (three) PM Philip Glass at the Greene Space, $20, this will sell out very quickly; 9/4-9/9, Q2 will be spinning all sorts of rare and popular Glass works including recent recordings by Brooklyn Rider and others

9/8, 7ish an eclectic lineup, killer triplebill: barrelhouse blues band the 4th St. Nite Owls, ska punks the Hub City Stompers and then eventually around 10 intense noir ska/swing band Tri-State Conspiracy at the downstairs studio space at Webster Hall, $12.

9/8 this year’s NY Gypsy Festival kicks off eclectically with desert blues-influenced rockes Sway Machinery and wild, minor-key klezmer/reggae/New Orleans jamband Hazmat Modine at Drom

9/8, 6ish the Atomic Duo: “some Flatt, a little Scruggs, and a whole lot of Gil Scott-Heron” – at 68 Jay St Bar followed at 8 by rustic, haunting Greek rembetiko trio Que Vlo-Ve.

9/8, 8 PM a cool ska/gypsy/skaragga/klezmer doublebill with the Brighton Beat, Karikatura and Klezwoods at Spike Hill. Klezwoods play the klezmer brunch at City Winery, 11:30 AMish the next morning, 9/9 – yikes!

9/8, 8/11 PM multistylistic acoustic/electric New Orleans bluesman Chris Thomas King – Tommy Johnson to millions of filmgoers who saw that Coen Bros. flick- at Lucille’s, $20 gen adm.

9/8, 8 PM composer/cellist Ha-Yang Kim and the JACK Quartet playing original works including her epic opus, Threadsuns, inspired by Paul Celan poetry, at Roulette, $tba.

9/8, 8:30 PM a kick-ass doublebill at I-Beam with perennially tuneful pianist Russ Lossing leading a trio followed by the Two Bass Band with Ben Street and Masa Kamaguchi plus trombonists Scott Reeves and Bryan Dye plus many others, $10; drummer Jeff Davis leads a trio with Lossing at 10 PM on the 14th.

9/8, 9:30 PM a killer Balkan/klezmer doublebill with Litvakus and Raya Brass Band at Joe’s Pub, $TBA.

9/9, noon-5 PM it’s Adoptapalooza – over 200 lovable cats and dogs up for adoption at the north end of Union Square Park, fully vaccinated, spay/neutered and in need of good homes.

9/9, 3 PM indie classical guitarist Gyan Riley (Terry’s kid) at the Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Rd. at Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City, free w/museum adm ($10/$5 stud). N/Q to Broadway or F to Queensbridge/21st St.

9/9, 7 PM the Plunk Bros. – Boo Reiners and Bob Jones – play virtuoso Americana guitar music at Barbes followed at 9ish by Stephane Wrembel.

9/9 the NY Gypsy Festival continues with an unreal brass band lineup at Drom with NYC’s original Balkan brass outfit Zlatne Uste, Raya Brass Band – whose latest album is a contender for best of 2012 – ten piece brass jamband Ververitse, plus Sazet Band, Romski Boji and Chocek Nation. Wow!

9/9, 9 PM oldtime country harmony band the Calamity Janes play their farewell show at the Jalopy, $10. Betsy’s moving to England, so this is it for the band – early arrival advised

9/10 the CCB Reggae All-Stars play the Rocks Off Concert Cruise aboard the Jewel, boarding at 6, departing at 7 from the heliport at 23rd St. and the FDR, $20 adv tix available at the Highline box office.

9/10, 7:30 PM duo pianists Christina & Michelle Naughton play Mendelssohn, de Falla, Milhaud, Rachmaninoff and Nancarrow at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec. followed at 11 by lutenist Jozef Van Wissem and electroacoustic indie chamber ensemble Noveller for $8 (adv tix, separate adm.)

9/10, 8 PM torchy, fearless, country/blues siren Kelli King at Spike Hill

9/10, 8:30 PM the catchy, genre-defying jazz/chamber/worldbeat Steve Hudson Chamber Ensemble at Cornelia St. Cafe, $10 + $10 min.

9/11, 7 PM violin jazz star Jenny Scheinman previewing her next stand at the Vanguard with a (relatively speaking) low-key show at Barbes, followed at 9 by Slavic Soul Party ($10)

9/11, 8 PM violinist Elmira Darvarova, hornist Howard Wall of the New York Philharmonic and pianist Tomoko Kanamaru play music of Brahms, Schumann and their contemporaries at Symphony Space, free, early arrival advised.

9/11, 8 PM punk jazz saxophonist Skerik’s assalutive Bandalabra with Andy Coe on electric guitar, Evan Flory Barnes on upright bass and Dvonne Lewis on drums: “Fela Kuti meeting Steve Reich in rock’s backyard” at the Cameo Gallery, $10 adv tix rec.

