Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn For March 2023

All these concerts are free of restrictions on entry. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar. If a venue is unfamiliar, look for it on the old guide to NYC music venues here, which is more of a worksheet now, but it has links to most of the places on this calendar.

Tuesdays in March, Inspired, latin-influenced postbop trombonist Conrad Herwig and his septet at the Django, $25.

Thursdays in March, 5 PM poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez at Bar Bayeux. 2/28 at 7:30 PM she leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

Sundays at around 8 PM trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri lead the Ear-Regulars in NYC’s only remaining weekly hot jazz jam session at the Ear Inn

3/1, noon, not a music event but important, say no to Kathy Hochul’s persistent attempt to build concentration camps on New York soil at the rally at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Office Building. 163 W. 125 St. at 7th Ave. in Harlem

3/1, 8 PM Middle Eastern-flavored surf band twinbill: the Zolephants and slinky Pontic surf crew the Byzan-tones at Sundownstairs, 68-38 Forest Ave (at Catalpa) Ridgewood, Queens $10, J to Seneca Ave.

3/2, 8 PM singer Lea Kalisch‘s irreverent Shtetl Cabaret revisits Yiddish theatre music classics and not-so-classics at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

3/2, 8 PM 8 PM deviously theatrical oldschool C&W/rockabilly parodists Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Otto’s

3/3, 8 PM new-music group Black Box Enxemble play works by Ari Sussman, Cole Reyes. Eliza Brown. Jimena Maldonado and Inti Figgis-Vizueta at Culture Lab, $20

3/3, 8 PM  the raucously oldtimey Buck and a Quarter Quartet at Sunny’s

3/3, 9 PM jangly, clangy, surf-inspired retro psych band Spirit Ghost play the album release show for their new one at Alphaville, $15

3/3, 9 PM Afrobeat all-star crew Armo – feat. members of Antibalas – at Bar Lunatico

3/3, 10:30 PM prolific postbop composer and tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser leads a quintet at Smalls, $25

3/3, 10:30 PM lyrical Mingus band pianist David Kikoski leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

3/4, 7:30 PM lyrically provocative mashups of Ethiopiques, parlor pop, hard funk and psychedelia with Meklit at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/4, 8 PM brooding folk-rocker Peter Is Dead a.k.a Peter Carlovich, female-fronted dreampop band Heat Death and sprawling,. jangly athemic newschool psychedelic band Bard’s Flying Vessel at Alphaville, $14

3/4, 9 PM Pangari & the Socialites play classic ska and rocksteady– most of it from the 60s Skatalites catalog – at Bar Lunatico

3/4, 9ish deviously fun, female-fronted ska band Across the Aisle at Lucky 13 Saloon, $tba

3/4, 9ish guitar goddess Barbara Endes’ exhilarating psychedelic janglerock band Girls on Grass and Renee LoBue’s darkly catchy veteran powerpop/art-rock band Elk City at the Windjammer, $tba

3/5, 4 PM the Orchestra of St. Luke’s play works by Tania Leon, Keyla Orozc and others at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

3/5, 5 PM Siwoo Kim, violin; Melissa Reardon, viola and Raman Ramakrishnan, cello reinvent Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string trio at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church, 178 Bennett Ave at 189th, Washington Heights, $25, A to 186th St.

3/5, 8 PM improvisational, immersive bassist Kato Hideki leads a quintet with Doug Wieselman: clarinet; Masahiko Kono: trombone. Gordon Beeferman: piano; Ryan Sawyer: drums & percussion at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

3/5, 7 PM Miqayel Voskanyan’s hauntingly driving Armenian jazz MVF Band at Drom, $25 adv tix rec

3/6, 8:30 PM edgy oldschool and newer soul styles with singer Maya Sharpe at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $10

3/6, 9 PM  boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with Jack Grace at Skinny Dennis

3/6, 10:30 PM  smartly impressionistic postbop pianist Miki Yamanaka leads a trio at Smalls, $25. She’s back on 3/13

3/7, 6:30 PM Louise D. E. Jensen on sax with cellist TJ Borden followed by drummer Dave Miller with multi-reedman Ras Moshe and then drummer Anders Griffen with violin scorcher Sana Nagano at Downtown Music Gallery

3/7, 7 PM  noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo leads his trio at the big room at the Rockwood, $20

3/7, 8 PM funk-jazz crew the Silver Arrow Band at Drom, free. They’re back on 3/21

3/7 the Sun Ra Arkestra show at TV Eye is sold out. Good for them.

3/8, 7 PM the Brooklyn Raga Massive – a rotating cast of A-list Indian, jazz and rock musicians who love to jam out classic Indian themes from over the centuries to the present day – at Branded Saloon

3/8, 8/9:30 PM lyrical pianist Aaron Parks leads a trio at Bar Bayeux

3/8, 8 PM Palestinian singer Nibal Malshi performs vintage classics from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt at Roulette, $30 adv tix rec

3/9, 7:30 PM Rolling Stones tenor saxophonist Tim Ries and his quartet at the Django, $25. He’s back on 3/30

3/9, 7:30 PM conversational pianist Jeffrey Siegel plays works by Chopin, Schubert and Sibelius at Scandinavia House, $25

3/9, 7:30 PM eclectic. edgy violinist Zach Brock with pianist Aaron Goldberg and bassist Matt Penman at Mezzrow, $25

3/9, 8 PM ferocious powerpop/psychedelic guitarslinger Pete Galub opens a triple bill with edgy King Crimson-influenced Woodhead and noisy stoner boogie band Mustafina at Main Drag Music, 50 S 1st St, Williamsburg

3/9, 8 PM smartly crafted, new and recent Dan Joseph chamber works for marimba and saxophone, violin, cello, saxophone and clarinet, and  piano, with pianist Marija Ilic and ensemble; composer Michael Byron premieres new works for two pianos and small orchestra featuring pianists Joseph Kubera and Steve Beck with Petr Kotik conducting members of the S.E.M. Ensemble, as well as a performance by violin duo String Noise (Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris). at Roulette, $20 gen adm

3/9, 8:30 PM  Certain General guitarslinger Phil Gammage plays his dark Americana and blues at 11th St. Bar

3/9, 9 PM slinky psychedelic reggae-tinged jamband Ace Bandage – who are a lead singer away from brilliance – at Bar Freda, $10

3/9. 9 PM cinematic, ethereal vibraphonist Chris Dingman leads his trio at Bar Lunatico

3/10, 7:30 up-and-coming saxophonist Erena Terakubo leads her group followed at 10:30 by clever, purist B3 jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga at the Django, $25

3/10-11, 7:30 PM suave, smoky tenor saxophonist Harry Allen leads a trio with Mike Karn on bass and Andy Brown on guitar at Mezzrow, $25

3/10, 8 PM violist Joanna Mattrey leads an intriguing improvisational ensemble with Patrick Shiroishi, Chris Williams, and Gabby Fluke-Mogul at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

3/10, 8 PM Bint plays Arabic occult-inspired dark electronic soundscapes at MITU580, 580 Sackett St Unit A (off Union), Gowanus, F to Carroll St, $10

3/10, 8ish gutter blues band Daddy Long Legs play the album release show for their new one at the Sultan Room, $21

3/10, 8/9:30 PM riveting Japanese shamisen player/singer/improviser Emi Makabe leads a trio with Thomas Morgan on bass at Bar Bayeux

3/10, 10 PM ferociously dynamic, tuneful, female-fronted art-rock power trio Castle Black at Bar Freda, $10

3/11,6 PM pianist Jed Distler and cellist Juliana Soltis play works by Amy Beach, Leo Ornstein, Helen C. Crane , Florence B. Price and Margaret Bonds at Bargemusic, $35

3/11, 7:30 PM Nagash Armenian Ensemble play songs on themes of exile at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

3/11, 7:30 PM Indian singer Pratima Doobay and drummer Roshni Samlal exploring the global diaspora of Hindi folk songs, the poetry of Shivanee Ramlochan, bass riffs by Liany Mateo, and the visual art of Renluka Maharaj at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/11, 7:30 PM  tuneful oldschool soul/jazz trombonist Dave Gibson leads his quartet at the Django, $25

3/11, 8 PM guitarist Nick Demopoulos’ twinkling, psychedelic Smomid spacescape project at Downtown Music Gallery

3/11, 9 PM tuneful, first-class Kenyan reggae crooner Nixon Omollo at Shrine.

3/12, 3:30 PM potentially mind-blowing improvisation with violinist Ladonna Smith, Taylor Rouss on sax and “game calls,” and Andrew Drury on drums plus the Home of Easy Credit witih Louise D.E. Jensen on sax and Tom Blancarte on bass at Soup & Sound

3/12, 4 PM early music ensemble Alkemie play medieval works by Guillaume du Fay  at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

3/12, 4 PM Yael Weiss, piano; Mark Kaplan, violin; Peter Stumpf, cello play trios by Haydn and Schubert at Bargemusic, $35

3/12, 7:30 PM imaginative, purist baritone saxophonist Claire Daly leads her quintet at Smalls

3/12, 8 PM ghoulabilly band the Gunsmoke Sinners at Otto’s

3/12, 8 PM the Trinity Youth Chorus and Trinity Baroque Orchestra perform Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at St. Paul’s Chapel, free

3/12, 9 PM mysterious organ-driven 60s Canterbury-style psychedelic band the Lucifer Sams at Gold Sounds, $12

3/12, 9 PM singer Veronica Davila’s twangy, Bakersfield-flavored hard honkytonk band Low Roller at Skinny Dennis

3/13, 7 PM guy/girl harmonies and eclectic folk-rock/new wave songwriting with the Oracle Sisters at Baby’s All Right, $18

3/13. 7:30 PM NY Phil principal clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Pacifica Quartet play works by Prokofiev, Brahms and James Lee at Music Mondays, Advent Church, northwest corner of 93rd and Broadway, free

3/13-14, 7:30/9 PM tenor sax legend  George Coleman leads a quartet at Smalls, $25

3/13, 9 PM slinky, impressionistic postbop jazz with saxophonist Alison Shearer and her quartet at Bar Lunatico

3/13, 10:30 PM crooner Kevin Harris with jazz organ paradigm-shifter Brian Charette at the Ear Inn

3/13, 10:30 PM  classy, cinematic, purist NZ jazz pianist Alan Broadbent  leads a trio at Mezzrow

3/14, 1 PM organist Amelie Held plays a program TBA at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown

3/14, 6:30 PM improvisational alchemy: guitarist Aron Namenwirth, trombonist Steve Swell and guitarist Rodney Chapman followed at 7:30 by Dr. Paul Austerlitz & the Spirit Cabinet at Downtown Music Gallery

3/15, 7 PM in reverse order: surreal, amusingly bombastic heavy psych band Howling Giant, the noisier Restless Spirit and Stoogoid stoner boogie band Sun Voyager at TV Eye, $15

3/15, 8 PM socially aware 2nd gen nueva cancion songwriter Juana Luna plays the album release show for her new one at El Puente, 211 S 4th St. Williamsburg, J/M to Marcy Ave, sug don

3/15, 8 PM cinematic rock band Fuck You Tammy play amazingly spot-on recreations of themes and songs from Twin Peaks and David Lynch films at Alphaville, $14

3/15, 8 PM extrovert drummer Johnathan Blake’s Trio with Ravi Coltrane and Dezron Douglas. wow, at Bar Bayeux

3/15,  8:30 PM Dark Streets play Celtic classics by the Pogues, Flogging Molly, the Dubliners and others at 11th St. Bar. 3/17, 8 PM they’re at Mama Tried

3/15, 9 PM smart, purposeful Americana guitarslingers Jason Loughlin and band at Skinny Dennis

3/16, 1 PM NOVUS NY plays works by Brad Balliett, Valerie Coleman, Joan Tower and Louise Farrenc at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free. They’re back on 3/23 playing works by Tania Leon, Christopher Cerrone, Kevin Puts and Paola Prestini and on 3/30 with works by Missy Mazzoli and Jessica Meyer, plus Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht

3/16, 7:30 PM  eclectic violinist Dana Lyn’s protean, psychedelic, ecologically aware jazz project Baby Octopus plus one of New York’s most eclectic, interesting oudists, Brian Prunka  with a string section, wow, at the Owl

3/16, 7:30 PM tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das and his instrumental HUM Ensemble blend Indian and Turkish sounds at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/16, 8 PM a rare Brooklyn gig by multi-reedman Scott Robinson and his group at Bar Bayeux

3/16, 8 PM wildly virtuosic jazz improv trumpeter Peter Evans with vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassist Nick Jozwiak and drummer Michael Od at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

3/16, 8 PM the perennially intense, tuneful godfather of edgy, lyrical, anthemic downtown NYC rock, Willie Nile plays his album Streets of NYC at City Winery, $28 standing room avail

3/16, 8 PM Max Lifchitz conducts the North/South Chamber Orchestra playing his own works plus pieces by Frank Corcoran, Robert Lemay, Rob Smith and Hsuh-Yung Shen at Christ & Saint Stephen’s Church, 120 W 69th Street (between Broadway & Amsterdam), free

3/16, 8 PM pianist Joseph Kubera plays Daniel Rothman’s Queens Plaza, and Dry County by Conrad Winslow at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $15

3/16, 9 PM hypnotic percussive Moroccan trance band Innov Gnawa collaborate with steel wizard Daniel Freedman and guitarist Gilad Hekselman at Bar Lunatico

3/17 starting at noon live music all day with Jameson’s Revenge, Shilelagh Law at 4,  the Narrowbacks at 8 and Prodigals at 10:30 at Connolly’s, free

3/17, 8 PM intense, ecstatic oldschool soul band Empire Beats at Silvana

3/17, 9 PM cult favorite gonzo pianist Dred Scott‘s Cali Mambo band with Tom Beckham on vibes at Bar Lunatico

3/17, 9ish psychedelic cumbia band Los Aliens play the album release show for their new one at C’Mon Everybody, $13

3/17, 10:30 PM  noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton with his quartet at the Django, $25

3/18, 4 PM Sarah Durning plays twangy oldschool-style original honkytonk at Skinny Dennis

3/18. 6 PM cellist Andrew Gonzalez plays Bach’s Cello Suites #4-6 at Bargemusic, $35

3/18, 7 PM in reverse order at St. Vitus, damn, what a great doom/stoner metal lineup: ferocious female-fronted art-rock/stoner metal band Ruby the Hatchet ,  classic 70s style doom band (some would say Sabbath ripoff) High Reeper, and the death metal Leather Lung, $20

3/18, 7 PM ish dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues.

