Revisiting Fiery Violinist Briga’s Wildly Eclectic Balkan Album

Quebecoise violinist Brigitte Dajczer, who performs under the name Briga for branding’s sake, put out a 2017 album, Femme, which made the best albums of year page here, Then it disappeared into the abyss known as this blog’s hard drive. If you missed it then, you missed a deliciously entertaining mix of songs from across the Balkans along with several similarly diverse originals. Looking at the international cast of special guests on it, it’s obvious that they knew she was on to something good. She sings in French and several Eastern European languages as well. The album is still up at Bandcamp.

The first track is Ibrahim, a bouncingly bittersweet love song with a break for a wildfire solo by kanun player Didem Bagar. New York’s own Eva Salina supplies otherworly harmonies on the tightly pulsing Albanian song Dada Do Ta Shes, the bandleader opening it with a stark solo over accordionist Alix Noel’s drone. As the song goes on, he switches to synth for wry P-Funk textures, bassist Gregoire Carrier-Bonneau hitting a nimbly syncopated groove in tandem with drummer Marton Maderspach and percussionist Tacfarinas Kichou.

Accordionist Sergiu Popa duets with Dajczer on the fleetingly joyful Romanian song Dragoi. Svetulka Rachenitsa, a breathless south Serbian-flavored dance tune, features alto saxophonist Ariane Morin matching Dajcer’s ferocity; Noel’s eerily blipping keys add an unexpected psychedelic edge.

Guest chanteuse Tamar Ilana opens the slow, haunting epic Pour Pelin – inspired by Marcel Khalife’s Asfour – with a sharply plaintive solo over another accordion drone. Again, Bagar’s kanun ripples and pounces, then hands off to the string section (which also includes cellist Gael Huard) and the music grows more lushly orchestral.

Elfassi is a rai hip-hop tune with an amusing stoner rap in French from Giselle Numba One. The album’s itle track is an icepick-precise mashup of Balkan brass and salsa, Briga’s violin leaping over an undulating, tumbling groove featuring trombonist Rachel Lemisch. Briga and singer/violinist Iva Bittova duet on the stark, stripped-down dance tune Mama Irena.

Cafe Sarajevo is a fond, trippy, North African-flavored disco portait of a party spot there, inspired by rai music legend Cheika Rimitti. Briga really picks up the pace and cuts loose on the rapidfire, strutting minor-key Chanson Moldave…and then they speed it up some more! Eva Salina and Popa close the album with a calmly passionate, benedictory duet. From a New York perspective, this is Golden Fest in a box. May we get a Golden Fest in 2021.

Klezmer-Ish Put a Playful, Eclectic Spin on Gorgeous Old Jewish Melodies

There are plenty of bands who put a darkly improvisational spin on old Jewish folk songs, but Klezmer-ish are different. Take the version of the popular Klezmer Freilach, which opens their new album Dusty Road, streaming at Spotify. There isn’t just romping clarinet – that’s Thomas Verity on bass clarinet. There’s also cello, and bouzouki, and hints of Romany jazz, and a nebulous, suspenseful interlude midway through. Among other klezmer groups, Mames Babegenush are the obvious comparison, but Klezmer-ish are more lavishly textured.

The group strut in unison through the album’s second number, Padelasol Fetalor: what a commitment to staccato. They build an elegant, moody web of counterpoint in Volver, Marcel Becker’s bass anchoring the clarinet, Rob Shepley’s  imploring violin and Concettina Del Vecchio’s accordion weaving a veil and then piercing it.

September Sun comes across as a more hi-de-ho take on Django Reinhardt, with a spare, jaunty bass-and-guitar conversation. Becker’s wistfully bowed bass solo opens Kicho, eventually pairing up with lush, majestic accordion. A broodingly crescendoing bass-carinet-and- bass duet opens another popular standard, Hershel, kicking off a catchy minor-key romp by the whole band and then a ridiculous cartoon-horse interlude.

Spare bass clarinet and guitar pair off in Amud Ha’Esch, then pensively sweeping strings take over. I’m Confessin’ isn’t a klezmer tune, but this slowly simmering swing arrangement fits the instrumentation well. Django Reinhardt’s  Blue Drag works even better in this context, Shepley firing off the album’s most lusciously spiky guitar solo.

With its steady, ambling groove and unexpectedly psychedelic guitar, Give Me a Lift to Tzfat is the most chromatically tasty track on the record. The group pair a searchingly clarinet-fueled doina with a similarly moody, bluesy sher and close with the title cut, underscoring the fact that they excel the most with instrumentals.

NYC “Concert Calendar” for September 2020

This is more of a sticky note for the fridge than a real concert calendar: lots of stuff going on, but nobody’s talking about it outside of small circles of friends. Most of the publicly announced concerts are jazz and classical since it’s unamplified, outdoors and unlikely to draw the attention of Cuomo’s gestapo.

9/5, 1 PM saxophonist Marquis Hill leads his Quartet at the Mall in Central Park, close to the Naumburg Bandshell, more or less mid-park, enter at 72nd St. Then the next day Sept 6, 1 PM saxophonist Michael Thomas is there with his trio.

9/7, 4 PM new all-female string quartet the Overlook play an amazing program of music by black composers: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and others at the Morris-Jumel Mansion, outdoors, 65 Jumel Terrace two blocks east of Amsterdam Ave just off 160th St., A/C to 163rd St 

9/14, 5:30 PM members of the American Symphony Orchestra play rare works by African-American composers including Jessie Montgomery, William Grant Still, Florence Price and others at Bryant Park

9/19, 1 PM the Leap Day Trio with drummer Matt Wilson, bassist/vocalist Mimi Jones and saxophonist Jeff Lederer at the mall in Central Park, close to the Naumburg  Bandshell, enter at 72nd St.

9/19, 2 PM guitarist Andreas Arnold plays original flamenco compositions and classics at an outdoor house concert in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, free, email for address/deets 

9/19, 3 PM Gail Archer plays rare Ukrainian organ works at St. John Nepomucene Church, 411 East 66th St, at 1st Ave, free

9/20, 1 PM wildfire vibraphonist Joel Ross’ Quartet with saxophonist Sergio Tabanico, drummer Craig Weinrib and bassist Rashaan Carter at the mall in Central Park, close to the Naumburg  Bandshell, enter at 72nd St.

9/20, 3:30 PM bass goddess/soul singer Felice Rosser’s ageless reggae-rock-groove band Faith outdoors at the Front, 526 E 11th St.

9/21, 5:30 PM members of the American Symphony Orchestra play string quartets by Samuel Barber and Nino Rota at Bryant Park

9/26, 1 PM drummer Nasheet Waits with saxophonist Mark Turner and bassist Rashaan Carter at the mall in Central Park, close to the Naumburg  Bandshell, enter at 72nd St

9/26, 3 PM the S.E.M. Ensemble play works by Robert Ashley, Morton Feldman, Alvin Lucier and Petr Kotik outdoors at 25 Columbia Place on the Brooklyn Prom, take State St to the Prom free, rsvp req if you want a seat

9/27, 1 PM intense saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins with drummer Nazir Ebo and bassist Burniss Earl Travis at the mall in Central Park, close to the Naumburg  Bandshell, enter at 72nd St.

10/4, 1 PM saxophonist Darius Jones with drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Dezron Douglas at the mall in Central Park, close to the Naumburg  Bandshell, enter at 72nd St.

10/17, 3 PM organist Austin Philemon plays a program TBA at St. John Nepomucene Church, 411 East 66th St at 1st Ave, sug don

10/20, 5 PM, not in NYC but fairly close on the Metro North train, a septet of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra musicians perform Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 arranged by Franz Hasenöhrl, plus Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, in celebration of the composer’s 250th birthday,at the Reformed Church of Bronxville, 180 Pondfield Rd, Bronxville, free, bring your own lawn chair

11/14, 3 PM organist Mark Pacoe plays a program TBA at St. John Nepomucene Church, 411 East 66th St at 1st Ave, sug don

12/12, 3 PM organist Maria Rayzvasser plays a program TBA at St. John Nepomucene Church, 411 East 66th St at 1st Ave, sug don

There may be other outdoor shows going on this month where the artists are comfortable inviting the public – if so, you’ll see them here.

A Broodingly Gorgeous New Album From Klezmer Innovators Shtreiml

Shtreiml have been taking the klezmer tradition to unexpected and interesting new places for a long time. Their latest album Har Meron is just out and streaming at Bandcamp. It’s a suite of sorts, a dynamic, often pensive theme and variations that draws on many styles from across the Jewish diaspora, jazz, Balkan and latin music.

Frontman Jason Rosenblatt builds minor-key suspense and majesty at the piano in the overture, trombonist Rachel Lemisch’s vivid, brooding resonance over Josh Fink’s bass and Thierry Arsenault’s flurrrying drums. Trumpeter Alexis French and saxophonist Tevet Sela take lyrical turns out in front of the band in the rather stern, pulsing variation that follows

Rosenblatt breaks out his signature instrument (shtreiml is the Yiddish word for harmonica) in the understatedly stark nigun that follows, percussionist Bertil Schulrabe providing a slinky Middle Eastern-tinged undercurrent. Then they pick up the pace with a lively, southern Balkan-flavored linedance tune, a hazy, hypnotic bridge at the center.

Rosenblatt keeps that misty, bucolic ambience going in the next number as the horns play an elegant, ancient-sounding theme spiced with doublestops. Lemisch leads the group with a melismatic grace through a variation on the title theme, Rosenblatt’s piano adding eerie glitter, up to a rapturous intertwine between the horns. Then Sela takes a turn out front as the group strut and swing with an allusively chromatic, Serbian tinge.

There’s barely suppressed joy in the pulsing horn piece afterward. Rosenblatt’s gracefully ornamented harmonica lines sail over the muted, slinky groove that follows. The album’s most epic track is also its most enigmatic and lithely jazz-oriented, Sela taking the album’s most intricately energetic solo.

They wind up the record with a trickily rhythmic, cleverly voiced dance, the sax finallly reaching for the rafters, and a  brisk, brassy sirba to close on a high note. It’s an apt coda for an album marked by reserve and thoughtful, dusky tunesmithing rather than the unleashed wildness of so many klezmer party bands.

Elegant, Intricate, Individualistic Guitar Instrumentals From Duo Tandem

Duo Tandem play gorgeously interwoven, largely minor-key acoustic guitar music with elegant climbs, moving basslines, exchanges of roles and lead lines. Their new album Guitar Duos of Kemal Belevi is streaming at Spotify. Guitarist Necati Emirzade is typically in the right channel, his bandmate Mark Anderson in the left.

They open the record with the first of a handful of Cyprian Rhapsodie, a steady, brooding, briskly strolling minor-key blend of Romany jazz, the baroque and rembetiko. It’s essentially an overture to the triptych which follows. The first part is slower, with a spare Emirzade solo and a little more counteproint; the second is more sober and austere, with some magically nuanced echo phrases from Anderson over walking bass figures. The conclusion comes across as a sunny Mediterranean bouzouki tune with an unexpectedly moody bridge, the lead shifting from Emirzade’s precise walks and chords to Anderson’s bracing tremolo-picking.

The two slowly shift Valse No. 1 from melancholy to somewhat more animated terrain, with more of the album’s initial Greek Django atmosphere. The album’s sixth track, another rhapsody, has some coy call-and-response amid the Mediterranean baroque phrasing.

Valse No. 2 is more wistfully reflective, with lots of gentle twin lead lines. The three-part Turkish Suite begins with an enigmatic circular theme and variations, shifts to a slow, spacious, mutedly saturnine midsection and winds up with the album’s most intensely crescendoing, chromatically biting coda.

Romance has the most traditional baroque counterpoint on the record. The next rhapsody reprise makes a good segue, adding a little beachy Greek flavor to what otherwise could be Telemann or Handel. The album’s final suite, Three Fragments begins with could be a Django Reinhardt reinvention of Duke Ellington’s Caravan, continues with echoes of Debussy and Satie and concludes with surreal baroque Romany swing.

Likewise, the album’s epic closing number shifts from brooding chromatics to Bach-like interplay. This is a richly melodic showcase for Belevi’s distinctive, elegant compositions, which deserve the inspired interpretations they get from Emirzade and Anderson.

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn for July 2020

There have been concerts happening all over New York since the lockdown began, but most of them have been clandestine, so this blog hasn’t been able to list them. But there are some official performances featuring some of NYC’s best creative music talent happening this July at the cube at Astor Place: you can support the musicians here.

7/2, 7 PM masterful Middle Eastern-inspired drummer Dan Kurfirst jams with Ras Moche Burnett on sax

7/5, 7 PM Kurfirst is back with multi-reedman and trumpeter Daniel Carter, Rodney “Godfather Don” Chapman on sax and other artists tba

7/6-7 and 7/9, half past noon purist jazz pianist Kumi Mikami plays at Bryant Park

7/8, 7 PM Kurfirst and Carter return to the cube at Astor Place with fearless, politically woke trumpeter Mat Lavelle and supporting cast tba

7/11, 8:30 PM Turkish guitarist Emre Yilmaz on the sidewalk outside Drom

7/17, 7 PM noirish, tunefully scruffy pastoral jazz guitarist Tom Csatari leads a trio at the Flying Lobster, 144 Union St off Hicks, just over the BQE, outdoors, F to Smith/9th

7/17, 8:30 PM a rebetiko band tba playing old Greek revolutionary and hash-smoking anthems on the sidewalk outside Drom,

7/18, 8:30 PM Jorge Glem – the Jimi Hendrix of the cuatro – on the sidewalk outside Drom

More concerts will be added to this page as more musicians and concertgoers wake up to the fact that there is no scientifically valid justification for the lockdown, and that it is safe to play and attend shows.

A Long-Awaited, Darkly Brilliant Gem of a Debut Album From Ben Holmes’ Naked Lore

Over the past couple of years, trumpeter Ben Holmes‘ Naked Lore trio became one of the most consistently edgy, entertaining bands in the Barbes scene. Considering how many dozens of other great artists rotate through Brooklyn’s best (and currently shuttered) music venue, that’s a major achievement.

But Holmes has been a mainstay, playing everything from klezmer to ska there since the zeros, and guitarist Brad Shepik and multi-percussionist Shane Shanahan have long resumes in jazz that slinks toward the Middle East. With this group, the goal is to reinvent old klezmer themes and introduce new ones. If you’re a fan of old Jewish folk tunes from across the diaspora, you’ll hear a lot of familiar minor-key riffs here, beamed down to a completely new planet. Their debut album is streaming at Bandcamp.

They open the album with a diptych, Invocation 1/Snake Money, an airy, spacious, allusively chromatic trumpet solo leading into a suspensefully pulsing, flamenco-tinged groove. From there Shepik’s fleet-fingered flurries and Shanahan’s snakecharmer beats underpin the bandleader’s lively, spacious, klezmer-infused phrasing. Ibrahim Maalouf’s most upbeat work comes to mind.

The second track is titled 543, a Smile, and Bullshit, reflecting Holmes wry stage presence as well as the whole group’s immersion in Balkan music. This one has a tricky groove that seems Macedonian, deliciously biting upper-register chords from Shepik, trumpet floating and trilling uneasily overhead..

Shepik plays clanging, overtone-laden Portuguese twelve-string guitar in the steady, jauntily strolling, tantalizingly gorgeous Swamplands Chusidl and sticks with it in the hypnotically circling Interlude on Avenue J, a throwback to the more postbop jazz-inflected style Holmes mined on his Balkan jazz record Gold Dust.

Another crystalline, unsettled trumpet taqsim, Invocation II leaps and bounds, introducing The Dust of Unremembering; Shepik runs a moody acoustic guitar loop as Shanahan fires off machinegunning riffs and Holmes hangs low and ominous, a stormcloud above all the scampering.

The Sunbeast Emerges, with its moody bolero tinges, is another killer track: it sounds like a Serbian take what could be a catchy, incisive Michael Winograd tune, no surprise considering how much time Holmes has spent in the clarinetist’s band. Shepik’s spiraling, spine-tingling solo is one of the album’s high points.

Two Oh No’s and an Oh! no No! is not a Yoko Ono paraphrase: it’s a dusky, Indian-flavored theme built around a Shepik chromatic loop, Holmes moodily choosing his spots over Shanahan’s clip-clop attack, the guitarist adding a wickedly Middle Eastern solo.

First We Were Sad, Then We Danced is a pretty self-explanatory hora, a high-voltage concert favorite: the trio add smoldering flamenco flavor and then an absolutely surreal new wave rock pulse. They wind up the album with the unselfconsciously poignant waltz All Together, a subtle mix of klezmer, pastoral American jazz and the Balkans.

All of these guys have done great work over the years but this is a high point for everybody in the band. No wonder they’ve stuck together so long. If it makes sense to put up a best albums of 2020 page at the end of the year – if New York still exists at the end of the year, if we all exist – this will be on it.

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn for February 2020

At this point all official NYC concerts are cancelled   Be well and stay home. 

The Greenwich Village Orchestra have cancelled their March 15 concert

The Owl concerts are cancelled through March 21

Miller Theatre events are cancelled through March 23

Scandinavia House events are cancelled through March 25

Flushing Town Hall concerts are cancelled through March 28.

Juilliard events are cancelled through through March 29

The Shed and Morgan Library events are cancelled through March 30

Concerts at Bowery Ballroom, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the NY Philharmonic, Irish Arts Center, NY Opera Center,  Mercury Lounge, Bric Arts, CUNY’s Elebash Hall, Manhattan School of Music, National Sawdust, St. Thomas Church, People’s Symphony Series and all Columbia University concerts are cancelled through March 31

Symphony Space events are cancelled through April 1

The Kitchen, Green Space, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Metropolitan Museum of Art events are cancelled through April 3

Merkin Concert Hall events are cancelled through April 7

Baruch College Auditorium events are cancelled through April 8.

NJPAC in Newark is closed through April 13.

Events at the New School and the Stone are cancelled thorugh April 15.

The Americas Society, Arete Gallery, Asia Society, Barbes, Jazz Standard, Pioneer Works and People’s Voice Cafe events are cancelled until further notice

If you’re leaving your hood, don’t get stuck waiting for a train that never comes, make sure you check the MTA delays and out-of-service page for service cancellations and malfunctions, considering how unreliable the subway is at night and on the weekend.

If you don’t recognize a venue where a particular act is playing, check the comprehensive, recently updated list of over 200 New York City music venues at New York Music Daily’s sister blog Lucid Culture.

This is not a list of every show in town – it’s a carefully handpicked selection. If this calendar seems short on praise for bands and artists, it’s because every act here is recommended if you like their particular kind of music. Many different styles to choose from.