9/11, 9ish smart, oldschool Americana siren Michaela Anne and band at Rodeo Bar

9/11, 9 PM 70s Britfolk/psychedelic/art-rock legends the Strawbs play an acoustic show at B.B. King’s, $25 adv tix rec.

9/11-16, 9/11 PM Fred Hersch leads a trio with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, celebrating the release of his brilliant, characteristically lyrical, eclectic new album with this group, $25

9/11, 10 PM Sam Llanas, who for years was the noir heart and soul of legendary heartland rockers the BoDeans at Zirzamin; he’s at the Rockwood at 8 PM on 9/12.

9/11, 10:30 PM pianist Orrin Evans’ ferociously smart, tuneful postbop combo Tarbaby with Oliver Lake, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits at le Poisson Rouge, $15.

9/11, 11ish intense, hilarious ganja rockers Mighty High – Motorhead meets Spinal Tap – playing stuff from their excellent new Legalize Tre Bags album at Hank’s

9/12-13, 7 PM violin virtuoso Gil Morgenstern’s reliably enlightening, thematic Reflections Series opens at WMP Concert Hall with a program titled Stravinsky, The Violin Years: 1930-1935 feat. pianist J.Y. Song, $35/$15 stud.

9/12, 8 PM the New York Piano Quartet performs musix of Austrian composers Joseph Marx, Erich Korngold, Gernot Wolfgang and others at Symphony Space, $20 adv tix rec.

9/12-15 8:30/11 PM alto sax bop legend Dave Liebman and Group at Birdland, $30 seats avail.

9/12, 9ish fiery, intense, lyrical art-rocker Spottiswoode at the big room at the Rockwood, $12 adv tix rec.

9/12, 9ish tongue-in-cheek, period-perfect early 50s style country from Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Rodeo Bar

9/12, 9 PM St. Helena – reliably surprising jazz drummer/composer Tim Kuhl’s latest project, a dark 80s rock band with Rick Parker, Grey McMurray, Ryan Ferreira, Josh Valleau at Union Pool.

9/12, 10 PM one of the original gypsy rock bands, Firewater at the Knitting Factory, $14 – note that the new incarnation is minus piano genius Paul Wallfisch and works a more hypnotic, south Asian vein. They’re also at le Poisson Rouge on 9/15 at 8:30 for an additional six bucks.

9/12, 10 PM Judah Tribe plays roots reggae at Shrine.

9/13, 6 PM the MIVOS Quartet plays new works by Reiko Fueting and Carl Christian a tthe German Consulate General, 871 United Nations Plaza, free, rsvp reqd, note that UN Plaza requires ID plus metal detector screening.

9/13 bassist Michael Feinberg leads the surprisingly subtle band on his new album the Elvin Jones Project – saxophonist Donny McCaslin, drummer Ian Froman, trumpeter Tim Hagans and pianist Leo Genovese – at Birdland

9/13, 8 PM pianist Octavio Brunetti and violinist Elmira Darvarova play Piazzolla at Symphony Space, $20 adv tix rec.

9/13, 9 PM a cool Balkan doublebill with New Orleans crew the G String Orchestra followed by the wild jams of 10-piece Veveritse Brass Band at the Jalopy, $10.

9/13, 10 PM Nation Beat bandleader Scott Kettner’s Orgy in Rhythm maracatu project at Barbes.

9/14, 6ish smart, lyrically sharp songwriter Jodi Shaw plays songs from her recently released Waterland album – part Aimee Mann, part oldtimey swing at the American Folk Art Museum, free

9/14, 7 PM indie classical crew Ensemble Mise-En plays new works including U.S. premieres by Pasquale Corrado, Elisabeth Harnik, Wolfram Schurig and a New York premiere by Kurt Rhode. Award-winning New York composer Annie Gosfield follows at 9 pm, with a world premiere for piano and electronics, at Bohemian National Hall 321 E. 73rd St., free, res. req.

9/14 8 PM charmingly sultry French chanson revivalists Les Chauds Lapins at Barbes followed by the self-explanatory, reliably fun Cumbiagra.

9/14, 8 PM literate glamrock legend Ian Hunter at Highline Ballroom, $30 adv tix rec.

9/14, 9 PM energetic string bands from the Hudson Valley and Philly sandwiched around an amazing, roaringly psychedelic outlaw country band: Spuyten Duyvil, the Newton Gang and New Sweden at the Jalopy, $10

9/14-15, 9 PM lush, dreamy, quirky chamber pop band Clare & the Reasons open for stark, intense female-fronted gypsy rockers Devotchka at Bowery Ballroom, $25 gen adm. They’re also at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, same time same price, on 9/16.

