New York City Live Music Calendar for November and December 2015
by delarue
The new December/January calendar is here.
There’s a comprehensive, recently updated list of places where these events are happening at New York Music Daily’s sister blog Lucid Culture.
This is not a list of every show in town – it’s a carefully handpicked selection. If this calendar seems short on praise for bands and artists, it’s because every act here is recommended if you like their particular kind of music. Many different styles to choose from here, something for everyone
Showtimes listed here are set times, not the time doors open – if a listing says something like “9ish,” that means it’ll probably start later than advertised. If you see a show listed without the start time, that’s because either the artist, their publicist or the venue in question sent incomplete info – those acts are usually listed last on a particular date. Always best to check with the venue for the latest information on set times and door charges, since that information is often posted here weeks in advance. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar.
On select Thursdays and Saturdays, an intimate, growing piano music salon on the Upper West Side featuring iconoclastically insightful, lyrical pianist Nancy Garniez – a cult favorite with an extraordinarily fluid, singing, legato style – exploring the delicious minutiae of works from across the centuries. Next up: works by Debussy, Rameau and Mozart, 11/12 at 7 and 11/15 at 4 PM. Sugg don $10 (pay what you can), delicious gluten-free refreshments, beverages and lively conversation included! email for info/location.
Jan 7, 8, 12 at 7:30 PM plus Jan 9 at 6; Jan 10 at 2; Jan 11 at 4 PM the world premiere of Kaneza Schaal’s Go Forth, “ Schaal approaches the 3,000-year-old funerary text as an ancient performance score: excavating the spells and incantations to create a series of burial vignettes, fragments of translation, memory and imagination. Presented in the labyrinthine basement of Westbeth’s Artists Community in Chelsea, an essential artery of New York City’s artistic community, remnants of past legends, such as Merce Cunningham’s studios and the flood of Hurricane Sandy, line the walls. Photographic funerary murals usher the audience into the mythological landscape of the performance. Spurred by Schaal’s experience of ritualized grieving with her family in Rwanda,” at Westbeth Artists Community, 55 Bethune St in the west village, , $20 / $15 Students & Seniors, l./A./E/C to 14th St.
Mondays in November, 7 and 9 PM, erudite pianist Orrin Evans‘ richly tuneful, purist, stampeding Captain Black Big Band at Smoke
Mondays at 7 PM multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lichtman’s popular western swing band Brain Cloud at Barbes followed at 9:30 PM by a variety of south-of-the-border-style bands playing cumbias, boogaloo, salsa, maybe all of the above.
Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: as jazz goes, it’s arguably the most exhilarating show of the week, every week. The first-rate players always rise to the level of the material. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 and worth it.
Also Monday and Tuesday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Iguana, 240 W. 54th St ( Broadway/8th Ave) , 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering what you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).
Mondays 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.
Also Mondays in November 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 November, 8:30 PM the George Gee Swing Orchestra play surprising new arrangements of old big band standards at Swing 46, 349 W 46th St, $15
Tuesdays in November clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at 9 PM at Barbes. Get there as soon as you can as they’re very popular. $10 cover.
Three Wednesdays in November: 11/4. 11/11 and 11/18, 9ish iconic second-wave Afrobeat pioneers Antibalas – still vital and surprisingly terse after all these years – at Brooklyn Bowl The increasingly hard-funk oriented Emefe opens the 11/4 show at 9.
Wednesdays in December, 9ish the Slackers‘ timelessly soulful, bluesy frontman Vic Ruggiero at Grand Victory, $10
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.
Thursdays in November, 7:30 PM subversively hilarious cabaret personality/chanteuse Tammy Faye Starlite leads an all-star chamber-rock band playing her twistedly brilliant Marianne Faithfull parody/homage at Pangea, $20
Fridays and Saturdays at 5 PM adventurous indie classical string quartet Ethel plus frequent special guests playing a mix of classical and more contemporary mateiral at the balcony bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm
Fridays and Saturdays at 5 PM adventurous indie classical string quartet Ethel plus frequent special guests playing a mix of classical and more contemporary mateiral at the balcony bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm
Fridays in November at 9 Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens play oldschool 1960s style gospel at the Fat Cat.
Fridays in November, 9ish dynamic, intense Bulgarian sax star Yuri Yunakov and the Grand Masters of Gypsy Music at Mehanata
Fridays at 11 PM flamenco guitarist Ian Banks with special guests each week at St. Mazie’s (the old Rose Bar) on Grand St. just off the BQE in Williamsburg
Saturdays in Novemberat 4 PM at Bargemusic there are impromptu free classical concerts, usually solo piano or small chamber ensembles: if you get lucky, you’ll catch pyrotechnic violinist/music director Mark Peskanov and/or the many members of his circle. Early arrival advised.
Saturdays in November, 6 PM badass resonator guitarist and delta blues/oldtime hillbilly music maven Mamie Minch at Barbes
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 in November, 2 PM Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir play their deliriously fun mix of original eco-warrior gospel and edgy street theatre at Joe’s Pub, $15
Sundays at 3 PM at the Stone a rotating cast of familiar faces from John Zorn’s circle perform from Zorn’s characteristically exhaustive, marathon collection of 300 works titled Bagatelles, recently composed between March and May 2015. “Each concert will be introduced by John Zorn, often in conversation with the musicians,” $15
Sundays in November 5 PM Afro-Peruvian jazz pianist/chanteuse Chi-Chi Glass leads a rotating series of bands at Barbes
Sundays in November, 7:30 PM spine-tingling art-rock/avant-garde/chamber pop singer Carol Lipnik – pretty much everybody’s choice for best singer in all of NYC – with hypnotically luminous pianist Matt Kanelos – at Pangea on 2nd Ave. btw 11th/12th Sts, $20. Several special guests are promised.
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 November, 8:30 PM purist guitarist Peter Mazza – who gets the thumbs up from bop-era legend Gene Bertoncini – leads a series of trios at the Bar Next Door.
11/1, 2 PM ex-Fire in the Kitchen and current Ember Schrag band lead guitar monster Bob Bannister at Mayflower Bar
11/1, 3 PM a rare performance of Astor Piazzolla vocal music with pianist Pablo Zinger and a global cast of vocalists including Gizelzanath, Leonardo Granados (Venezuela) and Diana López (Honduras-USA) at the Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker St (Elizabeth/Mott), $30
11/1, 4 PM Michelle Kim, violin; Wendy Sutter, cello; Bill Wolfram, piano play the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia for violin and cello; Brahms Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 101; Dvorak Piano Trio in F minor, Op. 65 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud
11/1, 6 PM: clarinetist Ben Goldberg with guitar noisemeister and Wilco guy Nels Cline and Billy Mintz followed at 7 by the alto sax/violin duo of Patrick Brennan and Jason Hwang at Downtown Music Gallery, free
11/1, 8 PM a rare NYC appearance by pianist/songwriter Tris McCall – one of the few guys who deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as Eivis Cotello -at Sidewalk. Nobody writes about dead-end suburban angst better than this guy.
11/1, 9 PM catchy, eclectic ska-pop/latin/reggae sounds from the Brown Rice Family at Brooklyn Bowl, $7
11/1, 10:30 PM neon-riffing stoner garage tunes with Sun Voyager at the Mercury, $8
11/2, 7 PM eerily playful, charismatic Nashville gothic/folk noir songstress Kelley Swindall at the Mercury, $10
11/2, 7:30 PM a memorial concert for the late great Bob Belden featuring the surviving members of his groups the Treasure Island Band, Animation/Imagination and Animation, at le Poisson Rouge, free
11/2, 8 PM 11-piece string ensemble String Power play everything from Slayer to Earth Wind & Fire at Branded Saloon
11/2, 8:30 PM the Daedalus Quartet play an all-Czech program: Martinu: Fantasie for Theremin, Oboe, Piano and Strings; Ullmann: String Quartet No. 3; Elisa Cilkova: String Quartet No. 3, Kalabis: String Quartet No 5. Op. 63, “In Memory of Marc Chagall”; Jezek: Bugatti Step at the 92nd St. Y, $30
11/2, 9 PM Amigo the Devil play their murderous folk noir at the Acheron, $10
11/2, 9 PM careening soulpunk/psychedelic band Clear Plastic Masks followed by Wanda Jackson-influenced Americana badass Nikki Lane at Bowery Ballroom, $15 gen adm
11/2, 10 PM deulling cello improvisations with Serena Jost and Matthew Robinson – creepy and cool! – at LIC Bar
11/2, 10:30 PM sultry, torchy, creepy noir soul bandleader/chanteuse Karina Denike at Cake Shop, $10
11/3, 7 PM a killer triplebill at Bowery Electric: purist, golden-roiced Americana songwriter Rebecca Turner, Tracy Island – the catchy, smart, literate new wave/psychedelic rock project from Ian and Liza of the WonderWheels and the Larch – playing the album release show for their new one and well-loved Americana duo the Kennedys playing the album releaes show for theirs, $9
11/3, 7 PM badass stars of klezmer violin Jake Shulman-Ment, Deborah Strauss and Alicia Svigals: at the Eldrigdge St. Synagogue, on Eldridge just north of Division in Chinatown, $20/$14 stud/srs
11/3, 8/10 PM soul belter Sharon Clark, backed by the Chris Grasso Trio, delivers songs of heartbreak and revenge at Iridium, $30, yikes!