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

If you see a typo or an extra comma or something like that, remember that while you were out seeing that great free concert that you discovered here, somebody was up late after a long day of work editing and adding listings to this calendar ;)

Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar:

On select Wednesdays and Sundays, an intimate, growing piano music salon on the Upper West Side featuring iconoclastically insightful, lyrical pianist Nancy Garniez – a cult favorite with an extraordinarily fluid, singing, legato style – exploring the delicious minutiae of works from across the centuries, beverages and lively conversation included! This winter’s agenda is Childhood Classics: A series of three evenings featuring the music we were forced to play – music composed expressly for children, Bach to Kurtag, like it or not, and conversation about that experience, about the piano, and about ongoing musical growth…4 PM on February 16, and March 15, sug don, email for details/address

Mondays at 7 PM multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lichtman’s popular western swing band Brain Cloud at Barbes followed at 9:30 PM by a variety of tropical bands playing cumbias, boogaloo, salsa, maybe all of the above.. Brain Cloud are also playing their 10th anniversary show on Nov 22 at 9 PM at the Jalopy for $20

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

Mondays at the Vanguard the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – plays 9/11 PM, $35 per set plus drink minimum.

Mondays starting at 9:30 PM Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play two sets at Union Pool. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically woke, sexy original songs and is one of the most charismatic, intense live performers of our time. It’s a crazy dance party. Paula Henderson from Burnt Sugar is the usual lead soloist on baritone sax, with frequent special guests. Sizzling guitarist Binky Griptite – Sharon Jones’ lead player – is also often there.

Tuesdays at 9 PM, clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at Barbes (check the club calendar), $10 cover.

Wednesdays at 9ish the Binky Griptite Orchestra (formerly Sharon Jones’ brilliant oldschool soul backing band) at Threes Brewing Outpost, 113 Franklin St (Greenpoint/Kent Aves) in Greenpoint, free

Most Thursdays at 8:30, 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 – play the Jalopy, $15 adv tix at the bar at the main space. Tons of special guests followed by a wild raga jam!

Fridays at 7:30 PM tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser leads his band at the Django. Jukebox jazz in a JD Allen vein but not as dark and more straight-ahead/groove-oriented: as postbop party music goes, nobody’s writing better than this guy right now.

Saturdays in March, 6 PM Big Lazy  noir guitar legend Steve Ulrich plays with a rotating cast of suspects at Barbes. Evil horn arrangements! Creepy guitar jams! Heaven for fans of dark sounds.

Sundays in March, 1 PM  brilliant, fearlessly political B3 organist Greg Lewis plays Monk tunes at Bar Lunatico. He’s also there with Brianna Thomas and the Juke Joint Jelis on the 19th

Most Sundays at 5:15 PM starting in late September, a free recital on the amazing, powerful, dynamic new organ at St. Thomas Church at 5th Ave and 53rd St. featuring some of the world’s greatest organists. The space is magnificent and the music usually is too. Right now the church fathers are programming pretty much everybody who used to work here and play the mighty old Aeolian-Skinner organ that finally had to be replaced. Check the concert calendar for details.

Sundays in March at 8 PM purist guitarist Peter Mazza – who gets the thumbs up from bop-era legend Gene Bertoncini – leads a series of groups at the Bar Next Door

Sundays in March,, 8/11 PM the fearlessly relevant, toweringly intense Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, at Birdland, $30 at the bar

Sundays at 9:30 PM paradigm-shifting Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel leads his band at Barbes – check the club calendar just to make sure.

3/1, 4 PM avant garde klezmer with pyrotechnic clarinetist David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg’s Breath + Hammer at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

3/1, 7 PM singer Jennifer Walshe and the Mivos Quartet play her surreal, dystopic soundtrack to an unfinished film by reclusive artist Caoimhín Breathnach, contemplating the intrusion of datamining and surveillance in our most private moments at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

3/1, 8ish the hauntingly improvisational Muhr/Hashimoto/Mattrey Trio: Luisa Muhr – voice, movement; Sae Hashimoto – vibraphone; Jonna Mattrey – viola followed by pianist Santiago Liebson leading his trio at the Owl

3/1, 8 PM  perennially tuneful, pensively lyrical Americana janglerocker Mike Ferrio of Tandy and Good Luck Mountain at 11th St. Bar

3/1. 10ish izzling electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at the Treehouse at 2A

3/2, 7ish noir-inspired honkytonk crooner Sean Kershaw at Cowgirl Seahorse

3/2, 7 PM trombonist/composer Ryan Keberle and lyrical French pianist Frank Woeste play the album release show fortheir new one Reverso at St. Peter’s Church, 54th/Lex,

3/2, 9:30ish Gato Loco bass saxophone monster Stefan Zeniuk’s new slightly less crazy band Green Mambo – a Perez Prado tribute – at Barbes

3/2, 10 PM intense, cinematic, politically fearless jazz flutist Elsa Nilsson and band at LIC Bar

3/3, 6 PM violiist Johnna Wu plays works by Bartok and Luciano Berio at Elebash Hall at CUNY, free

3/3, 7 PM intense Balkan chanteuse and Dolunay frontwoman Jenny Luna‘s other haunting, traditional Turkish band Seyyah followed at 9:30 by clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs and Ellington reinventors Slavic Soul Party at Barbes

3/3, 7:30 PM pianist Adam Kośmieja plays a rare program of works by contemporary Polish composers K. Serocki, Sikorski, Kornowicz, and Zubel at Myers Recital Hall at Manhattan School of Music, free

3/3, 7:30 PM the NYC debut of Danish chamber ensemble the Kegelstatt Trio playing a program TBA at Flushing Town Hall, free. They’re also at Scandinavia House on 3/5 at 7 for free

3/3-7 7:30 PM the Tyshawn Sorey Sextet with Sasha Berliner on vibes at the Jazz Gallery, $25

3/3. 8 PM ferociously dynamic, tuneful,female-fronted power trio Castle Black at Berlin, $tba

3/3-7, 8:30 PM purposeful guitarist/Monk reinventor Miles Okazaki leads a series of bands at the Stone at the New School, $20. Choice pick: the Friday night quartet show wih ) Steve Cardenas (guitar) Kate Gentile (drums) Jerome Harris (bass

3/3. 8 PM Asian Sound Revolution, the new supergroup of gaegeum player Jin Hi Kim, pipa virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen, and pioneering, gamelanesque drummer/composer Susie Ibarra. at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

3/3. 8:30 PM irrepressible, transgressively funny postbop saxophonist Jon Irabago with Peter Brendler on bass and Jimmy MacBride on drums at the Bar Next Door, $12 at Elebash Hall at CUNY

3/3, 9 PM wickedly torchy noir songwriterJ ulia Haltigan at 11th St Bar

3/3, 9 PM otherworldly French-Algerian singer Ourida with her combo at Bar Lunatico

3/3 9:30 PM alto saxophonist Caroline Davis leads a quintet at Seeds

3/3, 10 PM rising star trumpeterAdam O’Farrill‘s colorful, cinematic Stranger Days Quartet at 55 Bar

3/3, 10 PM epically ferocious art-rock jamband Planta at Terraza 7, $10

3/4, 1 PM the Elysian String Quartet play a program tba at the Greene Space, free, rsvp req

3/4. 6:30 PM the adventurous Lisa Hoppe on bass with Chris Williams on trumpet and Santiago Gibson on drums at the Bar Next Door,free

3/4. 7 PM violinist Ludovica Burtone‘s Little Sparks followed by singer Sofia Kriger‘s Solos de Ave quartet at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

3/4, 7:30 PM pianist Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń plays an all Chopin program at Myers Recital Hall at Manhattan School of Music, free

3/4. 7;30 PM haunting, kinetic, hypnotic Yemeni jazz sounds with pianist Tarek Yamani and his trio at Joe’s Pub, $15 adv tix rec

3/4, 8 PM psychedelic klezmer/bluegrass mandolin and clarinet legend Andy Statman at Barbes, $10.

3/4, 8 PM a wild brass band triplebill: Hot Hand Band, Brass Monkeys, and Dingonek Street Band playing second line, Afrobeat, Ethio-jazz at Drom, $10 adv tix rec

3/4, 8 PM group improvisations: pianist Rema Hasumi with Henry Fraser (bass); Raf Vertessen (drums) and at 9 Kazuki Yamanaka (alto saxophone); Santiago Leibson (piano); Carmen Rothwell (bass) Billy Mintz (drums) at Scholes St Studios, $20

3/4. 9 PM 20s hot swing jazz revivalists Cait and the Critters at Radegast Hall

3/4, 10 PM drony Irish gothic: singer Katie Kim and the more ornate Lankum at the Mercury, $20

3/5, 1 PM pianist Jessica Xylina Osborne plays works by Lutoslawski, Britten, Saint-Saens/E. Ysaÿe, Schönberg, and Schubert.at Elebash Hall at CUNY, free

3/5, 6:30 PM a free screening of the awesome 1969 Aretha Franklin gospel concert film Amazing Grade at NJPAC in Newark

3/5, 7 PM poignant, nuanced jazz singerAmy Cervini leads her trio at 55 Bar

3/5, 7:30/9:30 PM sharp latin jazz drummer/composer Dafnis Prieto leads his killer sextet with Peter Apfelbaum on sax at the Jazz Standard, $30

3/5, 7:30 PM, repeating 3/7 at 8 and 3/10 at 7:30 PMs Louis Langrée conducts the NY Philharmonic in French masterworks. Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun; Met Opera star Isabel Leonard (Marnie) sings Ravel’s exotic song cycle Shéhérazade plus, Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy, expensive, $38 tix avail

3/5, 7:30 PM the Argus Quartet play a program tba at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/5, 8 PM the Orchestra of St. Luke”s play a lavish, all-Beethoven program: Leonore Overture No. 2; Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage), Op. 112; the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80; Mass in C Major, Op. 86 at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $30 seats avail, wow

3/5. 8 PM International Contemporary Ensemble play a “composer portrait” of Dai Fujikura at the Miller Theatre, $20 tix avail

3/5, 8 PM charismatic, gruff-voiced Jewish folksinger Ilya Shneyveys’ “Electrocord” w/Max Kutner at Town & Village Synagogue, Social Hall, 334 East 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

3/5. 8 PM explosive, creepy, colorful psychedelic rembetiko metal band Greek Judas, downtown avant rock vets God Is My Co-Pilot and haphazard dark punkish female-fronted band Cruel Children at Niagara, Ave A/8th St

3/5, 8 PM brilliantly eclectic Ameriana guitarist Jason Loughlin‘s String Gliders play western swing followed at 10 by dynamic, subtle all-female klezmer band Tsibele at Barbes

3/5, 8:30ish psychedelic supergroup the Elgin Marbles feat. members of Love Camp 7, Dervisi and Peter Stampfel’s jug band at Troost

3/5, 8:30 PM rapturous Indian carnatic singer Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik with the Women’s Raga Massive at the Jalopy, $15

3/5. 9 PM Soul Gnawa – the psychedelic/downtempo project from Innov Gnawa‘s Samir Langus and guitarist Daniel Freedman – at Bar Lunatico

3/5, 9 PM darkly psychedelic Dominican band Jobo at Shrine

3/5, 9 PM uneasily eclectic, shapeshifting art-rock/chamber-pop/Americana band Ellen Siberian Tiger at Footlight Bar $10

3/5, 10 PM the great unsung NYC hero of darkly purposeful, noir-tinged jazz guitar,Saul Rubin leads his Zebtet at the Fat Cat

3/6, 5:30 PM intense, brilliantly relevant oldtime gospel/Africa Africana music maven Vienna Carroll at the American Folk Art Museum

3/6, 7 PM pyrotechnic vocalist Roopa Mahadevan‘s adventurous Indian avant garde project Roopa in Flux at the Rubin Museum of Art, $30

3/6, 7 PM indie classical group Blackbox Ensemble play new works by Bethany Younge, Fjola Evans, George Lewis and others at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

3/6, 7 PM otherworldly, atmospheric Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and band at Elebash Hall at CUNY, $25

3/6 ,7:30 PM Ewa Pobłocka plays piano works by Bach and Chopin at Mikowsky Recital Hall at Manhattan School of Music, free

3/6, 8 PM playfully lyrical, fearlessly political superduo Kill Henry Sugar– guitar/banjo mastermind Erik Della Penna and drummer Dean Sharenow – followed at 10 by Pangari & the Socialites playing classic ska and rocksteady– most of it from the 60s Skatalites catalog –at Barbes

3/6-7, 8 PM the reliably entertaining, adventurous Chelsea Symphony play a potent, politically relevant contemporary program: Tim Kiah: Truth unto the People (world premiere); Mike Boyman: Concerto for Two Horns and Wind Ensemble (world premiere) with Jess Santiago and Emily Wong, horns; Missy Mazzoli: River Rouge Transfiguration; Gabriela Lena Frank: Elegia Andina; Joan Tower: Made in America at at St. Paul’s Church, 315 W 22nd St., $20 sugg don

3/6, 8 PM Departure Duo play repertoire written especially for soprano and double bass; string madness with violinist Marina Kifferstein + cellist Meaghan Burke at Scholes St Studios, $15

3/6, 8 PM the NYC debuts of music and performance outlet Porest and feminist noise reggaeton duo Las Sucias, relating “how sounds change in the diaspora: how they tether to their environment, accumulate, synthesize, and adapt at each location, use composition and improvisation to address origin, inherency, and borders and obfuscate the “othering” that often surrounds their work,” at Issue Project Room, $15

3/6. 9 PM ubiquitous,moodily lyrical, politically savvy Irish folk-rocker Niall Connolly at the small room at the Rockwood

3/6, 9 PM playfully upbeat original swing jazz crew the Doggy Cats at Sunny’s

3/7, 11:30 AM (in the morning) the Nightingale Farm – Mary Spencer Knapp as narrator and singer, Teagan Taylor on trumpet & vocals, Doug Berns on bass and vocals, Sean Salant on guitar, and Ethan Meyer on percussion.- present their original adaptations of the classic baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Thayer plus Wilhelmina Harper’s “The Gunniwolf.” These stories follow a family singalong. At Greenlight Bookstore: 632 Flatbush Ave, Ft. Greene, free for kids of all ages

3/7, 4 PM cinematic, psychedelic quirk-pop keyboardist Michael Hearst presents “Curious, Unusual and Extraordinary” songs from his many bands followed by 6 PM by Big Lazy noir guitar mastermind Steve Ulrich, at 8 by eclectic, electric, guitarishly excellent C&W/blues band the Jug Addicts and at 10 by epic ranchera/bolero brass crew Banda de los Muertos at Barbes

3/7, 6 PM thoughtful, imaginative saxophonist Peyton Pleninger‘s Biotonic at Shrine

3/7, 7 PM exhilarating all-female Arabic/Iranian/Jewish band Divahn at Joe’s Pub, $20 adv rix rec

3/7, 7:30 PM the Jack Quartet play the album release show for their new one with works by Sky Macklay, Cenk Ergün and Oscar Bianchi at the fourth floor auditorium at the New School, 55 W 13th St., res req

3/7. 8 PM women songwriters’ night at the People’s Voice Cafe: sprightly, pensive Pat Lamanna, ex-Red Molly multi-instrumentalist Carolann Solebello,, and the politically, historically astute Sharleen Leahey at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away.”

3/7, 8 PM trippy, dubby roots reggae and ska sounds with Avo & Skalopy at the Jalopy Tavern

3/7, 8 PM hauntingly resonant clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen and her tropical Quartetinho at the Miller Theatre, $25 tix avail

3/7, 8 PM guitarist Tal Yahalom and Quintet & poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez with her quintet at Scholes St Studios, $10

3/7, 8 PM MWE play orchestral works by Charles Ives, Julie Giroux, John Mackey, Frank Ticheli and David R. Holsinger at the DiMenna Center, $12

3/7, 8 PM ten-piece country/carnivalesque/acoustic rock powerhouse M Shanghai String Band at theJalopy, $!0

3/7, 8 PM darkly lyrical psychedelic pop songwriter Jennifer Hall at Petes. The following night, 3/8 at 8 PM she’s at the small room at the Rockwood

3/7, 9 PM Unsteady Freddie‘s monthly surf rock extravaganza at Otto’s begins at 9 PM with the deliciously creepy, Balkan-tinged  Plato Zorba followed by Link Wray cover band the Wraycyclers, at 11 Atomic Mosquitos spinoff Killers From Space and at midnight majestic, darkly cinematic surf instrumentalists the TarantinosNYC

3/7, 9ish linky, darkly psychedelic instrumentalists the Ghost Funk Orchestra at Out Wicked Lady, $10

3/7, 9 PM powerpop band Giftshop– the missing link between Blondie and the Distillers – at the Parkside

3/7, 10ish sludgy, catchy metal band Vesssel of Light at Blackthorn 51, $15

3/8. noon mostly-female, kinetic klezmer/cumbia/cinematic jamband Isle of Klezbos at City Vineyard for brunch, $10, no niminums, kids 12 and under free!