9/14, 10 PM Random Test plays roots reggae at Shrine.

9/14, 11ish sly, smart New Orleans blues pianist Bill Malchow & the Go-Cup All-Stars at Rodeo Bar

9/15, 3 PM oldtime country duo the Honeycutters followed by Elvis Costello collaborator and Americana songwriter Jim Lauderdale at Madison Square Park,

9/15, 7 PM the JACK Quartet plays works by Clemens Gadenstätter and Georg Friedrich Haas including a world premiere at Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St. free, res req; at 9:30, same venue, Bernhard Fleischmann performs his premiere of a “one-time-only” work commissioned for the Moving Sounds Festival (of which all these concerts are a part), reservations also required.

9/15, 8 PM Sufi vocalist Arooj Aftab plus ensemble at Alwan for the Arts, $20/$15 stud/srs ($50 three-day festival pass also available)

9/15 macabre surf monsters the Coffin Daggers at the Spot, 302 Beach 87th St., Far Rockaway.

9/15, 9 PM blissfully intense gypsy band Fishtank Ensemble at the Jalopy,$10

9/16, 5 PM the reliably charming, wickedly literate, gently mesmerizing Amy Allison opens for her elegantly eclectic piano-rocking pal Lee Feldman at Something Jazz Club, $tba

9/16, 8 PM a Brazilian and Ethiopian dance music extravaganza with Forro in the Dark and Debo Band at NYU’s Skirball Center on LaGuardia Place, $20 tix avail.

9/16, 9 PM Virginia’s hottest original bluegrass band the Dixie Bee-Liners at the Jalopy, $10

9/16, 9 PM hilarious, eclectically satirical cowpunk rockers Uncle Leon & the Alibis at Rodeo Bar

9/16, 10 PM long-running indie/Americana rockers the Silos at the Mercury, $10 adv tix rec. at the club 5-7 PM M-F.

9/17, 7:30/9:30 PM hot newschool melodic jazz playing and compositions: the Young Lions Quintet with Stacy Dillard, the Curtis Brothers, and E.J. Strickland at Dizzy’s Club, $25.

9/17, 8 PM ageless oldschool NYC indie rockers the Mercenaries – sort of the Gotham Replacements – at Arlene’s

9/17,  8:30ish inimitable, intense noir jazz/soundtrack/surf powerhouse Beninghove’s Hangmen – arguably the best band in NYC right now – at Zirzamin followed by the equally amazing if somewhat quieter psycho mambo band Gato Loco  at 10. They’re also here on 9/24.

9/17, 11 PM Deerhoof – sort of a zeros/teens version of the Eels – at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, $17.

9/18, 6:30 PM cellist Inbal Segev, pianist Awadagin Pratt, violinist Benjamin Breen and violist Dov Scheindlin play music of Couperin, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, and Beethoven at the Yamaha Piano Salon, 689 5th Ave, 3rd Fl, $30/$20 stud/srs.

9/18, 8 PM a rare jazz night at the Highline: guitarist Peter Bernstein with a quartet feat. organist Sam Yahel; Erimaj trombonist Corey King and his septet Taffy, and the incomparably fun live trip-hop/jazz/punk band Moon Hooch, $12 adv tix rec.

9/18, 9 PM Trailer Radio play amusing retro 60s original honkytonk songs at Rodeo Bar.

9/19, 9ish high-energy acoustic vintage Americana with PartyFolk at Rodeo Bar

9/20, 6:30 high-powered, eclectic tenor saxophonist Geoff Vidal leads a trio at the Bar Next Door, free.

9/20, 8 PM barrelhouse blues band the 4th St. Nite Owls at Barbes.

9/20, 8:30 PM torchy, intense, literate oldtimey songwriter Jolie Holland at the Jalopy, $20

9/20 the NY Gypsy Festival continues with guitarist Marco Callari teaming up with the NY Gypsy All-Stars at Drom

9/20 hilarious, ferocious, surprisingly eclectic punk/powerpop band Custard Wally’s cd release show at Don Pedro’s.

9/20, 9 PM hilarious, smart grasscore/C&W band the Devil Makes Three at the Gramercy Theatre, $19 adv tix avail. at the Irving Plaza box ofc.

9/21, 6ish smart dark Americana songwriter Jessi Robertson at the American Folk Art Museum, free

9/21 powerful, politically aware Irish-American punk/anthemic literate rock legends Black 47 play the Rocks Off Concert Cruise aboard the Half Moon, boarding at 7, departing at 8 from the heliport at 23rd St. and the FDR, $25 adv tix available at the Highline box office.

9/21, 7 PM indie classical outfit the Talea Ensemble performs the US premiere of three works: James Dillon’s New York Triptych, Pierluigi Billone’s Dike Wall and Ondrej Adamek’s Ca tourne ca bloque at Bohemian National Hall at 321 E. 73rd St, free, rvsvp reqd.