11/3-8. 8:30/10:30 PM a week of John Zorn ensembles – with and without the downtown sax icon – at the Vanguard. Choice pick: 11/7 at 8:30 a quartet with Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) Bill Laswell (bass) Milford Graves (drums)
11/3, 9 PM newgrass banjo innovator Tony Trischka and his group followed by ex-Dylan lead guitarist Larry Campbell with singer Teresa Williams at Brooklyn Bowl, $15
11/3, 10 PM current Mingus band stars led by trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and including David Kikoski…piano; Boris Kozlov…bass ;Donald Edwards…drums at 55 Bar
11/4, 7 PM a rare rare solo show by Cementhead’s fiery, jangly guitarist Gordon Smethurst followed eventually at around 10 by hilarious faux-French rockers les Sans Culottes – whose new album Les Dieux Ont Soif is both great fun and potently relevant – at Grand Victory, $9
11/4, 8 PM powerhouse klezmer clarinetist Michael Winograd leads his band at Mehanata, $10 + 1 drink min
11/4, 8 PM psychedelic klezmer/bluegrass mandolin and clarinet legend Andy Statman at Barbes, $10
11/4, adventurous indie classical string quartet Ethel play works by women composers Julia Wolfe, Missy Mazzoli, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Lainie Fefferman, Mary Ellen Childs, Anna Clyne, Pamela Z, Paola Prestini and ETHEL’s own Dorothy Lawson at National Sawdust
11/5, 7 PM the Olympus Piano Trio play Rachmaninoff’s immortal, haunting Trio Elegiaque plus works by Ravel, Hatis and Mendelssohn at Merkin Concert Hall, free but rsvp required
11/5, 7 PM pianist Jessica Osborne focusees on music by women composers TBA at Spectrum, $15
11/5, 7:30 PM he cleverly lyrical, darkly funny Nashville gothic rock of Maynard & the Musties at Counterevolution, 37 W 17th St (bet 5th & 6th), 2nd floor,
11/5, 7:30/9:30 PM sassy, torchy oldtimey swing/saloon blues pianist/chanteuse Davina & the Vagabonds at B.B. King’s, $15
11/5, 7:30 PM latin jazz drummer extraordinaire Bobby Sanabria directs the MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra playing the music of James Brown, the Brecker Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire at Borden Auditorium at Manhattan School of Music, free, get there early!
11/5, 7:30/9:30 PM alto saxophonist Caroline Davis leads a quartet with Julian Shore – piano; Tamir Shmerling – bass; Jay Sawyer – drums at the Jazz Gallery, $15
11/5, 8 PM the most eclectic and arguably strongest songwriter in town, darkly and sardonically but also plaintively intense accordionist/singer Rachelle Garniez followed at 10 by pianist Alejandro Zuleta and band, who reinvent cumbia classics with a jazz and classical tinge, at Barbes
11/5, 9ish fiery, tuneful soul-punk rockers No Ice (succesor to the Brooklyn What) at the Gateway, 1272 Broadway (Lexington/Greene) in Bushwick, J to Gates Ave
11/5, 9 PM purist oldtime Americana songwriter Nora Jane Struthers with Joe Overton followed by cowpunk/Wilcoesque Americana band Parsonfield (FKA Poor Old Shine) and then newschool oldtimey/circus rock band Elephant Revival at Bowery Ballroom, $15 adv tix rec
11/5, 9 PM awesomely catchy hip-hop brass crew the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at the Knitting Factory, $15 adv tix rec
11/6, 5:30 PM oldtime Memphis-style Americana jugband and stringband music with the Chitlin Cookers feat. “the tasty harmonica, the uke and bass singing of Trip Henderson, the wizard of the strings Ernie Vega on mandolin, guitar, and fiddle, Charlie Giordano on piano and accordion, and Peter Ford on the box bass” at the American Folk Art Museum
11/6, 7 PM Bora Kim, Karin Kuroda, Samantha Y. Shao and EXP’s sardonic, satirical multimedia piece I’m Making a Boy Band (IMMABB) about “reverse engineering a K-Pop band” with no Koreans in it, plus Christopher K. Ho‘s new performative lecture roams over instructional diagrams composed over the past year on “tiger” parenthood and life planning in an Asian/American context at CP Projects Space at SVA’s MA Curatorial Practice, 132 W 21st St, 10th Floor
11/6, 7 PM oldschool salsa dura night with Aguanile Na’ Ma at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, $20
11/6, 7:30 PM the Brooklyn Art Song Society with Miori Sugiyama on piano perform “Songs of the Great War” by Vaughan Williams, Browne, Finzi and Gurney at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $20/$10 stud/srs
11/6, 8 PM firebrand, brilliantly lyrical noir blues rockers LJ Murphy and his ferocious band the Accomplices followed by Mac McCarty & the Kidd Twist Band playing their hard-charging, sometimes unexpectedly poignant Pogues-ish punk and folk noir after at 9, at Sidewalk
11/6, 8 PM Pierre de Gaillande’s Bad Reputation plays witty chamber pop English translations of Georges Brassens classics followed at 10 by followed by the most monstrously creepy noir twang instrumental band on the planet, Big Lazy at Barbes
11/6, 8 PM the inimitable, hilarious Mostly Other People Do the Killing play their LMFAO satire of 20s hot jazz – just one of the styles they pillory – at Bargemusic, $20. This sedate watercraft has never seen this kind of madness!
11/6, 8 PM the Nat Osborn Band – whose wry, cleverly lyrical New Orleans sounds come across somewhere in between Dr. John and Brother Joscephus – at the Knitting Factory, $10 adv tix rec
11/6, 8 PM Nashville gothic/ghoulabilly act the Bones of J.R. Jones at the Mercury, $10 adv tix rec
11/6, 8 PM newschool psych-pop/chamber pop bandleader Sam Kogon at at Baby’s All Right, $10
11/6, 8 PM Ensemble Mise-En plays new chamber works by New England composers: Keith Kirchoff, Beth Wiemann, Hiroya Miura and William Matthews at Mise-En Place in Bushwick (678 Hart St 1B), $20/$15 stud/srs includes a drink, L to Dekalb Ave
11/6, 8:30 PM two sax quartets on one bill? Yeah. Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet – Jenny Hill, Charley Gerard, Lívio Almeida, and Dimitri Moderbacher – playing Harry Smith works!, Plus New Thread Saxophone Quartet: Geoffrey Landman, Kristen McKeon, Erin Rogers, and Zach Herchen at I-Beam, $15
11/6, 8 PM moody Austin Americana/border rock chanteuse Gina Chavez and edgy Romany/latin/ska rockers Karikatura at at Bowery Electric, $10
11/6, 9 PM a stunningly eclectic night of guitar jazz: Nick Russo + 11 doing the 9th year reunion of the guitarists’s ambitious large ensemble debut album, followed at 10 by the wild female-fronted Hott Jazz Jumpers doing their album/dvd release show at Pete’s
11/6, 10 PM Franz Nicolay of World Inferno and a million other good carnivalesque bands, leading his own group at Grand Victory, $10
11/6, 10 PM a rare free show by the cutting-edge large jazz ensemble the Eco-Music Big Band, led by Marie Incontrera and featuring trumpeter John Korsrud at National Sawdust
11/6, 10 PM Antibalas spinoff Amayo’s Fu-Arkist-Ra play their original Afrobeat dance grooves at Meridian 23, $10
11/6, 10 PM bluegrass fiddle star Melody Allegra leads her band at at Hill Coutnry. They’re at Hill Country Brooklyn the next night 11/7 at 8 for free
11/6, 10:30 PM cutting-edge B3 organ and trombone soul/jazz grooves with the Jared Gold and Dave Gibson Band at the Fat Cat. Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens open the night at 9.
11/6, 11 PM stunningly eclectic female-fronted reggae/ska/janglerock/chamberpop band Bern & the Brights play the album release show for their new one at Maxwell’s, $10
11/6, 1:30 AM (morning of 11/7), cynical, chromatically searing cult favorite ex-Dominican metalcore band La Armada at the Acheron, $10
11/6, midnight unselfconsciously fun, chirpy 60s girlgroup revivalists Pep at Matchless
11/7, 3 PM a benefit for Somos Los Otros NY with Material Support (female-fronted political punk from Queens), intense hardcore crew Dominio Propio and Burden to the Grave (Brooklyn metal) Plus the screening of Xavier Robles’ documentary “Ayotzinapa: Chronicle of a State Crime” about the 2015 Iguala, Mexico massacre and disappearance of college students, at ABC No Rio
11/7, 4 PM Songs for Unusual Creatures – whose charming, psychedelic tributes to weirdness in the animal kingdom are suitable for adults as well as children – followed at 8 by boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with the Jack Grace Band at and then at 10 by Sinaloa-style mariachi/ranchera brass group Banda de los Muertos at Barbes
11/7, 7:15 PM edgy, wildly eclectic Middle Eastern/Sephardic/Ladino band Baladino at Drom, $15 adv tix rec. Followed at 9:30 PM (separate $10 adv tix adm) by Armenian-born chanteuse/percussionist Tatev leading her plaintive, soaring Middle Eastern jazz band. The astonishing, hard-hitting, psychedelic electric saz band Baba Zula play at midnight for $25 in advance if you’re feeling trippy and adrenalized.