3/8, 2 PM violinist Augustin Hadelich and pianist Orion Weiss play works by Debussy,Beethoven, Ysaye, Brahms, John Adams and more at the Town Hall, $17

3/8, 2 PM pianist Olga Kern and tenor Nick Phan sing works by French composer Nadia Boulanger, singer Lucy Dhegrae and the Vuillaume Trio perform a piano trio by Amy Beach at the Greene Space, $20

3/8. 4 PM oldschool-style high plains C&W singer Hope Debates & North 40 at Skinny Dennis

3/8. 5 PM viola virtuoso/film composer Ljova with soaring, riveting klezmer singer Inna Barmash and accordion monster Patrick Farrell at Bar Thalia adjacent to Symphony Space, free

3/8, 5 PM, repeating 3/18 at 6:30 Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin; Yelena Grinberg, piano play a marathon program of Beethoven sonatas at Grinberg’s upper westside piano salon, reception to follow, $35, close to the 1/2/3 train at 96th St.,deets here.They repeat with a similar but different program on 3/22 at 5 and then 3/26 at 7

3/8, 6 PM noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo leads his trio at 55 Bar

3/8, 6 PM Darren Johnston on trumpet / Peter Hess on woodwinds / Adam Dotson on flugabone followed at 8 by oudist Tom Chess and bassist Zach Swanson at Downtown Music Gallery

3/8, 7 PM roots reggae group the Far East at Pioneer works, free

3/8, 7 PM allstar Indian music collective the Women’s Raga Massive and “members of the all-women STARR Ensemble — whose music blends Indian classical, jazz, Western classical, and bluegrass — present Lakshmi Shankar: A Musical Evolution in One Night, a multimedia tribute to the Hindustani singer who helped bring Indian music to the West,” at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

3/8, 7 PM soaring, politically relevant, brilliantly purposeful alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon leads his “Berklee Quintet” at Birdland, $20 at the bar

3/8, 7 PM sci-fi surf band Future Relics followed at 9:30 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes

3/8, 7 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

3/9, 6 PM the Greenpoint Songwriters Exchange – a diverse bunch playing everything from folk noir to Costelloesque, literary rock to Indian ragas and oldschool soul – at Pete’s

3/9, 7 PM tuneful postbop pianist Jim Ridl leads his group from behind the Rhodes at 55 Bar

3/9, 8 PM saxophonist Aaron Burnett plays a duo set with the always adventurous drummer Tyshawn Sorey at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

3/9, 10ish the NYC Gaita Club – a Bulla en el Barrio spinoff – play rustically pounding Afro-Colombian trance-dance music at Barbes

3/10, 8 PM chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble, appropriately enough plays Ricardo Romaneiro’s live score to the Fritz Lang dystopic silent classic Metropolis at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

3/10, 7 PM countertenor Labros Filippou leads his Greek rembetiko band followed at 9:30 by clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs and Ellington reinventors Slavic Soul Party at Barbes

3/10, 7 PM the Vienna Yiddish Duo at the Austrian Cultural Center free w rsvp

3/10, 7 PM eclectic, hard-hitting, lyrical composer/tenor saxophonist Stan Killian at 55 Bar

3/10, 7 PM eclectic, cinematic keyboardist Frank LoCrasto and psychedelic latin soul tinged band Garcia Peoples at Union Pool, free

3/10. 7:30 PM cellist Nicholas Canellakis and pianist Michael Brown play works by Ginastera, Grieg, Sibelius, Glière, and Michael Brown, and Bulgarian folk tunes at the Baruch College Auditorium, $36 BUT buy one get one free with code BOGO

3/10, 8 PM Soul Gnawa – the psychedelic/downtempo project from Innov Gnawa‘s Samir Langus and guitarist Daniel Freedman, Los Cumpleanos – with Nestor Gomez – vox/percussion; Lautaro Burgos – drums; Eric Lane – keyboards; Alex Asher – trombone and others playing trippy, dubwise tropical psychedelia,  and the Mauskovic Dance Band playing psychedelic tropicalia and dub at the Sultan Room, $12

3/10, 8 PM Palestinian kanun virtuoso & composer Firas Zreik at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton St at Washington, C to Clinton-Washington, sug don

3/10, 10:30 PM allusively haunting, minimalist folk noir singer Belle-Skinner at Pete’s

3/10, 8 PM pensively intense microtonal violinist/singer Sarah Bernstein leads her quartet with Ron Stabinsky on piano at Scholes St. Studios, $10

3/11, 8 PM JP Schlegelmilch’s Organ Trio – essentially psychedelic surf/cinematic trio Hearing Things with a different drummer – at Barbes

3/10, 8 PM hypnotically explosive live bhangra dance band Red Baraat at Symphony Space, $30 tix avail

3/10-14, 8:30 PM star indie classical composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa leads a series of bands at the Stone at the New School, $20. Choice pick: Saturday night with the Parhelion Trio Andrea Christie (piano) Sarah Carrier (flute) Ashleé Miller (clarinet) (who are also there by themselves the following night, 3/15

3/10, 9 PM NZ noiserockers Swallow the Rat followed by swirly, hypnotic, totally 80s 4AD dreampop/shoegazers Dead Leaf Echo at Littlefield, $10

3/10. 10 PM charismatic, adventurous postbop/avant garde trombonist/crooner Frank Lacy leads his group at Smalls He’s also here on 3/17

3/10-14, 11 PM rising star bassist Endea Owens and the Cookout jam out classic and new soul grooves at Dizzy’s Club, $5

3/11, 1 PM pianist Eugene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble mash up klezmer and salsa themes at St. Peter’s Church, 54th/Lex, sug don

3/11, 7 PM edgy jazz violinist Zach Brock and band at 55 Bar

3/11, 7:30 PM pianist Han Chen plays works by Chopin, Beethoven and Lei Liang at Elebash Hall at CUNY, free

3/11, 8 PM baritone saxophonist Eden Bareket leads a quintet at Seeds

3/11-12, 8 PM first-wave British new wave band Wire at the Music Hll of Williamsburg, $30 gen adm but will sell out

3/11, 8:30 PM Dervisi feat. psychedelic guitarist George Sempepos play “exotic Greek gangsta blues” and Middle Eastern flavored hash smoking anthems at Troost .3/19, same time they’re at Espresso 77, 35-57 77th Street (just off of 37th Ave), Jackson Heights

3/11, 9 PM exotic vibraphone-driven surf band the Vibro-jets  at LIC Bar. They’re also at Troost on 313, 8:30is

3/11, 10 PM atmospheric, cinematic drummer/composer Tim Kuhl and his group at Pete’s

3/11, 10 PM uneasily eclectic tropically-influenced singer Renata Zeigeur and band at C’Mon Everybody, $10

3/11, 10 PM savage female-fronted garage punks Thee Minks at the Knitting Factory, $12

3/12, 7 PM soaringly explosive jazz composer/torch singer Nicole Zuraitis at 55 Bar

3/12, 7:30 PM hard-rocking, electric tres-driven Cuban band band Los Hacheros at Ginny’s Supper Club, $20

3/12, 7:30 PM hotshot bluegrass band Mile 12 at Symphony Space, $20 for30 and under, $20 otherwise

3/12, 7:30 PM Swedish pianist Helge Antoni plays a spring-themed program of works by C. Sinding, J. Sibelius, E. Grieg, W. Stenhammar, and T. Rangström. at Scandinavia House, $25

3/12, 7:30 PM Edward Forstman (piano), Jacob Elkin (trombone), Adam Bowles (piano), Jay Rodriguez (clarinet and soprano saxophone), Ammon Swinbank (flute), and Miolina Duo — Mioi Takeda and Lynn Bechtold (violins).play microtonal, overtone-rich works by Monroe Golden at Scholes St. Studios, $10

3/12, 8 PM plush, balmy, oldtimey uke swing band Daria Grace & the Pre-War Ponies followed at 10 by intense Balkan chanteuseJenny Luna‘s haunting, traditional Turkish band Dolunay at Barbes

3/12, 8 PM accordion/piano genius Shoko Nagai jams with Hans Tammen (Buchla) Satoshi Takeishi at Arete Gallery, $tba

3/12, 8 PM perennially interesting piano/percussion ensemble Yarn/Wire, vocalist Nina Dante, and composer Ben Vida play his new suite Always Already at Issue Project Room $20

3/12, 8 PM accordionist Patrick Farrell & whirlwind klezmer violin icon Alicia Svigals play old wedding dances from the Kostakovsky archive at Town & Village Synagogue, Social Hall, 334 East 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

3/12, 8 PM lustrous pianist Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn play an all-Bach program at the Miller Theatre, $30 tix avail

3/12, 8:30 PM the harrowing, immigration-themed multimedia performance Ask Hafiz – the story of Sahar Muradi’s tumultuous journey from a Soviet-ruled Afghanistan to Queens. “Along the way, Sahar, following an age-old practice, asks questions to the book of poetry by Hafiz. Theanswers are revealed through songs composed and sung by Haleh Liza, dance choreographed and performed by Malini Srinivasan, with music by Adam Maalouf, Trina Basu, Bala Skandan and Rich Stein,at the Jalopy,$15

3/12, 9 PM catchy folk noir/Nashville gothic songwriter Emily Frembgen at Pete’s

3/12, 10 PM wild, intense, frequently satirical newgrass/oldtimey hellraisers the Dustbowl Revival at Rough Trade, $18 adv tix rec

3/13, dusk, a screening of the classic 1972 reggae film The Harder They Come with Jimmy Cliff as its gangster star, in Battery Park

3/13, 6 PM powerfully hypnotic soul and Indian carnatic singer Saraswathi Jones at the American Folk Art Museum

3/13, 6 PM crystalline-voiced, noir-tinged third-stream jazz chanteuse Tessa Souter at 55 Bar

3/13, 7 PM Irish no wave/postpunk band the Murder Capital at Rough Trade, free w/album purchase

3/13, 7:30/9:30 PM bassist Harish Ragavan’s Calls for Action band with Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet at the Jazz Gallery, $25

3/13. 8 PM one of New York’s most eclectic, interesting oudists, Brian Prunka with a string section followed at 10 by feral singer Carolina Oliveros’ mighty 13-piece Afro-Colombian trance/dance choir Bulla en el Barrio at Barbes

3/13, 8 PM oldschool flamenco puro with the José del Tomate Group at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

3/13, 8 PM amazing string quintet Sybarite5– who are also the world’s coolest Radiohead cover band – at the Cell Theatre, $28. They’re also at the at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, for free on 3/29 at 4

3/13, 8 PM the Jack Quartet play the John Zorn string quartet cycle at National Sawdust, $30 adv tix rec

3/13, 8 PM American Contemporary Music Ensemble perform music by atmospheric electroacoustic cellist Clarice Jensen at the Tenri Institute

3/13, 8;30 PM darkly lyrical, Aimee Mann-ish songwriter Andrea Wittgens at the basement room at the Rockwood $12

3/13, 9:30 PM twangy altcountryAmericana/psychedelic crew American String Conspiracy at Freddy’s

3/13, 10ish explosively trippy instrumentalists Dub is a Weapon at the Gutter, $7

3/13, 10:30 PM cutting-edge, often psychedelic sax player Wayne Escoffery leads his quartet at the Fat Cat

3/14, 4 PM darkly torchy southwestern gothic/Europolitan songwriter/guitarist Miwa Gemini at Branded Saloon

3/14, 5 PM moody lo-fi keyboardist/singer Anni Rossi at Pete’s. She’s also there on 3/29 at 3:30 and at Troost on 3/25, 8:30ish

3/14, 6 PM the world’s creepiest, slinkiest, most psychedelic crime jazz/film noir band, Big Lazy with Brain Cloud lapsteel wiz Raphael McGregor followed at 8 by poignant, eclectic, lyrical jazz bassist/composer Pedro Giraudo’s tango quartet followed at 10 by psychedelic salsa bandleader Zemog El Gallo Bueno at Barbes

3/14, 7 PM the annual Stop the Raids annual family gathering at the Jalopy, $20 sugg, all proceeds to the cause nobody turned away for lack of funds” It has been nearly four years since the Bronx 120 Raid in the Eastchester Gardens section of the Bronx—in that time, the NYPD has continued raiding public housing across the city, tearing our loved ones from our communities en masse on bogus conspiracy charges. We are hoping to build as much support as possible for all those returning home, those who are still inside, and their families.

3/14, 7 PM organist Gail Archer plays works by women composers Joan Tower, Mary Howe, Jennifer Higdon, Nadia Boulanger at St. John Nepomucene Church, 411 E 69th St, (1st/York), free

3/14, 7:30 PM ethereal yet powerful parlor pop/goth singer/composer Kristin Hoffmann at the Center for Remembering and Sharing, $20

3/14, 7:30 PM chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble play “music for an extremely broken consort” with “murder ballads, riddle tunes, and other lurid and gruesome pastimes featuring Fiona Gillespie, Paul Morton of Chivalrous Crickets, with Loren Ludwig of Acronym and Sian Ricketts & Tracy Cowart of Alkemie” at 1 Rivington St, $15/$10 stds

3/14, 7:30 PM anthemic Iron Maiden-style metal band the Blackfires at the Mercury, $15

3/14, 8 PM composer and multi-instrumentalist John Krausbauer in collaboration with Tokyo composer Kaori Suzuki perform “intensely ritualistic free drone music” at issue Project Room, $15

3/14, 8 PM jazz chanteuse/guitarist Yooni Choi with pianist Jacob Sacks at I-Beam, $15

3/14, 8 PM avant singer Charmaine Lee with wild extended-technique trumpeter Peter Evans at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, $20

3/14, 8 PM wild Hungarian band Eletfa and Boston street brass band Kotoko Brass at Flushing Town Hall, $18, $12 18 and under, students w/NYC school id under 19 get in free

3/14, 8 PM political, fearless acoustic songwriter Shawna Caspi at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away.”

3/14, 8 PM brilliantly improvisational pianist Mara Rosenbloom‘s philosophically-inspired FLYWAYS with bassist Adam Lane and singer/percussionist Anais Maviel play the album release show for their new one at Speyer Hall, The Performance Project @ University Settlement, 184 Eldridge St, $15/$10 stud/srs. 3/21, 7:30 they’re at I-Beam, same deal

3/14, 10 PM sizzling electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis

3/15 ,11 AM classical pianist Lara Downes plays a program tba at Subculture, $20 adv tix rec

3/15 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra play Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2; Rachmaninoff – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue and Enescu – Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1 at All Saints Church, 230 E 60th St (2/3rd Aves), $25

3/15, 2 PM Tatev Amiryan, piano; Anna Hayrapetyan, soprano; Laura Navasardian, cello perform an all-Armenian program TBA at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $25

3/15, 3 PM Mayuki Fukuhara, violin; Liuh-Wen Ting, viola; Benjamin Larsen, cello play trios by Mozart, Schubert and Schoenberg at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave, sugg don

3/15, 4 PM the Brooklyn Conservatory Orchestra play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at St. Ann’s Church in downtown Brooklyn, $25/$15 stud/srs

3/15, 4 PM the Cassatt String Quartet plus bassist play a quintet program tba at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

3/15, 6ish sharply lyrical southwestern gothic/Americana songwriter Tom Shaner  at LIC Bar

3/15, 6 PM slinky noir/retro rock bassist/songwriter Amy LaVere at the Mercury, $12. 3/18 she’s at Skinny Dennis at 9 for free

3/15, 7 PM adventurous cellist Jeffrey Zeigler and Butoh master Dai Matsuoka under the direction of Jessica Grindstaff perform their nw piece We Were Fridays at National Sawdust, $20 adv tix rec

3/15, 7 PM New York’s most charismatic, darkly compelling lyrical songwriter/storyteller/keyboard genius Rachelle Garniez plays the album release show for her new all-covers album Gone to Glory, a salute to dead rock n rollers with music by Prince, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, and Glen Campbell at Dixon Place, $15

3/15, 7 PM machinegunning metal trio Toxic Ruin, the screamier Stonecutters and supersonic thrash metal band Lich King at St. Vitus, $10

3/15, 7 PM an Ides of March show with spine-tingling, darkly mystical art-rock/avant-garde/chamber pop songwriter Carol Lipnik– pretty much everybody’s choice for best singer in all of NYC – and pianist Mara Rosenbloom at Pangea

3/15, 7 PM indie classical guitarist Gyan Rileys Elixir – basically Riley fronting the Bang on a Can Allstars – followed at 9:30 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes

3/15, 7:30 PM three female composers intensely bridging jazz and other genres: guitarist Amanda Monaco with her quartet, flutist Cheryl Pyle and her trio and wildfire polymath violist Stephanie Griffin (Momenta Quartet) leading a semi-improvisational quintet with Gordon Beeferman, piano Hilliard Greene, bass Jake Charkey, cello; Lee Odom, clarinetat Metro Baptist Church, 410 West 40th St, (between 9th & 10th Ave.), $20/$15 stu/srs

3/15, 7:30 PM Korean artists Ki Young and Gamin, on piano and piri, with classical avant-punk violin duo String Noise pushing the boundaries of Korean traditional music at the Tenri Cultural Institute, $20

3/15, 7:30 PM improvisational alchemy: guitarist Loren Connors, a cappella accents by distinctive vocalist Suzanne Langille; intimate yet fierce guitarist and vocalist/storyteller Dora Bleu; veteran experimental guitarist and sonic artist Alan Licht; and intense, purposeful, scorching guitarist Ava Mendoza at the Windjammer,552 Grandview Ave in Ridgewood, $10

3/15, 8 PM new works by Maya Verlaak, Grzegorz Marciniak and Assaf Gidron performed by bassist Rachel Mangold and pianist Teodora Stepančić at Arete Gallery, $tba

3/15, 8:30 PM exhilarating acoustic guitar instrumentalist Lyle Brewer– like John Fahey on steroids – at Pete’s

3/15, 10 PM deviously entertaning pianist Jinjoo Yoo leads her trio at Birdland, $20 at the bar

3/16, half past noon Elad Kabilio (cello), Inbar Goldmann (mezzo soprano), and Avigail Malachi-Baev (clarinet) play synagogue music from Jewish cultures around the world at Central Synagogue, $18

3/16, 2 PM the Viano Quartet play works by Haydn, Dvorak and a Jordan Nelson world premiere at the New School auditorium at 66 W 12th St, $18

3/16, 6:30 PM powerful jazz belter – and Gil Scott-Heron reinventor – Charenee Wade at Elebash Hall at CUNY, free

3/16. 8:30 PM Romany jazz violinist Marissa Licata at Birdland, $20 at the bar

3/16, 9 PM elegantly eclectic, tuneful pianist Angelica Sanchez leads her trio at Bar Lunatico

3/16, 9 PM legendary dual-reedman George Braith– who can play two saxes at once better than most guys can play one – with his quartet at the Fat Cat

3/16, 9:30 PM fearless, insurgent, amazingly spot-on comedienne/vocal impersonator Tammy Faye Starlite plays Marianne Faithfull’s Broken English at Joe’s Pub, $15 gen adm

3/16, 9;30 PM “the Slippery Fish pay tribute to the Mexican pedal steel master Tõno Quirazco, who in the 1960’s combined the new sound of ska music out of Jamaica with country twang to invent a twist on the Caribbean sound. With Ari Folman-Cohen – bass and John Echelay– pedal steel,” at Barbes

3/16, 11 PM eclectic pan-latin and Middle Eastern-inflected acoustic songwriter Miriam Elhajli at the big room at the Rockwood

3/17, starting in the early afternoon at Connolly’s a daylong free Irish music show with Jameson’s Revenge, Shilelagh Law, the Prodigals and more, hell yeah, none of the amateurs can start this early

3/17, 7 PM a rare reunion of NYC Irish punk legends (and Pogues reinventors) Joe Hurley and Rogue’s March at Hill Country, $20

3/17, 7 PM veteran Irish crooner Pierce Turner– at one time he was doing a mashup of the Pogues and the Moody Blues – at Joe’s Pub, $25

3/17, 7 PM the Ekstasis Duo – cellist Natasha Farni and pianist Eliran Avni – play a program tba at Revelation Gallery, 224 Waverly Pl, $20

3/17, 5 PM sarodist/guitarist Camila Celin and singer Melvis Santa jam out Indian raga and latin themes at the Assemblage at John St., 17 John St., financial district,