9/21 haunting acoustic Nashville gothic band Bobtown and eclectic alt-country siren Alana Amram & the Rough Gems at Union Hall.

9/21, 10 PM mighty Indian funk band Brooklyn Qawwali Party at Barbes.

9/22, 5 (five) PM lyrical pianist Falkner Evans plus tenor saxophonist Marc Mommaas, trumpeter Ron Horton, bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Matt Wilson at Smalls

9/22, 7:30 PM scorching Romanian gypsy brass orchestra Fanfare Ciocarlia at the Schimmel Center at Pace University downtown on Spruce St., $35 but worth it.

9/22, Ushaq explores melodic and poetic traditions of Arab, Persian, and Hindustani music, 8 PM at Alwan for the Arts, $20/$15 stud/srs ($50 three-day festival pass also available)

9/22 the NY Gypsy Festival continues with Serbian-Quebecois gypsy band Roma Carnivale at Drom.

9/22, 10 PM haunting harmony-driven retro Mexican/psychedelic rockers Las Rubias Del Norte– who in retrospect were sort of the prototype for Chicha Libre – at Barbes

9/23, 6 PM drum/cello improvisations with Juan Pablo Carletti and cellist Daniel Levin at Downtown Music Gallery, free.

9/23, 8 PM the Famous Accordion Orchestra at Barbes. OMG – five accordions: Bob Goldberg, Genevieve Leloup, Mark Nathanson, Melissa Elledge and Rachel Swaner, plus Chicha Libre’s old timbalero

9/23, 8 PM torchy, smart Americana chanteuse Tift Merritt plays the album release show for her new one Travelling Alone at City Winery, $28 standing room avail.

9/23 8 PM torchy chanteuse Stephanie Saxon and her jazz combo at Shrine

9/24 10 PM Beninghove’s Hangmen – NYC’s scariest noir cinematic band – at LIC Bar

9/25, 7:30 PM haunting gypsy chanteuse (and Bertold Brecht niece) Sanda Weigl at Joe’s Pub, $TBA.

9/25-29, 8:30/11 PM a Bud Powell tribute at Birdland with a killer lineup: Tim Hagans, Greg Osby, Matt Wilson, Dan Tepfer filling in Bud’s shoes & Lonnie Plaxico on bass, $30 seats avail.

9/25-26 fiery soulful funk jamband Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds at Highline Ballroom

9/26, 8 PM adventurous flutist/impresario Amelia Lukas’ Ear Heart Music series debuts at Roulette with a killer triplebill: James Moore and Andie Springer playing folk-inspired new string music, On Structure creating sound- and movement-based performance art, and chamber ensemble Build “rocking their unique blend of minimalist, fiddle-heavy indie-classical to film landscapes” at Roulette, $15/$10 stud.

9/26, 8 PM Mariel Roberts premieres new works for solo cello by Andy Akiho, Sean Friar, Alex Mincek, Tristan Perich, and Daniel Wohl at Issue Project Room, $15.

9/26, 9 PM fiery original surf rockers the Octomen at Rodeo Bar

9/27 funky bhangra orchestra Red Baraat at at le Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec.

9/27, 11 PM My Wooden Leg plays gypsy punk at Freddy’s.

9/28, 8 PM oldschool soul legend Bettye LaVette at Highline Ballroom, $26 adv tix rec.

9/28 the NY Gypsy Festival continues with singer/flamenco dancer Elena Andujar and ensemble at Drom

9/28, 8:30 PM nimble but atmospheric vibraphonist/composer Tyler Blanton and his group at I-Beam, $10.

9/29, 2:30 PM eclectic worldbeat chamber ensemble Alexander Wu & the Zigzag Quartet at the Lincoln Center Atrium.

9/29, 8 PM the Tarab Ensemble performs dhikr (the Sufi percussion/vocal ritual) at Alwan for the Arts, $20/$15 stud/srs ($50 three-day festival pass also available).

9/29, 8 PM Daria Grace & the Pre-War Ponies play torchy 20s/30s swing/jazz obscurities at Barbes followed at 10 by Mireya Ramos, frontwoman/violinist of NYC’s only all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Flor de Toloache.

9/29, 9 PM oldtime country blues maven Feral Foster with his new band followed at 10 by the low-key, authentically churchy Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens at the Jalopy, $10.

9/29, 10 PM My Wooden Leg plays gypsy punk at Arlene’s.