11/7, 7;30 PM the Oliver Lake Organ Quartet at Bethany Baptist Church, 275 W Market St in Newark, free
11/7, 9 PM Unsteady Freddie‘s monthly four-band surf rock show at Otto’s begins at 9 with the Aquatudes, kick-ass original third-wavers Tsunami of Sound and 9th Wave – who are surpassed only by Dick Dale among currently active original surf bands at Otto’s
11/7, 9 PM dynamic female-fronted Boston newgrass trio Honeysuckle open for ten-piece country/carnivalesque/acoustic rock powerhouse M Shanghai String Band – whose latest album is amazing – at the Jalopy, $10
11/7, 9 PM eclectic rising star jazz chanteuse Tammy Scheffer leads her sextet at BAM Cafe, free
11/7, 9 PM Magico Trio +2 – Vincent Chancey: french horn; Angelica Sanchez: piano; Joe Fonda: bass; Lou Grassi: drums. Omar Tamez: guitar & small instrumentsat the Firehouse Space, $10
11/7, 9 PM kick-ass psychedelic soul/blues/jamband Wild Adriatic followed by charismatic, psychedelic funkmeistress Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds at Bowery Ballroom, $15 adv tix rec
11/7 9 PM sardonic, theatrical bandleader Dan Kilian & the Millon Man Band followed eventually at 11 by Americana jamband American String Conspiracy at Freddy’s
11/7, 9ish ferociously funny, intense, guitar-fueled Americana punks Spanking Charlene at Beast of Bourbon
11/7, 9ish playful, fun, eclectic oldtimey accordion/violin Americana/Romany/musette band the Wisterians at Moto in South Williamsburg
11/7, 9:30ish intense charismatic danceable metal cumbia/skaragga/latin rockers Escarioka at Mehanata
11/7, 9:30 PM Paul Collins – the ageless “king of powerpop,” who slayed earlier this month on a twinbill with Karla Rose & the Thorns – at Cake Shop, $10
11/7, Operator – who put a quirky motorik spin on trebly bass-fueled 80s inspired postpunk and postrock – at Secret Project Robot
11/8, half past noon vocal-and-guitar duoYael & Gabriel lead their combo playing Piaf classics at Highline Ballroom, $22 adv tix rec
11/8, 2 PM exhilarating female-fronted heavy psychedelic Argentine-American rock band Desert Flower – with punk, blues, noiserock and 70s metal influences- at Paperbox, free. They’re at Sidewalk on 11/14 at midnight.
11/8, 2 PM an extremely rare gig by Balkan gothic accordion monster Alec K Redfearn at Mayflower Bar
11/8, 3 PM the Washington Square Winds play works inspired by the Fauré Pavane, Op. 50, by Alex Weiser, Brian Erickson, and Stephanie Ann Boyd. at Spectrum, $!5
11/8, 4 PM Cappella Pratensis perform medieval choral works by Josquin at at Corpus Christi Church, 529 W 121st St, $10 seats avail.
11/8, 4 PM intense neoromatic/nuevo tango/noir soundtrack pianist Fernando Otero leads a quartet at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.
11/8, 5 PM Now Ensemble – famous for their performance of Missy Mazzoli works – play an indie classical program TBA at National Sawdust, free
11/8, 5:45 PM ntense, lyrically brilliant, quirky female-fronted two-keyboard 80s-style art-rock/new wave revivalists Changing Modes followed eventually at 9:45 by the irresistibly named, darkly sizzling psychedelic garage punk rockers Anderson Council at Matchless, $10
11/8, 6 PM noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo leads his trio at 55 Bar
11/8, 6 PM surfed-out tv themes and similarly cinematic sounds from Commercial Interruption followed eventually at 9 by the noir-inclined, bluesy Phil Gammage Quintet at Otto’s
11/8, 7 PM composer/clarinetist Mike McGinnis’ lush, gorgeously panoramic pastoral jazz nonet followed at 9 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes
11/8, 8 PM a seriously evil improv jazz triplebill: Ava Mendoza / Daniel Carter / Kim Cass / Andrew Barker followed by a rare solo show by iconic avant violist Jessica Pavone and then James Ilgenfritz / Jeremiah Cymerman / Larry Kwartowitz at Jack, $12
11/8, 8:30 PM psychedelic funk band the People’s Champs – who’re going in more of an Afrobeat direction lately – bouncy Afrobeat orchestra Emefe and others play a Stevie Wonder cover night at Manhttan Inn, free
11/9, 8 PM lively Celtic folk act Tam Lin and intense, lyrically brilliant Americana/soul/janglerock tunesmith Matt Keating in the back room at Hifi Bar, free
11/9, 9:30 PM Yotoco, “the bastard child of Umoja Orchestra, Bioritmo, and Cumbiagra plays a melange of salsa, Afro-Cuban rumba, boleros, and cumbia” at Barbes
11/9. 9:30 PM edgy, distinctive jazz pianist Glenn Zaleski in a rare duo sho with bassist Desmond White at Mezzrow, $20/$10 stud.
11/9, 10:30 PM southern gothic chamber pop band Balthrop Alabama at the big room at the Rockwood
11/9, 11 PM The Oh Hellos – who put an elegant chamber pop spin on folk noir – at Bowery Ballroom are sold out. Good for them.
11/10, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble with soprano Alize Rozsnyai play Schoenberg’s immortally creepy Pierrot Lunaire at the Miller Theatre
11/10, 6:30 PM up-and-coming guitarist/songwriter Alicyn Yaffee -the rare artist who successfully bridges the gap between lyrically-fueled chamber pop and jazz – at the Bar Next Door, free.with Ben Tiberio on bass and Jason Archie on drums
11/10, 7 PM iconic New York downtown noir ensemble the Jazz Passengers followed at 9 by ten-piece Balkan/Duke Ellington brass band Slavic Soul Party at Barbes.
11/10, 7 PM tuneful, edgy Texas tenor saxophonist Stan Killian and his quartet at 55 Bar
11/10, 7:30 PM a rare trio show by luminous, soulful pan-Latin jazz chanteuse Claudia Acuña with Pablo Vergara on piano and John Benitez on bass at Mezzrow, $20/$10 stud.
11/10, 8ish haunting, intense, wickedly tuneful Nashville gothic songwriter Jessie Kilguss and her band at Hifi Bar
11/10-15, 8:30/10:30 PM progressive jazz alto sax icon Steve Coleman leads a series of ensembles (including his Five Elements) at the Vanguard
11/10, 9 PM Vitor Goncalves plays a rare solo piano and accordion set followed by a similarly rare accordion/a-cappella set by spine-tingling, charismatic Romany singer Eva Salina at Bar Lunatico
11/10, 9 PM Gisela Tangui & the Voodoo Cabaret play their darkly percussive hypnotic voodoo salsa and latin jazz grooves at Shrine
11/10, 9 PM the first-ever good twinbill in the history of the Bitter End with powerpop icon (and brilliant lead guitarist) Patti Rothberg and then searingly intense, charismatic, fearless acoustic punk blues siren Molly Ruth at 10, $10
11/10, 9:30 PM the Bronx Conexion play their mighty salsa big band jazz at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, $10
11/11-12 this era’s state-of-the-art retro soul band, Lake Street Dive at the big room at the Rockwood are sold out. Figures!
11/11, 1 PM wildly popular early music choir Seraphic Fire sing Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Dixit Dominus; Jean-Joseph de Mondonville: Dominus Regnavit; George Frideric Handel: Dixit Dominus at Trinity Church
11/11, 6:15/8:30 PM the Modern Art Orchestra with special guest saxophonist Dave Liebman play a progarm including a new arrangement of Bartok’s Allegro Barbaro at Symphony Space, $16 adv tix rec
11/11, 6:30 PM tuneful, purposeful up-and-coming jazz guitarist Dave Juarez with Julian Smith on bass and Zack O’Farrill on drums at the Bar Next Door
11/11, 7 PM well-liked all-female Americana/newgrass harmony trio Underhill Rose at the third stage at the Rockwoodk, $12 gen adm + $10 drin min. They they jump in a cab and run from the Rockood to Hill Country for a free 9 PM show there.