3/18, 8 PM maybe the best quadruplebill of the year: guitar goddess Barbara Endes’ exhilarating psychedelic janglerock band Girls on Grass, psychedelic supergroup the Elgin Marbles feat. members of Love Camp 7, Dervisi and Peter Stampfel’s jug band, Canadian C&W purists the Pickups and acerbic, surrealistically jangly early zeros favorites Cementhead playing the album release show for their new one at Gold Sounds, $12

3/18, 8 PM a rare US performance by flamenco guitar wizard Rafael Riqueni at Roulette, $30 adv tix rec

3/18, 8:30 PM moodily lyrical, politically savvy Irish folk-rocker Niall Connolly  at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $15

3/18, 9 PM fiery electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis

3/19, 11 AM, not a music event but family friendly and brilliantly conceived: Libs of Tik Tok Story hour with Chaya Raichik reading from her empowering new kids’ book No More Secrets and Trent Talbot reading from his Fight For Freedom Island at the Women’s Republican Club, 3 W 51st St #2, free

3/19, 3 PM Jessica Bowers, mezzo-soprano and Oren Fader, guitar play works by Brahms, Mozart, Tim Mukherjee, Randall Woolf and others at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave,, $25

3/19, 3 PM baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire play melancholy themes by baroque Jewish composers at the Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $35 tix avail

3/19, 3:15 PM German organist Stefan Madrzak at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

3/19, 5 PM brilliantly adventurous harpist Bridget Kibbey  at the lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 116 Pinehurst Ave, Washington Heights, A to 181st St., $15

3/19, 7/9 PM lyrical pianist Geoffrey Keezer leads his trio at the Django, $25

3/19, 7:30 PM dark, sardonic, brilliantly tuneful jazz pianist Danny Fox and his Trio at Mezzrow, $25

3/19, 9 PM pianist Cat Toren‘s magical Ocelot trio followed by the similarly lustrous Ochion Jewell Quartet  at the Owl

3/19, 9 PM trumpeter Wayne Tucker leads his sunny soul-infused jazz quartet at Bar Lunatico

3/20, 1 PM vibraphonist Nikara Warren’s soulful Black Wall Street project at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free

3/20, 9 PM jazz tuba legend Bob Stewart with his son, violinist Curtis Stewart and Kelvynator guitarist Kelvyn Bell at Bar Lunatico

3/21, 1 PM organist Thomas Gaynor at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free

3/21, 7 PM ragas and kathak dance with surbahar virtuoso Radhika Samson, dancer Barkha Patel, Lasya & Ensemble on bansuri flute at Joe’s Pub, $30

3/21, 8 PM Marwa Morgan sings compositions by iconic Egyptian tunesmith Sayed Mekkawy with her quartet at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton off Washington, $20, C to Clinton-Washington

3/21, 8 PM electroacoustic composer Lucie Vítková’s creepy, dystopic portrait of a cyborg, Earth Eater at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

3/22, 1 PM purist oldschool jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel with bassist Jay Leonhart at the American Folk Art Museum

3/22, 8 PM energetic ragtime/Romany swing guitarist Felix Slim at St. Mazie’s. 3/27 at 9 he’s at Skinny Dennis

3/22, 8 PM the String Orchestra of Brooklyn collaborates with composer-performers Zach Layton and Nyokabi Kariũki at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec. They return on 3/23, joined by cellist Andrew Yee

3/22, 9ish Red Baraat trumpeter Sonny Singh plays funky bhangra psychedelia at C’Mon Everybody, $19

3/23, 7 PM acerbic classical and tango pianist Polly Ferman plays perform a program of Piazzolla, Joplin, Villalobos, Albeniz, Chabrier, Mortet, Cimaglia, Gottschalk, and Binelli, at Christ & Saint Stephen’s Church, 120 W 69th St (between Broadway & Amsterdam), $20

3/23, 7:30 PM stark, haunting Tunisian artrock/soul songwriter/guitarist Nour Harkati at Drom, $25 adv tix rec

3/23, 7:30 PM western swing and 20s hot jazz chanteuse Tamar Korn with soul/gospel belter (and Lenny Molotov collaborator) Queen Esther,at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/23, 7:30 PM  the Harlem Quartet perform music by Fanny Mendelssohn, Aldo López-Gavilán and more at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

3/23, 8 PM jangly, gritty dark country band Midnight Confessions (not to be confused with Lisa Lost’s legendary 90s reggae band), stomping late 90s style indie/punk band Wild Powwers and and post-Syd Barrett-ish Obits spinoff Savak at Gold Sounds $14

3/23, 8 PM pianist Per Tengstrand and cellist Robin Park play works by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff at Scandinavia House, $30

3/24, 7 PM Rob Schwimmer plays new music for Theremin, Haken Continuum and piano, also possibly works by John Barry, Bernard Herrmann and the Beach Boys at Bargemusic, $35

3/24, 7 PM pianist Mariel Mayz plays the album release show for her new one featuring music by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer at the Americas Society, 680 Park Ave., free, res rec.

3/24-25, 7:30 PM adventurous trumpeter John Bailey leads his quartet at Smalls, $25. 3/24 at 10:30 energetic, inventive, gospel-inspired pianist Pete Malinverni leads his trio

3/24, 8 PM excellent oldschool soul-influenced psychedelic band One Way Out, legendary garage-psych guitarslinger Palmyra Delran and enigmatic folk noir chanteuse Soraia at Berlin, expensive, $19 but a good lineup

3/24, 8 PM the Dallas Symphony Orchestra play Tschaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 plus Rachaminoiff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Garrick Ohlsson on piano at Stern Auditorium at at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

3/24-25 at 8 PM and 3/26 at 3, in solidarity with the freedom fighters in Iran, Hamid Rahmanian’s Song of the North, a shadow puppet performance of the ancient Persian epic the Shahnameh with Nashaz’s Azam Ali on vocals at Symphony Space, $25 tix avail

3/24, 8 PM the Eris Quartet – named for an astrologically vengeful asteroid – play a program TBA at the Owl

3/24, 9 PM brassy, psychedelic Afrobeat band Holy Hand Grenade at Aphaville, $14

3/24, 9ish a rare reunion show by late 90s/early zeros janglerock/powerpop legends the Star Spangles at the Sultan Room, $16

3/24, 9:30 PM fearless, insurgent, amazingly spot-on comedienne/vocal impersonator Tammy Faye Starlite does her hilarious, spot-on Nico “tribute” at Joe’s Pub, $20

3/24, 10:30 PM  purist oldschool tenor sax player Craig Handy leads his New Orleans-flavored band at the Django, $25

3/25, 7:30 PM carnatic violin powerhouse Arun Ramamurthy and his group at the Chhandayan Center for Indian Music  $25

3/25, 7:30 PM  the New York Virtuoso Singers perform Bach cantatas at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

3/25, 8 PM, repeating 3/26 at 3 the 8 PM, the NJ Symphony Orchestra  play WIlliam Grant Still’s gorgeous Symphony No. 1 and Tschaikovsky’s haunting Symphony No. 4 plus works by Arvo Part at NJPAC in Newark, $25 tix avail

3/25, 8 PM the fiery, string-driven Sedi Donka Balkan Band at St. Mazie’s

3/25, 9 PM deviously entertaining hot 20s jazz chanteuse Sweet Megg Farrell puts on her western swing hat at Skinny Dennis

3/25, 9 PM brilliant pianist  Emilio Solla’ and Antonio Lizana team up for tango-jazz and flamenco-jazz at Joe’s Pub, $30 adv tix rec

3/25, 10:30 PM wildly erudite tenor saxophonist Eric Wyatt and band at Smalls for a set and then the jam session, $25

3/26, 3 PM luminous latin-inspired jazz chanteuse Marianne Solivan leads her quartet at a house concert in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, sug don, email for deets/location

3/26, 4 PM fiery, force-of-nature klezmer/classical violinist Lara St. John  plays a program tba  at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

3/26, 5 PM one of New York’ most acerbic, distinctive voices in front-porch folk, Jo Williamson at the small room at the Rockwood,

3/26, 9 PM Pastoral gothic accordion art-rock band Sam Reider & the Human Hands at Bar Lunatico

3/27. 7 PM the New York Composers Circle premieres intriguing new small-ensemble works by Hubert Howe, Mark Belodubrovsky, Linda Marcel, Sergey Oskolkov, Madelyn Byrne, Nataliya Medvedovskaya and Robert S. Cohen at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Ave, $20

3/27, 10:30 PM electrifying vibraphonist Simon Moullier and band at Smalls, $25

3/27, 10:30 PM playfully intense pianist Liya Grigoryan leads her quartet at the Django, $25

3/28, 1 PM organist Alexander Straus-Fausto at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free

3/28, 8 PM hypnotic electroacoustic composer Caterina Barbieri, and low-register avant noise maven Eli Keszler at Pioneer Works, $25 adv tix rec

3/29, 7:30 PM drummer Dan Pugach’s Nonet with firebrand chanteuse Nicole Zuraitis out front at Smalls, $25

3/30, 1;30 PM, repeating 3/31 at 8 the 8 PM, repeating 12/8 at 3 the NJ Symphony Orchestra play the Faure Requiem plus works by George Walker and Ravel at NJPAC in Newark, $25 tix avail

3/30, 7 PM 20-string koto player Yumi Kurosawa leads her quintet playing the album release show for her new one at Joe’s Pub, $25

3/30, 7:30 PM drony, pounding psychedelic stadium rock with King Buffalo at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/30, 7:30 PM pianist Eliza Garth leads a string ensemble playing works by Gillien Weir, Mario Davidovsky and others at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

3/30, 8 PM brilliant swing jazz/oldtime Americana chanteuse Samoa Wilson at St. Mazie’s

3/30, 9 PM  iconic Afro-Cuban percussionist/bandleader Pedrito Martinez at Drom, $25.

3/31, 8 PM hauntingly cinematic Lynchian/southwestern gothic instrumentalists Suss at Culture Lab, $24

3/31, 8 PM  catchy, slinky psychedelic funk/punk band Eliza & the Organix  at Bar Freda,$10

3/31, 8 PM Korean oboeist/flutist Gamin and ensemble at Roulette, $30 adv tix rec

3/31, 9 PM  powerpop band Giftshop– the missing link between Blondie and the Distillers – at the small room at the Rockwood

4/2, 7 PM iconic, hilariously charismatic Americana songstress Amy Allison at Pangea, $25

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A Brave, Haunting Reflection on Lockdown-Era Alienation and Angst From Lily Desmond

Lily Desmond released her latest album Beast – streaming at Bandcamp – on Halloween in the dead of the 2020 lockdown. As a portrait of that year’s alienation and atomization, it packs a wallop. Desmond is a dynamic and versatile singer, rising form a wisp to a wail in a succession of intriguing, subtly detailed songs with elements of ambient music, indie rock and dark folk. With the exception of “noise guitar” played by a nameless person called “Distancing,” Desmond handles all the instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, drums, keys and a web of violin. She’s playing the downstairs room at the Rockwood on March 4 at 10 PM; cover is $10.

“Put on your shoes and get in bed,” Desmond intones, querulously, in the opening track, Burner. “Been doing hard time under my sheets, no one wants to hear anything about it….it’s all the same, the echoes roll in from last year, trying to get back where they came.” Simple downstroke acoustic guitar and an increasingly dense haze of violin and guitar completes this troubled picture.

Desmond shifts to an acerbic clarity in track two, Giulia, a surreal, allusive bedroom trip-hop tune: violence is only a half-step away in this fragmented world. She rises from gloomy folk noir to scruffy, opaque electric rock over a tumbling beat in Haunt: Elisa Flynn‘s darkest songs come to mind.

Desmond captures a claustrophobic, relentless solitude in Mess, with its staggered blend of guitar and violin loops and fleeting, jaunty bluegrass references: triumph remains behind an impenetrable and constantly shifting wall.

First is a twisted vaudevillian narrative: the party may be next door, but Desmond wishes it would stay there instead of seeping through the wall: she grips the edge of the sink and considers suicide. The album’s final and most straight-up cut is Red: over steady, emphatic rainy-day acoustic guitar, Desmond poignantly chronicles “years of struggling under streetlights, bled me dry…” Yet somehow she finds the strength to keep going. This will resonate with anyone who suffered through what New York became three years ago. Let’s hope Desmond can give us more where this came from.

A Colorful, Entertaining Solo Bass Album and a Chinatown Gig From Kyle Motl

At the risk of esotericizing this blog out of existence, there’s an especially intriguing free jazz lineup on the 28th at Downtown Music Gallery. At 6:30 PM Gutbucket’s sometimes acerbic, sometimes way-out-there klezmer-influenced guitarist Ty Citerman teams up with Jen Baker on trombone and Shayna Dunkelman on bass. At 7:30 bassist Kyle Motl plays solo and then at 8:30 the Harmolodics with Ben Green on trumpet, Ben Wood on bass and David Ward on drums. It’s a pass-the-bucket situation.

Motl is one of the real draws on this bill (well, on a night that might pull two or three dozen people if the weather holds up). Not only does he play solo, he records solo. His latest solo album Hydra Nightingale – streaming at his music page – is a lot of fun if you’re open to strange and frequently amusing sounds, and pushes the envelope as far as solo bass can go. It’s a very diverse mix of solo compositions by a similarly eclectic lineup of composers.

First up is the title track, a Caroline Louise Miller composition that won the 2018 International Society of Bassists David Walter Solo Composition Competition. Motl opens it a shriek and a little coy bow-bouncing before setting up a conversation which in places is ridiculously funny. Using one extended-technique device after another, Motl gets his cartoon characters to scowl and flit around and peek out from around corners, and more. Yet, it’s more of a vintage New Yorker cartoon than Sunday morning Nickelodeon rerun.

Anqi Liu‘s Light Beams Through Dusts, Through a Mist of Moistures is the big epic here and could be described as more vigorous than the title would imply. These shafts of light filter down steadily on the wings of Motl’s gritty harmonics, a march of drones into the shadows lightened with dust-devil flickers until the truck engine turns over and then rumbles away. It’s a treat for fans of low-register sounds.

Motl’s one composition here is Phosphene (the phosphorus illumination one sees with eyes closed after looking at a very bright object). At first it’s wispy and whispery but then Motl goes on a jagged tear with his bow, building a roman candle of harmonics and then coming up with a tastily haphazard arrangement for them.

Nachklang, by Jessie Cox, is the album’s most evocative, poltergeist-ish piece, with the creaking doors and pregnant pauses you would expect from the title. The final work is Asher Tobin Chodos‘ Trickle Town, referencing to the dubious Reagan-era back-of-the-napkin economic theory via samples of that decade’s senile chief executive, plus shivers, slides and more fingerwork than on the rest of the record. It’s an irresistibly funny way to bring everything full circle.

A Deviously Entertaining Avant Garde Archival Treat by Pauline Oliveros and James Ilgenfritz

One of the most irresistibly fun sonic explorations released this year so far is Altamirage, a collection of late-period duo recordings by Pauline Oliveros with bassist James Ilgenfritz. part of which is streaming at Bandcamp. Oliveros sadly went to the great deep listening well in the sky in 2016, but she left behind one of the most individualistic bodies of work of any composer, ever. On this one she plays a duo with Ilgenfritz on two extended tracks from a collection of relatively rare works from the early 1960s. Much of this, as you would expect, is a feast of strange textures and timbres. Ilgenfritz has a gig coming up that she would no doubt approve of, improvising with guitarist Sandy Ewen and saxophonist Michael Foster at Downtown Music Gallery on Feb 11 at 6 PM.

The first piece on the record, Outline for Flute, Percussion and String Bass is classic longscale Oliveros (or put another way, classic Bernard Herrmann) with its sepulchral flickers and sudden bursts of phantasmagoria from flutist Martha Cargo and percussionist Chris Nappi. But it’s equal part cartoon score. Try listening all the way through without at least grinning a little: it’s a lost cause.

Oliveros’ tart electric accordion accents contrast with Ilgenfritz’s exuberance and frequent buffoonery (via some meticulously goofy harmonics) in part one of the album’s title suite. The album concludes with parts five, four and and three, in order. Ilgenfritz  bows starkly and lighting into a sleek glissando or two in number five as Oliveros airs out the gremlins in various electronic patches.

Part four is an unexpectedly steady, rhythmic, practically swinging pitch-and-follow sequence. The last on the list is the most distinctly ambient yet allusively melodic, and in that sense disquieting number here.