9/30, 7 PM intense, tuneful southwestern gothic rock with the Downward Dogs at at Spike Hill

9/30-10/2, 7 PM at Bowery Electric the new rock musical Barcode – a collaboration between Hair’s James Rado and rock band Gladshot. ““Barcode” tells the story of a dystopian future in which one corporation, Earth Corp, dominates society. Wielding control over the populous by imprinting barcodes on the wrists of every citizen, Earth Corp monitors all activity and privacy is virtually extinct. A star-crossed romance develops between Dorna, a member of the resistance, and Nest, the son of an Earth Corp News Anchor. Together, the young couple may just spark a revolution.” $12 adv tix rec.

9/30, 7:30 PM Cadillac Moon Ensemble play the cd release for their eclectic new album – a mix of indie classical, Puerto Rican bomba and other styles by emerging composers Shawn Allison, André Brégégère, Edward RosenBerg III, and Erich Holt Stem at the DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St., $10 ($20 incl. cd)

9/30 this year’s NY Gypsy Festival wraps up with a solo concert by intense, luminous Spanish flamenco-jazz pianist Ariadna Castellanos at Drom.

10/1, 8 PM the socially aware/antifascist Indonesian Papermoon Puppet Theatre troupe presents their new piece Mwathirika (Swahili for “victim”), an intense look back at the terror and repression of the dictatorship in their native land, focusing on 1965 – “the year of living dangerously” – at the Asia Society, $TBA.

10/1-2, 9 PM NYC’s original musically purist citybilly crew, M Shanghai String Band play a two-night cd release party at the Jalopy, $10

10/4, 7:30 PM exhilarating, clever, eclectic Russian/gypsy/cinematic string band Ljova & the Kontraband – whose 2008 album is a genuine classic – at Symphony Space, $30 gen adm includes a drink.

10/5, 9 PM third-wave surf rock legends Los Straitjackets at the Bell House, $15

10/6, 4 PM Crooked Still banjoist Greg Liszt’s newgrass group the Deadly Gentlemen at Madison Square Park, free.

10/6. 8 PM ferocious, smart psychedelic power trio Devi at Arlene’s. Avoid the cliched corporate band afterward at all costs

10/9, 8 PM the Red Light Ensemble – Christa van Alstine, clarinet; Nathan Koci, french horn & accordion; Kevin Sims, percussion; Yegor Shevtsov, piano; Tema Watstein, violin; Erin Wight, viola; John Popham, cello, and Ted Hearne, conductor perform compositions by Christian Wolff, Scott Wollschleger, Vincent Raikhel, and Gérard Grisey plus pieces by Satie to accompany Melies films at Roulette $15/$10 stud/srs.

10/9, 8 PM Italian rock acts take over the Highline: Manu Chao soundalike Mannarino followed by gypsy rockers Negrita, $TBA

10/11, 7:30PM Angela & Jennifer Chun play music for two violins by Béla Bartók and Luciano Berio, and, joined by pianist Nelson Padgett, perform the rarely heard Phantasy for two violins and piano by British composer Edmund Rubbra at Symphony Space, $30 adv tix rec

10/11 at Issue Project Room: an all-Mohammed Fairouz concert with the Borromeo Quartet playing the NY premiere of The Named Angels plus the Cygnus Ensemble as well as pianists Kathleen Supové, Taka Kigawa and Blair McMillen.

10/12 8 PM cellist Colin Carr and pianist Thomas Sauer play Schubert: Sonata in A minor for Arpeggione and piano, D. 821; Britten: Sonata for cello and piano in C Major, Op. 65; Harold Meltzer: Casa Battlót (world premiere); Rachmaninov: Sonata for cello and piano in G minor, Op. 19 at Bargemusic, $35/$30srs/$15 stud.

10/12 rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson at Highline Ballroom.

10/17-20, 7:30 PM cellist Maya Beiser and chanteuse Helga Davis play a four-night stand for their new “cello opera,” a triptych of compositions by Eve Beglarian, Michael Gordon, and Missy Mazzoli, at BAM, $20.

10/18, 8:30 PM ghazals and Punjabi folk songs with Kiran Ahluwalia, vocals; Rez Abbasi, acoustic and electric guitar; Nikku Nayar, electric bass; Nitin Mitta, tabla; Rob Curto, accordion, free, at the Lincoln Center Atrium, early arrival advised

10/19, 8 PM at Roulette this year’s avant Vital Vox Festival kicks off at with Philip Hamilton performing “Vocalscapes: Solitude”, vocalist/composer Sabrina Lastman performing her original piece “An Encounter with ‘El Duende’”, and Unearthish—the duo of violinist/composer/vocalist Sarah Bernstein and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi—performing Bernstein works.

10/20 8 PM at Roulette the second night of this year’s avant Vital Vox Festival includes composer/vocalist/video and performance artist Lisa Karrer in collaboration with composer/multi-instrumentalist David Simons performing “Collision Theory: Works & Premieres for Voice & Multi-Media”, composer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Sasha Bogdanowitsch performing his new song cycle “Mirror Upon Mirror”, and irrepressible composer/performer Pamela Z.