11/11, 7 PM Czech-born chanteuse Lenka Lichtenberg & Fray play their kinetic yet swirling mashup of Middle Eastern, Balkan and Celtic sounds at Drom, $15 adv tix rec
11/11, 7 PM droll, amazingly eclectic jazz/ragtime/stoner folk quartet the Four Bags at Barbes
11/11, 8 PM a decent triplebill where the headliner should really be the opener: fiery female-fronted psychedelic/garage/honkytonk hellraisers Those Darlins, the Oh Hellos – who put an elegant chamber pop spin on folk noir and then fire-and-brimstone Americana dude Shakey Graves at Terminal 5, $27.50 adv tix rec
11/11, 8 PM whirlwind clarinetist Dimitri Zisl Slepovitch of Litvakus leads an allstar cast playing a Yiddish folk dance party at Mehanata, $10 + 1 drink min
11/11, 8 PM Ensemble Variances with composer-performers Lisa Bielawa and Thierry Pecou play new chamber and vocal works at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud
11/11, 9 PM postrock improvisers Voice Coils followed eventually at 11 by intense acoustic art-rock/folk noir songwriter/chanteuse/force of nature Larkin Grimm at Palisades
11/11, 9 PM irreverent oldschool Williamsburg vocal jazz crew the Old Rugged Sauce at Freddy’s
11/11, 9 PM catchy, pensive newschool new wave with Royal Canoe at Bowery Ballroom, $15 gen adm
11/11, 9 PM global flapper hits and 30s Depression grooves from accordionist Erica Mancini at Moto in South Williamsburg
11/11, 9sh deviously fun oldtimey swing guitarist/crooner Seth Kessel & the Two Cent Band at at Radegast Hall
11/11, 10:30 PM psychedelia female-fronted Indian foli-rock/trip-hop/downtempo grooves with Tongues in Trees at the Mercury, $10 adv tix rec
11/12, 7 PM fiery, haunting, individualistic original soul/blues siren Lizzie Edwards’ band Lizzie & the Makers at the Shop in Bushwick
11/12, 7 PM the orchestra and piano version of Grieg’s Holberg Variations, Op. 40 – Part performed by 1B1 and pianist Christian Ihle Hadland at National Sawdust, $30
11/12, 8 PM oldschool C&W cult favorites Session Americana followed at 10 by the plush, balmy, oldtimey uke swing of Daria Grace & the Pre-War Ponies at Barbes
11/12, 8 PM sound artist Matthew Goodheart plays his atmospheric electroacoustic works at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $10, reception to follow
11/12, 9 PM brooding, velvet-voiced noir/southwestern gothic bandleader Raquel Vidal & the Monday Men at Shrine
11/12, 9 PM fuzztone garage rock monsters the Mystery Lights followed eventually at around 11 by the similar King Khan & BBQ Show at the Knitting Factory, $15 adv tix rec. King Khan is back here on the 14 th at around 11, same price
11/12, 9 PM Laura Cantrell – charismatic, hilarious bandleader and this era’s greatest Americana singer – at Berlin, $15
11/12, 10 PM Alfonso Velez – the rare Cure-influenced dark rocker who doesn’t suck – at the small room at the Rockwood
11/12, 10 PM hypnotically growling J&MC-influenced Alabama postpunk/postrock/dark shoegaze band GT at Rock Shop, $10
11/13, 6 PM tabla artist Suphala with the great Zafer Tawil on oud and violin playing Moroccan court music in Gallery 456 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm /
11/13, 7 PM pianist Matteo Arevalos plays a program of modern Italian composers TBA at Spectrum, $15
11/13, 8 PM the New York Classical Players perform Piazzolla’s Four Seasons in Buenos Aires plus Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro’s Marimba concerto, performed by Tomoya Aomori at Flushing Town Hall, free w/rsvp
11/13, 8 PM sultry retro 1930s/40s Franco-American swing band les Chauds Lapins followed at 10 by Diego Obregón leading his Afro-Colombian marimba band at Barbes
11/13, 8 PM a solid ska-punk lineup, in reverse order, at the Knitting Factory: Mustard Plug, Survay Says!, hilarious 80s cover skankers Rude Boy George, Sunnyside Social Club, $13 adv tix rec
11/13, 8 PM pianist/indie classical composer Michael Rose (not the reggae guy) plays his own Rilke Songbook suite as well as Janacek’s Diary of One Who Disappeared at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, $20/$10 stud
11/13, 9 PM bewitchingly fun. darkly catchy, eclectic cello/vocal duo the Whiskey Girls followed by psychedelic pop chanteuse/bandleader Miwa Gemini at Branded Saloon
11/13, 9 PM creepy gutter blues/garage-psych band Dark Carpet at Fifth Estate in the South Slope
11/13, 9 PM trippy keyboard-driven funk and downtempo grooves with Jesse Fischer & Soul Cycle at Fontana’s, $10
11/13, 9 PM edgy, kinetic Balkan brass unit West Philadelphia Orchestra and NYC’s most epic, intense, battle-ready original Balkan brass ensemble, Raya Brass Band playing the album release show for their new one at Littlefield, $15
11/13, 10 PM sitarist/ multi-instrumentalist Dawoud (formerly of Renegade Sufi) leads his new trippy electroacoustic raga group God’s Unruly Friends at BAM Cafe, free
11/13, 11 PM socially aware, oldtimey-flavored Americana band 2/3 Goat at Hill Country, free
11/13, midnight haphazardly edgy, Middle Eastern-tinged guitarist Yonatan Gat and band at Palisades1/24 he’s at the Knitting Factory at 9 for $10
11/14, noon smart, deviously eclectic pianist Lee Feldman’s Night Owls: with Ben Gallina (bass) + David Berger (drums) play their sophisticated, witty take on classic tv themes and more at Pangea, $10 or $25 for family of 4
11/14, 4 PM a marathon six-hour concert of eclectic Colombian sounds featuring (probably in reverse order) Gregorio Uribe Big Band, Cumbia Universal, Bulla en el Barrio, Pablo Mayor/Foklore Urbano’s “El Barrio Project”, Los Aliens, Alejandro Florez and the Tin Throat Project, Cumbia River Band, Sebastian Cruz Cheap Landscape, Veronica Tierra, Olga Dominguez Sextet and more at the Poisson Rouge, $25
11/14, 4 PM the Erik Satie Quartet featuring trumpet (Ben Holmes), bass trombone (Max Seigel) and baritone saxophone (Alex Hamlin), and related French Poetry (read by Barbes chef de boîte Olivier Conan at Barbes, where else, right?
11/14, 5 PM haunting, atmospheric, erudite, calmly shattering folk noir songwriter Liz Tormes at Pete’s
11/14, 7:15 PM dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues
11/14, 8 PM ageless reggae-rock-groove band Faith followed at 9 by Western Estates and then at 10 by percussive postrock pioneers the Wharton Tiers Ensemble at Matchless, $8
11/14, 8 PM Jordanian art-rock/flamenco/Middle Eastern singer-guitarist Farah Siraj at Roulette, $25/$21 stud/srs
11/14, 8 PM innovative four-man choral group NY Polyphony sing elegiac sacred works from across the centuries by Andrew Smith, Francisco de Peñalos, Cyrillus Kreek and Loyset Compère at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 W 46t h St., $30 seats avail.
11/14, 9:30ish intense Romany brass band Black Masala at Mehanata
11/14, 10 PM whirlwind electric punkgrass/honkytonk crew Demolition String Band,at Skinny Dennis
11/14, 10 PM Rebellum – Burnt Sugar Arkestra’s “Avant Splinter Cell” keeping the large ensemble jamband thing alive at BAM Cafe, free
11/15, 11 AM (in the morning) Iranian chanteuse/multi-instrumentalist Hani Niroo and her five-piece ensemble play “an interactive musical journey to explore Persian language and culture” for families and children of all ages and languages. Introduce your kids to this stuff now and they’ll thank you for life. At Merkin Concert Hall, $28
11/15, half past noon edgy jazz chanteuse Ramona Renea and her combo play a thematic, politically relevant Nina Simone tribute show at Highline Ballroom, $22 adv tix rec
11/15, 4 PM pianist Sofya Mellikyan plays works by Armenian composers Aram Khachaturian, Komitas Vardapet, Eduard Sadoyan , Alexander Arutunian, Jirayr Shahrimanyan and Arno Babadjanian to commenorate the 100th anniverary of the genocide in Armenia at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under sixes
11/15, 5 PM Andrii Didorenko and Yuliya Basis play violin and piano sonatas by Vivaldi, Schubert, Milhaud, and Didorenko at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 128 Pinehurst Ave at 183rd St., $12 sugg don, reception to follow.
11/15, 6 PM a free screening of a cult favorite 1965 British documentary on natural disasters, “Compiled of film gathered from all over the world, including unique footage of an Alaskan earthquake taken by a sailor who was filming people on a jetty only a few seconds before the disaster occurred. The camera ran on during the first onslaught of the earthquake.” …To be accompanied by archive shorts, cartoons, and other ephemera from the California-based 3TON archive” at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth.
11/15, 8 PM a rare US apprearance by Hungarian pianist Gábor Csalog playing music by Liszt, Ligeti, Beethoven and Bartok at Symphony Space, freew/rsvp
11/15, 8 PM Red Gretchen – best known for their anguished Replacements/Niirvana anthems, although they’re even better at slowly undulating, doomy psychedelic/art-rock grooves -at Otto’s
11/15, 8 PM noisy jazz improv bookending a droll vocal/trumpet duo: Zevious (guitarist Mike Eber, drummer Jeff Eber and bassist Johnny DeBlase) followed by the Twins of El Dorado (Joe Moffett: trumpet, Kristin Slipp: voice) at Jack, $12
11/15, 9 PM the Super Friends Band play surf and soul classics at Shrine
11/16, 6 PM the Osso String Quartet – who shift between art-rock and indie classical – followed at 9 byfollowed at 9 by jazz legend and twin-reedman George Braith leading his group at the Fat Cat
11/16, 7 PM virtuoso cinematic psychedelic/western swing steel guitar player Raphael McGregor leads his eclectic band at Barbes
11/16, 7:30 PM the NY Philharmonic‘s Contact new-music chamber series presents performances of recent works: Adam Schoenberg’s Fleeting (2008), Nathan Heidelberger’s Halve Time (quartet after Zeno) (2012), Caroline Mallonée’s Unless Acted Upon: Manifestations of Newton’s First Law (2011), and Kate Sope at National Sawdust, $25
11/16, 8 PM creepy noir chamber pop/murder ballad duo Charming Disaster and a bunch of murderously inclined songwriters play the monthly murder ballad night at Branded Saloon. You should come out if you’re in the hood – gonna be fun!
11/16, 8 PM the self-explanatory. reliably rousing, Djangoesque Alex Simon Gypsy Swing Ensemble at Radegast Hall
11/16, 8:30 PM soaring, rapturous jazz chanteuse Whitney James with Ethan Mann on Guitar and Gregg August on bass at the Bar Next Door
11/16, 9 PM smart, intense, original blue-eyed soul/Americana songwriter Jo Williamson at LIC Bar
11/17, 6 PM powerhouse, eclectic, up-and-coming tenor saxophonist Carl Bartlett Jr. leads a trio at the Garage, free
11/17, 6:30 PM the Carducci String Quartet play Shostakovich Stirng Quartets Nos. 8 and 9 – the real, real, haunting ones – at le Poisson Rouge, $10
11/17, 7 PM NYC’s most haunting, inscrutable, lyrically brilliant noir band Karla Rose & the Thorns at the Mercury, $10
11/17, 7 PM luminous, intense, enigmatic art-rock chanteuse/cellist/multi-instrumentalist Serena Jost followed at 9 by ten-piece funky Balkan brass/Ellington jazz monsters Slavic Soul Party at Barbes
11/17, 7 PM a wind/string subset of International Contemporary Ensemble play electroacoustic works by Pierre Boulez and George Lewis, plus a world premiere by Olga Neuwirth at National Sawdust, $25. They’re also here on 11/19 at 9:30 PM and 11/21 at 10.