The Trio For Trumpet, Accordion and String Bass appears uninterrupted, Ilgenfritz joined by Stephanie Richards and Nathan Koci in a playful five-part suite of miniatures. Subtle dopplers, low drones, spritely wisps and the occasional chirpy hint of a fanfare all figure into the mix.

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn For February 2023

All these concerts are free of restrictions on entry. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar. If a venue is unfamiliar, look for it on the old guide to NYC music venues here, which is more of a worksheet now, but it has links to most of the places on this calendar.

Tuesdays in February, Inspired, latin-influenced postbop trombonist Conrad Herwig and his septet at the Django, $25.

Thursdays in February, 5 PM poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez at Bar Bayeux. 2/28 at 7:30 PM she leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

Sundays at around 8 PM trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri lead the Ear-Regulars in NYC’s only remaining weekly hot jazz jam session at the Ear Inn

2/1, 7 PM crystalline-voiced noir Americana songwriter Jessie Kilguss, leads an acoustic evening of some eclectically excellent songwriters: Lizzie Edwards of fiery, psychedelically bluesy oldschool soul/roadhouse jamband Lizzie & the Makers. Dave Derby of allstar 90s lit-rock crew Gramercy Arms, badass cellist Patricia Santos of the Whiskey Girls; and others at Branded Saloon

2/1, 7 PM riveting, charismatic, intuitive pianist Karine Poghosyan plays the album release show for her new one with works by Coleridge-Taylor, Grieg, Komitas and Liszt at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $35 tix avail

2/1, 7:30 PM  the best singing pianist (and the best piano-playing singer) in jazz, Champian Fulton at the Django, $25

2/1, 7:30 PM  eclectic, witty, paradigm-shifting B3 jazz organist Brian Charette at Mezzrow, $25 2/15, 10:30 PM he’s at the Django, $25

2/1, 8/9:30 PM  Transylvanian pianist Lucian Ban with viola sorcerer Mat Maneri at Bar Bayeux. Ban is at Bar Lunatico on 2/7 at 9 PM

2/1, 8:30 PM throwback powerhouse blues belter Shemekia Copeland at City Winery, $20 adm avail

2/1, 8:30 PM loop-driven art-rock instrumentalists Thee Reps at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton at Washington, A/C to Clinton-Washington, $10

2/2, 7 PM fiery Bollywood and art-rock violinist Rini and Shakthi a.k.a. Bollywood chanteuse Shakthisree Gopalan front their own bands and then join forces for a set at Drom, $20 adv tix avail

2/2, 7 PM entrancing singer Treya Lam – who blends psychedelia, art-rock and oldschool soul – at Joe;s Pub, $15

2/2, 7:30 PM brilliant baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian leads a quartet at the Django, $25, followed at 10:30 by noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton, He’s also at Smalls on 2/12

2/2, 7:30 PM wryly witty, sophisticated art-rock keyboardist and theatrical composer Greta Gertler Gold at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

2/2, 8 PM ex-Brain Cloud frontwoman Tamar Korn‘s charming torch-swing band Kornucopia at at St. Mazie’s

2/2, 8 PM eclectic pan-Middle Eastern chanteuse Zahra Alzubaidi and surrealist art-song bandleader Leila Adu  at the Owl, $20 sug don

2/2, 8:30 PM ferociously dynamic, tuneful, female-fronted art-rock power trio Castle Black at the Windjammer, 552 Grandview Ave, Ridgewood, $12

2/3, 7 PM punk-jazz guitar cult hero Jack Martin’s Deathwatch at TV Eye, $10

2/3, 7:30 PM sizzling postbop saxophonist Mike DiRubbo’s quartet  at the Django, $25

2/3, 7:30 cynical, amusing, cinematic synthpunk band Marottes play the album release show for their new one at the Parkside

2/3-4, 7:30 PM  tenor sax improv titan George Garzone leads a quartet at Smalls, $25

2/3, 9 PM tuneful, first-class Kenyan reggae crooner Nixon Omollo at Shrine. If you love classic 70s roots reggae, don’t miss this guy.

2/3, 9 PM iconic klemer trumpeter Frank London’s Spiritual Quartet at Bar Lunatico

2/3, 10:30 PM  picturesque jazz pianist Michael Weiss leads a trio the Django, $25

2/3,11 PM iconic Afro-Cuban percussionist/bandleader Pedrito Martinez at Drom, $25. He’s back on 2/23 at 9 PM

2/4, 7 PM a battle-of-the-bands lineup including a showdown between slinky Afrobeat-influenced band Deep Sea Peach Tree vs. catchy powerpop/dreampop band Royal Blush at Our Wicked Lady, $15. Apples and oranges: they’re both good. Noisy lo-fi soul-punk band Hypemom will dispose of their execrable math-rock competitors

2/4, 7 PM the world’s most unpredictably brilliant cinematic guitarist, Steve Ulrich plays his original scores from This American Life with a string quartet followed by a set by his iconic film noir trio Big Lazy at the Sultan Room, $26

2/4. 7 PM darkly torchy southwestern gothic/Europolitan songwriter/guitarist Miwa Gemini, at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $10

2/4 and 2/9, 7:30 PM bhangra trumpet mastermind Sunny Jain and band at Symphony Space, $35/$25 30 and under

2/4, 8 PM vicious noiserock jamband the the Skull Practitioners– led by Steve Wynn sparring partner/genius guitarist Jason Victor and perennially entertaining punk-soul cult figure Jon Spencer & the Hitmakers at TV Eye, $20

2/4, 8 PM perennially acerbic violin duo String Noise join in an audiovisual performance based on traditional Norwegian knitting patterns with sound artists Stine Janvin and Cory Arcangel at the Clementa Soto Velez auditorium, 107 Suffolk off Rivington, $20

2/4, 9:30 PM  hard-hitting, reverb-iced surf band Strange but Surf, and slinky, Middle Eastern-tinged Pontic surf band the Byzan-tones  at 11 at Otto’s

2/4, 11 PM  80s dancehall reggae hitmaker Sister Nancy  at the Market Hotel, $20

2/5, half past noon/2L390 PM hot 20s jazz trumpeter Jason Prover and band at the Blue Note, $26

2/5, 11 AM chamber jazz  cellist Marika Hughes with eclectic, ambient-tinged guitarist Kyle Sanna  at the Museum of Art & Design, 2 Columbus Cir., $25, coffee/breakfast snacks included

2/5, 2 PM Irish musicians Sean and Deirdre Murtha lead a sea chantey singalong at the South St. Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton St north of the water, free

2/5, 4 PM front porch folk banjo player Allison Kelley – of the Johnson Girls – with her band – at Skinny Dennis

2/5, 5 PM spiky strings galore: Yacouba Sissoko, kora; John Hadfield, percussion; Bridget Kibbey, harp at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church, 178 Bennett Avenue at 189th, Washington Heights, $25

2/5, 8 PM sets from ambient, percussive composer Qasim Naqvi, + MIROVAYA LINIYA (Julia Pello & Heinrich Mueller’s Heisenberg Principle-influenced duo) as well as a video installation by Peter Burr at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

2/5, 8 PM cheery, kinetic 20s hot jazz crew Baby Soda Band at St. Mazie’s. They’re back on 2/12 and 2/26.

2/5, 9 PM choral quartet Agrol Agra sing Bartok works followed by trumpeter Frank London’s ¡No Pasarán! brass band at the Owl, $12 sug don

2/6-7. 7:30 PM alto saxophonist Jesse Davis makes a rare 2-night NYC stand at Smalls with a quartet, $25. He’s also at Mezzrow on 2/10-11

2/6, 8 PM Trio Casals play works by Mozart and Piazzolla at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

2/6, 9 PM unorthodox hot 20s swing string band the Buck and a Quartet Quartet at Skinny Dennis

2/7, 7 PM  funk-jazz crew the Silver Arrow Band at Drom, free. They’re back on  2/22

2/7, 8 PM intense janglerock/Americana/soul songwriter Matt Keating and guitarist Steve Mayone’s catchy project the Bastards of Fine Arts at the small room at the Rockwood

2/8, 9 AM, not a music event but important: thousands of New Yorkers, many of them city workers, are still out of a job after being fired for not taking the lethal Covid injections. Show up and show your support at the rally at Foley Square, downtown across from the courthouse

2/8, 7:30 PM  snidely satirical new wave/80s rock spoofers Office Culture and  hauntingly cinematic Lynchian/southwestern gothic instrumentalists Suss at Public Records, $24

2/8, 8 PM Filharmonie Brno play works by Martinu, Janacek and the New York premiere of Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 12, at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

2/8, 10:30 PM  lyrical, thoughtful tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander leads a quartet at the Django, $25

2/9, 7 PM carnivalesque Balkan punk monstrosity Funkrust Brass Band and wild, hilarious klezmer punks Golem at Union Pool, $19

2/9, 7:30 PM  tuneful oldschool soul/jazz trombonist Dave Gibson leads a quartet followed by  purist oldschool tenor sax player Craig Handy at the Django, $25

2/9, 7:30 PM  tenor saxophonist Tim Ries and his quartet play Sonny Rollins at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

2/9, 7:30 PM soulful pan-Latin jazz chanteuse Claudia Acuña at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

2/9, 9 PM relentless noiserock duo the Venus Twins and explosive, theatrical, phantasmagorical indie/metal band A Deer A Horse at TV Eye, $12

2/9, 9 PM edgy, hypnotic harpist/singer Kitba at the Owl

2/10, 10 PM punk night at the small room at the Rockwood – no joke. Fire Is Murder at 10 and then the reliably hilarious Car Bomb Parade. Desperate times, desperate measures.

2/11-12, sets at 10:30., 11:30 AM and 1:30. & 2:30 PM  Metropolis Ensemble play Ricardo Romaneiro’s mutimedia Biophony SoundGarden in sync with plant-generated soundscapes at the Steinhardt Conservatory at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, $18

2/11, 6 PM potentially mesmerizing improvisation: James Ilgenfritz – bass / Sandy Ewen – guitar / Michael Foster – saxes
  at Downtown Music Gallery

2/11, 7 PM dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues.

2/11, 7:30 PM distinctively intricate, vivid composer/singer/viollinist Caroline Shaw plays Caroline Shaw at Merkin Concert Hall $30

2/11, 8 PM trumpeter Kenny Warren leads an interesting trio with cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell at Bar Bayeux

2/11, 8 PM the Met Orchestra play Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, Stravinsky’s Firebird and Moussorgsky’s Dances of Death, yikes, at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $28 tix avail

2/11, 9 PM fiery electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis  They’re back on 2/27

2/11, 9 PM Innov Gnawa‘s star Moroccan sintir player Samir Langus at Bar Lunatico

2/11, 10:30 PM  fiery, latin-inspired trombonist Mariel Bildstein leads her septet at the Django, $25

2/12, 4 PM the  Harlem Chamber Players play works by Valerie Coleman, Tania León, Frederick Tillis and George Walker’s String Quartet No. 1 at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

2/12, 9 PM pastoral gothic accordion bandleader Sam Reider with the Jimi Hendrix of the cuatro, Jorge Glem at Bar Lunatico

2/13, 7 PM the New York Composers Circle play new small ensemble music: David Picton’s Piano Sonata No. 1, Kevin McCarter’s Responding Variations for oboe and viola, Tamara Cashour’s This Is Not a Reimagining for piccolo and contrabassoon, and Timothy L. Miller’s Two Settings of Ogden Nash Poems for narrator and piano, U.S. premieres of Ukrainian composer Olga Victorova’s Magic Birds Phung Hoan, Andrei Bandura’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and the New York premiere of David Mecionis’s Trio in Two Parts with an Interval Between, Natalia Medvedovskaya’s Ragtimes for piano solo and Debra Kaye’s Submarine Dreams for bass flute and double bass at the National Opera Center, $20

2/13, 7:30 PM  energetic ragtime/Romany swing guitarist Felix Slim at Cowgirl Seahorse. 2/22 at 8 he’s at St. Mazie’s

2/13, 8 PM the Toronto Symphony play Samy Moussa’s Symphony No. 2, Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

2/13, 10:30 PM smartly impressionistic postbop pianist Miki Yamanaka at Smalls. She’s back on 2/27

2/14, half past noon, Italian organist Francesco Bongiorno plays a program tba at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex, free

2/14, 7 PM jazz vocalist/comedian Eleonor England‘s annual Stabby Valentine’s Day “featuring tunes where someone is betrayed, neglected, forgotten, jilted, left, abandoned, denied, or (in a perfect world) stabbed by their lover at Don’t Tell Mama’s 343 W 46th St between 8th and 9th Ave, $20

2/15, 8 PM the S.E.M. Ensemble play new small-scale orchestral works by Lydia Brindamour, Jordan Dykstra, Jakub Polaczyk, Teodora Stepančić, and Jiaqi Wang at Willow Place Auditorium, 26 Willow Place, Brooklyn Heights, free

2/15, 8 PM lyrical, cerebral pianist Matt Mitchell leads a great trio with Kim Cass on bass and Kate Gentile on drums at Bar Bayeux

2/15, 8 PM violist Miranda Sielaff performs work by Telemann, Ligeti and Stravinsky followed by the Argus Quartet playing Theofanidis works at Seeds

2/15, 9 PM iconic, slinky film noir guitar instrumental jamband Big Lazy at Bar Lunatico

2/16, 7 PM powerful, dynamic clarinetist/composer Michael Winograd leads a killer klezmer band playing a live concert recording of his Tanz album at the Manhattan JCC, $10

2/16, 8ish haunting folk noir/Americana songwriter Emily Frembgen followed eventually at around 11 by powerpop/busker icon Patti Rothberg at Otto’s

2/16, 9 PM intriguingly moody, coldly jangly, female-fronted new wave band Nostranders at Our Wicked Lady, $14. They’re at the small room at the Rockwood on 2/26 at 10 for the tip jar

2/16, 8 PM the Czech National Orchestra play works by Dvorak, Brahms and Beethoven’s Symphony No, 3 at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

2/16, 8 PM keyboardists Marcia Basssett and Ted Gordon improvise as a duo on the Buchla Music Easel at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $20

2/17, 7:30 PM merengue band Afro Dominicano at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

2/17, 7:30 PM rising star trumpeter Adam O’Farrill‘s Stranger Days quintet at Seeds

2/17, 8 PM sound artists Thomas Ankersmit and Dani Dobkin play a 1973 Serge Modular synthesizer at Brooklyn Music School, 126 St. Felix St, $20, any train to Atlantic Ave or G to Fulton

2/17, 8 PM intense, ecstatic oldschool soul band Empire Beats at Silvana

2/17, 10 PM the oud-fueled Sedi Donka Balkan Band at St. Mazie’s

2/18, 5:30 PM a free screening of Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s Leonard Cohen documentary Hallelujah at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free

2/18, 7:30 smart, terse guitarist Mike Moreno leads his quartet at Smalls, $25

2/18, 8 PM  luminous latin-inspired jazz chanteuse Marianne Solivan leads her quartet at Bar Bayeux

2/18. 9 PM brilliant, fearlessly political B3 organist Greg Lewis does his Organ Monk thing at Bar Lunatico

2/19, 11 AM: early music at an early hour, Twelfth Night Ensemble plays a medieval program TBA at the Museum of Art & Design, 2 Columbus Cir., $25, coffee/breakfast snacks included

2/19, 3 PM Ronn McFarlane, lute; Carolyn Surrick, viola da gamba; Yousif Sheronick, percussion play works by Dowland, Purcell, the Allman Bros., English folk tunes and hymns at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave,, $25

2/19, 3 PM the New York Virtuoso Singers perform American works including world premieres by Anthony Davis, Peter Zummo, Elena Ruehr, and William McClelland; New York premieres by Tania León, David Patterson, and Edie Hill as well as works by Florence Price, Annea Lockwood, Jessie Montgomery, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Nancy Wertsch, and 18th, 19th and 20th century choral works by William Billings, Charles Ives, at Christ & St Stephen’s Church. 120 W 69th St (bet Broadway and Columbus) $20. 2/25 at 7:30 they sing the choral movements from Bach’s Cantatas 148 through 177, with piano accompanist Will Healy at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

2/19, 5 PM classically-inspired jazz pianist Jason Yeager in a rare duo show with saxophonist Gottfried Stöger at the lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 116 Pinehurst Ave, Washington Heights, A to 181st St., $15

2/19, 6 PM the Sylvan Winds play works by Mario Davidovsky, Kinan Azmeh, Allison Loggins-Hull and Svjetlana Bukvich: at Opera America, 330 7th Ave, $25 adv tix rec

2/19, 9 PM 90s allstar janglerock collective Gramercy Arms play the album release show for their new one at the big room at the Rockwood

2/19, 8 PM edgy jazz cellist Hank Roberts at the Owl. 2/20, 9 PM he’s with Aruan Ortiz on piano and Matt Wilson on drums at Bar Lunatico, wow.