10/24, 7 PM “bachata legends unplugged” – stars of the Dominican underground 40 years ago, Edilou Paredes with special guests Take Out feat. Joan Soriano at Elebash Recital Hall, 365 5th Ave. at 34th St., $25/$20 stud.

10/26, 9:20 PM intense, haunting, original Turkish band Musaner’s cd release show at Drom, $12 adv tix rec.

10/28, 7:30 PM at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall the Tokyo String Quartet joined by the Jasper Quartet for a farewell show featuring Webern: Five Movements for String Quartet; Mozart: String Quintet No. 3 in C Major, K. 515; Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20, $15 adv tix highly rec.

10/28 at Merkin Hall, Yoon Jae Lee leads Ensemble 212 in the NY premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s Akhnaten, Dweller in Truth, a double concerto with soloists Nicholas Canelakkis (cello) and the conductor leading from the piano.

10/28 Yasiin Bey f.k.a. Mos Def – whose unpredictably brilliant career now has him doing Gil Scott-Heron style soul and dark indie classical music – at the Apollo Theatre.

10/29. 9:30 PM Aimee Mann at Bowery Ballroom, tix still avail. as of 8/28.

11/3, 9 PM the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at Bowery Ballroom, $18 adv tix rec.

11/3, 10 PM the Coffin Daggers at the Red Door, 140 W. 24th St.

11/4 eclectic original klezmer/jazz/jambands Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos (similar but not exactly one and the same) at Brooklyn Center for the Arts at Brooklyn College.

11/10, 9 PM 70s punk-pop legends the Rezillos at Bowery Electric, $20 adv tix rec..

Twin Peaks Music from Dimestore Dance Band at Zirzamin

Back in the mid-zeros, Dimestore Dance Band were one of the two or three best bands in the scene centered around Tonic, the late, lamented Lower East Side hotspot for improvised music. When Tonic closed in 2006, Dimestore – guitarist Jack Martin, bassist Jude Webre and drummer Scott Jarvis – pretty much closed their doors as well. Since then, Martin and Webre have played together sporadically as a duo. Last night at Zirzamin, the two had a new drummer, who stepped in tersely and smartly, and in a lot of ways they sounded better than ever. The music’s curves are smoother, its rough edges more jagged, and Martin’s guitar playing just gets darker and more intense. They’ve never been more noir, or more fascinating to watch.

Martin, unlike a lot of other virtuoso guitarslingers, is not a chameleonic player. Steeped in gypsy jazz, country blues and ragtime, there’s often a jaunty lilt to his playing, but it’s impossible to imagine the former lead axeman of popular swamp rockers Knoxville Girls playing anything blithely all the way through. His sound is distinctive, full of irascible slides, brightly hopeful bent notes and eerie, ringing chromatics: rich with irony, sometimes exasperation, bitterness or outright anguish, but with an irrepressible joie de vivre peeking defiantly from behind the clouds. It’s the personification of noir: Twin Peaks music with a sprightly swing bounce.

Their opening tune set the tone for about half of what they played, a matter-of-factly swinging number loaded with biting chromatics that gave it a pervasive sense of unease, Webre’s tensely stalking bassline underscoring that. Martin made his way methodically into an unexpectedly unhinged, atonal interlude that he suddenly backed away from, as Webre kept a steady pace through the danger zone. The most haunting song of the night was a slow, slinky, smoky, chromatic theme that built from morose allusiveness to a furtively steady prowl, Martin again backing away to let Webre’s moody resolve hold the course, the swirls of the cymbals upping the ante as the song wound out. Then they flipped the script with an unexpectedly upbeat groove that added all kinds of spiny bits to a playful, peekaboo vintage soul/funk melody. From there they went into wryly shuffling western swing as Django might have done it, then back to the noir with a mysterious southwestern gothic bolero over a sinister garage rock bassline. Martin spiraled, brooding and sparse over it, Webre’s ominously tiptoeing bassline signaling a series of even more ominous spaghetti western chords from Martin, working up to a tricky false ending and then back to the suspenseful wee-hours desert chill. It would have made a standout track on a vintage-era Friends of Dean Martinez album.

