Live Music Calendar for New York City and Brooklyn for May and June 2018
Daily updates – considering that May is when most of the free outdoor summer concert series are announced,you might want to bookmark this page.
If you’re leaving your hood, make sure you check http://www.mta.info for service changes considering how the trains are 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. 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!
Puppeteer Basil Twist’s disorienting, phantasmagorical Symphonie Fantastique, with pianist Christopher O’Riley playing a score by Berlioz, “takes place in the most unlikely of places – a 1,000-gallon water tank, in which five unseen puppeteers swirl countless pieces of fabrics, feathers, fishing lures, flashlights, glitter, dyes, plastic, vinyl and bubbles in all shapes and sizes, creating a dream-like world of imagination and surreal storytelling,” at Here, 145 6th Ave. south of Spring, $35, through July 15, Tuesday–Saturday at 8:30 PM; Saturday and Sunday at 4
Mondays at 7 PM multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lichtman’s popular western swing band Brain Cloud at Barbes followed at 9:30 PM by a variety of south-of-the-border-style bands playing cumbias, boogaloo, salsa, maybe all of the above.
Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: as jazz goes, it’s arguably the most exhilarating show of the week, every week. The first-rate players always rise to the level of the material. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 and worth it.
Also Monday and Tuesday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Iguana, 240 W. 54th St ( Broadway/8th Ave) , 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering what you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).
Mondays at the Vanguard the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – composer Jim McNeely’s reliably good big band vehicle – plays 9/11 PM, $30 per set plus drink minimum.
Mondays in May, Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Union Pool in Williamsburg, two sets starting at 10:30 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, sexy original songs and is one of the most charismatic, intense live performers of our time. It’s a crazy dance party. Paula Henderson from Burnt Sugar is the lead soloist on baritone sax, with frequent special guests.
Later Tuesdays in May, clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at 9 PM at Barbes (check the club calendar). Get there as soon as you can as they’re very popular. $10 cover.
Wednesdays in May, 8 PM 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
Thursdays at 8 in May 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 and Saturdays at 5 PM adventurous indie classical string quartet Ethel plus frequent special guests playing a mix of classical and more contemporary material at the balcony bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, free w/museum adm
Fridays in May, 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.
Free classical concerts return on Saturdays at 4 PM in May at Bargemusic; usually solo piano or small chamber ensembles. If you get lucky, you’ll catch pyrotechnic violinist/music director Mark Peskanov and/or the many members of his circle. Early arrival advised.
Saturdays in May, 6 PM eclectic jazz guitarist Anders Nilsson – who ranges from reinvented 20th century classical styles to savage metal to postbop – plays with a series of groups at Barbes
Sundays there’s a klezmer brunch at City Winery, show starts around 11:30 AM – 2 PM, $10 cover, no minimum, lots of good bands
Sundays in May, at sometime past noon at Hank’s, Nashville gothic crooner Sean Kershaw‘s legendary honkytonk brunch is back; special guests from his wide circle of NYC Americana acts keep the afternoon going until about 7. It’s just like 1999 again -at least until the bar closes sometime this year. Also Sundays at 6 PM in May rockabilly bassist Laura Rebel Angel of the Screaming Rebel Angels leads her own band here.
Sundays in May, 8 PM purist guitarist Peter Mazza – who gets the thumbs up from bop-era legend Gene Bertoncini – leads a series of trios at the Bar Next Door.