2/21, 6:30 PM a wild night of improvisation: drummer Nick Fraser, viola wizard Mat Maneri and bassist Brandon Lopez,  followed at 7:30 by guitarist Aaron Rubenstein solo  and then at 8:30: Active Field with Nana Futagawa on shamisen, Evan Caplinger on cello, Joe Jordan on oboe, Izzy Tanashian on synth and Orchid McRae on drums, wow   at Downtown Music Gallery

2/21, 7 PM sludgy stoner metal band Reverend Mother, thorny heavy psych band Bone Church and killer heavy psych/stoner boogie band El Perro at St. Vitus, $16

2/21, 7:30 charismatic, adventurous postbop/avant garde trombonist/crooner Frank Lacy at Smalls, $25

2/21, 8 PM Mohamed Araki – keyboard Dave Adewumi – trumpet Gideon Forbes – nay Sami Abu Shumays – violin Sarah Mueller – violin Josh Farrar – electric guitar Marwan Allam – bass Johnny Farraj – percussion Philip Mayer – percussion play a tribute to paradigm-shiffting Egyptian keyboardist Hany Mehanna at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton at Washington, A/C to Clinton-Washington, $20

2/21, 9 PM cinematic, classically-tinged improvisational pianist Miss Kerosene at the small room at the Rockwood

2/22, 8 PMish Mykal Rose, former frontman of roots reggae legends Black Uhuru at SOB’s, $30

2/22, midnight boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with Jack Grace at the Ear Inn

2/22, 10:30 PM purist postbop saxophonist TK Blue leads a quartet at the Django, $25

2/23, 7 PM  pianist Per Tengstrand and a string ensemble play the Grieg Piano Concerto at Scandinavia House, $30

2/23, 7 PM  rustic Piedmont-style blues guitar duo Gordon Lockwood at Terra Blues

2/23. 7:30 PM Dorit Chrysler and her theremin orchestra play her new Alexander Calder-inspired suite at E-Flux, 172 Classon Ave (Myrtle/Park), Bed-Stuy, G to Myrtle-Willoughby, $15

2/23, 7:30 PM the Experiental Orchestra play string quartets and other works by Michelle Ross, Jessie Montgomery and Jessica Meyer at Church of the Advent Hope, 111 E 87th St east of Park, $29/$18 stud

2/23 8 PM Judith Hamann plays works for solo cello by microtonal composer Pascale Criton at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

2/23, 8 PM the North/South Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Max Lifchitz performs recent works by living composers Richard Heller, Xuesi Xu, Sheli Nan and Waiting for Godot (Pandemic Meditations) by Turkish-American composer Münir Beken at Christ & St Stephen’s Church (120 W 69th St – between Broadway and Columbus), free

2/23, 10 PM counterintuitive, whirling, string-driven chamber pop/art-rock band Gadadu at the Owl

2/24-25, 6 PM brilliantly relevant oldtime gospel/Africana music maven Vienna Carroll at the balcony bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w adm

2/24-25, 7:30 PM cutting-edge B3 organ grooves with the Jared Gold quartet at Smalls, $25

2/24, 7:30 PM purist postbop jazz guitarist Ed Cherry and band followed at 10:30 by clever, purist B3 jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga at the Django, $25

2/24, 9ish ex-Chicha Libre keyboard sorcerer Josh Camp’s wryly psychedelic cumbia/tropicalia/dub band Locobeach at Bar Freda, $10

2/24, 10:30 PM pyrotechnic clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski’s ferociously kinetic NY Gypsy All-Stars at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

2/25, 8 PM world-class jazz for the tip jar: revered saxophonist Ravi Coltrane leading a quartet with Luis Perdomo, Drew Gress, EJ Strickland at Bar Bayeux

2/25, 10:30 PM  the great unsung NYC hero of darkly purposeful, noir-tinged jazz guitar, Saul Rubin at Smalls, $25

2/26, 3 PM the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $18 tix avail

2/26, 7:30 PM pianist Illia Ovcharenko plays works by Liszt, Scarlatti, Revutsky and Silvestrov at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $18 tix avail

2/26, 8 PM classical chorale the Downtown Voices sing Caroline Shaw’s “To the Hands” at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free

2/26, 10:30 PM energetic, inventive, gospel-inspired jazz pianist Pete Malinverni leads his trio at the Django, $25

2/27, 8 PM brilliant keyboard-driven doom metal/heavy psych band Early Moods at St. Vitus, $20

2/28. 6:30 PM Gutbucket’s edgy, klezmer-influenced guitarist Ty Citerman with Jen Baker on trombone and Shayna Dunkelman on bass followed by bassist Kyle Motl solo and then the Harmolodics with Ben Green on trumept, Ben Wood on bass and David Ward on drums at Downtown Music Gallery

2/28, 7 PM wildfire polymath violist Stephanie Griffin of the Momenta Quartet leads a different quartet playing her new suite for voice, viola, clarinet, and piano at the Americas Society, 680 Park Ave, free,

2/28, 9 PM singer Veronica Davila’s twangy, Bakersfield-flavored hard honkytonk band Low Roller at Skinny Dennis

A Magical Microtonal Album and a Lower East Side Gig With Violin Innovators String Noise

The 2020 lockdown didn’t stop violin duo String Noise. Over the past couple of years, avant garde violin luminaries Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris have been releasing albums at an epic pace. Serendipitously, they’re back to playing live again. The duo’s next appearance is a somewhat unusual but aptly wintry one, on Feb 4 at 8 PM at the Clemente Soto Velez communithy center at 107 Suffolk St off Rivington. It’s a collaboration with singer/sound artist Stine Janvin and composer Cory Arcangel, where the two violinists will play scores to accompany an audiovisual performance based on the knitting patterns for traditional Norwegian sweaters. Which might mean cozy, or abrasive – or both. Cover is $20; take the F/J/M to Delancey.

The group’s latest album, Way, comprises a trio of texturally delicious microtonal works, streaming at New Focus Recordings. They open with Alex Mincek‘s magically disquieting, microtonal suite, referencing an enigmatic Antonio Machado poem whose central road metaphor could be either liberation or a huis clos. Interestingly, the composer quotes Samuel Beckett in the liner notes.

They begin with muted puffing white noise, up to a steady stride with increasingly acidic microtones and harmonics as the music reaches toward horror. Artful approximations of a minor chord and a tritone shift ever so slightly. Slowly, the two voices begin to diverge and follow separate paths, the harmonies growing warmer and more diverse. There’s a second movement that starts with an approximation of a drifting snowstorm, which builds momentum even as the music becomes more spacious, the steps spaced further apart along with the harmonies. The slow procession eventually reaches an ending that may take you by surprise. It’s as entrancing as it is hypnotic: what a way to open the record!

Up next is Lou Bunk’s five-part suite, Field. The first movement has spritely microtonal flickers that build, fall away and drift delicately into the ether, only to spring back into action, finally up to a slashing peak and then gracefully back down. The duo end it with a series of gently sirening glissandos.

Movement two is more wispy and sepulchral; the next more spacious and surprising, with the occasional doppler effect. The violinists follow a tightly spiraling interweave in the fourth movement and wrap it up with a brief coda that flits by almost imperceptibly.

The album’s final work is (In) Tone, by Catherine Lamb. Uneasy, slow tectonic shifts drift through the sonic frame and diverge like a raga at one-tenth speed. Notwithstanding the glacial pace, the wary atmosphere seldom lifts; likewise, the shimmering harmonics and otherworldly close harmonies. Fans of music that defies the western scale have a feast to sink their ears into here.

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn For January 2023

All these concerts are free of restrictions on entry. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar. If a venue is unfamiliar, look for it on the old guide to NYC music venues here, which is more of a worksheet now, but it has links to most of the places on this calendar.

Three nights in January: 1/17, 1/24 and 1/31, 7:30 PM Inspired, latin-influenced postbop trombonist Conrad Herwig at the Django, $25.

Thursdays in January, 5 PM poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez at Bar Bayeux

Sundays at around 8 PM trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri lead the Ear-Regulars in NYC’s only remaining weekly hot jazz jam session at the Ear Inn

Nothing happening on January 1, what a great way to start the year….

1/2, 8 PM  noir-inspired honkytonk crooner Sean Kershaw at Cowgirl Seahorse

1/2, 9 PM trumpeter Wayne Tucker – who veers between sunny postbop jazz, Afrobeat and goofy vocal shtick – at Bar Lunatico. He’s at Smalls on 1/12 at 7:30 for $25

1/3, 7:30/9 PM noir-inspired pianist  Frank Carlberg plays the album release show for this haunting new Monk trio record with bassist John Hebert and drummer Dan Weiss at Mezzrow, $25

1/3, 10:30 PM Los Hacheros, who play fiery electric tres-driven Cuban sounds at the Django, $25

1/4, 7 PM improvisational alchemy: the Karen Borca Trio: Karen Borca – bassoon / Hilliard Greene – bass / Warren Smith – vibes’ at 8:30 Fred Moten does spoken word with bassist Brandon Lopez, and then at 9 FREE: brilliant saxophonist James Brandon Lewis with William Parker – bass / Melanie Dyer – viola / Juan Pablo Carletti – percussion at the Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond St off Bwy, R to 8th St., $25 adv tix rec

1/4, 8 PM the inspired, careening New York Ska – Jazz Ensemble at City Winery, $15 standing room avail

1/4, 8 PM state-of-the-art postbop alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw  with his Trio, Dezron Douglas and EJ Strickland at Bar Bayeux

1/4, 8:30/9:30 PM  jazz guitar and loopmusic icon Bill Frisell with Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums at Bar Lunatico, note $25 cover per set

1/4, 9 PM oldschool-style high plains C&W singer Hope Debates & North 40 at Skinny Dennis

1/4, 10:30 PM  lyrical, thoughtful tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander leads a trio at the Django, $25

1/5, 7 PM dynamic jazz improvisation: the Cooper-Moore Trio: Cooper-Moore – diddley bow, etc. / Melanie Dyer – viola / Brian Price – reeds; at 8:30pm Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet and Monique Ngozi Nri doing poetry and at 9  lyrical, politically fearless alto saxophonist Isaiah Collier with Antoine Roney – sax / Tchesser Holmes – percussion at the Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond St off Bwy, R to 8th St., $25 adv tix rec

1/5, 7:30 PM Rolling Stones tenor saxophonist Tim Ries at the Django, $25. He’s at Drom on the 19th at 8 for ten bucks less in advance

1/5, 9 PM front porch folk banjo player Allison Kelley – of the Johnson Girls – with her band at Radegast Hall. 1/9 at 9 she’s at at Skinny Dennis

1/5, 9:30 PM ramshackle, entertaining newgrass jamband the Breakneck Boys at the big room at the Rockwood, free, Downstairs psychedelic jazz multi-instrumentalist D. Treut plays the album release show for his new one, also free

1/6, 7 PM free jazz with words: the Isaiah Barr Trio – Isaiah Barr – sax / Sadaf – violin, vocals followed at 8:30 by poet Anne Waldman with Devin Waldman on sax and at 9 ubiquitous bassist  William Parker with dancer wife Patricia Nicholson -Ellen Christi – vocals / Jason Kao Hwang – violin at the Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond St off Bwy, R to 8th St., $25 adv tix rec

1/6, 8 PM kinetic jazz vibraphonista Yuhan Su leads her trio at Bar Bayeux. She’s at Smalls on 1/18 at 7:30 for $25

1/6, 10:30 PM fiery, latin-inspired trombonist Mariel Bildstein at the Django, $25

1/6, midnight intense Indian-influenced psych-folk songwriter Larkin Grimm at Bar Freda

1/7, 4 PM  Sarah Durning plays twangy oldschool-style original honkytonk at  at Skinny Dennis

1/7, 6 PM  great vibraphonist with a noir streak – Joe Locke leads his trio at Bethany Baptist Church, 275 W Market Street, Newark, free

1/7, 7:30 PM tuneful oldschool soul/jazz trombonist Dave Gibson leads his quartet at the Django, $25

1/7, 8 PM elegant folk noir songwriter Jean Rohe and  lustrously tuneful percussionist James Shipp at the Owl

1/7,  monthly surf rock extravaganza at Otto’s begins at 8 PM with jangly New York original surf rock cult heroes the Supertones, at 9:30 guitar mastermind Mike Rosado’s volcanic, pounding Dick Dale-influenced surf band 9th Wave and then at 11  darkly cinematic, ornate instrumentalists the TarantinosNYC

1/7, 8 PM the  NJ Symphony Orchestra with pianist Danil Trifonov play Strauss’ Don Juan and Rosenkavelier suite plus Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 at NJPAC in Newark, $25 tix avail

1/8, 3 PM a rapturous free jazz afternoon: Melanie Dyer We Free Strings: Melanie Dyer – viola / Charles Burnham, Gwen Laster – violin / Alex Waterman – cello / Rahsaan Carter – bass / Newman Taylor Baker – percussion followed at 4:30 by Ensemble Rivbea Revisited:  William Parker – bass, composition / Juma Sultan – perc. / Joseph Daley – tuba, piano / Ted Daniel – trumpet / Ingrid Laubrock – sax / Brandon Lopez – bass at the Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond St off Bwy, R to 8th St., $25 adv tix rec

1/8, 3 PM violinist Kae Nakano leads a trio playing works by Haydn, Chausson and Lewis Spratlan  at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave,, $25

1/9, 7 PM sharp, not a music event but intriguing Eugene Ionesco’s surreal, quirky, classic existentialist play Rhinoceros directed by Chris Noth and Ken Cheeseman at the Cutting Room, $20 sug don

1/9, 10 PM crooner Kevin Harris with jazz organ paradigm-shifter Brian Charette at the Ear Inn

1/10, time tba, cornetist Stephen Haynes and guitarist Joe Morris,  with a string quartet at Zurcher Gallery, $20

1/10, half past noon, Sicilian organist Diego Cannizzarro plays a program tba at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex, free

1/10, 7:30 PM houghtful, dynamic pianist Manuel Valera & New Cuban Express followed at 10:30 PM by oldschool salsa dura band Sonido Costeño at the Django, $25

1/10, 8 PM  funk-jazz crew the Silver Arrow Band at Drom, free. They’re back on 1/24

1/11, 7:30 PM haunting French-Tunisian saxophonist Yacine Boulares at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

1/12, 7 PM African-American string band polymath Rhiannon Giddens, pianist Howard Watkins and a cast of singers celebrate the 30K slaves who ran away from their captors prior to the Civil War, at the Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $35 tix avail

1/12, 7:30 PM smartly impressionistic postbop pianist Miki Yamanaka at the Django, $25. She’s at Smalls on 1/23 and 1/30 at 10:30 for the same deal

1/12, 8 PM Maria Brea, soprano; Arthur Moeller, violin; Odaline de la Martinez & Max Lifchitz, conductor the North/South Chamber Orchestra performing latin-inspired works by Lifchitz, de la Martinez, Carmel Curiel and Federico Ermirio at Christ & St Stephen’s Church. 120 W 69th St (bet Broadway and Columbus), free

1/12, 9 PM the fiery Catalan-flavored Balkan Paradise Orchestra followed by psychedelic latin rockers Battle of Santiago – the missing link between Willie Colon and Pink Floyd – at Drom, $15 adv tix rec\

1/13 day one of the NY Jazz Piano Festival at Klavierhaus, 790 11th Ave, Ground Fl at 54th St. Solo sets, $30 per set. Today’s lineup is colorful klezmer-inspired Uri Caine at noon, postbop stalwart Miki Yamanaka at 3, Yayoi Ikawa at 4;30, Dave Burrell at 6 and latin big band jazz maven Arturo O’Farrill at 7:30.