3/17, 7:30 PM the all-female Clarion Quartet play banned music by orks by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and Weinberg at the Baruch Performing Arts Ctr, $26/$15 stud

3/18, 8 PM Brooklyn Brassens: “Georges Brassens, anarchist, provocateur and French poet, gets his repertoire re-arranged for a Nigerian-influenced quartet. With Francis Jacob – guitar, Vocals; Bennett Paster – keyboard; Derek Nievergelt – bass and AJ Olusegun – conga at Barbes

3/18, 8 PM probably the best bill to ever play Arlene Grocery: third-gen Sabbath types Sleeping Village, deliciously sludgy heavy psych band Grass, doomy stoner boogie bands Grandpa Jack and Shadow Witch at Arlene’s, $10

3/19, 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

3/17, 7:30/9:30 PM the haunting, smokily cinematic Michael Leonhart Orchestra at the Jazz Standard, $30

3/17. 8 PM otherworldly Norwegian folk singer Marja Mortensson and band play ancient reindeer herding songs at Nublu 151, $15

3/17, 8 PM edgy oldschool and newer soul styles with singer Maya Sharpe at the small room at the Rockwood

3/17, 9ish wild Irish band the Narrowbacks at Bowery Ballroom, $15 adv tix rec avail at th e Mercury

3/18, noon Benjamin Baker, violin and Daniel Lebhardt, piano play works by Brahms, Tania Ko, Lili Boulanger and Beeethoven at the Morgan Library, $25

3/18, 7:30/9:30 PM historically-informed, lyrical trumpeter Josh Lawrence & Lost Works at the Jazz Standard, $35

3/18, 8 PM Irish revolutionary songs with the Druids at Connolly’s, $tba

3/18, 8 PM energetic delta blues/Romany swing guitaris Felix Slim at LIC Bar

3/18. 9;30 PM poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez leads her quintet at Seeds

3/19, 7 PM rapturousy subtle tropicalia drummer/bandleader (and former Chicha Libre timbalera) Karina Colis leads her quintet at the Fat Cat

3/19, 7 PM saxophonist Berta Moreno (who titled her debut album “Little Steps”) leads her Afro-Jazz Soul Project at the Bronx Music Heritage Center at 1303 Louis Nine Blvd, $7

3/19, 7:30 PM conversational pianist Jeffrey Siegel plays music of Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt at Scandinavia House, $25

3/19, 7:30/9:30 PM OMG what a killer band: the NEC All-Stars – Fred Hersch – piano; Miguel Zenón– alto saxophone Donny McCaslin – tenor saxophone; Jorge Roeder – bass; Richie Barshay – drums at the Jazz Standard, $30

3/19, 7:30 PM the Israeli chamber Project play early Beethoven works plus Bartók’s epic Piano Quintet., at Carnegie Hall, $30 seats avail

3/19, 7:30/9:30 PM trumpet powerhouse Jeremy Pelt leads his band at Minton’s, $20 at the bar

3/19, 7:30 PM Cuban-American cellist Tommy Mesa and pianist Yoon Lee play works by Jonathan Chenette, George Holloway, Lydia Pugh, Elizabeth Start, and Ben-Yee Paulson as well as Debussy’s Sonata in D minor at the DiMenna Center, $25

3/19, 8 PM cellist Scott Ballantyne and pianist Hiroko Sasaki play works by Bach, Barber Haydn and others at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

3/19-20. 8 PM bassist Simon Hanes and Pianist Anthony Coleman at Scholes St Studios

3/19, 8 PM fiery celtic/klezmer violinist Lisa Gutkin and her band at Town & Village Synagogue, Social Hall, 334 East 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

3/19, 8:30 PM ambient electroacoustic sitarist/composer Ami Dang at the Jalopy, $15

3/20, 5:30 PM plaintive Yorkshire/Appalachian singer Jan Bell –whose gloomy chronicles of Brooklyn gentrification are spot-on – at the American Folk Art Museum

3/20, 7 PM magically lustrous jazz singer/composer Aubrey Johnson and her sextet play the album release show for her new one at the big room at the Rockwood, $20

3/20, 7 PM eclectic blues singer Fay Victor with cellist Marika Hughes, and alto saxist Darius Jones play the album release show for her stark new Barn Songs at Joe’s Pub, $15

3/20, 7 PM Tibetan composer/activist Tenzin Choegya with intense, eclectic cellist Rubin Kodheli at the Rubin Museum of Art, $30

3/20, 7:30 PM Todd Phillips, violin with guest Rachel Yunkyung Choo, piano play an all-Beethoven program at Greenfield Hall at Manhattan School of Music, free

3/20, 7:30 PM salsa flutist Andrea Brachfeld y Su Charanga at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/20, 7:30/9:30 PM lyrical piano icon Fred Hersch with mesmerizing singer Dominique Eade at the Jazz Standard, $35

3/20-21, 8 PM one of the most consistently interesting improvisers out there, trombonist Steve Swell and group at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, $20

3/20, 8 PM theremin virtuoso Pamelia Stickney‘s Jatakas at the Owl

3/20, 8 PM dusky, rustic Brazilian jungle guitar-and-accordion sounds with Regional de NY followed by psychedelic Afrobeat band Super Yamba at Barbes

3/20, 9 PM Hollow Engine – who do a decent enough dreampop take on Radiohead – at the Delancey, $10

3/20 10ish hard-hitting Bronx metal band Lost Legacy at Blackthorn 51, $12/

3/20-21 Windhand at St. Vitus is sold out, bummer

3/20-3/21 Mdou Moctar at the Sultan Room is sold out – what were they thinking

3/21, 2 PM drummer Sylvia Cuenca leads her quartet at Poe Park in the Bronx

3/21, 2 PM a special NY Philharmonic Young People’s Concert on music creating change with exerpts from politically-fueled works by Shostakovich, Beethoven, Verdi and others, $16 tix avail

3/21 4 PM the rapturous, mighty Navatman Music Collective – this continent’s only Indian carnatic choir, and one of only three in the world – at Flushing Town Hall, $18, $12 18 and under, students w/NYC school id under 19 get in free

3/21, 4 PM the Erik Satie Quartet – Ron Hay (trombone), Max Seigel (bass trombone),Ben Holmes(trumpet), and Andrew Hadro (bari sax) –reinvent classic and obscure Satie chamber pieces as well as rare compositions by his obscure contemporaries, followed at 6 PM by Big Lazy noir guitar mastermind Steve Ulrich, followed at 10 by the haphazardly funny Eastern Blokhedz – who dopsychedelic covers of 60s Russian psychedelic pop songs and specialize in the catalog of legendary Polish singer Edita Piaha –at Barbes

3/21, 5:30 PM a Nowrooz celebration with percussionist/vocalist Kamyar Arsani and vocalist Mina Omidi at the Center for Remembering and Sharing, $25 adv tix rec, incl. delicious Persian food,

3/21, 7:30 PM the legendary Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio play an all-Beethoven program at Irving Auditorium, Irving Pl/17th St., $16

3/21, 7:30 PM purist postbop jazz guitarist Ed Cherry leads an organ trio at the Bar Next Door, $12

3/21, 8 PM not a music event but cool: Elizabeth Jennings: A play by Lionelle Hamanaka about the schoolteacher who desegregated the New York City streetcars by jumping aboard a “whites only” car in 1854, at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away.”

3/21, 8 PM the NJ Symphony Orchestra play Beethoven’s Piano Concertos #2-4 with soloist Louis Lortie at NJPAC in Newark, $20 tix avail

3/21, 8 PM the Afro-Dominicano Band play perico ripiao, palo, merengue de orquesta, bachata, Afro-beat, reggae, calypso, samba, funk, punk rock and other Caribbean rhythms at Buunni Performance Space, (4961 Broadway btw 207th Street and Isham in Inwood), $15

3/21, 8 PM the Long Island Concert Orchestra with violin soloist Kyoung-Joo Sung play Beeethoven’s Violin Concerto in D and Symphony No. 2 at Merkin Concert Hall, $25 tix avail

3/21, 10 PM Super Yamba play their bracingly psychedelic Afrobeat jams at Footlight Bar, $10

3/21, 11 PM stark southwestern gothic jangle and clang with And the Wiremen at Petes

3/22 11 AM the Ulysses Quartet play a program tba at Subculture, $20 adv tix rec

3/22, 2 PM the verdantly atmospheric Treesearch (bassist Kyle Motl and violinist Keir GoGwilt) at Arete Gallery, $10

3/22, 3:30 PM jazz singer Nancy Kearin with her Quartet at Scholes St Studios, $10. Followed at 7 (separate $10 adm) by guitarist Nicholas Rousseau and his quintet recording a live album inspired by Jean-Jacques Roussesu (relation?)

3/22, 4:30 PM music by Ravel & Gershwin performed by Luba Poliak (piano) and Anna Elashvili (violin) at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery,

3/22, 7 PM all-female Armenian vocal trio Zulal – Teni Apelian, Anaïs Alexandra Teke Zulalrian, and Yeraz Markarian, and Perspectives Ensemble reinvent Armenian traditional music at St. James Chapel, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th St north of St. John the Divine, free

3/22, 7 PM noisepunks Sub Space, Namatay San Ingay, riff-rocking punks Filth Hound, stomping female-fronted metal/new wave band Shadowland and the mighty, fast High Command at St. Vitus, $10

3/22 7 PM Germán López – leading virtuoso of the uke-like Canary Island timple – at Joe’s Pub, $20 gen adm

3/22, 7 PM balmy, sardonically individualistic vocal jazz stylist Dorian Devins and her trio at Bar Thalia adjacent to Symph0ny Space

3/22, 7 PM the Honkytonk Heroes – a NY All-Star of sorts, featuring Charlie Giordano, Gene Yellin, Andy Statman, Tim Kiah followed at 9:30 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes

3/22, 7:30/9 PM sweeping, swinging vibraphonist Behn Gillece featuring Rick Germanson on piano & Paul Gill on bass at Mezzrow, $20

3/22, 8 PM flamenco jazz saxophonist Antonio Lizana with his band at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

3/22, 10 PM noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton leads his ensemble at Smalls

3/23, 7 PM Melissa Gordon of Melissa & the Mannequins, one of the best purist janglerock songwriters in NYC, at the basement room at the Rockwood, $10

3/23, 7:30 PM epic orchestral instrumental art-rockers Kitt Wakeley and the Symphony of Sinners and Saints at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall,$25 tix avail

3/23, 9:30 PM Kuye with Juan Ospina (vocals), Isaac Matus (huitar), Andres Fonseca (drums), and Mohamed Sharhabil (bass) play psychedelic Caribbean rock at Barbes

3/24, 7 PM indie classical chamber ensemble Latitude 49 play the album release show for their new one with works by Gabriella Smith (a homage to the Beatles’ “Revolution 9”), Viet Cuong’s whimsical showpiece “Wax and Wire,” plus ruminant works by Annika Socolofsky and Chris Sies at Arete Gallery, free w rsvp

3/24, 7 PM violinist Sam Bardfeld leads a trio followed at 9:30 by clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs and Ellington reinventors Slavic Soul Party at Barbes

3/24, 7 PM cinematic bassist Mark Wade and ambitious, tuneful trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson lead their trios at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, sug don

3/24, 8 PM the String Orchestra of Brooklyn play Sarah Kirkland Snider’s achingly tense Penelope suite at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec is this 3/24 o4 26

3/24, 9 PM wickedly jangly surf/twang/country instrumentalists the Bakersfield Breakers at 11th St Bar

3/24 10 PM darkly glimmering Cretan psychedelic electric lyra/drums duo Xylouris White at the Bell House, $15

3/25, 6 PM pianist Ari Livne plays works by Ligeti, Ryan Francis and more at Elebash Hall at CUNY, free

3/25, 7 PM female-fronted brass band madness: the Brass Queens, Pussy Grabs Back Brass Band and Brassdom at Barbes

3/25, 8 PM sitar virtuoso Gaurav Mazumdar with bansuri flutist Rupak Kulkarni & tabla player Hindole Majumdar at Merkin Concert Hall, $25 tix avail

3/25, 7:30/9:30 PM the Claudia Quintet– the chamber jazz group that started it all, and did a killer 9/11 memorial album – at the Jazz Gallery, $25

3/26, 7 PM pianists Hafez Babashahi, and Mira Gill play works by Schubert, Mozart, Kurtag, Chopin and Larcher at the Austraian Cultural Center, free, rsvp req

3/26, 7 PM Quintet of the Americas play James Cohn’s Klezmer Fantasy plus music by Lembit Beecher, Harold Gutiérrez, Robert Deemer and José Raul Bernardo at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Ave, $20/$10 stud/sts

3/26, 7:30/9:30 PM Latvian composer/singer Arta Jēkabsone with her quintet at the Jazz Gallery, $15

3/26, 7:30 PM pianist Per Tengstrand and Opus 21 play Chopin’s First Piano Concerto at Scandinavia House, $25

3/26, 7:30 PM, repeaitng 3/28 at 8 the NY Philharmonic play Lalo’s Spanish Symphony, Janacek’s Taras Bulba Suite, Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and works by Berlioz, $32 tix avail

3/26, 7:30 PM kinetic Chicago postrock/acid jazz bnad the Necks at the Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix rec

3/26, 7:30 PM Oruco (flamenco dancer and percussionist), Eduardo Trassierra (guitarist), and Kiko Peña (vocalist) re-create a traditional Flamenco Tabla at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/26, 8 PM accordion genius Shoko Nagai’s haunting Tokala Silk Road/klezmer mashup project at Barbes

3/26, 8 PM Sarah Kirkland Snider’s monumental work Penelope, performed by soprano Eliza Bagg, percussionist Victor Caccese, and the Manhattan Chamber Players at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

3/26-28, 8 PM “an operatic realization of the rarely heard Compositions No. 279-283 for comedian and improvising musicians by a giant of American music, composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, featuring Rob Reese, actor/director; Nate Wooley, trumpet; Jessica Pavone, strings, Ingrid Laubrock, saxophones; Kamala Sankaram, vocals; Elizabeth Saunders, vocals at the Flea, 20 Thomas St, Tribeca, $30

3/26, 8 PM exhilarating klezmer/latin/cumbia jamband Metropolitan Klezmer at Town & Village Synagogue, Social Hall, 334 East 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

3/26, 8 PM a “composer portrait” of trombonist George Lewis performed by Laura Cocks, Seth Parker Woods, Dana Jessen, Conrad Harris & Pauline Kim at Issue Project Room, $15

3/26, 8:30 PM hauntingly mesmerizing Iraqi classical singer Zahra Zubaidi (of Safaafir) at the Jalopy, $15

3/27, 6:30 PM flamenco chanteuse Rocio Marquez and band at Elebash Hall at CUNY, $30

3/27, 6:30 PM folk noir duo the Tall Pines at the American Folk Art Museum

3/27, 7:30 PM succinct, lyrical Americana road warrior Peter Mulvey at City Vineyard, $20\

3/27, 8 PM trumpeter Ben Holmes’ broodingly Middle Eastern/klezmer-tinged Naked Lore trio at Barbes

3/27-8, 8 PM unpredictable, intense improvisational jazz trombonist Josh Roseman at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, $20

3/27, 8 PM the String Orchestra of Brooklyn play works by by Caroline Shaw, Shelley Washington and Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

3/27, 7:30 PM Cuban pianist Dayramir González and band put an Afro-Cuban spin on Bowie and Blondie tunes at Joe’s Pub, $25 adv tix rec

3/27, 8 PM the NJ Symphony Orchestra play Rossini’s William Tell Overture, Christopher Rouse: Bassoon Concerto and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony at NJPAC in Newark, $20 tix avail

3/27, 8:30 PM Korean oboeist/flutist Gamin and the traditional Korean Nangye Gugak Orchestra at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $35, expensive, but could be super cool

3/27, 8 PM baritone sax sage Dave Sewelson leads his quintet at the old Nublu; 3/30, 9 PM he’s at Bar Lunatico

3/27, 9 PM haunting flamenco/Sicilian folk chanteuse Julia Patinella.at the basement room at the Rockwood, $12

3/27, 9:30 PM majestic, darkly cinematic surf band the TarantinosNYC at Freddy’s

3/27, 10 PM psychedelic Afrobeat jammers Underground System at the Sultan Room, $15

3/28. 6 PM Big Lazy noir guitar mastermind Steve Ulrich followed at 10 by slinky, hypnotic percussive Moroccan trance band Innov Gnawa at Barbes

3/28, 7 PM soprano Lucy Dhegrae sings works by Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Alison Knowles, Pamela Z, Meredith Monk, Kate Soper, and Luciano Berio on themes of post-traumatic stress disorder at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

3/28, 7:30 PM purist postbop jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould leads a trio at the Bar Next Door, $12

3/28, 7:30 PM pianist Conrad Tao‘s Junction Trio play works by Haydn, Ives and Dvorak at Irving Auditorium, Irving Pl/17th St., $16

3/28, 8 PM gospel singer Robert Gibbons, trombonist poet Demetrius Daniel and politically-inspired bluesy songwriter Fred Arcoleo at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away.”’

3/28, 8 PM Irish concertina/accordion player Christy McNamara returns from Ireland to reprise last year’s concert with guitarist David Sidman, plus a special opening set by Jerry O’Sullivan, arguably America’s premier master of the uilleann pipes at the Jalopy $15 adv tix avail at the theatre

3/28, 8 PM flamenco crooner Rancapino Chico – “torchbearer of flamenco puro and heir to the cantes of Cadiz” – at Roulette, $30

3/29, 7PM noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo with fellow six-stringer Steve Cardenas duo followed at 9:30 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes

3/28 9 PM haunting French-Tunisian saxophonist Yacine Boulares’ Ajoyo project with singer Sarah E. Charles at Bar Lunatico

3/28 9ish eclectic violinist Dana Lyn’s protean, psychedelic, ecologically woke jazz project Mother Octopus at the Owl

3/28 9 PM honkytonk guitarslinger Danny Weiss and charming singer Mary Olive Smith’s oldschool C&W band Stillhouse Serenade at the Jalopy Tavern

3/28, 8 PM edgy Middle Eastern-inspired alto saxophonist Uri Gurvich leads an electric quintet at Nublu 151, $15

3/28, 8 PM lush, intense, artfully orchestrated psychedelic rockers Aunt Ange at the small room at the Rockwood

3/28, 8 PM the Fonema Consort play new works by Jessie Cox, Fjola Evans, Louis Goldford and Laure Hiendl.at the DiMenna Center, $tba

3/28, 8 PM first-class improvisers: jazz bassoonist Sarah Schoenbeck’s duo SSWH with Dana JEssen and violinist Jason Kao Hwang‘s Sing House at Soup & Sound

3/28. 8 PM sax duo Hocket: Alastair Wright and Dylan Ward play music by Augusta Read Thomas, Meredith Monk, Kirsten Broberg, Ken Thomson, David Biedenbender, Lei Liang and Marc Mellits at Scholes St Studios, $10

3/29, 11 AM intense, fearlessly relevant Middle Eastern clarinetist Kinan Azmeh‘s City band at Subculture, $20 adv tix rec, that’s worth getting up early for on a Sunday!