11/17 7:30 PM a rare intimate duo show with haunting, intense flamenco jazz pianist Chano Dominguez with Alexis Cuadrado on bass at Mezzrow, $20/$10 stud.
11/17, 7:30 PM dusky Midwestern gothic acoustic songstress Julie Byrne followed by an ambient/indie classical twinbill: Port St. Willow playing Syncope and Bing & Ruth playng City Lake at le Poisson Rouge, $12 adv tix rec
11/17, 8 PM irrepressible, historically informed, folk noir/jangly rock songwriter Elisa Flynn leads an evening of “songs of antagonism and rivalry” with Lys Guillorn, Maharajah Sweets, Dan Cullinan, Wifey, Sarah Bisman, Neville Elder, John LaPolla, plus a eading by Kevin Kinsella at the Way Station
11/17-22, 8/10 PM one of the most tersely interesting and melodically gifted performers in the avant garde, harpist Zeena Parkins leads a variety of ensembles at the Stone. Choice pick: the 8 PM show on 11/18 , a trio with drummer Jim Black and guitar monster Nels Cline. This one may call for an amp on the harp!
11/17, 8:30 PM amazingly prolific, tuneful third-stream jazz pianist Satoko Fujii leads her surprisingly improvisaitonal Tobira with Natsuki Tamura a.k.a. ‘Kappa Maki “– trumpet;; Todd Nicholson – bass; Yoshi Shutto – drums at I-Bem, 15
11/17, 8:30 PM Washington State’s awesome oldschool Caleb Klauder Country Band at the Jalopy, $10
11/17, 9ish dark, charismatic, mischieviously witty literate keyboardist/chanteuse Rachelle Garniez plays the album release show for her new one at Dixon Place
11/17, 9ish darkly torchy oldtimey swing bandleader/chanteuse Heather Holloway & the Heebie Jeebies at Radegast Hall
11/17, 10:30 PM sprawling gospel-rock orchestra Jesus on the Mainline – featuring spectacular frontwoman Mel Flannery – at Rough Trade, $10 adv tix rec
11/18-22, 7:30 PM this era’s most cutting-edge, politically relevant large jazz ensemble, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society premieres their latest, hauntingly relevant conspiracy theory-themed album Real Enemies at BAM’s Harvey Theatre, $25 tix avail
11/18, 8 PM Klezmerfest! w/saxophonist/”jazz rabbi” and tenor saxophonist Greg Wall, Jordan Hirsch, Zev Zions, Brian Glassman, Aaron Alexander at Mehanata, $10 + 1 drink min
11/18, 8 PM XTC cover night with bands/artists TBA, should be good, at Hifi Bar. Dear god, still making plans for Nigel?
11/18, 9 PM state-of-the-art, shapeshifting jazz violinist Zach Brock at the small room at the Rockwood
11/18, 9 PM trumpeter Gordon Au’s lively, oldtimey swing unit the Grand Street Stompers at Radegast Hall
11/19, 7 PM gloomy 80s minimalist art-rockers the Ocean Blue play their debut and Cerulean albums at the Mercury, $20
11/19-22, 7:30/9:30 PM one of this era’s most consistently interesting, shapeshifting trumpeters, Dave Douglas leads his awesome quintet with Jon Irabagon – saxophones; Matt Mitchell – piano; Linda Oh – bass; Rudy Royston – drums at the Jazz Standard, $30
11/19, 7:30 PM the NY Philharmonic play an all-Rachmaninoff program with the rarely heard, faux-Tschaikovsky Symphony No. 1 and the 4th Piano Concerto at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail. The prpgram repeats on 11/20 at 2 (two0 PM and then on 11/21 at 8.
11/19, 7:30 PM fiery fiddler Alicia Svigals‘ Klezmer Express at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes
11/19, 7:30/9:30 PM luminous, soulful pan-Latin jazz chanteuse Claudia Acuña with a killer quintet with Samora Pinderhughes – piano; Juancho Herrera – guitar; John Benitez – bass; Yayo Serka – drums at the Jazz Gallery, $15. 11/24 they’re at Seeds at 9.
11/19, 8 PM a rare reunion show with one of the zeros’ most exhilarating Romany/klezmer string bands, Romashka at the Jewish Museum, $13 adv tix rec, admission is for both museum galleries and concert
11/19, 8 PM brilliant, fiery, intense Balkan/bluegrass fiddler Sarah Alden & the Red Hot Rubies at Barbes
11/19, 8 PM devious oldschool C&W/rockabilly parodists Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Otto’s. 11/21 they’re at East Village Social, 126 St. Marks Place (between First Avenue and Avenue A) with sets at 1:30 and 3 PM
11/19, 8 PM Ensemble Mise-En plays exciting new works by Danish composers Per Nørgård, Hans Abrahamsen, Bent Sørensen, Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen, and Simon Steen-Andersen, at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave, $15
11/19, 8 PM intense indie classical viola/piano duo Maria Strojniak & Myla Kato-DuVally at the Firehouse Space, $10
11/19, 9 PM a subset of mighty all-female Brazilian drum troupe BatalaNYC, featuring the amazing Viva DeConcini on pyrotechnic lead guitar and Jen Nascimento on vocals at Meridian 23, email for $10 list
11/19, 9 PM hot 20s swing with trumpeter Jason Prover and his Sneak Thievery Orchestra at Radegast Hall
11/19, 9:30 PM first-class oldtimey acoustic blues guitarist/singer Elizabeth Wise at Caffe Vivaldi
11/20, 5:30 PM tuneful Americana/blues guitarist Jon LaDeau followed by popular folk songwriter Terry Radigan, and edgliy Santa Cruz folk-blues songwriter Laura Meyer at the American Folk Art Museum
11/20, 6 PM toy piano pioneer Margaret Leng Tan in Gallery 217 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm
11/20, 8 PM Ymusic play Robert Sirota’s high-voltage new chamber work, Epimetheus plus world premieres by Paul Wiancko and Nate Thatcher at New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St, $25/$20 stud/srs
11/20, 7 PM Naoko Shimizu, viola with Anna Stoytcheva, piano play works by Schumann, Schubert and Franck at the Bulgarian Consulate, 121 E 62nd St., free
11/20, 7:30/9:30 PM up-and-coming trumpet sensation Adam O’Farrill leads a quartet with Chad Lefkowitz-Brown – saxophone; Walter Stinson – bass; Zack O’Farrill – drums at the Jazz Gallery, $22
11/20, 7:30 PM works by David T. Little, Donnacha Dennehy, Jacob ter Veldhuis, and Steven Mackey. Trio Chimera was formed in 2015 by violinist Courtney Orlando, cellist Brian Snow, and pianist James Johnston at National Sawdust, $25
11/20, 8 PM surf/twang instrumental rockers the Bakersfield Breakers – whose new album is a dead ringer for something from 1963, unbelievably cool and fun – at Singlecut Beersmiths, 19-33 37th St (19/20 Aves) in Astoria, free, N/Q to Ditmars Blvd (last stop)
11/20, 8 PM ferociously funny, intense, guitar-fueled Americana punks Spanking Charlene at Bowery Electric
11/20, 8 PM popular garage-psych/janglerock/powerpop band the Grip Weeds at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center (the BMCC auditorium on Chambers east of the highway), $15
11/20, 8 PM Morrocan trance band Innov Gnawa followed at 10 by followed by horn-driven Colombian party band Chia’s Dance Party at Barbes
11/20, 8 PM pianist Lara Downes plays a lovestruck/heartbroken program including Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet before Parting, Op. 75, No. 10, Schumann’s Fantasiestücke Op. 12 and works by Vladimir Drozdoff, Debussy and Billie Holiday at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud
11/20, 8 PM indie classical chamber supergroup Ymusic play Robert Sirota’s high-voltage new chamber work, Epimetheus plus world premieres by Paul Wiancko and Nate Thatcher at New York Live Arts, 219 W 19th St, $25/$20 stud/srs
11/20, 8 PM the Jack Quartet with Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic play the world premiere of Geoffrey Gordon’s Clarinet Quintet.plus works by Earl Brown and John Luther Adams at Roulette, $20/$15 stud/srs
11/20, 8 PM hard-hitting funk/Afrobeat band Shelley Nicole’s Blakbushe at e at C’Mon Everybody $10
11/20, 9 PM the ageless king of the edgy downtown NYC rock anthem, Willlie Nile at Higihline Ballroom, $25 adv tic req
11/20, 9 PM smart, politically-fueled Irish rocker Niall Connolly and band at the big room at the Rockwood. 11/22 at 7 he’s at LIC Bar
11/20, 9:30 PM a rare duo show with bassist Buster Williams and lyrical pianist Renee Rosnes at Mezzrow, $20 bar seats avail.