1/13, 9 PM eclectic pan-latin and Middle Eastern-inflected acoustic songwriter Miriam Elhajli  at the Owl

1/13, 10 PM long-running, wickedly jangly, tuneful Americana rockers the Sloe Guns at Connolly’s

1/13, 10:30 PM jazz organist Ty Bailie leads his trio at the Django, $25

1/14 day two of the NY Jazz Piano Festival at Klavierhaus, 790 11th Ave, Ground Fl at 54th St. Solo sets, $30 per set. Highlights: brilliant latin jazz player Aruan Ortiz at 4:30, epic third-stream improviser Jean-Michel Pilc at 7:30, the more tersely improvisational Rachel Z and group tba at 9

1/14, 7 PM dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues. They’re also here on the 28th

1/14, 7:30 PM Greek surf band Habbina Habbina, psychedelic cumbia crew La Banda Chuska, – who are NYC’s answer to Los Bel-Kings –  clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party, Red Baraat’s bhangra soul trumpeter Sonny Singh, Mafer Bandola playing Venezuelan Joropo Llanero, Iranian violinist and bandleader Mehrnam Rastegari, and electroacoustic drummer Ravish Momin’s Sunken Cages, at Drom, $20

1/14, 8 PM Live Skull in their only third Brooklyn performance since 1985 at St. Vitus, $20,. If Sonic Youth were the noiserock Beatles (ok, they weren’t, just making an analogy here), Live Skull were the Stones

1/14, 10 PM Certain General guitarslinger Phil Gammage plays his dark Americana and blues at Shrine

1/14,10:30 PM ferociously tuneful, kinetic merengue/tropical psychedelic Dominican guitarist Yasser Tejeda & Pelotre at  at the big room at the Rockwood, $10

1/15, day three of the NY Jazz Piano Festival at Klavierhaus, 790 11th Ave, Ground Fl at 54th St. Solo sets, $30 per set. The increasingly haunting Laszlo Gardony at noon, postbop star Orrin Evans at 3, symphonic latin jazz player Dayramir Gonzalez at 4:30, Jean-Michel Pilc at 6, and lyrical Marc Cary at 8.

1/15. 5 PM the orchestrally cinematic Heart of Afghanistan at Drom, $20 adv tix rec. Followed at 8:30 PM by  iconic Afro-Cuban percussionist/bandleader Pedrito Martine‘s Echoes of Africa project, $25 separate adv adm

1/15, 7:30 PM singer Hilary Gardner leads a western swing quartet at Mezzrow, $25

1/15, 9 PM shapeshifting klezmer trumpeter Frank London‘s Spiritual Quartet with Anthony Coleman on piano at Bar Lunatico

1/16, day four of the NY Jazz Piano Festival at Klavierhaus, 790 11th Ave, Ground Fl at 54th St. Solo sets, $30 per set. Brilliant latin player Luis Perdomo at noon, the similar Benito Gonzalez at 1:30, the more kinetic Cuban Elio Villafranca at 3, shapeshifting Aaron Parks at 4:30, trad latin jazz pianist Edsel Gomez and Clifton Anderson at 6.

1/16, 7:30 PM the NYChillharmonic – who play lushly intricate art-rock with big band jazz orchestration – at City Winery, $25 gen adm

1/16. 8 PM mystically haunting Iranian singer/bandleader Mahsa Vahdat at City Winery, $20 gen adm

1/16, 9 PM original blue-eyed soul chanteuse Miss Tess at Skinny Dennis

1/17, 2 PM bassist Kebra-Seyoun Charles plays original works plus pieces by Bach, Mozart and John Hedges at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

1/17, 6:30 PM uneasy multi-reedman Norman Westberg of the Swans solo then at 8 bassist Marc Sloan with Gregor Kitsis from Bowie’s band on strings playing the album release show for their new vinyl record at Downtown Music Gallery

1/17, 8ish lush, hypnotic slowcore/postrockers Bing & Ruth at Union Pool, free

1/19, 7 PM organist Gail Archer plays a concert for peace for Russia and Ukraine with works by composers from both countries at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, free. She really knows this organ and can make it sing

1/19, 7 PM the rustic Piedmont-style blues guitar duo Gordon Lockwood at Terra Blues

1/19, 7:30 PM  entertaining cumbia jazz accordionist/crooner Gregorio Uribe at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

1/19, 8 PM rising star trumpeter Adam O’Farrill‘s colorful, cinematic quartet at Seeds

1/19-21, 8 PM John Zorn and a ten-piece ensemble pay homage to legendary, noisy avant garde guitarist Derek Bailey at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec. 1/19 with Laurie Anderson; 1/20 with Matana Roberts; 1/21 with Amir ElSaffar and others

1/19, 8:30ish the perennially intense, tuneful godfather of edgy, lyrical, anthemic downtown NYC rock, Willie Nile plays his album American Ride at City Winery, $28 standing room avail

1/20, 7:30 PM salsa dura legend Jimmy “El Trombon Criollo” Bosch and the Salsa Masters Orchestra at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

1/20-21, 8 PM incisive, latin-inspired sax improviser Maria Grand,at Seeds, $10. 1/20 she plays a duo set with pianist Maya Keren; 1/21 she leads a chordless trio

1/20, 8 PM haunting Middle Eastern jazz violinist Layale Chaker at the Owl

1/20, 8 PM Palestinian chanteuse and songwriter Mona Miari at Drom $25 adv tix rec

1/20, 8 PM ska-punks Skappository followed by the excellent, eclectic, noir-inspired ska/surf band Drop Party at Otto’s

1/20, 9 PM jazz crooner Richard Julian sings Mose Allison with John Chin on piano at Bar Lunatico

1/20, 9 PM twangy altcountryAmericana/psychedelic crew American String Conspiracy at Freddy’s

1/20, 10:30 PM  clever, purist B3 jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga at the Django, $25

1/21, 4 PM  energetic ragtime/Romany swing guitarist Felix Slim followed eventually at 9 by fiery electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis

1/21, 6 PM versatile Nashville gothic/Americana/psychedelic band the Whiskey Charmers at the small room at the Rockwood

1/21, 9 PM slinky psychedelic Afrobeat band Super Yamba at Bar Lunatico

1/21, 10:30 PM noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton with his quartet at the Django, $25

1/22, 11 AM the Brentano String Quartet play a program tba at the Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, $25, adm incl coffee/breakfast snacks

1/22, 7 PM jangly New York original surf rock cult heroes the Supertones, followed by darkly cinematic, ornate instrumentalists the TarantinosNYC at Otto’s

1/22, 7:30 PM the Iraqi-inspired Moneka Arabic Jazz at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

1/23-24, 8/10:30 PM iconic bassist Ron Carter leads a quartet with Renee Roses, Payton Crossley, Jimmy Greene at the Blue Note, $34

1/23, 9 PM wildfire guitarist Brandon Seabrook with Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums at Bar Lunatico\

1/24, 8 PM bassist Michael Formanek’s Drome Trio featuring special guest pianist Angelica Sanchez at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

1/25, 7 PM the Brooklyn Raga Massive – a rotating cast of A-list Indian, jazz and rock musicians who love to jam out classic Indian themes from over the centuries to the present day – back where they started at Branded Saloon

1/25, 7 PM elegantly lyrical Slavic jazz guitarist Martina Fiserova at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, free

1/25, 7:30 PM guitarist William Tyler and ubiquitous harpist Mary Lattimore play a live score to the documentary film Electric Appalachia at the World Financial Center, free

1/25, 7:30 PM sizzling postbop saxophonist Mike DiRubbo’s quartet followed by the somewhat calmer saxophonist TK Blue leading his at 10:30 at the Django, $25

1/25, 7:30 PM sharply lyrical, cinematic alto saxophonist Dave Pietro leads a quartet at Smalls, $25

1/25-28 8 PM  wildfire vibraphonist Joel Ross makes a live recording with a series of ensembles at Seeds, $10.

1/25, 8 PM colorful harpist Parker Ramsay improvises with Arnie Tanimoto on viola da gamba at Zurcher Gallery, $20

1/25, 9 PM  intense, charismatic oldschool soul belter Sami Stevens  with a string section at Bar Lunatico

1/26, 7 PM dark folk songwriter DW Hunter followed by brilliant psychedelic Great Plains gothic songstress Rose Thomas Bannister at Union Pool, $19

1/26, 7:30 PM Gabriel Martins, cello & Wynona Wang, piano play Saint-Saens’ iconic horror film theme The Swan plus works by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

1/26, 8 PM  intense, fearlessly relevant Middle Eastern clarinetist Kinan Azmeh‘s City band at Drom, $15 adv tix re

1/26, 8 PM epic jazz guitarist Joel Harrison and the Alta String Quartet play the the premiere of his new suite Breath—a requiem but also an affirmation of “anima,” the essence of life, for choir and 15 piece jazz band – at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

1/26, 8 PM Bhutanese guitarist and improviser Tashi Dorji  with muti-instrumentalist Alex Zhang Hungtai, assaultively amusing avant garde singer/composer C. Spencer Yeh and Kwami Winfield, and electroacoustic singer Ka Baird solo at First Unitarian Congregational Church, 119-121 Pierrepont St, downtown Brooklyn, any train to Borough Hall, $20

1/27, 7:30 PM the best singing pianist (and the best piano-playing singer) in jazz, Champian Fulton  followed at 10:30 by New Orleans reedman Craig Handy at the Django, $25

1/27-28. 7:30 PM incisive, bluesy jazz guitarist Dave Stryker leads his organ trio with Jared Gold on B3 at Smalls, $25

1/27, 7 PM moody, cinematic jazz singer Erika Matsuo and her band at the downstairs room at the Rockwood,$10

1/27, 8 PM tenor sax improv titan George Garzone at Bar Bayeux

1/27, 8 PM anthemic newgrass band Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light at the Owl

1/28. 7:30 PM edgy, versatile bassist Max Johnson  leads his trio at the Django, $25

1/28, 8:30 PM twangy Americana band Southpaw and highway rocker Dan Reardon at Hill Country, $26

1/28, 10 PM playful, sly retro 60s psych-pop band Cupid’s Nemesis followed by math-metal band Absurd Condition at the small room at the Rockwood

1/29, half past noon/2:30 PM clever, entertaining, cinematic saxophonist Daniel Bennett with his group at the Blue Note, $23

1/29, 3 PM the NJ Symphony Orchestra with violinist Hilary Hahn play works by Sibelius, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 at NJPAC in Newark, $25 tix avail

1/29, 3:30 PM the L Train Brass Band – which was out of service for a long time but is back in action – at Culture Lab, free

1/29, 9 PM a rare Brooklyn small club gig by paradigm-shifting pan Middle Eastern trumpeter/santoorist Amir Elsaffar at the Owl

1/30, 7:30 PM classy, cinematic, purist NZ jazz pianist Alan Broadbent  leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

1/30, 8 PM legendary John Prine-esque urban country band Maynard & the Musties at Cowgirl Seahorse

1/30, 9 PM King Kozy with colorful tenor saxophonist Michael Blake guitarist Ed Cherry, drummer Allan Mednard, and bassist Tony Scherr at Bar Lunatico

1/30, 9 PM boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with the Jack Grace Band at Skinny Dennis

1/31, 9 PM singer Veronica Davila’s twangy, Bakersfield-flavored hard honkytonk band Low Roller at Skinny Dennis

2/1, 8:30 PM loop-driven art-rock instrumentalists Thee Reps at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton at Washington, A/C to Clinton-Washington, $10

2/4, 7 PM the world’s most unpredictably brilliant cinematic guitarist, Steve Ulrich plays his original scores from This American Life with a quartet followed by a set by his iconic film noir trio Big Lazy at the Sultan Room, $26

2/5, 2 PM Irish musicians Sean and Deirdre Murtha lead a sea chantey singalong at the South St. Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton St north of the water, free

2/13, 7 PM the New York Composers Circle play new small ensemble music: David Picton’s Piano Sonata No. 1, Kevin McCarter’s Responding Variations for oboe and viola, Tamara Cashour’s This Is Not a Reimagining for piccolo and contrabassoon, and Timothy L. Miller’s Two Settings of Ogden Nash Poems for narrator and piano, U.S. premieres of Ukrainian composer Olga Victorova’s Magic Birds Phung Hoan, Andrei Bandura’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and the New York premiere of David Mecionis’s Trio in Two Parts with an Interval Between, Natalia Medvedovskaya’s Ragtimes for piano solo and Debra Kaye’s Submarine Dreams for bass flute and double bass at the National Opera Center, $20

2/14, half past noon, Italian organist Francesco Bongiorno plays a program tba at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex, free

2/19, 3 PM the New York Virtuoso Singers perform American works including world premieres by Anthony Davis, Peter Zummo, Elena Ruehr, and William McClelland; New York premieres by Tania León, David Patterson, and Edie Hill as well as works by Florence Price, Annea Lockwood, Jessie Montgomery, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Nancy Wertsch, and 18th, 19th and 20th century choral works by William Billings, Charles Ives, at Christ & St Stephen’s Church. 120 W 69th St (bet Broadway and Columbus) $20. 2/25 at 7:30 they sing the choral movements from J.S. Bach’s Cantatas 148 through 177, with piano accompanist Will Healy at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn For December 2022

All these concerts are free of restrictions on entry. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar. If a venue is unfamiliar, look for it on the old guide to NYC music venues here, which is more of a worksheet now, but it has links to most of the places on this calendar.