3/29, 4 PM soul songwriter Sandra Small – who brings the passion of oldschool soul into the hip-hop era – at the small room at the Rockwood

3/29, 7 PM ambient electroacoustic improvisation by violinist Daniel Pioro and Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

3/29,. 7 PM a jazz piano twinbill w/ Erez Aviram Trio & Shai Portugaly and the Band at Scholes St Studios, $10

3/29, 7ish  catchy folk noir/Nashville gothic songwriter Emily Frembgen at LIC Bar

3/29, 8 PM flamenco cantante Elena Andujar and band at Drom, $15 adv tix rec

3/29, 10:30 PM apocalyptic psychedelic circus rock with Frogbelly & Symphony at the Sultan Room, $12

3/30, 7 PM the Raga Maqam ensemble with rapturous Middle Eastern trumpeter Amir Elsaffar, violinist Arun Ramamurthy and an all-star Indian ensemble at the Rubin Museum of Art, $30

3/30 8 PM lush, elegant, classically-informed jazz with the Vadim Neselovskyi Nonet feat. trumpeter Dave Douglas and magically haunting singer Sara Serpa at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

3/31, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, the new generation’s most eclectic jazz harpist, Brandee Younger & bassist Dezron Douglas at the Miller Theatre, free

3/31, 7:30/9:30 PM vocal jazz supergroup Duchess -Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylyianou with Jesse Lewis on guitar at the Jazz Standard, $30

3/31, 7:30 PM violin duo Milolina play their US debut with works by Ann Rosén, Finnish composer Tomi Räisänen, and Lynn Bechtold, as well as other featured works by Norwegian composer Ketil Hvoslef and Swedish composers Cecilia Franke, Mauro Godoy Villalobos, and Katarina Leyman, at Scandinavia House, $25

3/31, 7:30 PM Belarusian-American cellist Mark Prihodko, with pianist Tatiana Goncharova play works by Beethoven, Franck, Mark Mico and others at Merkin Concert Hall, $15 tix avail

3/31, 8 PM one of New York’s most eclectic, interesting oudists, Brian Prunka and his Egyptian-style band Sharq Attack at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton St at Washington, C to Clinton-Washington, sug don

4/2, 7:30 PM pianist Gabriele Baldocci plays a program tba at St. Johns Church, 218 W 11th St.,

4/3, 8 PM the NY Philharmonic play a $5 concert featuring music by Bernstein, Copland, Shostakovich, Nina C. Young, andNew York Philharmonic Very Young Composer Paloma Alonso as well as music chosen by ticketholders.

4/4, 8 PM Yemeni oudist Abdulrahman Al-Akhfash with mesmerizing Omani oudist/singer Amal Waqar and multi-instrumentalist Zafer Tawil at Roulette, $30

4/8, 7 PM everybody’s favorite downtown NYC soundtrack band, Morricone Youth followed by a screening of Kire Papputs’ suspense film The Last Porno Show – about a kid who inherits a porno theatre and hopes to close it but gets sucked into a more and more twisted world – at Nighthawk Theatre in Williamsburg, $18

4/9, 7:30 PM the HEO Trio blend Korean and French sounds into jazz at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

4/13. 7;30 PM pianist Vasily Primakov plays sonatas by Franck and Chopin at St. Johns Church, 218 W 11th St.,

4/14 drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, indie classical supergroup the Hands Free – James Moore, guitar & banjo; Caroline Shaw, violin Eleonore Oppenheim, bass; Nathan Koci, accordionat the Miller Theatre, free

4/16, 8 PM the NY Scandia Symphony play works by Carl Nielsen, Hugo Alfven, Emil Hartmann at Symphony Space, $25

4/16, 7:30 PM adventurous jazz singer/trumpeter Linda Briceño and band at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

4/16-18 haunting composer/pianist Michael Hersch with eclectic vocal/chamber ensemble Cantata Profana at the Irondale Center

4/17, 7:30 PM Son Del Monte play low brass-driven salsa dura at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

4/18, 8 PM haunting tanbour virtuoso Ali Akbar Moradi with ubiquitous Iranian percussionist Pejman Hadadi, the innovative at Roulette, $30

4/24, 8 PM Debapriya Adhikary and Samanwaya Sarkar play a rare duet with vocal and sitar at Roulette, $30

4/25, 8 PM oudist Brahim Frigbane and sintir player Hassan Hakmoun duel it out at Roulette, $30

4/28, 7 PM violinist Asi Matathias and pianist Matthew Graybil play works by Vitali, Beethoven and Saint-Saens at Revelation Gallery, 224 Waverly Pl, $20

4/30, 7:30 PM the Heath Quartet play an all-Beethoven program at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

5/1, 7:30 PM Soul Science Lab duo, Chen Lo and Asanté Amin “recreate the year 1963 in a live performance with artists whose work breathes new life into the sights and sounds that shaped the music of an era—allowing a modern audience to rethink, renew, and remix their conceptions of the past. From the Black empowerment songs of James Brown to the outcries for justice in Ferguson, Soundtrack ’63 highlights pivotal moments in America’s history and illustrates why they remain relevant today” at Alice Tully Hall, $25

5/19. 7 PM pianist Asiya Korepanova leads a trio playing works by Tschaikovskky and a trio version of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 at Revelation Gallery, 224 Waverly Pl, $20

Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn for February 2020

Daily updates – if you go out a lot, you might want to bookmark this page and check back regularly.

If you’re leaving your hood, don’t get stuck waiting for a train that never comes, make sure you check the MTA delays and out-of-service page for service cancellations and malfunctions, considering how unreliable the subway is at night and on the weekend.

If you don’t recognize a venue where a particular act is playing, check the comprehensive, recently updated list of over 200 New York City music venues at New York Music Daily’s sister blog Lucid Culture.

This is not a list of every show in town – it’s a carefully handpicked selection. If this calendar seems short on praise for bands and artists, it’s because every act here is recommended if you like their particular kind of music. Many different styles to choose from.

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

If you see a typo or an extra comma or something like that, remember that while you were out seeing that great free concert that you discovered here, somebody was up late after a long day of work editing and adding listings to this calendar ;)

Weekly events first followed by the daily calendar:

On select Wednesdays and Sundays, an intimate, growing piano music salon on the Upper West Side featuring iconoclastically insightful, lyrical pianist Nancy Garniez – a cult favorite with an extraordinarily fluid, singing, legato style – exploring the delicious minutiae of works from across the centuries, beverages and lively conversation included! This winter’s agenda is Childhood Classics: A series of three evenings featuring the music we were forced to play – music composed expressly for children, Bach to Kurtag, like it or not, and conversation about that experience, about the piano, and about ongoing musical growth…4 PM on February 16, and March 15, sug don, email for details/address

Mondays at 7 PM multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lichtman’s popular western swing band Brain Cloud at Barbes followed at 9:30 PM by a variety of tropical bands playing cumbias, boogaloo, salsa, maybe all of the above.. Brain Cloud are also playing their 10th anniversary show on Nov 22 at 9 PM at the Jalopy for $20

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

Mondays at the Vanguard the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – plays 9/11 PM, $35 per set plus drink minimum.

Mondays starting at 9:30 PM Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play two sets at Union Pool. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically woke, sexy original songs and is one of the most charismatic, intense live performers of our time. It’s a crazy dance party. Paula Henderson from Burnt Sugar is the usual lead soloist on baritone sax, with frequent special guests. Sizzling guitarist Binky Griptite – Sharon Jones’ lead player – is also often there.

Tuesdays at 9 PM, clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at Barbes (check the club calendar), $10 cover.

Wednesdays at 9ish the Binky Griptite Orchestra (formerly Sharon Jones’ brilliant oldschool soul backing band) at Threes Brewing Outpost, 113 Franklin St (Greenpoint/Kent Aves) in Greenpoint, free

Most Thursdays at 8:30, 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 – play the Jalopy, $15 adv tix at the bar at the main space. Tons of special guests followed by a wild raga jam!

Fridays at 7:30 PM tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser leads his band at the Django. Jukebox jazz in a JD Allen vein but not as dark and more straight-ahead/groove-oriented: as postbop party music goes, nobody’s writing better than this guy right now.

Saturdays in February, 6 PM busker swing legends the Xylopholks’ vibraphonist Jonathan Singer with a motley, rotating cast at Barbes

Sundays in March, 1 PM  brilliant, fearlessly political B3 organist Greg Lewis plays Monk tunes at Bar Lunatico. He’s also there with Brianna Thomas and the Juke Joint Jelis on the 19th

Most Sundays at 5:15 PM starting in late September, a free recital on the amazing, powerful, dynamic new organ at St. Thomas Church at 5th Ave and 53rd St. featuring some of the world’s greatest organists. The space is magnificent and the music usually is too. Right now the church fathers are programming pretty much everybody who used to work here and play the mighty old Aeolian-Skinner organ that finally had to be replaced. Check the concert calendar for details.

Sundays in February at 8 PM purist guitarist Peter Mazza – who gets the thumbs up from bop-era legend Gene Bertoncini – leads a series of groups at the Bar Next Door

Sundays in March,, 8/11 PMthe fearlessly relevant, toweringly intense Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, at Birdland, $30 at the bar

Sundays at 9:30 PM paradigm-shifting Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel leads his band at Barbes – check the club calendar just to make sure.

2/1, 11:30 AM (in the morning) the Nightingale Farm – Mary Spencer Knapp as narrator and singer, Teagan Taylor on trumpet & vocals, Doug Berns on bass and vocals, Sean Salant on guitar, and Ethan Meyer on percussion.- present their original adaptations of the classic baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Thayer plus Wilhelmina Harper’s “The Gunniwolf.” These stories follow a family singalong. At Greenlight Bookstore: 632 Flatbush Ave, Ft. Greene, free for kids of all ages

2/1, 2:30 PM the NY Classical Players perform the Debussy String Quartet, Dvorak’s American String Quartet and the Ravel Sonata for Violin and Cello at the NYPL for the Performing Arts out back of Lincoln Center free

2/1, 4 PM cinematic, psychedelic quirk-pop keyboardist Michael Hearst presents “Curious, Unusual and Extraordinary” songs from his many bands followed at 6 by Xylopholks’ vibraphonist Jonathan Singer, at 8 by Transylvanian pianist Lucian Ban with tuba jazz legend Bob Stewart and at 10 by epic ranchera/bolero brass crew Banda de los Muertos at Barbes

2/1. 4 PM moody lo-fi keyboardist/singer Anni Rossi followed at 8 by cellist Margaret Tran at Pete’s

2/1, 7 PM hard-hitting latin jazz pianist Donald Vega leads his trio at Birdland, $20 at the bar

2/1, 7:30/9:30 PM this era’s most consistently interesting jazz pianist, Vijay Iyer and trio plus special guest Wadada Leo Smith at the Jazz Standard $30

2/1, 7 PM great doom metal triplebill: Green Dragon – evil stoner boogie/doom ban who need a singer – followed by the enveloping, slower, more unhinged Yatra and then the even sludgier Warhorse at St. Vitus $15

2/1, 7 PM the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale sing music by French composers Fauré, Poulenc, Ravel and Boulanger, and English composers Byrd, Finzi, Howells and Tallis at Old First Reformed Church , 729 Carroll St,, Park Slope, $20

2/1, 7:30 PM ruthlessly funny, politically satirical faux-folk duo Friends Who Folk (Rachel Wenitsky and Ned Riseley) at Union Hall,702 Union St. north of 7th Ave, R to Union St and walk uphill, $10

2/1 8 PM haunting Middle Eastern guitarist Ayman Fanous at Spectrum $15

2/1, 8 PM sunny banjoist/songwriter Jenna Lindbo followed by politically aware, catchy acoustic songwriter Ruth Hill at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away”

2/1, 8 PM visionary violinist/social critic Laurie Anderson at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, no joke, $20

2/1, 8 PM duos Double Standard (Jennifer Gersten, violin; Laura Davey, piano) and hear|say (Iva Casián-Lakoš, cello; John Ling, percussion) “suspend their historic rivalry in the interest of mutual music-mongering. Music by Sky Macklay and Sarah Hennies, as well as premieres by Erika Dohi, John Ling, and Ed RosenBerg II” at Arete Gallery, $15

2/1, 8:30 PM darkly tuneful pianist Kris Davis spars with her tenor sax bud Ingrid Laubrock at the Stone at the New School, $20

2/1, 9 PM sharply literary, ten-piece country/carnivalesque/acoustic rock powerhouse M Shanghai String Band at the Jalopy, $10. 2/6 at 7 they’re at Shapeshifter Lab, $tba

2/1, 9ish badass drummer Rachel Housle‘s bday bash with lots of soul, rock, maybe mass free jazz improvisation at the Jalopy Tavern

2/1, Unsteady Freddie‘s monthly surf rock extravaganza at Otto’s begins at 10 PM with the eclectically cinematic Cameramen and the similarly cinematic, more dramatic TarantinosNYC and at around midnight Brooklyn cover crew Band of Others

2/1, 10 PM Elliott Smith-esque chamber-pop band the Morning Sea at the small room at the Rockwood

2/2, 1 PM pianist Jiayang Jin with Bangjun Xia, violin play music of Bach, Bacewicz, Schumann, Brahms, Scriabin, and Chopin at the 92nd St. Y, free

2/2, 4 PM fiery, deviously fun oldtimey swing guitarist/crooner Seth Kessel at Skinny Demis. He’s also here on 2/15 at 4 and 2/27 at 10

2/2, 5:30 PM the New Alchemy Jazz Orchestra with powerhouse soul belter Nicole Zuraitis at Birdland $25 at the bar. Followed at 8:30 ($30 separate adm) by mighty latin jazzz pianist Arturo O’Farrill‘s Octet. 2/13 at 7 Zuraitis leads her own band at 55 Bar

2/2, 7 PM cellist Jakob Kullberg plays solo works by Per Nørgård, Kaija Saariaho, and Bent Sørensen at National Sawduwt $30 adv tix rec

2/2, 8 PM multi-instrumentalist Brian Carpenter’s noir, cinematic, epic Ghost Train Orchestra with special guest crooners Theo Bleckmann, JG Thirlwell and others at the Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec

2/3, 6 PM the improvisationally-inclined Osso String Quartet followed at 8 by sweeping, swinging vibraphone jazz with Behn Gillece and his band at the Fat Cat

2/3. 7:30 PM pianist Joanne Polk leads a trio playing a program of all female composers: Amy Beach, Cecile Chaminade, Louise Farrenc, Clara Schumann and Judith Zaimont at Greenfield Hall at Manhattan School of Music, 130 Claremont Ave north of 122nd st , free

2/3. 8ish largescale improvisational ensemble Pedestrian conducted by Will Shore feat: Kenny Wollesen, Jason Nazary, Michael Kiaer, Jessica Lurie, Briggan Kraus, Mike Irwin, Christof Knoche, Emilie Webel, Adam Brisbin, Michael Coleman, Ava Mendoza, Aument at Holo, $10

2/3, 9 PM deviously clever drummer Jochen Reuckert leads his trio with Mark Turner on tenor and Matt Penman on bass at Bar Lunatico

2/3, 9:30ish Gato Loco bass saxophone monster Stefan Zeniuk’s new slightly less crazy band Green Mambo – a Perez Prado tribute – at Barbes

2/4, 6 PM rousing, anthemic janglerock/Americana band the Hawthorns at the small room at the Rockwood

2/4, 730 PM pianist Do-hyun Kim plays works by Mozart, Chopin, Bartok at Merkin Concert Hall, $10 tix avail

2/4-9, 7:30/9:30 PM alto powerhouse Ravi Coltrane leads his quartet at the Jazz Standard $30

2/4, 8 PM drummer Kate Gentile‘s Find Letter X followed by trombonist Kalia Vandever leading her trio at Seeds

2/4, 8 PM vocalist/composer Charmaine Lee and clarinetist Carol McGonnel perform original works plus pieces by Schoenberg and Erin Gee at Arete Gallery, $15. They’re at the Austrian Cultural Center the next night, 2/5 for free, rsvp reqd

2/4, 8 PM darkly lyrical psychedelic pop songwriter Jennifer Hall at the Parkside

2/4-9, 8:30/10 PM lyrical jazz piano icon Fred Hersch leads his trio at the Vanguard

2/4-8, 8:30 PM fascinatingly lyrical, individualistic pianist Sylvie Courvoisier leads a series of groups at the New School, $20. Choice pick: closing night in a trio with Wadada Leo Smith!