They brought back the devious swing with the most gypsyish tune of the night, warped Django building to a coy fanfare on the turnaround, then did another bolero with a bit of skronk and latin soul, Martin adding his signature passing tones and chromatics to darken it unexpectedly: the clouds sweeping in over Andalucia. From there the cinematics grew more spare, Webre playing tense octaves over stately cymbal crashes as Martin skirted the melody, then finally brought it back with a gypsyish unresolve. Their final two numbers were a sultry, slow gypsy groove that turned creepy and cinematic, Martin picking up with an unrestrained menace as it wound up, and then a briskly devious blend of gypsy jazz and garage rock, Martin hinting at the end that they’d make yet another hairpin turn into glistening greyscale shadows…but the show was over. Dimestore Dance Band’s next show is at Zebulon at 9 PM on August 2 with another first-rate noir guitarist, Ben Von Wildenhaus and his band, who are playing their farewell New York show.

Niyaz Brings the Persian Party to Drom

“It sounds like there are 14,000 people here!” Niyaz frontwoman Azam Ali told the audience at Drom Sunday night, and she wasn’t being sarcastic: the club was packed, and the crowd responded ecstatically. Playing swirling, hypnotic original arrangements of classic melodies from Iran, Afghanistan and across the Middle East, Niyaz elevated those tunes with an orchestral majesty and an intoxicating, hypnotic beat. What was most impressive is how organic the music was. Although there was a laptop onstage, with Carmen Rizzo reaching from his keyboard to a series of mixers with split-second precision, it was clear from the first resonant booms from Habib Meftah Boushehri‘s drumkit that this wasn’t going to be karaoke. While a supplementary lute track or wash of ambience would occasionally waft into the mix, this was definitely live. Both Ali and her husband Loga Ramin Torkian have put out excellent albums under their own names over the last year or so; this time out, their set included most of the tracks on the new Niyaz album Sumud (Arabic for “resilience”). Torkian played tersely incisive, often haunting quartertone melodies, switching between jangly Turkish saz lute and his own invention, the kaman – a hybrid cello and kamancheh fiddle with a guitar-like body – while Ali took a turn on frame drum as well as electric santoor. Her two elegantly rippling, eerily reverberating solos on that Iranian instrument – her first love, even before she became a singer, as she reminded the crowd – were among the night’s most mesmerizing moments.

“Habib comes from Bushehr, in the south of Iran where people really know how to party!” Ali remarked as the drummer came out from behind the kit and added his powerful baritone to an animated duet, Rizzo running a loop of his beats so that the undulating rhythmic waves wouldn’t waver: the crowd loved it. Yet as much as this concert was a dance party, the music was serious. Ali stood immobile and waiflike as the show began, stark and atmospheric, but then began to sway and then loosened as the songs picked up. In the studio, whether singing in Farsi, Arabic, Turkish or an Afghan dialect, her vocals have a minutely nuanced microtonal intensity; onstage, she relied on the understated power of her lower registers, mingling hypnotically and occasionally soaring over frequently ominous, shifting sheets of melody. Rizzo, as it turns out, is an agile keyboardist, his echoey, oscillating chords contrasting with eerily pinging righthand motifs. The songs on Sumud, notably the bouncy title track, follow a common theme of resistance and survival under duress. Ali took care to explain that what she was trying to communicate is that peace begins at home: who are we to criticize other nations or cultures for the strife that’s occuring within their borders when we don’t have equality here? She emphasized that everywhere on the globe, it’s always the religious and ethnic minorities who get the short end of the stick.

After almost an hour and a half onstage, they ended the concert by encoring with the same song twice. Despite the high-tech sonics, improvisation is what this band is all about, so it was no surprise that both versions were just as intriguing. The first featured Torkian playing tensely insistent riffs on his kaman; the second time around, he switched to saz and the song relaxed, taking on an irresistible sway over the pulsing drums, enveloping keyboard swirl and Torkian’s understatedly fiery crescendos. Niyaz are currently on national tour: the schedule is here.

Deep Roots from the Nazarenes

Is it overkill to have reggae on the front page here for three days in a row? It’s reggae season, after all – back when reggae bands started finding an audience outside Jamaica, they’d typically go on tour in July and August when the tourist season is at a low and it’s really hot down there. So in honor of Bob Marley, Burning Spear and all the great ones who came before, today’s band is the Nazarenes, led by two Ethiopian-born brothers, Medhane and Noah Tewolde. They’ve got Rasta cred that’s hard to beat – their father worked for H.I.M. Haile I Selassie I, Jah Rastafari! Their new album Meditation is just out on I Grade Records. What they do is minor-key reggae: towering, and anthemic, and just as intense as it is catchy. These guys are dead serious about their message, familiar as it may be: respect for mother earth, bun down Babylon, love Jah, there’s strength in numbers, etc. “Watch how I survive today,” they sing on the album’s balmiest track, Love Jah: they go for the big picture evey time. A lot of this you can stream on their youtube channel – the production and arrangements are strictly oldschool roots with swirly organ, jangly guitars, pulsing bass, laid-back beats and clever dub touches. It’s a lot like what Israel Vibration were doing around the turn of the century but a lot more epic and ornate.