Thursdays in December, 5 PM poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez at Bar Bayeux

Sundays at around 8 PM trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri lead the Ear-Regulars in NYC’s only remaining weekly hot jazz jam session at the Ear Inn

12/1, 7:30 PM pianist Boris Berman plays a one-night-only concert of music by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, at the Baryshnikov Arts Center 450 W 37th St just east of the DiMenna Ctr., $25

12/1, 7:30 PM atmospheric vocal soundscaper Antonina Nowacka and Ego Death the duo of instrument builder Aho Ssan (aka Niamké Désiré) and haunting, atmospheric Polish composer/cellist Resina (aka Karolina Rec) at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

12/1, 7:30 PM the Concert Chorale and Winter Festival Orchestra sing Vvaldi’s Gloria and Timothy Amukele’s What Sweeter Music at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

12/1, 8 PM pyrotechnic clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski’s ferociously kinetic NY Gypsy All-Stars at Drom, $15

12/1, 8 PM catchy guy/girl folk duo First Crush and eclectic noiserock/dreampop/new wave band Percocet and minimalist shoegazers To the Wedding at Bar Freda, $10

12/1, 8/10:30 PM jazz guitar and loopmusic icon Bill Frisell  solo at the Blue Note. 12/2-4 he leads a series of quartets, $35

12/1, 8 PM pianist Helene Grimaud plays works by Chopin, Debussy, Satie, Schumann and Valentin Silvestrov at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $35.50 tix avail

12/2, 7 PM epic, haunting, searingly lyrical art-rock songwriter and baritone crooner Spottiswoode at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $20

12/2, 7 PM  uneful oldschool soul/jazz trombonist Dave Gibson leads his Organ Quartet followed at 11:30 by smartly impressionistic postbop pianist Miki Yamanaka at Cellar Dog. She’s at Smalls on 12/5 and 12/26 at 10:30 for $25; he’s there on 12/17

12/2, 7 PM gorgeously jangly Northern Gothic band the Sadies – minus the late great Dallas Good – at Union Pool, $25

12/2, 7:30 PM brilliant baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian leads a quaret at the Django, $25

12/2-3, 7:30/9 PM acerbic tenor saxophonist Rich Perry leads a quartet with Gary Versace on piano

12/2, 7:30 PM guzheng player Yang Yi leads an ensemble performing Angel Lam‘s song cycle Lost Shanghai (what a timely theme, huh?) at Merkin Concert Hall, $25/$20 srs/$10 stud

12/2, 10:30ish catchy, fun guy/girl indie soul band Sunshine Nights at Freddy’s

12/2-3, 8 PM powerhouse reedwoman Anna Webber’s Shimmer Wince with Adam O’Farrill on trumpet and Mariel Roberts on cello at Seeds

12/2, 8 PM roots reggae bandleader Nixon Omolla at Silvana

12/2, 8 PM  ambitious postbop saxophonist: Kyle Nasser and singer Simona Premazzi lead a quartet at Bar Bayeux

12/2, 9 PM  clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at BAM Cafe

12/3, 2 PM clarinetist Matthew Fontana leads a trio playing works by Bach, Bruch, Mozart and Schumann at the Brooklyn Heights Library, 286 Cadman Plaza W, free

12/3, 3 PM the Momenta Quartet and bassist Hilliard Greene celebrate Meredith Monk’s 80th birthday with a house concert of her music for strings, free, email for deets/NYC location 

12/3, 7 PM dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues. They’re also here on 12/17

12/3, 7 PM twangy altcountryAmericana/psychedelic crew American String Conspiracy at Freddy’s

12/3, 7:30 PM rising star Snehesh Nag on sitar with Aditya Phatak on tabla at the Chhandayan Center For Indian Music, $25

12/3, 7:30 PM the rousingly soulful Harlem Gospel Travelers at City Winery, $15 standing room avail

12/3, 8 PM enveloping, cinematic black metal band Antimony at Lucky 13 Saloon, $12

12/3, 8 PM a 50th anniversary celebration of Lou Reed’s Transformer album with Joe Hurley & the Gents with Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello and members of Bob Dylan’s band, the Ian Hunter Band, Roxy Music, Sonic Youth, with Edward Rogers, Mary Lee Kortes, Ellen Foley, Don Fleming, Tish & Snooky, Richard Barone, Eamon Rush, Roger Clark, Screaming Orphans, Michael Tee, Jesse Bates at City Winery,$30 standing room avail

12/3, 8 PM  evocative alto saxophonist Dmitri Baevsky and his quartet at the Django, $25

12/3, 8 PM  eclectic cosmopolitan jazz singer Sivan Arbell followed by pianist James Carney with Ravi Coltrane, sax; Dezron Douglas, bass; and Tom Rainey, drums.at the Owl

12/3, 8 PM surf night at Otto’s starting with surfed-out tv themes from Commercial Interruption, at 9:30 the alternately jangly and immersive Blue Wave Theory and at 11 cover group Band of Others

12/3, 8 PM new wave/powerpopstress Kira Metcalf followed eventually at 10 by blue-eyed soul guy Ben Pagano at Bar Freda, $10. Avoid the dorky 9 PM act in between

12/3, 9 PM ex-Chicha Libre keyboard sorcerer Josh Camp’s wryly psychedelic cumbia/tropicalia/dub band Locobeach at BAM Cafe

12/3, 11 PM sharply lyrical southwestern gothic/Americana songwriter Tom Shaner at LIC Bar. He’s also here New Years Eve at around the same time

12/4 3 PM iconic, tuneful Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander leads his trio at Trinity Church, free

12/4. 8 PM trombonist Joe Moffet jams with saxophonist Sam Decker followed by trumpeter Kenny Warren’s invigoratingly noisy Sweet World trio with Christopher Hoffman on cello and Nathan Ellman-Bell on drums. at the Owl

12/4. 8 PM Korean oboeist/flutist Gamin leads her ensemble at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

12/4, 9 PM deviously entertaining western swing chanteuse Sweet Megg Farrellt at Skinny Dennis

12/5, 6 PM Dervisi feat. psychedelic guitarist George Sempepos play an acoustic set of haunting 1930s Greek underground anthems and hash-smoking tunes followed by a free screening of Mary Zournazi’s film My Remebetiko Blues at the Opening Gallery, 42 Walker St. (Tribeca), free

12/5, 8 PM catchy female-fronted powerpop band Cool Dead Woman at Our Wicked Lady, $14

12/5, 9 PM expert, extrovert rockabilly/retro rock bassist Eugene Chrysler and band at Skinny Dennis

12/6 Taraf de Chicago at Merkin Concert Hall are sold out

12/6, 7:30 PM vivid pianist Manuel Valera & New Cuban Express at the Django, $25

12/6, 8 PM cellist Amanda Gookin plays solo electroacoustic works by Pamela Z, Jessie Montgomery, Sarah Hennies, Camila Agosto, Seong Ae Kim at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

12/6, 8:30 PM intriguing, atmospheric chamber pop/shoegaze band Year of the Hare at Bar Freda, $10

12/6, 9 PM acerbic, versatile tenor saxophonist Julieta Eugenio leads a chordless trio at Bar Lunatico

12/7 1 PM purist oldschool jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel with bassist Jay Leonhart at the American Folk Art Museum.

12/7, 7 PM clever, purist B3 jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga at Cellar Dog

12/8, 7 PM eclectic 21st century composition specialists NOW Ensemble play a program tba at the Brooklyn Public Library Grand Army Plaza branch

12/8, 8 PM a screening of FW Murnau’s classic silent film Nosferatu with live score by creepy classical ensemble the Flushing Remonstrance at Lucky 13 Saloon, $12

12/7, 7:30 PM salsa/tropicalia cantante Mireya Ramos at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

12/8, 7 PM Gangspil, featuring Sonnich Lydom on accordion and harmonica and Kristian Bugge on fiddle play rarely heard ancient Danish folk songs and dance tunes at Scandinavia House, $15

12/8, 7:30 PM the Korean-inspired Rin Seo Big Band at Culture Lab, $25

12/8, 7:30 PM Colombian vallenato accordionist/singer Diana Burco at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

12/8, 8 PM performance poet Rena Anakwe followed by a rare improvisational showdown with Mary Margaret O’Hara & cellist Peggy Lee at First Unitarian Church, 116 Pierrepont St, downtown Brooklyn, $30, any train to Borough Hall

12/8, 8 PM  Certain General guitarslinger Phil Gammage plays his dark Americana and blues at 11th St Bar. 12/12, 7:30 PM he’s at Cowgirl Seahorse

12/8, 8 PM tenor sax improv titan George Garzone leads his band at Bar Bayeux

12/9, 6:30 PM an ambient set by soundscaper Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe at FLAG, 545 W 25th St, 9th Fl, free, rsvp reqd

12/9, 7 PM  sweepingly intense, smartly lyrical art-rock songwriter Victoria Langford at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $12

12/9, 7 PM soprano Aliana de la Guardia and a sextet perform Gabriel Bouche Caro’s new song cycle on themes of Puerto Rican identity at the Americas Society, 680 Park Ave, free

12/9-10, 7:30/9 PM  tuneful, refreshingly edgy pianist Rachel Z leads a quartet  at Smalls, $25

12/9. 8 PM state-of-the-art trumpeter Dave Douglas‘ Quintet with Jon Irabagon, Matt Mitchell, Matt Penman, Rudy Royston play two sets, the second backing brilliant Elysian Fields guitarist Oren Bloedow at the Owl, $20

12/9, 8:30 PM disquieting Elliott Smith-esque band Horror Movie Marathon at Bar Freda, $10

12/10, 4 PM multi-reedman JD Parran leads an ensemble playing classic ragtime and early jazz by James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters 369th Infantry, then plays his own adventurous stuff with a quartet at All Saints Episcopal Church, 728 7th Ave., south Park Slope, R to Prospect Ave.,

12/10. 6 PM Nora Stanley on sax, Victor Tsilimparis on keys and Eliza Salem on drums jam out at Downtown Music Gallery

12/10, 7:30 PM edgy, versatile bassist Max Johnson  leads his trio at the Django, $25

12/10, 9 PM  fiery electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis

12/10, 10:30 PM  jazz nonet Small Kingdom with powerhouse singer Melanie Scholtz at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $15

12/11, 3 PM cellist Benjamin Larsen leads a trio playing music by Haydn, Chausson and Lewis Spratlin at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave,, $25

12/11, 5 PM brilliantly adventurous harpist Bridget Kibbey and the Calidore String Quartet plays works by Debussy and Caplet’s “Masque of the Red Death” at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church 178 Bennett Avenue at 189th St, free

12/11. 6 PM Random Access Music, led by brilliant clarinetist Thomas Piercy, play rarely performed works by 20th century Japanese avant-garde composers Yoshio Hachimura, Toru Takemitsu, and Joji Yuasa plus world premieres composed for the same instrumentation by NYC-based RAM composers Gilbert Galindo, Masatora Goya, and Frances White at Martha Graham Studio One, 55 Bethune St in the West Village, $25

12/11, 8 PM the ageless, legendary band who started the klezmer revival, the Klezmatics at Drom, expensive, $35 standing room avail

12/11, 9 PM  elegant folk noir songwriter Jean Rohe at the Owl

12/12,7 PM postbop jazz supergroup the Cookers – Billy Harper, Cecil McBee, George Cables, Eddie Henderson, and Billy Hart – at the Schomburg Center, 135th/Malcolm X Blvd, RSVP required:

12/12, 7 PM innovative, atmospheric bassist Brandi Disterheft leads her quartet at Cellar Dog

12/12, 7:30 PM the best singing pianist (and the best piano-playing singer) in jazz, Champian Fulton at the Django, $25

12/12, 8 PM funk-jazz crew the Silver Arrow Band at Drom, free.

12/12, 9 PM Jazz Passengers sax legend Roy Nathanson with trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and Deidre Rodman at Bar Lunatico

12/12, 10 PM boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with the Jack Grace Band  at the Ear Inn

12/13 half past noon organist Paolo Bougeat plays a program tba at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex, free

12/13, 6:30 PM guitarist Ben Tyree with drummer Sameer Gupta followed by Abacoa with bassist Kenneth Jimenez, Hery Paz on sax and Willy Rodriguez on drums, then at 8:30 the Mahakala trio with Chad Fowler, Dave Sewelson on bari sax and Steve Hirsh on drums and at 9:30 noir-inspired low-register reedman Ben Goldberg leading a trio at Downtown Music Gallery

12/13, 7:30/9 PM  sweeping, swinging vibraphonist Behn Gillece leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

12/13, 8 PM  intense janglerock/Americana/soul songwriter Matt Keating and guitarist Steve Mayone’s catchy project the Bastards of Fine Arts at  at the small room at the Rockwood

12/14, 7:30 PM lyrical, thoughtful tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander leads a quartet at the Django, $25

12/14, 8 PM eclectic bassist Nick Dunston’s trio with trombonist Kalia Vandever and DoYeon Kim on gayageum, wow, at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

12/14, 9 PM reliably powerful tenor saxophonist Stacy Dillard leads a chordless trio at Bar Lunatico

12/15, 7 PM the New York Composers Circle presents world premieres of vocal and chamber music by Peter Kelsh, Scott D. Miller, Kevin McCarter, David Mecionis. Emiko Hayashi. Anthony Izzo, Sergey Oskolov and Patrick Andrew Thompson at Church of the Transfiguration, 1 E 29th St, $15

12/15, 8 PM pianist Eva Polgar plays an all-Hungarian program of music by Kodaly, Dubrovay and Kharitonov at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $35 tix avail

12/15, 8 PM the Bergamot Quartet play a program of 21st century music tba at the Owl

12/15. 9 PM haunting, reverb guitar-driven noir cinematic instrumentalists Big Lazy at Bar Lunatico

12/15, 9 PM  iconic Afro-Cuban percussionist/bandleader Pedrito Martinez at Drom, $30 standing room avail

12/16-17, 7 PM politically fearless visionary/tenor sax improviser Matana Roberts solo and klezmer band Black Ox Orkestar at Union Pool, $25

12/16, 7:30 all-female Colombian salsa band Lulada Club at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

12/16, 7:30 PM  jazz organist Mike LeDonne leads a trio at at the Django, $25 12/18. 7 PM he’s at Cellar Dog

12/16-17, 7:30/9 PM  erudite tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery leads a quartet at Smalls, $25

12/16, 8 PM Changing Modes– NYC’s funnest, most unpredictable, sharply lyrical new wave art-rock band – at Hart Bar, 538 Hart St
 (Bushwick/Evergreen), Bushwick, J to Myrtle Ave, $12

12/16, 10 PM fiery, psychedelically bluesy oldschool soul/roadhouse jamband Lizzie & the Makers at the small room at the Rockwood. 12/30 at 8 they’re at Sunny’s

12/16, 11:30 PM a rare NYC appearance by brooding Turkish songwriter Niyazi Koyuncu at Drom, $30 standing room avail

12/17, 7 PM an intimate performance of Randall Woolf and Alex Baxter electroacoustic works and improvisations with Nick Didkovsky-guitar, Emily Duncan-flute, Lynn Bechtold-violin, Tessa Brinckman on flutes and Kathy Supove on piano, at 10 Bleecker St, 7C, west of Broadway, free, early arrival advised..