2/4, 9 PM intense janglerock/Americana/soul songwriter Matt Keating and guitarist Steve Mayone’s catchy project theBastards of Fine Arts at 11th St. Bar

2/4, 10 PM ferocious art-rock jamband Planta at Terraza 7, $10

2/4, 10:30 PM charismatic, adventurous postbop/avant garde trombonist/crooner Frank Lacy leads his group at Smalls

2/4, 10 PM the majestic, titanically kinetic NYChillharmonic– a mighty art-rock band with jazz instrumentation – at the Poisson Rouge, $15 adv tix rec

2/5, 1 PM cellist Sophia Bacelar, with intutive, eclectic pianist Alexandra Joan play works by Tschaikovsky, Kapustin and Rachmaninoff at the Greene Space, free, rsvp req

2/5. 7 PM the String Orchestra of NY plays music by Swiss composers at Symphony Space, $15 adv tix rec

2/5, 7:30 PM tuneful postbop pianist Jim Ridl with Tim Armacost (tenor sax), Jay Anderson (bass) at Mezzrow, $20. 2/10 at 7 Ridl’s at 55 Bar

2/5-6, 7:30 PM, repeating 2/8 at 8 and 2/11 at 7:30 PM the NY Philharmonic play Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1, Mozart’s solemn “Great” Mass and a Nina C. Young world premiere. $35 tix avail

2/5, 8 PM hypnotically emveloping, atmospheric guitarist/soundscaper Rafiq Bhatia plays the album release show for his new one with Vuyo Sotashe, Nina Moffitt, Jack Hill, Ian Chang, & Chris Pattishall at National Sawdust, $20 adtv tix rec

2/5, 7:30 PM lyrical latin jazz pianist Manuel Valera‘s new Cuban Express big band at the Django

2/5, 8 PM cinematic noir soul instrumentalists the Ghost Funk Orchestra at the Sultan Room, $10

2/5, 9ish Radiohead soundalikes and “post-Americana” chamber rock ensemble Briars of North America at the Owl

2/5, 8 PM drummer Gerald Cleaver leads an incendiary trio with Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Brandon Lopez on bass at Bar Bayeaux

2/5, 8 PM indie classical chamber orchestra Darmstadt Ensemble play Terry Riley’s In C at the Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix rec

2/5, 8ish sardonically catchy powerpop/janglerockers the Hell Yeah Babies at Our Wicked Lady, $10

2/5,8:30 PM Dervisi feat. psychedelic guitarist George Sempepos play “exotic Greek gangsta blues” and Middle Eastern flavored hash smoking anthems at Troost

2/5, 9ish bass sax powerhouse Colin Stetson’s trippy, darkly loopy postrock/soundscape band Ex Eye at St. Vitus,, $15

2/5, 10 PM wryly psychedelic cinematic Italophile instrumentalists/parodists Tredici Bacci at Baby’s All Right, $12

2/6, 5:30 PM trumpeter Rachel Therrien leads a killer, lyrical quintet with Caroline Davis – alto sax; Marta Sanchez – piano; Rick Rosato – bass; Jay Sawyer – drums at Birdland. $25 at the bar

2/6, 7 PM fearlessly woke hip-hop with Rebel Diaz w special guests Julianno Sosa, Nani Castle, Immortal Technique & A Desalambrar in solildarity w/ Chile at SOB’s, $20

2/6, 7 PM poignant, nuanced jazz singer Amy Cervini leads her quartet at 55 Bar

2/6, 7:30 PM the Telegraph Quartet play a program tba at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

2/6, 7:30 PM lyrical pianist Chris Pattishall with Barry Stephenson (bass), TJ Reddick (drums) at Mezzrow, $20

2/6, 8 PM the the Attacca Quartet, So Percussion and badass indie classical violinist/singer Caroline Shaw sing/play her work at the Miller Theatre, $20 tix avail

2/6, 8:30 PM cutting-edge new klezmer sounds with Radiant Others w/Dan Blacksberg & guitarist Nick Millevoi at Town & Village Social Hall, 334 E 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

2/6, 9ish fearlessly political, funny acoustic punk siren Jeanie Skelly at Whiskey Bar 28-48 31st St, Astoria, N to Astoria Blvd

2/6, 9 PM high-voltage honkytonk guitar monster Wayne Hancock at the Knitting Facgory, $15

2/6, 9ish fiery oldtimey string band the Four O’Clock Flowers at Sunny’s

2/6, 10ish explosive, creepy, colorful psychedelic rembetiko metal band Greek Judas at Niagara, Ave A/7th St

2/6, 10 PM dynamic, subtle all-female klezmer band Tsibele at Barbes

2/6, 10 PM the great unsung NYC hero of darkly purposeful, noir-tinged jazz guitar,Saul Rubin leads his Zebtet at the Fat Cat. He’s also here on 2/11 and 2/18 at 7

2/7, 7 PM Iceland’s adventurous Nordic Affect period-instrument ensemble at Spectrum, $15

2/7, 7 PM the MSM Symphony Orchestra play works by Beethoven, Schoenberg, and Scriabin at Niedorf Hall at Manhattan School of Music, 130 Claremont Ave north of 122nd St., free

2/7, 7:30 PM the Brooklyn Art Song Society perform works by Bartok, Kodaly, and Janacek at the Brooklyn Historical Society 128 Pierrepont St, downtown Brooklyn, 2/3 to Clark St., $25/$15 stud/srs

2/7, 8 PM John McCowen plays solo contrabass clarinet at Issue Prject Room, sug don

2/7, 8 PM tunefully ubiquitous downtown jazz reedman Marty Ehrlich with Michael Formanek on bass and Tomas Fujiwara on drums at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, $20. He’s back the following night 2/8 same time with pianist Kris Davis

2/7, 8 PM the NY Chamber Players perform Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.1 in C Maj; Schubert: Rondo for Violin and Strings and Beethoven: Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F Maj. at the diMenna Center, free

2/7, 8 PM playfully literate superduo Kill Henry Sugar– guitar/banjo mastermind Erik Della Penna and drummer Dean Sharenow – followed at 10 by followed at 10 by brilliant Americana/jazz/cinematic violinist Skye Steele’s Glorious Sunshine band at Barbes

2/7, 9 PM Brass Against – sort of like revolutionary postrock soul band Algiers with a big brass section – at the Poisson Rouge, $20

2/7, 9 PM violinist Alexi Kenney plays works by Enescu, Bach, Kurtag, Saariaho and others at the 92nd St Y, $25

2/7, 9 PM edgy, politically-fueled, tuneful powerpop/folk-pop songwriter Niall Connolly followed by the enigmatically psychedelic All Night Chemists at the small room at the Rockwood

2/7. 9:30 PM a really quiet band for Lucky 13 Saloon: Bajo Pression‘s psychedelic Mexican soul, $7

2/7, 10:30 PM tuneful oldschool soul/jazz trombonist Dave Gibson leads his quintet at the Fat Cat

2/7, 11:30 PM Changing Modes– NYC’s funnest, most unpredictable, sharply lyrical new wave art-rock band – at the Gutter, $7

2/8, 4 PM best bill of the year so far:  the Erik Satie Quartet – Ron Hay (trombone), Max Seigel (bass trombone),Ben Holmes (trumpet), and Andrew Hadro (bari sax) –reinvent classic and obscure Satie chamber pieces as well as rare compositions by his obscure contemporaries, followed at 6 by busker swing legends the Xylopholks’ vibraphonist Jonathan Singer, at 8 by intense, lyrical jazz bassist/composer Pedro Giraudo leading hisTango Quartet and at 10 by Super Yamba playing their psychedelic Afrobeat jams at Barbes

2/8, 2 and 7:30 PM the NJ Symphony Orchestra performs John Williams’ score to accompany a screening of the Star Wars classic Return of the Jedi at NJPAC in Newark, $26 tix avail

2/8, 7:30 PM pianist Ivan Gusev plays works of C.P.E. Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin at the Tenri institute, $20

2/8, 9ish perennially entertaining, funny, politically spot-on Rod MacDonald at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away”

2/8, 10 PM Bolivian cumbia legends Los Hijos Del Sol at Cub Bonafide, $25 – they seem to be doing an acoustic thing now

2/8, 10 PM sizzling electric bluegrass and C&W with Demolition String Band at Skinny Dennis

2/8, midnight unpredictably fun, funny art-rock/psychedelic soul band the Academy Blues Project at the small room at the Rockwood. 2/21 at 10 they’re at Silvana

2/9, 3 PM improvisational choir Constellation Chor at Spectrum, $15

2/9, 3 PM the Greenwich Village Orchestra play Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite plus Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 at All Saints Church, 230 E 60th St (2/3rd Aves) $25 sug don

2/9, 4 PM Ayane Kozasa and Melissa Reardon, violas and Raman Ramakrishnan and Paul Wiancko, cellos, perform bustling, cinematic works by Wiancko and others at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.

2/9, 5 PM, repeating 2/12 at 6:30 PM the G# duo – Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin and Yelena Grinberg, piano play works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schubert at Grinberg’s upper westside piano salon, reception to follow, $35, close to the 1/2/3 train at 96th St.,deets here

2/9, 5 PM the Atlantic Chamber Players play several wind quintets and other chamber works by Schchedrin, David Amram, Eric Ewazen and others at Our Savior’s Atonement, 178 Bennett Avenue (one block west of Broadway at 189th Street), free

2/9, 5 PM the Sometime Boys’ riveting, powerful, theatrical frontwoman Sarah Mucho sings dark cabaret and rock tunes at Freddy’s

2/9, 5:30 PM darkly sweeping, cinematic singer/composer Jihye Lee and her Orchestra at Birdland $25 at the bar. mighty latin jazzz pianist Arturo O’Farrill‘s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra are there at 8:30 and 11 after for $30 separate adm. O’Farrill’s big unit is also there on 2/16 and 2/23

2/9, 6 PM Guillermo Gregorio on clarinet, Ivan Barenboim on contralto clarinet and Nick Jozwiak on cello jam out the lows followed by baritone sax monster Dave Sewelson with Ras Moshe and Leonid Galaganov at Downtown Music Gallery, free

2/9, 6 PM noir guitar legend Jim Campilongo and Luca Benedetti, followed at 9 by Adam Klipple’s Hammond organ extravaganza at 55 Bar

2/9, 7:30 PM imaginative, purist baritone saxophonist Claire Daly leads her quartet at Smalls

2/10, 6 PM the Greenpoint Songwriters Exchange – a diverse bunch playing everything from folk noir to Costelloesque, literary rock to Indian ragas and oldschool soul – at Pete’s

2/10, 7:30 PM the Juilliard Orchestra play Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major; Stravinsky – Pulcinella Suite and Concerto in E-flat, “Dumbarton Oaks” at Alice Tully Hall, $20

2/10, 10ish the NYC Gaita Club – a Bulla en el Barrio spinoff – play rustically pounding Afro-Colombian trance-dance music at Barbes

2/11, 7 PM the Underground Spiritual Ground, a new supergroup and Anbessa Orchestra spinoff exploring the connection between African-American spirituals, Ethiopian and Caribbean music followed at 9 by clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at Barbes

2/11, 7 PM eclectic, hard-hitting, lyrical composer/tenor saxophonist Stan Killian and band; at 10 acerbic alto saxophonist David Binney leads his quartet at 55 Bar

2/11, 7:30/9:30 PM the haunting, smokily atmospheric Michael Leonhart Orchestra at the Jazz Standard, $30

2/11, 8 PM arguably the foremost piano improviser alive (and a hell of a composer too), Satoko Fujii‘s Kaze quartet at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

2/11-15, 8:30 PM unstoppably edgy, deservedly iconic, fearlessly political downtown guitarist Marc Ribot leads a series of ensembles at the Stone., $20 Choice pick: opening night with Greg Lewis (organ) Gerald Cleaver (drums)

2/11-16, 8:30/10 PM the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra– composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – play their annual weeklong stand on their home turf

2/11, 9ish intense, multistylistic blues guitarist/singer Will Scott at Sunny’s

2/11, 9:30 edgy lead guitarist Damian Quinones and his psychedelic latin soul band at Pete’s. 2/13 at 9 he’s at Bar Chords

2/11-15, 11:30 PM rising star bassist Endea Owens and the Cookout at Dizzy’s Club, $5

2/12, 7 PM Brasbrook: (Brassens/Brooklyn) Georges Brassens, anarchist, provocateur and French poet, gets his repertoire re-arranged for a Nigerian-influenced quartet. With Francis Jacob – guitar, Vocals; Bennett Paster – keyboard; Derek Nievergelt – bass and AJ Olusegun – congas at Barbes

2/12-13, 7 PM the best singing pianist (and the best piano-playing singer) in jazz, Champian Fulton at Birdland, $20 at the bar

2/12, 7 PM the southern gothic of Dolly Parton comes to life! Nath Ann Carrera sings “an evening of the most extreme sensationalistic story songs written by Dolly Parton from all eras of her career, featuring her decades-spanning canon of cautionary tales about why you shouldn’t trust men, have children, or get married, in any context whatsoever!” at Joe’s Pub, $18 gen adm

2/12, 7:30 PM darkly eclectic pianist and Cecile McLorin Salvant collaborator Sullivan Fortner solo at Mezzrow, $20

2/12, 7:30/9:30 PM Middle Eastern-tinged tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur with Nitai Hershkovits – piano; Petros Klampanis – bass; Johnathan Blake – drums at the Jazz Standard, $30

2/12, 8 PM the DaCapo Chamber Players perform music of African-American composers George Walker and Wendell Logan at Merkin Concert Hall, $20

2/12, 8 PM trumpet powerhouse Jeremy Pelt leads a quartet with Stacy Dillard, Clovis Nicolas and Diego Ramirez at Bar Bayeux

2/11, 8 PM classical Iraqi repertoire by Nazim El Ghazali, Afifa Iskanar, and Wahida Khalil sung by Iraqi vocalist Zahra Zubaidi at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton St at Washington, C to Clinton-Washington, sug don

2/12 ,8 PM Yooni Choi on vocals with lyrical pianist Jacob Sacks at I-beam, $15

2/12, 8:30 PM original honkytonk band Sarah Durning and the Fun Sisters at Freddy’s

2/12, 8:30 PM rising star trumpeter Adam O’Farrill‘s Stranger Days Quartet at Seeds

2/12, 9 PM sardonically relevant, guitar-fueled female-fronted Americana punks Spanking Charlene play the album release show for their new one at Bowery Electric, $12

2/12, 9ish new Brooklyn honkytonk band Lissy & the Jacks at the Jalopy Tavern

2/13, 7:309:30 PM Wet Ink Ensemble play duo compositions: pianist Eric Wubbels and singer Charmaine Lee, cellist Mariel Roberts and violinist Josh Modney at Scholes St Studios, $10, stud free

2/13, 7:30/9:30 PM an all-star big band including but not limited to tenor player Ben Kono and a large cast play new big band works by Sam Blakeslee, Elijah Shiffer, Ines Velasco at the Jazz Gallery, $15

2/13, 7:30 PM pianist Melaine Daulbert plays original works plus pieces by Anastassis Philippakopoulos, Sébastien Roux and Michael Vincent Waller at Arete Gallery, $15

2/13,7:30 PM Austin soul powerhouse Tameca Jones and band at Symphony Space, $20 for 30 and under, $30 otherwise

2/13 ,7:30 PM hotshot, purist bassist Endea Owens leads her band at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

2/13, 8 PM 8 PM plush, balmy, oldtimey uke swing band Daria Grace & the Pre-War Ponies followed at 10 by drummer Arthur Vint & Associates reinventing classic Morricone spaghetti western soundtracks at Barbes

2/13, 8 PM punk classical vocal jams with Odeya Nini plus the Chutneys feat Gelsey Bell, guitarist Chris Cochrane, and percussionist and composer Fast Forward. at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

2/13, 8 PM pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach’s Branderburg Concerto No. 5 and other Bch works at the Miller Theatre, $30 tix avail

2/13, 8:30ish psychedelic supergroup the Elgin Marbles feat. members of Love Camp 7, Dervisi and Peter Stampfel’s jug band at Troost

2/13, 8:30 PM multi-reedman Sam Sadigursky’s klezmer project “The Solomon Diaries” feat accordionist Nathan Koci at Town & Village Social Hall, 334 E 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

2/13, 9 PM 20s hot jazz revivalists Cait and the Critters at Radegast Hall

2/14, 6 PM crystalline-voiced, noir-tinged third-stream jazz chanteuse Tessa Souter at 55 Bar

2/14, 7ish entertainingly shuffling, harmony-driven jug band the Salt Cracker Crazies at Terra Blues

2/14-15, 7:30 PM cleverly lyrical, darkly klezmer-tinged pianist Uri Caine leads his trio at Smalls. 2/28-29 at 8 PM he’s at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, $20

2/14-16, 730/9:30 PM the Mingus Big Band’s annual weekend stand at the Jazz Standard. $30

2/14, 8 PM dark cabaret legend Sanda Weigl and her Romany-flavored band followed  at 10 by amazingly fun, noirish, psychedelic surf/cinematic  trio Hearing Things at Barbes

2/14, 8 PM catchy, jangly desert rock band Pistolera at Flushing Town Hall, free, tix req

2/14, 8 PM latin-tinged hard funk band Shelley Nicole’s Blackbushe at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center (the BMCC auditorium on Chambers St), $25

2/14, 8 PM night one of the annual jug band festival at the Jalopy with Piedmont Bluz – Eli Smith – Old Scratch Sallies – Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones – Morgan O’Kane & Ezekiel Healy, $15 each night or $20 for both

2/14, 8 PM Norah Jones’ edgy, perennially popular oldschool C&W/soul band Puss N Boots at Rough Trade,$25 gen adm. The next night 2/15 they’re at Bowery Ballroom, same deal

2/14, 9 PM feral cellist Jay Campbell and pianist Conor Hanick play works by John Zorn, Natacha Diels and others at the 92nd St Y, $25

2/14, 10:30 PM hilarious, smartly political faux-French retro 60s psych-pop band les Sans Culottes at Freddy’s

2/15, 2 PM the brand new Subtle Cheetah Brass Quintet at Scholes St Studios,

2/15, 4 PM the Harlem Chamber Players perform rare works by African-American composers including Coleridge-Taylor, Perkinson, Margaret Bonds, William Grant Still, and David Baker at Harlem School for the Arts, 649 Saint Nicholas Avenue at 141st $10

2/15, 4 PM the Erik Satie Quartet – Ron Hay (trombone), Max Seigel (bass trombone),Ben Holmes(trumpet), and Andrew Hadro (bari sax) –reinvent classic and obscure Satie chamber pieces as well as rare compositions by his obscure contemporaries,followed at 6 by busker cartoon swing legends the Xylopholks’ vibraphonist Jonathan Singer, at 8 by the haphazardly funny Eastern Blokhedz  – who do psychedelic covers of 60s Russian psychedelic pop songs and specialize in the catalog of legendary Polish singer Edita Piaha – and at 10 by singer Carolina Oliveros’ mighty 13-piece Afro-Colombian trance/dance choir Bulla en el Barrio at Barbes. Bulla are also here on 2/24 at 10ish

2/15, 4 PM ICE founder and flute luminary Claire Chase, avant art-song maven Iva Bittová  and Sonic Mud (Julia Elsas & Kenny Wollesen Group) at Luisa Muhr’s monthly Women Between Arts show – NYC’s only multidisciplinary series focusing exclusively on woman performers at the Glass Box Theatre at the New School, 55 W 13th St, $20, “no one turned away for lack of funds”

2/15, 7:15 ish dark psychedelic, ferociously entertaining acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues.. Theyre lso here on 2/29

2/15, 8ish stoner boogie/heavy psych band Grimm Jack, and punkish metal band Ferrettt at Lucky 13 Saloon, $10

2/15, 8 PM edgy wind-centric chember ensemble Quintilia at Scholes St Studios

2/15, 6 PM oldschool-style high plains C&W singer Hope Debates & North 40 at 55 Bar

2/15, 7 PM wild klezmer clarinetist Zisl Slepovitch and trio at the Empty Circle, 499 3rd Ave, Gowanus, $!5 incl open red wine bar, R/F to 4th Ave/9th St.