11/20, 10 PM diverse, often haunting original Americana/acoustic funk/art-rock jamband the Sometime Boys at Freddy’s
11/20, 10 PM macabre garage/psychedelic band the Amphibious Man followed by ghoulpunks Danse de Sade at Fifth Estate
11/20, 10 PM roots reggae group Royal Khaoz at Silvana
11/20, 10:30 PM the Midwestern Willie Nile: dramatic, Celtic-tinged anthemic four-on-the-floor rockers the Ike Reillly Assassination at the Mercury, $15
11/21, 1 PM Falu – widely considered the foremost interpeter of Hindustani classical vocalas in the US – leads a quartet celebrating Diwali, plus Indian food and wares at Flushing Town Hall, $20/$15 stud/srs
11/21, 3 PM eerily playful, charismatic Nashville gothic/folk noir songstress Kelley Swindall at Caffe Vivaldi
11/21, 7 PM Binky Griptite of the Dap-Kings playing blues, followed by Fred Thomas (ex-James Brown’s Jbs) and then the Lyres, still running if maybe on alcohol fumes, at Grand Victory, $15
11/21, 7:30/9:30 PM Dave Liebman leads his Expansions Group on soprano sax, with Chad Lefkowitz-Brown – saxophone; Walter Stinson – bass; Zack O’Farrill – drums at the Jazz Gallery, $22
11/21, 8 PM the irrepressible Ellia Bisker’s explosive Balkan/New Orleans flavored Funkrust Brass Band at Red Lantern Bicycles, 345 Myrtle Ave (Carlton/Adelphi), Bed-Stuy, a hike from the DeKalb B/D, $5 don to cranksgiving.org
11/21, 8 PM badass resonator guitarist and delta blues/oldtime hillbilly music maven Mamie Minch, followed at by guitar sideman to the legends, Smokey Hormel‘s Secret Family at Barbes
11/21, 8 PM lushly hypnotic Indonesian bell orchestra Gamelan Kusuma Laras at Roulette, $25/$21 stud/srs
11/21, 8 PM the Karl Berger Improvising Orchestra – who are pretty much unsurpassed at creating dark, surrealistically swinging big band jazz by the seat of their collective pants – at at the Firehouse Space, $10
11/21, 9 PM NYC ferocoiusly assaultive horror surf legends the Coffin Daggers, garage-psych band the Cosmic Light Shapes, the similar Britemores and hilarious faux-French rockers les Sans Culottes – whose new album Les Dieux Ont Soif is both great fun and potently relevant – at Hank’s, note $7 cover
11/21, 9ish slyly humorous urban country bandleader Alex Battles & Whisky Rebellion at Freddy’s
11/21, 9ish sly, devious female-fronted horror punk/surf/darkwave band the Long Losts at the Cobra Club in Bushwick
11/21, 10 PM awesome low-register original vintage-style Cuban psycho mambo band Gato Loco at BAM Cafe, free
11/21, 10 PM Arki play classic, haunting, otherworldly Ethiopiques funk grooves at Silvana
11/22, 2 PM Courtney & Western frontwoman and NYC alt-country poineer Courtney Lee Adams, Jr at Mayflower Bar, 132 Greene Ave. in Ft. Greene
11/22, 2 PM a historically-rich multimedia program with two international tsimbl (Balkan/Ukrainian Jewish hammered dulcimer) players, Pete Rushefsky and Walter Zev Feldman plus special guests performing rare Polish klezmer music from across the centuries at the the Center for Jewish History, 15 W 16th St, $10/$7 stud/srs
11/22, 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra play Verdi: Forza del Destino Overture; Mahler: Songs of the Wayfarer; Strauss: Death and Transfiguration at Washington Irving HS Auditorium, 16th St./Irving Place, $15 sugg don., reception to follow
11/22, 4 PM Lindsay Garritson, piano, Igor Pikayzen, violin, and Mihai Marica cello play Beethoven Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1 No. 2; Debussy Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140; Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 at Bargemusic, $35/$30 srs/$15 stud
11/22, 7 PM smart, lyrically-fueled, female-fronted oldschool honkytonk band the Honeycutters at the big room at the Rockwood, $12
11/22, 7 PM Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Orchestra plays new works by Michael Attias, Dan Blake, Joseph Daley, Jessica Pavone at Roulette, $20/$15 stud/srs
11/22, 7:30 PM Balkansky feat. Bulgarian kaval legend Theodosii Spassov and special guest Bulgarian chanteuse Vlada Tomova play their bewitching electroacoustic hypno-folk at Drom, $20 adv tix rec
11/22, 7:30 PM Xenia Rubinos singing Nina Simone – WHOAH! – and joining others in a tribute to the soul legend at Manhattan Inn, free
11/22, 8 PM original Django-influenced Romany guitar swing band Ultrafaux at Silvana
11/22, 8 PM 70s stoner stoul and blaxploitation soundtrack legend Roy Ayers at the Blue Note, $20 standing room avail.
11/22, 8 PM indie classical ensemble Cantata Profana perform a French-themed program including Poulenc’s raucous and irreverant Le Bal Masqué to the tristesse of Louis-Nicolas Clerambault’s savagely dramatic solo cantata Médée, at Dixon Place, $20/$12 stud
11/22, 8 PM monster drummer Weasel Walter leads his bludgeoningly improvisational Large Ensemble through two sets at Jack, $12
11/22, 9 PM 60s/70s powerpop/proto-punk legends the Flamin’ Groovies’ first-ever Williamsburg show at Baby’s All Right, $20
11/22, 10 PM longtime Jamaican roots reggae crooner/opening act Mark Dillon leads his roots band at Shrine
11/23, 7 PM torchy intense southwestern gothic songwrite Julia Haltigan and her excellent band at the big room at the Rockwood
11/23, 7:30 PM art-rock/chamber-pop pianist/songwriter Dane Terry at Pangea
11/23, 8 PM creepy Lynchian reverb guitarist/chanteuse Catfox, harsh noisemakers Channel 63, performance artist Borts Minorts and menacing cellist/composer Valerie Kuehne‘s: Horror Vacui at Panoply Performance Lab in Bushwick, $10
11/23, 8 PM composer/conductor Adam Rudolph’s improvisational 11-piece Go Organic Guitar Orchestra with Nels Cline, David Gilmore, Miles Okazaki, Damon Banks, Marco Cappelli, Liberty Ellman, Joel Harrison, Jerome Harris, Brandon Ross, Kenny Wessel play the album release show for their new one at Roulette, $20/$15
11/23, 9 PM rockabilly/honkytonk guitar maven and classic pop stylist Monica Passin a.k.a. L’il Mo at Skinny Dennis
11/23, 9 PM sweeping, swinging vibraphone jazz with the Behn Gillece Quartet at the Fat Cat
11/23, 10 PM edgy female-fronted funk band Eliza & the Organix – feat. swirly alto sax player Kristen Tivey –at Pete’s
11/24, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, Ensemble Signal play works for cello and percussion by David Lang, Caroline Shaw, Ken Thomson and Iannis Xenakis at the Miller Theatre, free
11/24, 6:30 PM performances by Colombian vocalist and cuatro player Johanna Castañeda and harpist Vidal Garzón; Gambian kora player and jail (praise singer) Alhaji Papa Susso; and members of stark, haunting Central Asian group Ensemble Shashmaqam.and a discussion of the current crisis in US immigration reform at Elebash Hall at CUNY, 365 5th Ave. just north of 34 th St., free but rsvp reqd
11/24, 7 PM a “new trio continuing on the path laid by the groundbreaking Jimmy Giuffre 3. The group will be performing a set of brand new music alongside themes by Britten, Stravinsky and more. Ben Goldberg – clarinet, Liberty Ellman – guitar, Max Johnson – bass.” followed at 9 by ten-piece funky Balkan brass/Ellington jazz monsters Slavic Soul Party at Barbes
11/24, 7:30 PM a rare NYC appearnce by pensive Istanbul-based classically-tinged jazz pianist Burak Bedikyan leading a quartet with Loren Stilllman on alto sax at Drom, $10 adv tix rec. They’re also at Pangea the following night, 11/25 at 7 for $20
11/24, 7:30 PM haunting Romany chanteuse Sanda Weigl presents her latest multimedia project, Jaunt into My Eerie Heart with projections and Marie Pohl as the “guest storyteller of fantastic fairy tales and translations” at Joe’s Pub, $18
11/24, 7:30 PM “Pittsburgh’s premier new music series, Music on the Edge, presents its first New York show featuring a rare performance of Burr Van Nostrand’s sound-texture piece, Fantasy Manual for Urban Survival. This piece will receive its New York premiere by the phenomenal Dave Eggar (cello), Lindsey Goodman (alto flute), and Eric Moe (prepared piano). Also featured on the program is Amy Williams’ First Lines, Eric Moe’s Let Me Tell U About R Specials, Roger Zahab’s deceived by starlight and a spunky twenty-eight, Lee Hyla’s One
11/24-29 (skipping Thanksgiving, 11/26), 8/10 PM free jazz trombone powerhouse Steve Swell leads a series of groups at the Stone, $15. Choice pick: the 8 PM, 11/25 show Kende Dreams: Hommage to Bela Bartok with Rob Brown (alto saxophone) Connie Crothers (piano) Larry Roland (bass) Chad Taylor (drums)
11/24-29, 8:30/10:30 PM well-regarded, lyrical jazz pianist Jason Moran & the Bandwagon at the Vanguard
11/24, 9 PM the NYC debut of the most exciting, politically vital Jamaican roots reggae band in a long time, Raging Fyah – this century’s closest thing to Israel Vibration – at Milk River,960 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn
11/24, 9:30 PM latin jazz percussion legend Wlllie Martinez y La Familia Sextet at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe $10
11/24, 10 PM intense, eclectic original Balkan clarinet/violin/oud/percussion quartet Sherita at Pete’s
11/25, 7 PM intense Mediterranean/Middle Eastern violinist/composer Maria Manousaki playing the album release show for her new one followed by eclectic Americana/highway rock bandleader Diane Gentile with the amazing Jason Victor (from Steve Wynn’s band) on lead guitar at the big room at the Rockwood
11/25, 8 PM Briitish klezmer songstress Polina Shepherd and band at Mehanata, $10 + 1 drink min
11/25, 9 PM guitarist Tom Csatari’s tectonically shifting ten-piece “drone-jazz orchestra“ Uncivilized followed eventually at 11 by James T. Psychopath’s through-composed noise drones at Bizarre Bushwick, 12 Jefferson St off Myrtle, J/M to Myrtle Ave., free
11/25, 9 PM oldschool-style high plains C&W singer Hope Debates & North 40 at Bar Chord. Damn, this woman can flat-out sing
11/25, 9 PM rustic, eclectic newschool front-porch folk songwriter Caroline Ferrante at Silvana
11/27, 7:30 PM ambient Americana/film composer Goldmund followed by intense Ukrainian composer/pianist Lubomyr Melnyk playing the album release show for his new one Rivers & Streams at le Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix rec
11/27-29, 8:30 PM tuneful third-stream pianist Romain Collin with Clarence Penn on drums and Harish Raghavan on bass at Iridium
11/27, 9 PM darkly intense Romany/noir Mediterranean rock bassist/bandleader Honeybird at Rock Shop, $10
11/27, midnight boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with the Jack Grace Band at Hill Couutry
11/28. 2 PM the NY Philharmonic play Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances plus works by Handel, Glinka and Albinoni at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail
11/28, 5 PM intense, lyrically brilliant Americana/soul/janglerock tunesmith Matt Keating followed at 6 by the timelessly, darkly carnivalesque Vic Thrill and at 10 by original front-porch folk purist Joanna Sternberg at Pete’s
11/28, 8 PM reliably tuneful, Balkan trumpet maven Ben Holmes & supersonic, erudite accordionist Patrick Farrell debut their new suite a cycle of compositions based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Conqueror Worm”. at Barbes
11/28, 8 PM the Eddie Palmieri Salsa Jazz Orchestra at B.B. King’s, $32.50 adv tix rec, expensive, but the guy’s a salsa piano jazz legend and he’s still amazing.