12/17, 7:30 PM rising star Indian carnatic singer Rucha Jambekar leads her trio with Aditya Phatak on tabla and Anish Dharam on harmonium at the Chhandayan Center For Indian Music, $25

12/17, 8 PM downtown sax vet Marty Ehrlich leads his group at Bar Bayeux

12/17, 9 PM Irish party band the Narrowbacks at Connolly’s, $5ba

12/17, 10:30 PM  noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton  at the Django, $25

12/18, 4 PM  oldschool-style high plains C&W singer Hope Debates & North 40 at Skinny Dennis

12/18, 7:30 PM colorful,  eclectic, paradigm-shifting B3 jazz organist Brian Charette leads a trio at the Django, $25

12/18, 8 PM double jazz bass improvisation: William Parker and saxophonist Lotte Anker with Brandon Lopez at Fridman Gallery, 169 Bowery, $20

12/18, 10 PM uneasily vivid bedroom pop songwriter Allegra Krieger at the Owl

12/19. 7 PM purist postbop jazz guitarist Ed Cherry leads a trio at Cellar Dog

12/19, 8 PM a new music extravaganza: Either/Or Ensemble performs works by Talib Rasul Hakim, Jō Kondō, James Díaz, and Katherine Young. Drew Wesely presents a solo prepared guitar performance in celebration of the release of their album and media book Blank Body. 4tet2duos (Katie Porter, Lucie Vítková, James Ilgenfritz, Teerapat Parnmongkol) presents an extended structured work for improvisers. Eli Wallace celebrates the release of his new album of solo prepared piano music. Ghost Ensemble presents the premiere of Ben Richter’s Rewild.at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

12/19, 9 PM alto saxophonist Caroline Davis’ ambitious Portals quintet at Bar Lunatico

12/19. 10:30 PM cinematically tuneful jazz pianist Steven Feifke’s Big Band at the Django, $25

12/21, 7 PM irrepressible, ebullient Brain Cloud jazz chanteuse/tapdancer Tamar Korn leads her band at Cellar Dog

12/22, 6 PM terse, intense, individualistic, often hypnotic acoustic songwriter Kalyani Singh at the small room at the Rockwood

12/22, 7 PM fiery klezmer fiddler and brilliant composer Alicia Svigals and pianist Donald Sosin play a live score to the 1992 arthouse silent thriller Man Without a World, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl, 1 to Bowling Green, $23

12/22, 8 PM gritty downtown rocker Diane Gentile, dark blues/folk noir/oldschool soul songwriter Kelley Swindall and well-liked, fearlessly political LES soul-rock songwriter/chanteuse Dina Regine at 11th St Bar

12/23, 7 PMcharismatic, adventurous postbop/avant garde trombonist/crooner Frank Lacy leads a quartet followed at 11:30 by deviously entertaining pianist Jinjoo Yoo at Cellar Dog He’s at Smalls on 12/27 at 7:30 for $25

12/23-24, 7:30/9 PM popular lyrical postbop trumpeter Jeremy Pelt leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

12/24, 7 PM the NY String Orchestra play works by Mozart, Tschaikovsky and others at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $21 tix avail. The program repeats on 12/28 at 8.

12/24, 8 PM a rare NYC appearance by versatile Turkish chanteuse Zuleyha Ortak – who ranges from haunting folk tunes to slick Anatolian disco – at Drom, $30 standing room avail

12/26, 7:30/9 PM classy, cinematic, purist NZ jazz pianist Alan Broadbent  leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

12/27,8 PM plaintive Yorkshire/Appalachian singer Jan Bell –whose gloomy chronicles of Brooklyn gentrification are spot-on – with bassist Tina Lama at Sunny’s

12/29, 8:30 PM deviously theatrical oldschool C&W/rockabilly parodists Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.at Otto’s

12/30 7 PM purist postbop guitarist Sheryl Bailey leads her quartet followed at 11:30 by innovative, individualistic jazz organist Jared Gold and his trio at Cellar Dog

12/31, 9 PM the Binky Griptite Orchestra (formerly Sharon Jones’ brilliant oldschool soul backing band) at Bar Lunatico, $20 cover

12/31, 11 PM perennially popular Boston 4th-gen garage rockers Muck & the Mires at Otto’s

1/12, 8 PM Maria Brea, soprano; Arthur Moeller, violin; Odaline de la Martinez & Max Lifchitz, conductor the North/South Chamber Orchestra performing latin-inspired works by Lifchitz, de la Martinez, Carmel Curiel and Federico Ermirio at Christ & St Stephen’s Church. 120 W 69th St (bet Broadway and Columbus), free

2/4/23, 7 PM the world’s most unpredictably brilliant cinematic guitarist, Steve Ulrich plays his original scores from This American Life with a quartet followed by a set by his iconic film noir trio Big Lazy at the Sultan Room, $26

The New York Composers Circle Keep the Creative Torch Burning Through Troubled Times

Last night at the cozy little Church of the Transfiguration on East 29th Street, the New York Composers Circle staged an intriguing performance of five world premieres and a New York premiere that featured a persistent unease as well as moments of puckish humor and considerable outside-the-box imagination.

Pianist Craig Ketter opened the concert with Hubert Howe‘s Moments of Uncertainty, which followed a staggered, increasingly spacious, warily Messiaenic call-and-response through a series of subtle dynamic shifts, some of them increasingly stark and minimalist. In less prosaic terms, a cautious stroll through a briar patch: daunting, but doable with care, as Ketter made sure.

He followed with four preludes and fugues from the second collection that Dary John Mizelle had written to keep himself entertained during the lockdown. Stern blues and oldtime gospel riffs in oddly strolling tempos would disintegrate into atonal ambiguity or push up against a steady, grimly looped walking bassline. A tongue-in-cheek sensibility sometimes percolated to the surface amid the thorns, especially in the baroque gestures of the fugues.

Bill Zito played Richard Brooks‘ Sonata for Guitar, a harmonically biting pavane descending to lithe fingerpicking and back as the first movement warmed with some Elizabethan tinges. The remainder of the work was an acerbic blend of baroque stairstepping with wry jazz phrasing, hints of flamenco and some welcome, recurringly humorous bits.

After the intermission, Ketter returned to the piano for Roger Blanc‘s Fantasy Variations, which the composer described as an attempt to get “maximum bang for buck” out of a seven-note scale. Uneasy close harmonies persisted in the opening stroll, which became more of a hauntingly hypnotic, rising and falling march. Ketter reveled casually in the fanged chromaties of the warily swinging fugue that followed. Blanc invested his buck well here.

Guitarist Oren Fader played Igor Vorobyov’s 2019 piece Elegy in the Old Style, a New York premiere springboarded by the Composers Circle’s ongoing cultural exchange with some of their Moscow colleagues. A call-and-response between spiky harmonics and spare, broodingly resonant chords harked back to Scriabin, an unexpected influence for guitar music. As Fader alternated between steady cascades and a brooding, spacious minimalism, it became a pensive ballad, interrupted.

The final piece on the bill was Consolations, a solo piano partita by Dana Dimitri Richardson. Ketter methodically parsed an increasingly agitated, chromatically-charged ballad for angst and rippling poignancy, then found a missing link between Rachmaninoff and Mompou. The progression from chiming, insistent belltones to High Romantic echoes amid a clenched-teeth, syncopatedly punching drive was the high point of the night.

The third part came across as a somber mid 20th century homage to the Chopin E minor prelude, the fourth a ringing, resounding mashup of a Balkan funeral ballad, Russian romanticism and late-period Ligeti, maybe. It made for a darkly glittering driving coda.

The New York Composers Circle’s next concert is Nov 20 at 2 PM with a program of works-in-progress TBA at the National Opera Center’s 7th floor studio at 333 7th Ave. in midtown. Space is limited and a rsvp is a good idea

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn For November 2022

Frequent updates, with a new calendar for the first week of December coming 12/1. As crazy as the world is right now, it makes more sense to play this by ear and pull together these listings week by week, rather than investing the 30 hours or so that it would take to compile a whole month at a time, only to see those concerts cancelled when the evil Hochul decides to play dictator again. Bookmark this page and hopefully we’ll all get through the end of the year together.

All these concerts are free of restrictions on entry. Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar. If a venue is unfamiliar, look for it on the old guide to NYC music venues here, which is more of a worksheet now, but it has links to most of the places on this calendar.

Sundays at around 8 PM trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) guitarist Matt Munisteri lead the Ear-Regulars in NYC’s only remaining weekly hot jazz jam session at the Ear Inn

11/1, 6:30: PM guitarist Max Kutner with drummer Kevin Shea followed by the potentially combustible Astro Turf with mandolinist Sam Day Harnet, violinist Sana Nagano and bassist Zach Swanson at Downtown Music Gallery

11/1, 7:30 PM guitar-percussion-piano chamber group Hypercube play new music by Seong Ae Kim, Michael Fiday, and others at Mise-En Space, 341 Calyer St (Russell/Humboldt), Greenpoint, G to Greenpoint Ave., $10

11/1, 8 PM bassist Dominic Wagner leads an ensemble plays works by Montag, Martín, Penderecki, Gershwin and his own pieces at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail

11/1, 8 PM funk-jazz crew the Silver Arrow Band at Drom, free. They’re back on the 28th

11/1, 8 PM avant garde piano titan Kathleen Supove, violinist Jennifer Choi and guitarist James Moore play works by Richard Carrick, Lainie Fefferman, James Ilgenfritz, Alexandra Vrebalov, Randall Woolf, and John Zorn at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/1, 9 PM Arthur Kell on bass with Brad Shepik and Nate Radley on guitars, an auspiciously unorthodox lineup, at Bar Lunatico

11/1. 10:30 PM Los Hacheros, who play fiery electric tres-driven Cuban sounds at the Django, $25

11/2, 1 PM purist oldschool jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel resumes his long-running stand at the American Folk Art Museum. He’s back on 11/16

11/2, 7:30/9 PM  purist postbop jazz guitarist Ed Cherry leads a trio at Smalls $25

11/2, 9 PM ferociously tuneful, kinetic merengue/tropical psychedelic Dominican guitarist Yasser Tejeda & Pelotre at Bar Lunatico

11/2. 10:30 PM  lyrical, thoughtful tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander at the Django, $25

11/3, 7 PM the Orchestra Now play obscure pre-WWII works by Brook, Apostel, Braunfels and Kauder at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $15.50 tix avail

11/3, 7 PM classical guitarist Antonio Meneses and cellist Paul Galbraith play works by Bach, Schubert, Albeniz and others at the Americas Society, 680 Park Ave., free, res req to gportale@as-coa.org

11/3, 7:30 PM Rolling Stones tenor saxophonist Tim Ries leads his quintet at the Django, $25. He’s back on 11/10 and 11/17

11/3, 8 PM  iconic trumpeter and fearlessly political composer Wadada Leo Smith duets with low-register reed icon Scott Robinson at Roulette, $20 adv tix rec

11/3 8 PM Americana banjo songwriter Hilary Hawke  at Sunny’s

11/3. 10:30 PM uneful oldschool soul/jazz trombonist Dave Gibson leads his quartet at Smalls, $25.

11/4, 7 PM clever, purist B3 jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga at Cellar Dog

11/4, 8 PM fierce acoustic Americana/gospel/blues songwriter Rhiannon Giddens leads a cool acoustic Americana band with Amythyst Kiah on banjo at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $32 tix avail

11/4, 8 PM ish slinky, horn-driven retro bugalu band Spanglish Fly at SOB’s, $15

11/4, 7:30 PM postbop  trombonist Conrad Herwig leads his quartet at the Django, $25

11/4-5, 7:30 PM  jazz organist Mike LeDonne leads a quintet at Smalls, $25. He’s also at the Django on 11/6 at 9

11/4, 8 PM wryly lyrical urban Americana vet Alex Battles at Sunny’s

11/4, 8 PM riveting Japanese shamisen player/singer/improviser Emi Makabe leads a trio with Thomas Morgan on bass, Vitor Gonçalves on piano/accordion at Bar Bayeux

11/4, 9 PM good-natured newgrass band Grain Thief at the downstairs room at the Rockwood, $12

11/4, 10 PM roots reggae band Sons of Solomon at Shrine

11/4. 10:30 PM classy, cinematic, purist NZ jazz pianist Alan Broadbent  leads a trio at Mezzrow, $25

11/5, 7:30 PM expressive carnatic singer Rajyashree Ghosh with tabla sorcerer Samir Chatterjee and Anirban Chakraborty on harmonium at the Chhandayan Center For Indian Music, $25

11/5. 8 PM a surf rock triplebill: Drip 2.0, the incisive Surf Junkies and at 11 darkly cinematic, ornate instrumentalists the TarantinosNYC.at Otto’s

11/5, 8 PM surreali art-song chanteuse Leila Adu and eclectic, tuneful folk noir accordionist/guitarist/songwriter Ali Dineen at the Owl, $12

11/5, 8 ish dynamic oldschool-style soul songstress Danielle Ponder at SOB’s, $20

11/5, 9 PM brilliant, fearlessly political B3 organist Greg Lewis does his Organ Monk thing at Bar Lunatico

11/5,10:30 PM  the great unsung NYC hero of darkly purposeful, noir-tinged jazz guitar,Saul Rubin leads his quartet at Smalls, $25.

11/6, 4 PM fiery, deviously fun oldtimey swing guitarist/crooner Seth Kessel at Skinny Dennis

11/6, 6 PM the Dave Stryker Organ Quartet play their low-down grooves at Cellar Dog

11/6. 6:30 PM New Orleans reedman Craig Handy followed at 9 by  jazz organist Mike LeDonne and trio at the Django, $25

11/6, 7:30 PM electrifying vibraphonist Simon Moullier and band at Smalls, $25.

11/6, 7:30 PM luminous latin-inspired jazz chanteuse Marianne Solivan at Mezzrow, $25

11/7, 7:30 PM violist Thomas Reibl and pianist Thomas Sauer play works by Schubert, Bach and Garth Knox at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $23 tix avail

11/7. 8 PM pianist Myra Melford’s Fire and Water chamber jazz quintet at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/7, 9 PM pastoral gothic accordion bandleader Sam Reider with the Jimi Hendrix of the cuatro, Jorge Glem at Bar Lunatico

11/7, 9 PM boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with Jack Grace at Skinny Dennis

11/7, 10:30 PM tuneful, epic bassist Marcos Varela leads a piano-guitar quartet at the Django, $25

11/7. 10:30 PM smartly impressionistic postbop pianist Miki Yamanaka at Smalls, $25

11/8, 7 PM  haunting Middle Eastern jazz bassist Petros Klampanis leads a trio with pianist Kristjan Randalu at Drom, $15 adv tix rec

11/8, 7:30 PM a musical program featuring the poetry of iconic Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge! with Reidun Horvei (voice) and Inger-Kristine Riber (keyboard and composition) at Scandinavia House, free

11/8. 7:30/9 PM eclectic. edgy violinist Zach Brock and pianist Steve Sandberg at Mezzrow, $25

11/8, half past noon organist Mark Pacoe plays a program tba at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex

11/8, .8 PM ska/rockabilly band the Sweet Talkers and  wickedly jangly surf/twang/country instrumentalists the Bakersfield Breakers at 11th St Bar

11/8, 9 PM singer Veronica Davila’s twangy, Bakersfield-flavored hard honkytonk band Low Roller at Skinny Dennis

11/9, 7 PM lyrical Mingus band pianist David Kikoski solo at the Cutting Room, $24 adv tix rec

11/9, 7:30 PM haunting Turkish six-string kopuz player Ismet Ertas leads a quintet at Drom, $15 adv tix rec

11/9, 10 PM Melissa Gordon of Melissa & the Mannequins, one of the best purist janglerock songwriters in NYC, at LIC Bar. She’s also here on 11/16, 11/23 and 11/30

11/10, 7 PM underground NYC soul legend and crooner Ellis Hooks at Terra Blues

11/10, 7:30 PM poignant Palestinian pianist Rami Khalife at Drom, $25 adv tix rec. Followed at 9:30 PM (separate $15 adm) by a rare appearance by Turkish jazz bassist and singer Esra Kayıkçı with her quartet including Bilge Gunaydin on piano