5/1, 6:30 PM a super rare performance by downtown guitar icon Elliott Sharp on acoustic, plus he reads from his book, ‘Found Sound Nation’, at Downtown Music Gallery, free, reception to follow
5/1, 7 PM hotshot young bluegrass stars in an unexpected venue: Yonder Mountain String Band’s Jacob Jolliff (mandolin) & Max Johnson (double bass) at Barbes followed at 9 byclever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party at Barbes
5/1, 7:30 PM Maria Grand on sax and voice with ensemble in two sets: first the premiere of Revés/Rêves: Dreams of a Departed Maestra, dedicated to her early multimedia mentor, and then the album release show for her new one Magdalena performed by her DiaTribe ensemble at Roulette, $15 adv tix rec
5/1. 8 PM cutting-edge, eclectic cellist Okkyung Lee’s Yeo-Neun Quartet at the San Damiano Mission, $15
5/1. 8 PM unpredictably fun, funny psychedelic art-rock band the Academy Blues Project at Shrine. They’re also there on 5/8
5/1, 8 PM allstar Romany guitar jazz royalty: the Django Festival Allstars (guitarist Dorado Schmitt, his sons Samson and Amati, accordionist Ludovic Beier, violinist Pierre Blanchard, guitarists Doudou Cuillerier and Francko Mehrstein with Antonio Licusati and Gino Roman on bass) plus special guests singer Melody Gardot and reedman Ken Peplowski at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall
5/1, 10 PM enigmatic Turkish saxophonist/composer llhan Ersahin with drummer Yusuke Yamamoto & Daniel Jodocy at his home base, Nublu 151
5/2, 6 PM Los Titanes del Trombon play classic salsa dura at Bryant Park
5/2, 7:30/9:30 PM this era’s most cutting-edge, politically relevant large jazz ensemble, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society play new material at Dizzy’s Club, $35
5/2, 8 PM accordion genius Shoko Nagai ’s haunting Tokala Asian/klezmer mashup project at Barbes. She’s also at Happy Lucky No. 1 Gallery on 5/23 at 8 playing solo piano and then leading a quartet at 9.
5/2, 8ish Dervisi feat. guitar god Steve Antonakos play “exotic Greek gangsta blues” at Troost. 5/10 at 9 they’re at Espresso 77, 35-57 77th Street, Jackson Hts
5/2, 8 PM catchy, fun guy/girl indie soul band Sunshine Nights at LIC Bar
5/2, 9 PM hypnotically psychedelic Saharan desert rockers Imarhan at Rough Trade, $15. Or you could go see them for free on 5/3 at 7:30 PM at the Lincoln Center Atrium
5/2, 9 PM Norwegian gothic art-rock band Voluspa, cinematic guitar-and-EFX dude Xander Naylor and band and Mexican shoegaze/dreampop band Jablonsky at C’Mon Everybody, $12
5/2, 10 PM rising star singer/pianist and Christian McBride protegee Kelly Green leads her sextet at Smalls
5/3, 6 PM a screening of the Peruvian immigrant documentary Urban Condors followed by a reception with live music by the Andean ensemble Inkarayku at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I Center Auditorium, 53 Washington Square S, free, rsvp rec
5/3, 7 PM irrepressible storyteller/psychedelic guitarist/new wave cult hero Wreckless Eric at Berlin, $10
5/3, 7 PM ethereal folk noir songstress Belle-Skinner, cleverly lyrical 90s Britrock-influenced stadium rock band Mustardmind and psychedelic soul-rockers Madam West at Coney Island Baby, $10
5/3, 7:30/9:30 PM alto saxophonist Marike van Duk’s lustrous 14-piec Stereography Project at the Jazz Gallery, $15
5/3. 7:30 PM, repeating on 5/5 at 8 PM and 5/8 at 7:30 the NY Philharmonic play selections from Tschaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty plus the Sibelius Violin Concerto at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 seats avail
5/3, 8 PM eclectic, edgy soul/art-rock/funk/chamber-pop cellist/singer Marika Hughes’ new string quartet at Greenwich House Music School, $15/$12 srs
5/3. 8 PM the Jimi Hendrix of the cuatro, Jorge Glem at Barbes. Wow.
5/3. 8:30 PM Thumbscrew and reeds: Mary Halvorson (guitar) Tomas Fujiwara (drums) Michael Formanek (bass) with: Tim Berne (alto sax) Oscar Noriega (alto sax, clarinets) Peter Formanek (tenor sax, clarinet) at the New School’s Glass Box Performance Space, 55 W 13th St, $20.