11/28, 8 PM the NJ Symphony Orchestra with violin soloist Eric Wyrick play Boccherini’s Symphony No. 6, Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances suite and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at NJPAC in Newark, $20 seats avail.
11/28, 8 PM amazingly eclectic flamenco/Romany jazz/Mediterranean guitarist Alberto Lombardi at Session 73, 1359 1st Ave
11/28, 9 PM one of the great saxophonists in the history of ska, Dave Hillyard & the Rocksteady 7 followed by the eclectic, wickedly tuneful, dub-inspired Kiwi – the best roots reggae band in the tri-state area – at Maxwell’s, $10
11/28, 9 PM ageless roots reggae harmony trio the Mighty Diamonds – who were responsible for the original Pass the Kutchie – at SOB’s, $15 adv tix rec
11/28, 9 PM all-female psychedelic Brazilian cover band AsLolas – featuring killer lead guitarist Viva DiConcini – play 70s classics by Os Mutantes and others followed at 10 by hard-hitting bassist Dawn Drake & Zapote playing hot Afrobeat-tinged funk grooves Silvana
11/28, 9:30 PM they love piano/bass duos at Mezzrow: the latest is Kenny Werner with Scott Colley, $20 bar seats avail.
11/29, 2 PM world premieres of new vocal works by Katherine Balch, Matthew Browne, Jason Thorpe Buchanan, Jaehyuck Choi, Takuma Itoh, John Liberatore, Loren Loiacono, Sky Macklay,Gity Razaz, and Kathryn Salfelder performed by the New York Virtuoso Singers, led by Harold Rosenbaum. at National Sawdust, $25
11/29, 6 PM rapturous, adventurous Japanese folk-influenced jazz with Emi Makabe…(voice, shamisen & compositions with Vitor Gonçalves…piano & accordion; Thomas Morgan…bass; Vinnie Sperrazza…drums at 55 Bar
11/29, 6 PM trumpet trio Kate Amrine, Lynn Chao and Alexandria Smith join forces with cellist Peri Mauer for works by Bach, Britten, David Lang, Mauer herself, Giacinto Scelsi, Jacob Elion and more at Good Shepherd RC Church, 1950 Batchelder St.(Ave S/T), Mill Basin, Brooklyn, free, B/Q to Ave. U then take the Ave. U bus about 20 blocks
11/29, 8 PM Dither’s James Moore (guitar), James Ilgenftriz (bass), Brian Chase (drums) doingthe first installation of Moore’s larger cycle of music for Ilgenfritz’s Anagram Ensemble, inspired by the poetry and line drawings from Unica Zürn’s Hexentexte.followed by PAK or Not – Ron Anderson (guitar), Stuart Popejoy (bass), Sarah Bernstein (violin), Alex Cohen (drums) at Jack, $12
11/29, 8 PM dancehall reggae pioneer Capleton at B.B. King’s, $25 adv tix rec
11/29, 9 PM stylstically diverse, reliably colorful, lyrical jazz pianist Lou Rainone leads his Sextet at the Fat Cat
11/29, open mic for MCs at 10, show at 11, End of the Weak with appearances by Jesse James, James Lion, Chris Rivers, and EPMD’s Parrish Smith at Bowery Electric, $10
11/30, 7 PM a concert in remembrance of the victims of the holocaust in Armenia a hundred years ago with Alissa Margulis – violin • Mischa Maisky – cello • Elena Lisitsian – piano Lily Maisky – Piano • Annie Dutoit – narration, performing music of Tschaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Katchaturian, Shostakovish, Babadjanian, Dvorak and Komitas at le Poisson Rouge, $30 standing room avail.
11/30, 7 PM Chop & Quench playing Fela classics and their own wild original Afrobeat jams at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival a must
11/30, 7:30 PM piano luminaries including Jed Distler, Sachiko Kato, Simon Mulligan, toy pianistMargaret Leng Tan and Kirk Nurock kick out the jams in a program TBA to benefit Animal Zone International, hosted by David Dubal. at West Park Presbyterian Church, 165 W 86th St. (bet. Amsterdam & Columbus Aves.), $30
11/30, 7:30 PM the MSM Symphonic Chorus, Women’s Chorus & Chamber Orchestra perform a program tba at the cathedral of St. John the Divine
11/30, 9 PM noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo followed by jangly, anthemic, catchy, original stadium folk-rock band Fireships at the big room at the Rockwood
12/1, 7:30 PM pianist Ian Hobson plays works by Debussy, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Szymanowski at Subculture, $20 adv tix rec
12/1, 8 PM intricately arranged, psychedelic funk with the MK Groove Orchestra at Brooklyn Bowl, $5
12/1, 8 PM guitarist Joel Harrison and his amazing big band Infinite Possibility premiere 7 new works for 18-piece jazz orchestra at Roulette, $20/$15 stud/srs
12/1, 10:30 PM drummer Devin Gray & his intricate, playfully improvisaitional progressive jazz band RelativE ResonancE,at Korzo, $10
12/1, 10ish ominous Aussie baritone crooner Jack Ladder & the Dreamlanders at Baby’s All Right, $14; 12/2 he’s at the Mercury at 7:30 for $12 in advance
12/2 the Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear show at City Winery is a private event and not open to the public
12/2, 6 PM low-register reedman Ben Goldberg with alto saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey at Downtown Music Gallery
12/2, 7 PM Minneapolis band the 4 on the Floor – sort of a punchier, beefier take on the Yardbirds, with a little soul and Mats edge – at the big room at the Rockwood, $10
12/2, 7 PM a rare performance of works by noted Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova at the Bulgarian Consulate, 121 E 62nd St., free
12/2, 8 PM amazingly eclectic flamenco/Romany jazz/Mediterranean guitarist Alberto Lombardi upstairs at Bowery Electric, free. 12/3 he’s at Silvana at 9
12/2, 9 PM clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski’s searing, lickety-split explosive NY Gypsy All-Stars play the album release show for their new one Dromomania at Drom, $10 adv tix rec
12/2-6, 7:30 PM avant art-rock luminaries the Bang on a Can All-Stars play in back of a new theatrical production of Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer – a darkly kaleidescopic retelling of the John Henry folksong and story -at BAM, $20
12/4, 7 PM American Modern Ensemble play moon-themed works by Claude Baker, Daniel Strong Godfrey, Robert Paterson, Judith Shati and George Tsontakis – but no Pierrot Lunaire – at National Sawdust
12/4, 8 PM the Chelsea Symphony play Engelbert Humperdinck — Prelude to Hänsel und Gretel; He Zhanhao & Chen Gang — The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto with Phong Ta, violin; Charles Griffes — Poem for Flute and Orchestra with Melanie Chirignan, flute; Leroy Anderson — Sleigh Ridel Aaron Dai — The Night Before Christmas; Public Advocate Tish James serves as narrator, at St. Paul’s Church, 315 W 22nd St, $20 sugg don.
12/4, 8 PM “Wemilere: Songs & A Just Meditation: Lullabies, slave songs, resistance and Ancestral Memory in dedication to Chango. Reflecting on the importance of holding community space in a time of grieving, crying out, calling out amidst trauma, violence, and poverty sweeping the world. This concert & rumba will be in celebration for the orisha Chango on his day,” at Jack, $10
12/5, 7 PM a surrealistic performance by the butoh and jazz-inspired Conspiracy of Proletarian Shamans followed by literate Tom-Waits-ish alt country band Fist of Kindness at Medicine Show Theatre, 549 W 52nd St., 3rd Floor,$15/$12 stud/srs
12/5, 8 PM an intense duo show with haunting dark Americana songwriter/belter Jessi Robertson with the similarly minded Rony Corcos on lead guitar at Pine Box Rock Shop in Bushwick
12/5, 8:30 PM Celtic party band the Narrowbacks followed by Asbury Park’s high-voltage bluegrass/newgrass Dark City Strings at Union Hall, $10
12/5, 9 PM he reliably ferocious, fun Balkan (and occasionally Ethiopian and latin-tinged) madness of Raya Brass Band at at the Brooklyn Museum, free
12/5 one of the most epic, exhilarating art-rock bands in New York, Planta at the Bitter End – imagine Pink Floyd or Nektar up close in a small club.