11/10, 8 PM the bassoon/keyboard Sara Schoenbeck/Wayne Horvitz Duo perform material from their debut album, followed by spare, allusively haunting pianist/songwriter Robin Holcomb playing the album release show for her excellent new one  at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/10, 8 PM a screening of Buster Keaton’s The General with music by Trio Ferrovia at the Owl, $12

11/10, 8 PM bombastic Massachusetts punk legends the Nervous Eaters and agelessly slashing, tuneful janglerock/powerpop icon Willie Nile at City Winery, $30 standing room avail

11/10, 11:30 PM deviously entertaining pianist Jinjoo Yoo leads her Quartet at Cellar Dog

11/11, 7 PM trumpeter Wayne Tucker – who veers between sunny postbop jazz, Afrobeat and goofy vocal shtick – leads his quartet at Cellar Dog

11/11, 8 PM violist Joanna Mattrey and percussionist Billy Martin’s spiritually-inspired Chanting project at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/11-12, 7:30/9 PM free jazz tenor sax legend George Garzone leads a quartet at Smalls, $25. 11/12 the equally oldschool, purist  tenor guy Eric Wyatt  plays at 10:30 and runs the jam session afterward

11/11, 9 PM  cult favorite gonzo pianist Dred Scott‘s Cali Mambo band with Tom Beckham on vibes at Bar Lunatico, 11/15 at 7:30/9 PM Scott leads his regular trio at Smalls, $25

11/12, 4 PM  Sarah Durning & the Fun Sisters play twangy oldschool-style original honkytonk at Skinny Dennis

11/12, 6:30 PM sound artists Jad Atoui, Susie Ibarra, and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe build surround-soundscapes to accompany Tarek Atoui’s exhibit The Whisperers at FLAG, 545 W 25th St, 9th Fl, free, rsvp reqd

11/12. 8 PM violinist Layth Sidiq – artistic director of the New York Arabic Orchestra – leads his quartet at Roulette, $30 adv tix rec

11/12, 8 PM bassist Dan Loomis leads his jazz quartet with Noa Fort – vocals; Mike McGinnis – clarinet; Jeff Miles – guitar playing his song cycle about the secret life of trees at a house concert in Ditmas Park, $18, email for deets

11/13, 3 PM cellist  Benjamin Larsen leads an eclectic quintet with guitarist Jordan Dodson playing works by Mozart, Paganini, Salerni and Dvorak  on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave, $25

11/13, 3 PM the Downtown Voices and the NOVUS NY string quartet present works by Undine Smith Moore, Jessie Montgomery, Jenni Brandon, and David Lang at Trinity Church, free

11/13, 4 PM Malian kora wizard Yacouba Sissoko at the Dreck Center at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, free

11/13, 7 PM otherworldly Ukrainian harmony vocal trio Zozulka, rustic Colombian coastal trance-dance band La Manga and Greek psychedelic band Habbina Habbina at Pioneer Works, free

11/13, 7/9:30 PM baritone saxophonists Frank Basile and Gary Smulyan lead a quintet at Smalls, $25

11/13, 8 PM Changing Modes– NYC’s funnest, most unpredictable, sharply lyrical new wave art-rock band at Bar Freda, 801 Seneca Ave. in Ridgewood, M to Seneca Ave., $10

11/13, 8 PM retro continental swing sounds with singer Tatiana Eva-Marie & the Avalon Jazz Band at Drom, $25

11/13. 9 PM fiery electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis

11/14, 8 PM Maria Brea, soprano; Melisa Bonetti, mezzo-soprano and Max Lifchitz, piano perform works by Ruth Crawford, Odaline de la Martinez, Aurelio de la Vega, Osvaldo Golijov, Robert Fleisher, James Kachulis, Max Lifchitz, Robert Martin, William Ortiz, & Francisco Zapata-Bello.at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Fl, free

11/14, 10 PM crooner Kevin Harris with jazz organ paradigm-shifter Brian Charette at the Ear Inn

11/15, 1 PM Bardekova Ensemble play woodwind music of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Ellington, Celia Cruz and others Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, 3225 Reservoir Oval East in the Bronx, 4 to Mosholu Pkwy

11/15, 6:30 PM a wild night of improvisation: a rare solo show by downtown jazz guitar icon Elliott Sharp followed by the Bob Musso/Mark Daterman guitar duo and then tuba player Ben Stapp with violinist Olivia De Prato at Downtown Music Gallery

11/15, 7 PM  innovative, atmospheric bassist Brandi Disterheft leads her quartet at Cellar Dog

11/15, 7 PM the New York Composers Circle play new music: Hubert Howe’s Moments of Uncertainty, Marina Shmotova’s Games I-III, Roger Blanc’s Fantasy Variations, Dana Dimitri Richardson’s Consolations, all for piano solo, Richard Brooks’s Sonata, Igor Vorobyov’s Elegy in the Old Style, both for solo guitar and Christopher Kaufman’s Mercury’s Shadow for 2 violins at Church of the Transfiguration, 1 E 29th St off 5th Ave, $15

11/15, 8 PM  fascinatingly lyrical, individualistic pianist Sylvie Courvoisier‘s lush Chimeara sextet feat. Christian Fennesz, Wadada Leo Smith, Nate Wooley, Drew Gress & Kenny Wollesen, wow at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/16, 1 PM NOVUS NY, soloists from the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Sandbox Percussion perform George Crumb’s American Songbook No. 1: The River of Life: Songs of Joy and Sorrow and Bartok’s Divertimento led by concertmaster Katie Hyun at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free

11/16, 10:30 PM tuneful, refreshingly edgy pianist Rachel Z leads her quartet at the Django, $25

11/17, 7 PM pianist Per Tengstrand and ensemble play Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto at Scandinavia House, $30

11/17, 7 PM the rustic Piedmont-style blues guitar duo Gordon Lockwood at Terra Blues

11/17, 8 PM Lloyd Cole plays a career retrospective at City Winery. $30 tix avail. He had a good run in the 80s as a Elvis Costello Jr. type and then in the 90s with a more psychedelic sound, would be interesting to see what he has left in the tank.

11/17, 7 PM organist David Enlow plays an all Cesar Franck program at Church of the Ascension, 10th St/5th Ave, $20. The organ there has rich French style colors and is well suited to the composer’s work.

11/18, 7:30 PM the Philosonia Quartet: Ji in Yang (violin), Stanichka Dimitrova (violin), Luke Fleming (viola), and Michael Katz (cello) perform works by Charles Peck, Alexander Borodin, & Dmitri Shostakovich at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $20/$15 stud/srs

11/18. 7:30 PM bass goddess/soul singer Felice Rosser’s ageless reggae-rock-groove band Faith at the small room at the Rockwood

11/18, 7:30 PM jazz pianist Aaron Diehl performs Sir Roland Hanna’s 24 Preludes in their entirety alongside a prelude and fugue by J.S. Bach – plus a new composition at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

11/18, 8 PM Laurie Anderson, agelessly funny, perennially relevant grand dame of the avant garde, solo at Pioneer Works, $30 adv tix rec

11/18, 8 PM Renee LoBue’s darkly catchy veteran powerpop/art-rock band Elk City and jagged-edged Wire-ish postpunks Savak at Union Pool, $16

11/18 8 PM Lizzie Edwards of fiery, psychedelically bluesy oldschool soul/roadhouse jamband Lizzie & the Makers at Sunny’s

11/18, 8 PM ska night at Otto’s with surf band the Yeggs, Mephiskapheles spinoff Barbicide, the contagiously catchy Pandemics and at 11 slinky cumbia/reggae band Stop the Presses

11/18, 9ish psychedelic cumibia band Los Aliens play the album release show for their new one at C’Mon Everybody, $13

11/18, 11 PM ish dark carnival rock icon Franz Nicolay plays the album release show for his new one at Bar Freda in Ridgewood, $12

11/19, noon, there’s a freedom rally at Union Square. Bring friends, these things are fun!

11/19, 7:30 PM a serendipitous duo: lyrical pianist Geoffrey Keezer and innovative saxophonist Caroline Davis at Mezzrow, $25

11/19, 7:30 PM prolific postbop composer and tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser  leads a quintet at Smalls, $25

11/19, 7:30 PM Harold Rosenbaum conducts the New York Virtuoso Singers performing the choral movements from J.S. Bach’s Cantatas 134 through 146, with piano accompanist Eduardo de la Vega at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

11/19, 10 PM Certain General guitarslinger Phil Gammage plays his dark Americana and blues at Shrine

11/19, 10:30 PM powerhouse trombonist Mariel Bildstein leads a septet at the Django, $25 11/25, 11:30 PM she’s with her Quartet at Cellar Dog

11/20, 11 AM (in the morning) the Isidore String Quartet perform Dinuk Wijeratne’s The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini, selections from J. S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue, and Billy Childs’ String Quartet No. 2 “Awakening” at the Museum of Art & Design, 2 Columbus Cir., $25, coffee/breakfast snacks included

11/20, 5 PM  soaring, politically relevant, brilliantly purposeful alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon with pianist Luis Perdomo, piano at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church 178 Bennett Avenue at 189th St, free

11/20, 8 PM cult favorite improvisational pianist Yuko Fujiayama leads a sextet with Jen Shyu, Graham Haynes, Reggie Nicholson at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec. She’s back on the 21st with another unit including Sylvie Courvoisier, Ned Rothenberg, Do Yeon Kim, Satoshi Takeishi, Shoko Nagai,

11/20, 8 PM ish ska night with aggro reggaeton band Dub Corps, the Capturers and the ageless Hub City Stompers at Gold Sounds, $18

11/20, 8 PM trumpeter Wayne Tucker leads a trio at Bar Lunatico

11/21, 6:30 PM Cameron Campbell improvises solo on keys followed by saxophonist Ayumi Ishito, guitarist Aron Namenwirth and drummer Kevin Shea jamming at Downtown Music Gallery

11/21, 7 PM Neil Rolnick celebrates the release of his new album Lockdown Fantasies with spectacular and adventurous pianists Geoffrey Burleson and Kathleen Supové in two large scale pieces for piano and electronics at Mise-En Place in Greenpoint, $10

11/21, 10:30 PM  smartly impressionistic postbop pianist Miki Yamanaka at Smalls, $25

11/22, 1 PM wildfire Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda leads his trio at St. Paul’s Chapel downtown, free

11/22, 7:30 PM colorful tenor saxophonist Michael Blake leads a quartet at Smalls, $25

11/22, 7:30 PM  kinetic Cuban jazz pianist Elio Villafranca leads a trio and choir playing his suite about Cuban freedom fighter Florentina Zulueta battling slave traders and conquistadors at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free

11/22-27, 8/10:30 PM perennially vital latin jazz piano sage Eddie Palmieri  at the Blue Note, expensive, $35 standing room avail

11/22, 9 PM the eclectic, electrifying accordion-driven Los Mochuelos play classic gangsta Colombian vallenato and cumbia at Terraza 7, $15

11/23, 7:30 PM the best singing pianist (and the best piano-playing singer) in jazz, Champian Fulton in followed at 10:30 by noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton at the Django, $25

11/23, 8 PM sharply lyrical southwestern gothic/Americana songwriter Tom Shaner followed at 10 by purist janglerock songwriter Melissa Gordon of Melissa & the Mannequins, at LIC Bar

11/23, 9 PM high voltage Irish drinking music with  Shilelagh Law at Connolly’s

11/24, 10:30 PM charismatic, adventurous postbop/avant garde trombonist/crooner Frank Lacy leads a quartet at Smalls, $25

11/25, 6 PM the Catalyst Quartet play works by Florence Price, Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges), Germaine Tailleferre, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, William Grant Still, Ethel Smyth, George Walker at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Where? Ask the front desk girl

11/25-26, 7:30 PM a rare intimate solo show by Bill Evans-inspired pianist Bill Charlap at Mezzrow, $25

11/25, 8 PM irrepressible, ebullient Brain Cloud jazz chanteuse/tapdancer Tamar Korn  at Sunny’s

11/26, 7:30 PM evocative alto saxophonist Dmitri Baevsky leads his quartet at Smalls, $25. He pares it down to a trio at Mezzrow on 11/28, same time

11/26, 9 PM  the Binky Griptite Orchestra (formerly Sharon Jones’ brilliant oldschool soul backing band) at Bar Lunatico

11/26, 9 PM deviously entertaining hot 20s swing chanteuse Sweet Megg Farrell puts on her cowboy hat at Skinny Dennis

11/27, 7:30 PM crystalline-voiced, noir-tinged third-stream jazz chanteuse Tessa Souter with Luis Perdomo on piano and Dezron Douglas on bass at Mezzrow, $25

11/27, 7 PM whirlwind Indian violinist Arun Ramamurthy followed by Dan Kurfirst’s Arkinetics playing the album release show for their mesmerizing new one at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

11/28, 7:30 PM  eclectic, witty, paradigm-shifting B3 jazz organist Brian Charette  with a quintet at the Django, $25

11/28, 8 PM a great adventurous lineup: cornetist Kirk Knuffke with Matthew Shipp on piano and Michael Bisio on bass at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/28. 8 PM thoughtful saxophonist Alain Metrailler with Dana Saul (piano), Mathias Jensen (bass), Matt Honor (drums) at Branded Saloon

11/29, 7:30/9 PM catchy, intricate guitarist Alicyn Yaffee – who bridges the gap between postbop jazz, pensive parlor pop and art-rock with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and bassist Russell Hall at Mezzrow, $25

11/29, 8 PM powerhouse saxophonists Anna Webber and Angela Morris join forces with their Webber/Morris Big Band playing adventurous 18-piece big band jazz  at Roulette, $25 adv tix rec

11/29, 9 PM  tunefully eclectic pianist Leo Genovese leads a trio at Bar Lunatico

11/29-30, 8/10:30 PM guitar icon Bill Frisell leads an amazing quintet with Tony Scherr and Thomas Morgan on bass, Kenny Wollesen and Rudy Royston on drums at the Blue Note, $30 standing room avail

11/29, 9 PM ex-Chicha Libre keyboard sorcerer Josh Camp’s wryly psychedelic cumbia/tropicalia/dub band Locobeach at Terraza 7, $15

11/29, 10:30 PM Los Hacheros, who play fiery electric tres-driven Cuban sounds at the Django, $25

11/30, 6:30 PM the Modus Operandi Orchestra play a fantastic program of works by Jessie Montgomery, Richard Strauss’s epic Metamorphosen and Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony (the orchestral arrangement of his haunting String Quartet No. 8) and Piano Concerto No. 1 at Merkin Concert Hall, $30

11/30, 7:30 PM  tuneful, refreshingly edgy pianist Rachel Z leads her trio at the Django, $25

11/30, 7:30/9 PM a rare duo show with one of the great orchestrally-minded composers in jazz, Mike Holober on piano with Charles Pillow on soprano sax at Mezzrow, $25

11/30, 9 PM colorful, politically fearless jazz pianist Eri Yamamoto at Bar Lunatico

11/30, 7 PM short sets by crystalline-voiced noir Americana songwriter Jessie Kilguss, Lusterlit art-rock tunesmith Charlie Nieland, Americana songstress Andi Rae Healy, and others at Branded Saloon

12/1, 7:30 PM pianist Boris Berman plays a one-night-only concert of music by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, at the Baryshnikov Arts Center 450 W 37th St just east of the DiMenna Ctr., $25