2/15, 7:30 PM a Middle Eastern fretburner summit: elegantly ferocious tar lute star Sahba Motallebi & virtuoso oudist/composer Rahim AlHaj at Merkin Concert Hall, expesive, $35, but what a twinbill

2/15, 8:30 night two of the Jalopy’s annual jugband festival with Ever Lovin’ Jug Band short film – Bill Carney’s Jug Addicts – Miss Maybell & the Rag Pickers – Homestead Street Band – Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues. $15 each night or $20 for both

2/15, 9 PM slashing, desert rock-tinged Austin surf band the Boss Jaguars at Otto’s

2/15, 9 PM whirlwind B3 jazz organist Pat Bianchi leads his trio at Bar Lunatico

2/15, 10:30 PM fiery, incisive postbop pianist John Chin solo at Mezzrow, $20

2/15, 11 PM explosively intense, psychedelically bluesy oldschool soul/roadhouse jamband Lizzie & the Makers at the small room at the Rockwood

2/16, 3 PM pianist Jerome Rosen plays Beethoven Piano trios including Variations on a Waltz of Diabelli at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, 122 W. 69th St, $15; at 730 PM the St. Cecilia Chamber Ensemble play works by Beethoven, Richard Strauss and DuParc there for $10

2/16, 4 PM the Orchestra Now play popular favorites by Ravel, Debussy, Messiaen, and Stravinsky at Symphony space, free, rsvp sugg

2/16, 7 PM 8 PM accordion genius Shoko Nagai’s haunting Tokala Silk Road/klezmer mashup project followed at 9:30ish by paradigm-shifting Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel and his band at Barbes

2/16. 7 PM Kyle Motl plays new music for solo contrabass, featuring works by Caroline Louise Miller, Anqi Liu, Jessie Cox, and himself at Spectrum $15

2/16, 7 PM Jump Off This Bridge play improvisational soundscapes followed by violinist/composer Ben Sutin‘s quintet – who’re moving away from the klezmer toward a more strsight-up postbop vein lately – at Scholes St Studios

2/16, 7 PM circus rock pioneer Sxip Shirey with special guest violinists Rima Fand, Sarah Alden and others at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

2/16, 8 PM cleverly lyrical, edgily funny, spine-tingling powerpop/acoustic rock singerTamara Hey followed eventually at midnight by lyrically-fueled electric folk noir band Leland Sundries at the small room at the Rockwood

2/16, half past midnight (actually wee hours of 2/13) catchy, cinematic, noir-inclined saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton leads his band at Smalls

2/17, 6:30 PM Lisa Hoppe on bass with Joanna Mattrey on viola and Lukas Akintaya on drums at the Bar Next Door

2/17, 7 PM  the world’s creepiest, slinkiest, most psychedelic crime jazz/film noir band, Big Lazy at 55 Bar

2/17, 7 PM catchy, anthemic, female-fronted janglerock band the Belle Curves followed by lyrically-fueled electric folk noir band Leland Sundries at LIC Bar

2/17, 7:30 PM vocal and piano group Mirror Visions Ensemble “explores The Disappearing Art of Letter Writing: letters of love and vengeance, reports from the North Pole, missives asking for money or forgiveness, including correspondence of Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gertrude Stein, and Sullivan Ballou. Tom Cipullo provides indispensable instruction with a newly commissioned Guide to Letter Writing, along with works by Gwyneth Walker, Cole Porter, Wolfgang Erich Korngold, Dominick Argento, Richard Pearson Thomas and Christopher Berg” at the Sheen Center, $25/$15 for students

2/17, 730 PM dark, sardonic, brilliantly tuneful jazz pianist Danny Fox and his Trio at Mezzrow, $20

2/17, 8:30 PM deviously fun cabaret/chamber pop chanteuse Grace McLean at the basement room at the Rockwood, 412

2/17, 9 PM legendary dual-reedman George Braith– who can play two saxes at once better than most guys can play one – leads his quartet at the Fat Cat

2/17, 9;30ish ex-Chicha Libre keyboard sorcerer Josh Camp’s wryly psychedelic cumbia/tropicalia/dub band Locobeach at Barbes

2/18, 6:30 PM Helena Kay on saxophone with Kaisa Maensivu on bass and Angus Mason on drums at the Bar Next Door

2/18, 7 PM trumpeter Sonny Singh’s “revolutionary devotional Sikh music” project followed by clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at Barbes

2/18, 7 PM a Mannes College ensemble play works by Amy Beach, Florence Price, Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Johanna Beyer, Rachel J. Peters, Joan Tower, Missy Mazzoli, Caroline Shaw, Valerie Coleman and Melba Liston at the first-floor New School auditorium at 63 5th Ave, free

2/18, 7 PM irrepressible bassist Moppa Elliott does triple duty: with gamely satirical faux-soul band Advancing on a Wild Pitch, then with the large improvisational ensemble Acceleration Due to Gravity and finally his aptly titled Unspeakable Garbage 80s cover band, apparent heirs to the Mostly Other People Do the Killing satire-jazz throne at Shapeshifter Lab, $10

2/18, 7:30/9:30 PM sax-and-organ grooves with Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith at the Jazz Standard $30

2/18, 7:30 PM violinist Mayuki Fukuhara leads a string quintet playing works by Mozart and Beethoven at at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, 122 W. 69th St, free

2/18-22, 8:30 PM darkly colorful, perennially interesting bassist Linda May Han Oh leads a series of ensembles at the Stone., $20 Choice pick: the 2/21 set with her quintet with Sara Serpa (voice) Jeremy Viner (tenor sax) Fabian Almazan (piano) Tom Rainey (drums)

2/19, noon up-and-coming pianist Nathan Lee plays works by Beethoven, Chris Rogrerson and Schumann at the Morgan Library, $25

2/19, 7 PM sharply lyrical southwestern gothic/Americana songwriter Tom Shaner at LIC Bar

2/19 7:30 PM the Dance Clarinets big band led by JD Parran performs works by tuba cult hero Joseph Daley at Greenwich House Music School $15

2/19, 8 PM tenor sax improv titan George Garzone leads a sextet at Bar Bayeaux

2/19 8 PM Glad Irys – the new jazz quintet with Alex Weiss (saxophones and composition), Aaron Novik on clarinets, Dmitry Ishenko on bass, Joe Hertenstein on drums, and Yana Davydova on guitar at Erv’s on Beekman, 2122 Beekman Pl, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, B/D to Prospect Pk

2/19, 10 PM creepy noir chamber pop/murder ballad duo Charming Disaster at Pete’s

2/20, 1 PM Trio Entartete celebrate classical music suppressed by the Nazis, program tba at Elebash Hall, free

2/20, 7 PM high-voltage Texas Americana multi-instrumentalist Molly Venter and Goodnight Moonshine (from Red Molly) at the basement room at the Rockwood, $20

2/20, 7 PM drummer Bobby Previte, keyboardist Jamie Saft, iconic noise/jazz guitarist Nels Cline play the album release show for their new one at Nublu 151, $20

2/20-23, 7:30;/9:30 PM postbop sax vet Oliver Lake’s Trio 3 with a special guest each night at the Jazz Standard $30 . Choice picks: opening night with Vijay Iyer, closing night with Jason Moran

2/20, 7:30 PM high-voltage oldschool salsa dura with longtime Tito Puente sideman John “Dandy” Rodriguez’s “Dream Team” at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

2/20, 7:30 PM state-of-the-art postbop alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw leads his band at Drom, $15 adv tix rec

2/20, 8 PM drummer Brian Shankar Adler‘s Fourth Dimension with Jonathan Goldberger: guitar, Santiago Leibson: piano, Rob Jost: bass followed by the funky, eclectic Sugartone Brass Band at Barbes

2/20, 8 PM pianist Bong-A Jung plays Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition plus works by Beethoven and Kapustin at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $25

2/20, 8:30 PM Mad Larry (formerly of the psychedelic, energetic Bogmen) at 11th St Bar

2/20, 8 PM Sloan – the Canadian Guided by Voices – at Bowery Ballroom, $25 gen adm

2/20, 8 PM indie classical ensemble Alarm Will Sound and special guests play a “composer portrait” of Oscar Bettison at the Miller Theatre, $20 tix avail

2/20 ,8:30 PM a klezmer dance party with Lauren Brody,clarinetist Ken Maltz & ace drummer Aaron Alexander at Town & Village Social Hall, 334 E 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

2/21, 7 PM  riveting, intense singer Hannah Fairchild’s explosive, lyrically brilliant noir punk power trio Hannah vs. the Many  at Venus in Furs, 990 Broadway, Bushwick, $10, J/M to Myrtle Ave

2/21, 7:15 (not 7:30 PM, mind you) microtonal, magical African guitar-and-drums jamband 75 Dollar Bill followed by ageless mostly-female CB’s era funk-punk/postrockers the Bush Tetras at the Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tic rec

2/21, 7:30 PM flute-violin/piano trio Sheng-Ching Hsu, Yueh-Tzu Lin, Mohamed Shams play works by Debussy, Shostakovich, Nino Rota and others at Scholes St Studios, $10

2/21, 8 PM dusky, rustic Brazilian jungle guitar-and-accordion sounds with Regional de NY followed by Rana Santacruz– the Mexican Shane MacGowan, but without the booze if you can imagine that – at Barbes

2/21, 8 PM John Zorn’s noisy, hard-rocking Simulacrum at the Sultan Room. $20

2/21, 8 PM violin virtuoso Joshua Bell with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields play Beethoven: Overture to Coriolanus, Op. 62; Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1; Brahms: Symphony No. 4 at NJPAC in Newark, $30 tix avail

2/21, 8 PM Sexmob alto player Briggan Krauss with Keiskue Matsuno and Eli Rojas at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery, $20

2/21, 8 PM SaWee – violinist Sita Chay and percussionist Jihye Kim play their New Ritual project which “strives to embrace the wounds of current society and heal through ritualistic performance, incorporating Korean shaman rhythm, Korean mask dance movements, and contemporary languages created through violin,” at Flushing Town Hall, $18/$12 stud

2/21, 8ish atmospherically anthemic Indian-influenced spacerock band Humeysha at Elsewhere, $12. Wish they hadn’t autotuned the vocals on that record.

2/21, 8 PM a strangely excellent improvisational twinbill: bassist/multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and uneasy female-fronted psychedelic abstract rock band Gold Dime at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

2/21-22, 8 PM cellist Charles Curtis and wind ensemble play a hypnotically circling Alvin Lucier world premiere with choreography from Abigail Levine at Issue Project Room, $25

2/21, 8:30 PM mixed metal: punkmetal band Thanatotic Desire, sludgily evil lo-fi instrumentalists Concrete Dream, then a pop band posing as metal and finally the ornately orchestral Deadly Nights at Lucky 13 Saloon ,$10

2/21, 8:30ish maybe the best twinbill ever at the Market Hotel: Monograms– who do as good a mid-80s Cure impression as any band alive – and ageless, gritty 90s sci-fi surf instrumentalists Man or Astroman, $20

2/21, midnight wild Mardi Gras Indian funk band  Cha Wa at Drom, $20 adv tix rec

2/21, midnight bass sax monster Stefen Zeniuk’s punk mambo crew the NY Fowl Harmonic  at Branded Saloon

2/22, 6 PM busker cartoon swing legends the Xylopholks’ vibraphonist Jonathan Singer followed at 8 by trumpeter Ben Holmes’ broodingly Middle Eastern/klezmer-tinged Naked Lore trio followed at 10 by ferocious, creepily enveloping, kinetic psychedelic tropicalia band Yotoco at Barbes

2/22, 7:30 PM legendary, risque, politically spot-on calypso icon the Mighty Sparrow at Ginny’s Supper Club, $30

2/22, 7:30 PM trumpet powerhouse Jeremy Pelt  and the best singing pianist (and the best piano-playing singer) in jazz, Champian Fulton in a rare duo performance, wow, at Mezzrow, $20

2/22 7:30 PM violin/piano duo Paul and Helen Huang play works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Ysaye and Saint-Saens iat Irving Auditorium, Irving Pl/17th St., $17

2/22. 8 PM popular, tuneful, lyrical Americana rockers Good Luck Mountain at Pete’s

2/22, 8 PM otherworldly, powerful Irish singer Clare Horgan at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away”

2/22, 9 PM honkytonk guitarslinger Danny Weiss and charming singer Mary Olive Smith’s oldschool C&W band Stillhouse Serenade at the Jalopy Tavern

2/22, 9 PM irrepressible multi-instrumentalist Joanna Sternberg and thoughtful, latin-inspired, occasionally political acoustic songwriter Miriam Elhajli at the Owl

2/22, 8 PM  Du.O – violinists Aimée Niemann and Charlotte Munn-Wood – play works by Scott Wollschleger, Emily Praetorius and Leah Asher at the Tenri Cultural Institute, $20

2/22, 10ish perennially entertaining first wave-style punks the Car Bomb Parade at the Cobra Club $10

2/22, 10ish oldschool late 70sish metal band Last Pharaoh at Lucky 13 Saloon, $10

2/22, 10:30 PM propulsive, jazz-tinged dreampop band the Mattson 2 at Rough Trade, $17

2/23, 1 PM the Afro-Polks Allstars (Jerome Harris and Anders Nilsson on guitars, Chulo Gatewood on bass and Michek Schejbal on drums) at Neir’s Tavern, 87-48 78th Street, Woodhaven

2/23, 3 PM fiery klezmer fiddler and brilliant composer Alicia Svigals and pianist Donald Sosin play a live score to the 1923 silent film The Ancient Law, “ about a rabbi’s son who runs away to become an actor and is disowned by his father. Digitally restored in 2017, it paints a complex portrait of the tension between tradition and modernity, and is an outstanding example of the creativity of Jewish filmmakers in 1920s Germany,” at Temple Ansche Chesed, 251 W 100th St, free, res req

2/23, 3 PM indie classical ensemble Sandbox Percussion play works by Natalie Dietterich, Steve Reich, Juri Seo, Brendan Randall – Myers and Amy Beth Kirsten at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave, Park Slope, any train to Grand Army Plz, sugg don

2/23, 5 PM the Momenta Quartet play works by Japanese composers Yu Kuwabara:, Tomoko Fukui: Takeo Hoshiya: Chiku Komiya: Yuka Shibuya: Jummei Suzuki very rarely performed here including some US premieres at Scandinavia House, $20/$15 stud/srs

2/23, 5 PM the Fair Trade Trio play works by Faure, Schnittke and Jessica Meyer at Our Savior’s Atonement, 178 Bennett Avenue (one block west of Broadway at 189th Street), free

2/23, 5 PM Kemp Jernigan, oboe; Remy Taghavi, bassoon; Yelena Grinberg, piano play works by Beethoven, Schumann, Saint-Saens and Poulenc at Grinberg’s upper westside piano salon, reception to follow, $35, close to the 1/2/3 train at 96th St.,deets here

2/23, 6 PM creepy, wickedly lyrical, harmony-driven noir chamber pop/murder ballad duo Charming Disaster at a secret Staten Island house concert, email for deets/location

2/23, 6ish haunting folk noir/Americana songwriter Emily Frembgen at LIC Bar

2/23, 7 PM singers Lucy Dhegrae and Ariadne Greif premiere new work from Sheree Clement with “one foot in contemporary music and the other in performance art” at Flushing Town Hall, free w/rsvp

2/23, 8 PM brilliant keyboardist Dov Manski and singer Kristen Slipp (Dirty Projectors) plus Wendy Eisenberg’s hardcore trio Editrix at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, $15/$10 stud

2/23, 8:30 PM eclectic, pensive, purposeful original acoustic Americana songwriter Ruby Landen at Pete’s

2/24, 6 PM crystalline-voiced, vivid, Tom Waits-influenced acoustic storyteller Lara Ewen at the small room at the Rockwood

2/24, 7:30 PM Americana violin luminary Mark O’Connor and the Publiquartet play improvisations on Dvořák – String Quartet No. 12 in F Major (“American”) and O’Connor – Selections from String Quartet No. 3 (“Old Time”) at Music Mondays, Advent Church, northwest corner of 93rd and Broadway, free

2/24-25, 8:30 PM Ana Popovic – the Serbian Stevie Ray Vaughan – at Iridium, $30 seats avail

2/24, 9 PM lyrical, latin-tinged pianist Helen Sung leads her trio at Bar Lunatico

2/25, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, violinist Austin Wulliman & pianist Conrad Tao at the Miller Theatre, free

2/25. 6 PM a Mannes College ensemble plays works by Beethoven, Minjoo Kim, Jihwan Yoon, Scott Fish and Adam Shirkin at the German UN Consulate, 871 UN Plaza, free, ID REQUIRED,security is very tight

2/25-26, 7:30/9:30 PM one of this era’s most vividly bustling, entertaining big bands, Miho Hazama & M-Unit at the Jazz Standard, $30

2/25, 7:30 PM two MSM choirs join the MSM Chamber Sinfonia for an evening of Bach and Schubert under the baton of Kent Tritle at Niedorf Hall at Manhattan School of Music, 130 Claremont Ave north of 122nd St., free

2/25, 7:30 PM the Vienna Piano Trio play Beethoven’s Archduke Trio plus works by Haydn and Brahms at the 92nd St Y, $35

2/25, 7:30 PM this era’s most fearlessly relevant, hard-hitting tenor saxophonist, JD Allen leads his trio followed at 10:30 by postbop trumpeter Josh Evans leading his quartet at Smalls

2/25. 8 PM Trio Emerillon play new works by Philippe Manoury, Félix-Antoine Coutu, Kévin Gironnay for bass clarinet, violin, piano at the Mise-En Place, 341 Calyer St. in Greenpoint, free

2/25, 8 PM a launch party for poet Oliver Baer’s twisted new epistolary novel Letters to the Editor of Cthulhu Sex Magazine at Otto’s

2/25, 8 PM the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola perform rarely staged choral music by Verdi, Rossini, Palestrina, and Ildebrando Pizzetti, at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (980 Park Ave), $25 tix aail

2/25 8 PM Palestinian kanun virtuoso & composer Firas Zreik at Sisters Brooklyn, 900 Fulton St at Washington, C to Clinton-Washington, sug don

2/25-3/1, 8:30/10 PM darkly visionary jazz chanteuse/composer Cecile McLorin Salvant leads her quintet at the Vanguard, $35

2/25, 8:30 PM lyrically intense avant garde chanteuse Jane LeCroy‘s cello rock band the Icebergs at Pete’s

2/25-28, 8:30 PM transgressively funny postbop saxophonist Jon Irabagon leads a series of ensembles at the Stone., $20 Choice pick: opening night with his expaned 3Dom Quartet: Tim Hagans (trumpet) Joe Fonda (bass) Mark Helias (bass, clarinet) Barry Altschul (drums) Uri Caine (piano)