The title cut, which opens the record, sets the tone. “I’m flying higher, higher, I’m in paradise.” Hmmm….The second one, simply titled Food, has some deliciously creepy backing vocal harmonies that contrast with the song’s bouncy, upbeat tune. They rhyme “globalization” with “United Nations,” and take care to remind that’s where the similarity between the two ends. It’s Too Late, featuring Lutan Fyah, paints a cynical picture of what happens when so-called leaders get careless and self-indulgent: “It’s been so many years since you’ve been in power, but you couldn’t fulfill the basic needs on time – the youth are frustrated, they are out of control…equality and justice are the urge of the mob, not George Bush bling bling showing off to the rest of the world.” By contrast, a big, bright horn riff opens Mother, an optimistic tribute to Mother Africa – and are those ringing, pinging tones a steel pan, or a synthesizer?

They bring to mind both classic, early Steel Pulse with the jazzy guitar and Israel Vibration with the vocals to On My Way, a defiant on-my-way-to-Zion anthem, then chronicle Bible verses in The Lord Said, featuring St. Croix reggae stars Midnite: that one’s like an oldschool American soul song as Marley or the Mighty Diamonds would have done it. Mamy Blues begins with a couple of suspenseful, lingering piano chords and follows with a jazzy solo – it’s a prime example of how artsy a band can get, spiraling hammer-on soul guitar mingling with melodica, and still be true to their roots. It wouldn’t be out of place in the Lucky Dube songbook. Alive, a stoner existentialist lament and then Everlasting, with its catchy minor/major changes are the next two tracks, followed by Politrickcians, pulsing along with a murky but catchy bassline and sarcastic, conspiratorial synth: “Powertripping control freaks, they give me the creeps.” Amen to that!

There are three more tracks here. Get Together is kind of skeletal, with more of a dancehall vibe, a call for world unity. Destiny chronicles our “mysterious journey, fighting day to day,” with echoey, majestic electric piano and artsy rock guitar. Another track in the style of early 70s Marley is Lonesome Lady, an unexpectedly sympathetic portrait of a hooker. Play this for anybody who thinks that all reggae sounds the same – it’s a welcome change from all the lovey-dovey pop and tedious smalltime criminal tales on reggae radio.

A Reggae Time Trip from the Archives

Washington, DC roots reggae band the Archives are a trip back in time to the days when reggae wasn’t about computerized beats and effects that sound like a video game soundtrack. Their new album has bubbly organ, catchy, simple bass hooks, tasteful guitar that rings out in the mix, an edgy brass section, hypnotically clattering percussion and a mellow, summery groove – but at the same time, it’s very serious. Some of the songs sound like they could have been written in 1975; maybe that’s why the band call themselves the Archives. You could also call this the new Ras Puma album because he does the vocals on most of the tracks, direct and confrontational without being preachy.

He takes the lead on the opening track, Who’s Correct, with a real oldschool, throwback sound that reminds of the Abyssinians, the horns throwing off some catchy Ethiopian riffs. He’s joined by crooner Lenny Kurlou on the jazzy, vintage Steel Pulse-ish Ghetto Gone Uptown, then explains his Rasta mentality – “it’s not a religion, it’s a way of life” and disses the fake ones, “wolf in sheep’s clothing” on the anthem Nuff a Dem Claim. The longest song here is More to Life, with torrents of lyrics examining the evils of the Babylon money system and a casually gorgeous, psychedelic wah guitar solo.

With its irresistible shuffle beat and cinematic horn swells, Message for the Messenger goes after artists who steal from history and don’t give credit where credit is due. Ras Puma also sings on the clever ganja anthem Sensibility and the anthemic closing cut, Blasting Through the City, which with its early 70s Wailers feel is this band’s Burning and Looting.

Desi Hyson sings Crime, a passionate dissection of the hypocrisy of the war on ganja with more than a little Peter Tosh influence: “Police at my door, knocking hard, flashing badges, waving guns, and they tell me it’s a crime to let the herb give birth to a simple seed.” Kurlou sings a cover of the Clash’s One More Time – which is kind of a cross between the original and the dub version – while Ichelle Cole takes over the mic on the poppiest track here, Boof Baff, driven by a cheery piano riff, namechecking all kinds of greats from the past including Sugar Minott, Gregory Isaacs, U-Roy and especially Big Youth, whose early stuff this one resembles. Sleepy Wonder fronts the band on Music Is My Prayer with a rootsier Luciano vibe; there’s also a single instrumental here and it’s killer, starting out like Augustus Pablo and then growing livelier, with joyously dancing flute, like one of the instros on Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey. If classic roots reggae is your thing, this is for you.