12/6, 2 PM intense tenor saxophonist/rabbi Greg Wall with Michael Cochrane on piano, Steve Johns on drums and his son, Daryl on bass plus choreographer Carolyn Dorfman and her dancers in an afternoon of jazz, dance and schmoozing, at Jewish Museum of New Jersey at Congregation Ahavas Sholom , 145 Broadway, Newark., free
12/6, 7:30 PM maestro Dong-hyun Kim conducts the Queensboro Symphony Orchestra – NYC’s hottest new classical ensemble – in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 at Mary’s Nativity Church, 46-02 Parsons Blvd. (at Holly Ave.), Flushing, 7 train to Main St. (the last stop), transfer to the Q27 bus, sugg. don.
12/7, 7 PM SWARMIUS – sort of a tripper San Diego counterpart to Tribecastan -doing their wickedly fun, Balkan-tinged, populiat jams with guest pianist Geoffrey Burleson followed by hauntingly philosophical percussion/electronics/spoken word duo Bradford Reed & Jane LeCroy and then a solo set by Burleson at Shapeshifter Lab, $10
12/7 the Manhattan Chamber Players make their debut at le Poisson Rouge with piano/string music by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schubert, Fauré, Chausson, Shostakovich, and Piazzolla plus world premieres by Vivian Fung and Chris Rogerson. They’re at Baruch College on 12/15
12/8, half past noon organist Marco LoMuscio plays a program TBA at Central Synagogue, Lex/54t h, free
12/8 drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, Tilt Brass play works by Anthony Coleman, Tilt co-founder Chris McIntyre, James Tenney, Liza Lim and Catherine Lamb at the Miller Theatre, free
12/9, 7 PM Roshel Rubinov – the haunting, Middle Eastern-tinged Bukharan Jewish guitar god equivalent to Richard Thompson – at Elebash Hall, 365 5th Ave north of 34th St., $25
12/9, 7 PM intense, Middle Eastern-tinged bassist Petros Klampanis leads his innovative ensemble, Chroma playing the album release show for their new one at the Onassis Cultural Center NY, 645 5th Avenue, (at 51st St) free w/rsvp .
12/9, 7 PM pianist Pablo Zinger backs a series of first-rate Latina singers: Brenda Feliciano, Gizelzanath, Virginia Herrera, and Maribel Salazar, to perform a program dedicated exclusively to the powerful and immensely varied vocal music of Mexico from olero to classical, passing through rancheras, huapangos, habaneras and danzones. Featured composers include “the father of Mexican music”, Manuel M. Ponce, and Tata Nacho (Ignacio Fernández Esperón) to the composer of “Granada”, Agustín Lara, to Armando Manzanero (creator of “Somos novios” – “It’s Impossible”).at the Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker (Elizabeth/Mott, $30
12/9, 9:30 PM tuneful, anthemic, intense neoromantic/indie classical ensemble the Founders play new works inspired by Schubert’s Winterreise at National Sawdust, $15
12/10, 6 PM Argentinean pianist Valentin Surif plays a rare program of music from his home turf nicluding Alberto Williams’ (1862-1952) Demi-teinte de la Suite Sur la Terrasse (1891), Berceuse, Op. 47 Nº 1 (1906) and Suite En la sierra (1891), Juan Josè Ramos’s (1930-1995) Siete Variaciones de Tango (1978), Astor Piazzolla’s (1921-1992) Adiós Nonino (1959) and Roberto Garcia Morillo’s (1911-2003) Cuarta Sonata Op 26 (1959) at the Consulate General of Argentina in New York, 12 West 56th St, free but res rec to rsvp@cnyor.com.
12/11, 6 PM NYC’s most innovative, hypnotically pointillistic Balinese bell orchestra, Gamelan Dharma Swara in the Chinese Garden Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm. 12/13 at 6 they’re at the Stone playing a new piece by innovative bagpiper Matthew Welch for $20then on the 20 th they’re at the Fat Cat at 7.
12/11 an extremely rare appearance by no wave icons Teenage Jesus and the Jerks with Lydia Lunch at Trans-Pecos, midnight $20
12/12, 8 PM, repeating on 12/13 at 3 PM, Alessandra Belloni and her trancey tarantella band play Mystical Music in Honor of the Black Madonna,” a musical journey around the world to the ancient sacred sites of the primeval earth spirit created from authentic traditions of Southern Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, and Brazil “ at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (bet. 9th & 10th Sts) $25
12/12, 8 PM pyrotechnic alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa‘s Charlie Parker tribute, Bird Calls at at the Miller Theatre, $20 seats avail
12/12, 8 PM Chamber Orchestra of New York play Gershwin’s Lullaby and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, along with Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 35 and the world premiere of Three Variations on a Gregorian Theme by Emiliano Imondi, at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $30 tix avail
12/12, 8 PM the Cecilia Chorus of New York sing Handel’s Messiah at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $25 tix avail
12/12, 9ish a sizzling gospel/oldschool twinbill with monster piano player/charismatic showman Rev. Vince Anderson and period-perfect 60s blue eyed soul crooner Eli Paperboy Reed at Union Pool, $14
12/13, 4 PM early music group Juilliard415 with harspichorist Richard Egarr perform a holiday choral celebration at Corpus Christi Church, 529 W 121st St, $10 seats avail.
12/13 eerily playful, charismatic Nashville gothic/folk noir songstress Kelley Swindall at Scratcher Bar, 209 E 5th St.
12/13 creepy, accordion-fueled Balkan psychedelic rockers Alec K Redfearn & the Eyesores, no wave jamband Escape by Ostrich and postpunk supergroup Heroes of Toolik at Bowery Electric.
12/14, 9 PM irrepressible saxophonist Jon Irabagon celebrates the release of his wild, technically challenging first solo sopranino saxophone record Inaction Is An Action Delroy’s Wine Bar, 65 Fenimore St just off Flatbush Ave, Q to Parkside Ave, $10 sug don
12/14, 10 PM a subversive holiday tradition: Xmas songs by Jewish songwriters. Subtext, anybody? Performers include host Steven Blier on piano with chanteuse Lauren Worsham, clarinetist Alan Kay, cantor Joshua Breitzer, many others at Henry’s Restaurant, 2745 Broadway at 105th St, $10; Reservations requred to 212-866-0600 if you want to eat but not for bar seating
12/15, 7 PM NYC’s most haunting, inscrutable, savagely guitar-fueled, lyrically brilliant noir band Karla Rose & the Thorns at Grand Victory, $10
12/16, 10:30 PM the increasingly soul-oriented, guitarishly brilliant Miss Tess & the Talkbacks at the big room at the Rockwood, $10
12/18, 8 PM charming female-fronted continental swing jazz combo the Hot Sardines play the album release show for their new one at Uinon Hall, $12
12/18, quarter past midnight ferocious latin/Romany rockers the Butcher Knives at the Kniiting Factory
12/20, 3 PM the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra play Handel’s Messiah at NJPAC in Newark, $30 tix avail.
12/26, 8 PM stars of the klezmer and Yiddish world including Frank London, Sarah Gordon and Michael Winograd present an evening of music from singer/musicologist Adrienne Cooper’s cult classic 1999 album In Love and In Struggle: The Musical Legacy of the Jewish Labor Bund at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl. north of Batttery Park
12/30-31 Gogol Bordello at Terminal 5, $35 adv tix rec
12/31 devious oldschool C&W/rockabilly parodists Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Otto’s, 11 PM. If you must be in the East Village on New Year’s Eve (your inner New Yorker may be screaming STAY HOME), this is the place to be. The band is hilarious and they may skewer the tourists who will probably make up them majority of people in the house.
1/13, 7/9:30 PM “wrapped in an absurd and hyperbolic narrative, the music film, Sever revisits the ancient Chinese folktale of Diao Chan with live accompaniment by the modern Chinese band Xi Ban. Mixing classical instrumentation with westernized form, Xi Ban create an intriguing interplay between kabuki theatre and American delta blues,” at the Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. free but res req
1/31/16, 5 PM jazz chanteuse Suzanne Lorge and her combo at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 128 Pinehurst Ave at 183rd St., $12 sugg don, reception to follow.
1/28-30 and 2/4-6, 7 PM the world premiere of the late Robert Ashley’s avant garde opera Quicksand at the Kitchen, $20. “Divided into three acts of 16 scenes each, combines separate and “moveable” sequences of choreography by Steve Paxton, electric orchestra composed by Tom Hamilton, and light environments by David Moodey to present a unified work without a linear narrative structure.. Using Ashley’s signature blend of speech and song, Quicksand tells the story of a composer who has been coerced by a U.S. Government Agency (“the Company”) to serve as a low-level spy. Traveling with his wife to an unnamed South Asian country run by a military dictatorship, he becomes involved with plans to overthrow the government through his close friendship with two tour guides. With the assistance of four American mercenaries sent by “the Company,” the composer participates in the capture and imprisonment of the country’s leaders, and the destruction of the torture operation by which the dictatorship has maintained its power.”
New York Music Daily 