2/25, 9 PM boisterously funny oldschool 60s C&W and brooding southwestern gothic with the Jack Grace Band at Skinny Dennis. 2/29 ostensibly at 11 AM they’re at at Bar Chord

2/26-27. 7:30/9:30 PM a rare NYC performance by Buenos Aires’ Tango Jazz Quartet at Minton’s, $20 at the bar

2/26, 7:30 PM purist retro Americana fretwork: guitarist Jake Sanders and Brain Cloud multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lichtman at the Old American Can Factory, 232 3rd St. in Gowanus,  $15

2/26, 8 PM singer Dida Pelled salutes obscure and cult favorite women songwriters including Connie Converse, Elizabeth Cotten, Molly Drake, Vashti Bunyan and Norma Tanega at Barbes

2/26, 8 PM poignantly lyrical, eclectic pianist Marta Sanchez leads her quintet at Bar Bayeaux

2/26, 8 PM multidisciplinary singer Mary Prescott‘s Loup Lunaire project explores the wolf mother archetype at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

2/26, 8ish first-rate purist honkytonk crooner/bandleader Cliff Westfall and his killer band at Berlin $tba

2/26, 8ish Dana Schechter’s hauntingly cinematic slowcore/art-rock project Insect Ark play the album release show for their new one at St. Vitus, $10

2/26, 8:30 PM pianist Conrad Tao plays Frederic Rzewski’s thorny, defiant protest classical suite “The People, United” at Spectrum, $15

2/27, 7ish sprawling, psychedelic abstract rock band Loosie followed by snidely satirical new wave/80s rock spoofers Office Culture at the Sultan Room, $10

2/27, 7 PM prime territory for deep listening; Shots perform their ‘” amalgam of barely-there object rustling—clanging metal, broken glass, running water, tempered feedback, timid drumming and strumming—could be mistaken for distracted dishwashing, a rusted fence squeaking in the wind, a raccoon in your shed” at Blank Forms, 468 Grand Ave. #3D, Ft. Greene, C to Clinton-Washington,, $15

2/27, 7 PM in reverse order at Spectrum : Marbleous (World Inferno violinist Jeff Young + Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka), violinist Leah Asher, improvisational bassist Jason Anastasoff, $15

2/27, 7:30 PM klezmer redman  Paul Shapiro’s Ribs & Brisket plays the Music of Mrs. Maisel with Special Guest Eleanor Reissaat City Vineyard, $25

2/27, 7:30 PM, repeating 2/29 at 8 the NY Philharmonic play Strauss’ Domestic Symphony plus the US premiere of Jörg Widmann’s dystopic Babylon Suite, $32 tix avail

2/27, 7:30 PM intense, atmospheric chanteuse Imani Uzuri and ensemble “share an intimate chamber concert of compositions from her various works for voice, strings, flute and piano” at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

2/27, 7:30 PM pianist Per Tengstrand and Opus 21 play the Grieg Piano Concerto at Scandinavia House,, $25

2/27, 7:30/9:30 PM cutting-edge, fearlessly woke postbop jazz powerhouse the Curtis Bros. at the Jazz Gallery, $20

2/27, 7:30 PM wild Irish acoustic jamband Jigjam at Symphony Space, $20 for 30 and under, $30 otherwise

2/27, 7:30 PM Popebama (saxophonists Erin Rogers and Dennis Sullivan) followed by eclectic indie classical piano trio Bearthoven playing a program tba at the Poisson rouge, $15 adv tix rec

2/27, 8 PM saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos‘s “ever-evolving and mind-frying CP Unit” at Roulette, $18 adv tix rec

2/27,. 8 PM multistylistic, lyrical, improvisational cellist Rufus Cappodocia solo at Barbes

2/27, 8 PM violinist Claudia Chopek’s playfully eclectic art-rock instrumental band Echo of the Ghost and high-voltage, violin-driven art-rock/metal band Stratospheerius at Arene’s, $10

2/27, 8 PM deviously theatrical oldschool C&W/rockabilly parodists Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. play Johnny Cash songs at Ottos

2/27. 8 PM drummer Chase Kuesel and bassist Hannah Marks play their tunes on a split bill. Chase’s trio features Glenn Zaleski on piano. Hannah’s group has Lex Korten on the 88s, at Scholes St Studios,

2/27, 8:30 PM edgy Middle Eastern-inspired alto saxophonist Uri Gurvich with Ed Perez on bass and Francisco Mela on drums at the Bar Next Door, $12

2/27, 8:30 PM klezmer party time: the New York Simcha Heritage Ensemble w/ trumpter Jordan Hirsch at Town & Village Social Hall, 334 E 14th St.(between 1st & 2nd Ave.), $15

2/27, 9 PM the world’s creepiest, slinkiest, most psychedelic crime jazz/film noir band, Big Lazy at Bar Lunatico

2/27, 9:30ish Lutkie plays her disoriently pulsing electronic noise/soundscapes followed by noisy, unpredictably intense female-fronted guitar/drums/organ band Parlor Walls playing the album release show for their new one at uinon Pool, $10

2/27,10ish Creatures – bass sax luminary Stefan Zeniuk’s band with Todd Perlmutter and Dave Steele – play “instrumental bari-sax driven music for animals” at Halyards, 406 3rd Ave, in Gowanus, R/F to 9th St/4th Ave

2/28, 5:30 PM tuneful original delta blues and acoustic Americana from guitarist Jon LaDeau at the American Folk Art Museum

2/28, 7 PM cellist Steven Isserlis and ensemble play a program tba at the Greene Space, $25

2/28, 7:30 PM the fantastic Palestinian-based Western-Eastern Divan Orchestra play works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms and Abraham Attahir at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, expensive, $38 tix avail but could be worth it

2/28 7;30 PM the Pathos Trio – percussion and piano – play works by Alison Yun-Fei Jiang, Finola Merivale, Evan Chapman, Alyssa Weinberg and Alan Hankers at Arete Gallery, $15

2/28, 8 PM Balkan chanteuse Jenny Luna‘s haunting, traditional Turkish band Dolunay followed at 10 by slinky, hypnotic percussive Moroccan trance band Innov Gnawa at Barbes

2/28, 8:30 PM pensive rainy-day gothic chamber pop cult faves the Ocean Blue at the Bell House, $20 gen adm

2/28, 10 PM ferocious psychedelic guitarist Debra Devi at the Fox & Crow, 594 Palisade, Jersey City Heights, free

2/28, midnight sludgecore/stoner metal band Iron Rider at Footlight Bar, $10

2/29 Hayes Carll at City Vineyard is sold out – no surprise

2/29, 4 PM moody lo-fi keyboardist/singer Anni Rossi followed by colorful, Bowie-esque female-fronted glamrockers at Pete’s

2/29, 6 PM busker cartoon swing legends the Xylopholks’ vibraphonist Jonathan Singer followed by Boston street brass band Kotoko Brass and at 10;30  by Spanglish Fly celebrating 10 years of latin soul madness at Barbes

2/29, 6 PM charming retro swing harmony women the New York Nightingales & the New Retro Orchestra at Club Bonafide ,$20

2/29, 7 PM ballet score pianist Cristina Spinei leads a chamber qjintet at National Sawdust, $25 adv tix rec

2/29, 7:30 PM one of the greatest composer-keyboardists of this century: the hauntingly cinematic Missy Mazzoli with violinist Olivia De Prato at Merkin Concert Hall, $25

2/29, 8 PM the New York City Master Chorale sing David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion and other works at Church of the Holy Apostles (296 9th Ave south of 29th), $25/18 and under free

2/29, 8 PM intense avant garde singer Holland Andrews leads a vocal-clarinet duo at Issue Project Room, sug don

2/29, 8 PM Laura Thompson, violin/Medina, clarinet/Kristin Samadi, piano perform works by Milhaud, Khatchaturian, and Bartok at Arete Gallery, $tba

2/29, 8 PM amusingly satirical folksinger Barry Oreck followed by bluesily populist, plainspoken songwriter Judy Gorman at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away”

2/29. 8 PM pyrotechnic klezmer clarinetist and Dave Tarras protege Michael Winograd and band and hypnotically percussive Afro-Colombian trance/dance bandleader Betsayda Machado y Parranda El Clavo at Flushing Town Hal, $18/$12 stud/free for 19 and under w/NYC school ID

2/29, 8:30 PM the Brooklyn Wind Quintet: Michel Gentile (flute) Katie Scheele (oboe) Mike McGinnis (clarinet) Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon) Nathan Koci (french horn) at the Stone at the New School, $20

2/29, 9 PM  one of the great saxophonists in the history of ska, Dave Hillyard and his quintet with the ferociously good Steve Antonakos on guitar at An Beal Bocht Cafe, 445 West 238th St, 5 blocks from the 1 train at 238th St.

2/29, 9 PM ageless indie powerpop icons the Figgs at Berlin, $15

2/29, 9 PM haunting French-Tunisian saxophonist Yacine Boulares’ Ajoyo project with singer Sarah E. Charles at Bar Lunatico

2/29, 11 PM well-loved, riff-rocking Boston fourth-wave garage rockers Muck & the Mires  followed by ferocious, twin guitar-fueled, Radio Birdman-esque psychedelic punks the Electric Mess at Desmond’s, no joke

2/29, 11 PM playful, kinetic parlor pop band Orly Bendavid & the Mona Dahls at Pete’s

3/5, 7:30 PM the Argus Quartet play a program tba at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/5, 8 PM the Orchestra of St. Luke”s play a lavish, all-Beethoven program: Leonore Overture No. 2; Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage), Op. 112; the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80; Mass in C Major, Op. 86at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $30 seats avail, wow

3/5 10 PM Leya – harpist/vocalist Marilu Donovan and violinist/vocalist Adam Markiewicz – play the album release show for their relentlessly uneasy new one at Trevorshaus, 1186 Broadway, Bushwick, $15

3/7, 8 PM darkly lyrical psychedelic pop songwriter Jennifer Hall at Petes

3/11-12, 8 PM first-wave British new wave band Wire at the Music Hll of Williamsburg, $30 gen adm but will sell out

3/14, 7 PM organist Gail Archer plays works by women composers Joan Tower, Mary Howe, Jennifer Higdon, Nadia Boulanger at St. John Nepomucene Church, 411 E 69th St, (1st/York), free

3/17, 7 PM the Ekstasis Duo – cellist Natasha Farni and pianist Eliran Avni – play a program tba at Revelation Gallery, 224 Waverly Pl, $20

3/19, 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

3/20, 7:30 PM salsa flutist Andrea Brachfeld y Su Charanga at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised

3/28, 8 PM flamenco crooner Rancapino Chico – “torchbearer of flamenco puro and heir to the cantes of Cadiz” – at Roulette, $30

3/31, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, the new generation’s most eclectic jazz harpist, Brandee Younger & bassist Dezron Douglas at the Miller Theatre, free

4/2, 7:30 PM pianist Gabriele Baldocci plays a program tba at St. Johns Church, 218 W 11th St.,

4/4 8 PM Yemeni oudist Abdulrahman Al-Akhfash with mesmerizing Omani oudist/singer Amal Waqar and multi-instrumentalist Zafer Tawil at Roulette, $30

4/13. 7;30 PM pianist Vasily Primakov plays sonatas by Franck and Chopin at St. Johns Church, 218 W 11th St.,

4/14 drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, indie classical supergroup the Hands Free – James Moore, guitar & banjo; Caroline Shaw, violin Eleonore Oppenheim, bass; Nathan Koci, accordionat the Miller Theatre, free

4/18, 8 PM haunting tanbour virtuoso Ali Akbar Moradi with ubiquitous Iranian percussionist Pejman Hadadi, the innovative at Roulette, $30

4/24, 8 PM Debapriya Adhikary and Samanwaya Sarkar play a rare duet with vocal and sitar at Roulette, $30

4/25, 8 PM oudist Brahim Frigbane and sintir player Hassan Hakmoun duel it out at Roulette, $30

4/28, 7 PM violinist Asi Matathias and pianist Matthew Graybil play works by Vitali, Beethoven and Saint-Saens at Revelation Gallery, 224 Waverly Pl, $20

5/19. 7 PM pianist Asiya Korepanova leads a trio playing works by Tschaikovskky and a trio version of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 at Revelation Gallery, 224 Waverly Pl, $20

Golden Fest: Best New York Concert of Whatever Year You Can Remember

It was early, a little before six, upstairs in the Rainbow Room Saturday night at the big finale to this year’s Golden Fest. A young mom with bangs in a simple black top and pants swung her daughter by the wrists. The two pretty much had the whole dance floor to themselves, and the little kid was relishing the attention. A friend of her mom’s joined them and took over the swinging.

Then the little girl decided she wanted to show off her dance moves – and schooled the two adults in how to get down to an edgy minor-key Balkan tune, in 7/4 time. Over the course of the next eight hours or so, she wouldn”t be the only preschooler who had those kind of moves down cold.

Many of those kids’ parents, or the kids themselves, are alumni of the annual Balkan Camp immortalized as the idyllic setting of Josephine Decker’s horror film Butter on the Latch. It seems like a great place to learn Romany dances or sharpen your chops on the accordion, or zurla, or gadulka. But not everyone who goes to Golden Fest every year goes to Balkan Camp, or has roots in the old country, or in Eastern European music. They just like minor keys, and chromatics, and what a lot of western musicans would call weird tempos (and eating and drinking too – there’s lots of both). Over the course of two nights every January, this is New York’s most entertaining music festival, year after year. At the risk of being ridiculously redundant, you’ll see this on the best concerts of 2020 page here at the end of the year.

The little girl, her mom and her friend were dancing to the sounds of Rodyna (which, appropriately, means “family”). That particular song had a rustic northern Greek or Macedonian sound to it, the women in the band singing stark and low, bouzouki player Joseph Castelli adding a bristling edge. A floor below, the Navatman Music Collective were joining voices in leaping, precise harmony throughout an ancient Indian carnatic melody.

Indian choral music at a Balkan music festival – with harmonies, no less? Sure. Over the years, Golden Fest has expanded beyond Serbian and Romany sounds to embrace music from all over: Egypt, Spain, and now, India. That’s where Romany music started, anyway. As the members of New York’s original Balkan brass band Zlatne Uste – who originated the festival, and were the centerpiece of the Friday night edition – view it, it’s all just good music.

To hell with the overcrowded, touristy Copacabana – this is the real Globalfest.

When careening Russian Romany dance band Romashka took the stage at about half past six, the big ballroom was pretty empty. As frontwoman Inna Barmash and violinist Jake Shulman-Ment took a couple of breathtaking cadenzas, was this going to be the year nobody came to Golden Fest?

Ha. About half an hour later, just in time for everybody to hear guitarist Jay Vilnai slink his way through an eerie, pointillistic solo, it was as if the floodgates broke and half of Brooklyn busted through the doors. In what seemed like less than five minutes, it was impossible to get through the expanding circles of line dancers. This party had a plan.

To the extent that you can bring a plan to it, anyway. Much as Golden Fest is one-stop shopping, a way to discover a couple dozen great new bands every year, there comes a point where Plan A and Plan B go out the window and you just have to go with the flow. In an age where social media is atomizing and distancing everyone from their friends, it’s hard to think of a more crazily entertaining way to reconnect with people you haven’t seen in months.

So this year’s agenda – to hang on the dance floor and catch as many of the headliners as possible, like a lot of people do – didn’t last long. Until the first distractions came into view, it was a lot of fun to discover Orchester Praževica, their surfy guitar and shapeshifting dance tunes from the southern side of the Danube. After them, it seemed that Slavic Soul Party spent as much time off the stage, in the middle of the floor surrounded by the circling hordes, as they did onstage. This time they didn’t do the Ellington, or much of the hip-hop stuff, as they’ve played in years past here; this was as close to traditional as this untraditional brass band gets.

While the Elem All-Stars were keeping the dancers going with their tight, purposeful Romany tunes, the first of the distractions led to some drinking – at Golden Fest, you really have to pace yourself – and a side trip to the atrium to see Wind of Anatolia playing their achingly gorgeous, lush mix of Turkish folk themes and cinematic originals.

The decision to give Danish klezmer band Mames Babagenush the main stage paid off mightily. They’d just played a bunch of relatively intimate Manhattan club dates the past weekend, so this was their chance to use the big PA and really rock the house, and their energy was through the roof, particularly frontman/clarinetist Emil Goldschmidt. Upstairs, legendary Armenian-American multi-reedman Souren Baronian and his band weren’t as loud but were just as mesmerizing, the bandleader’s burbling, microtonal sax and duduk matched by oudist Adam Good and bassist Michael Brown’s slinky riffage.

Gauging the most opportune moment to join the food line (Golden Fest has a buffet starting at around 10) was more of a challenge this year – but so what, that only opened up the door for more music. The first-floor Chopin Room is where most of the wildest bands on the bill play, whether onstage or, like more and more of them seem to do, under the big chandelier. Representing Brooklyn for the umpteenth year in a row, Raya Brass Band scorched and blasted through one pulsing, minor-key original after another. Greek Judas‘ set of searing heavy metal versions of classic Greek rembetiko gangster anthems from the 20s through the 50s had some people scratching their heads at first, but by the time they hit their second song, the room was packed once again. One of the security guys couldn’t resist giving the group the devils-horns salute and joined the dancers on the edge. Frontman Quince Marcum has never sung with more Athenian fury than he did at this show; Good, meanwhile, had put on a mask, put down his oud and strapped on a Strat.

By the time midnight struck, Lyuti Chushki – Bulgarian for “Red Hot Chili Peppers” – were keeping the dancers twirling in the ballroom, the food was down to babagenoush, pitas and an irresistible but short-lived spread of ajjar (a sort of Turkish red pepper hummous). In the top-floor room, Zisl Slepovitch (hotshot clarinetist the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof) and his similarly sizzling klezmer band Litvakus were leaping to the top of their respective registers for a lickety-split, nonstop series of what could have been traditional Ukrainian tunes but were probably originals.

By one in the morning, if you’ve done things right, this is where the booze finally starts to kick in and the dilemma of where to go really hits home. The allstar Amerike Klezmer Brass in the ballroom, Klezmatics reedman Matt Darriau‘s five-piece Paradox Trio downstairs, or singer Jenny Luna’s haunting Turkish ensemble Dolunay? If you last any longer, you might discover that the calm, thoughtful-looking individual seated next to you during one of the early sets is actually a member of What Cheer? Brigade, the feral, gargantuan street band who took over both the stage and the dance floor to close the night. Meanwhile, there was a much quieter Turkish quintet still going strong on the topmost floor. You want to dance? Great. You want to chill? Golden Fest has you covered. Looking forward to 2021.