5/3. 8 PM amazing string quintet – who are also the world’s coolest Radiohead cover band – Sybarite5 at the Cell Theatre, $25
5/3, 9 PM psychedelic eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter followed by high-energy retro soul/Americana band the California Honeydrops at Bowery Ballroom, $20 adv tix avail. at the Mercury
5/3, 9 PM rippling klezmer sounds wiwth Ukrainian tsimbl (hammered dulcimer) player Pete Rushefsky’s “Flora Hora” w/Josh Waletzky, Madeline Solomon & Zoe Aqua at Funky Joe’s, 455 W.56th St., $15
5/3, 9 PM hot 20s swing with trumpeter Jason Prover and his Sneak Thievery Orchestra at Radegast Hall
5/3. 10ish scampering, irrepressibly fun girlpunks Sharkmuffin at Brooklyn Bazaar, free w/rsvp
5/3. 10 PM the great unsung hero of darkly purposeful, noir-tinged jazz guitar, Saul Rubin leading his Zebtet at the Fat Cat. They’re also here on 5/8 at 7
5/3. 11 PM sardonically catchy powerpop/janglerockers the Hell Yeah Babies at Brooklyn Bazaar, $10
5/4 4 PM saxophonist and Ellington alum Alvin Flythe with his combo at Haswell Green Park, 61st and the East River
5/4. 5:30 PM two contrasting, brilliant singers: haunting Romany/Balkan music reinventor Eva Salina and western swing faves Brain Cloud’s frontwoman Tamar Korn – who can impersonate any instrument ever made – at the American Folk Art Museum
5/4, 7 PM pianist Anna Khanina plays works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov and Chopin at Bloomingdale School of Music, 323 W 108th St, free
5/4, 7 P Schola Heidelberg and Ensemble Aisthesis, featuring pianist Donald Berman play Daniel Peter Biro works including the US premiere of his new piece Nulla Res Singularis at St. Peter’s church, 346 W 20th St (8/9), free
5/4, 7:30 PM Crampsy ghoul-surf/noir garage band Twin Guns and noir cabaret/goth rock legend David J at Berlin, $12. Mr. Haskins (if you’re a Bauhaus fan, you get that) is also at the Owl the following night, 5/5 at 8 with this era’s greatest dark rock pianist, Botanica‘s Paul Wallfisch for two bucks less in the tip jar
5/4, 7:30 PM trombonist Chris Washburne’s Rags and Roots improvise on melodies from 1921 for a live score to the classic horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at the Bell House, $25
5/4, 8 PM Haitian compas/calypso band Agoci Band followed by Zikrayat playing slinky, cinematic classics from the golden age of Arabic song at Flushing Town Hall, $16
5/4, 8 PM Niger’s Tuareg psychedelic guitar sensation Mdou Moctar at Elsewhere, $15
5/4, 8 PM eclectic, electric C&W/blues band the Jug Addicts at Barbes. 5/12 they’re at Bar Chord at 2 PM
5/4, 8 PM Hidden Green with Anna Weber -sax, Peter Evans -trumpet, flute, Mariel Roberts -cello, Joseph Green -bass at Scholes St. Studios, $10
5/4, 8 PM the Barnard-Columbia Chamber Singers present an evening of vocal and harpsichord music by Tallis, Byrd, Schutz, Handel, and Bach at the Sulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor Barnard Hall, 117th St and Broadway, free
5/4, 9 PM uneasy indie guitar icon and longtime Steve Wynn collaborator Chris Brokaw at Wonders of Nature, $10
5/4. 10 PM one of the great saxophonists in the history of ska, Dave Hillyard and his quintet at Sunny’s
5/4, 10:30 PM catchy Booker T-esque soul jazz with the David Gibson/Jared Gold, Hammond B3 organ band at the Fat Cat
5/4, midnight spectacular, intense Yemeni-Israeli guitar monster Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis at Joe’s Pub, $20
5/4, midnight the eclectic, Balkan/latin/funk brass Underground Horns at the old Nublu
5/5, 2:15 PM son jarocho punk rock with Cambalache at Flushing Town Hall, $14
5/5, 3 PM indie classical vocals and bass: singer Amber Evans and bassist Sam Zegnit’s Confluss Duo play works by Gubaidulina, Katie Balch, Beat Furrer, Jon Deak and others at Scholes St. Studios, $10. 5/8 they’re at Arete Gallery at 7 followed by Contrafunktus – JD Davis, bass trombone, and Rose Xiu Yi Kow, violin – for five bucks more
5/5, 4 PM cinematic, psychedelic quirk-pop keyboardist Michael Hearst presents “Curious, Unusual and Extraordinary” songs from his many bands followed eventually at 6 by eclectic jazz guitarist Anders Nilsson with Jason Kao Hwang on violin and viola, at 8 by edgy lefty guitarist Damian Quinones and his psychedelic latin soul band and then at 10 by epic ranchera/bolero brass crew Banda de los Muertos at Barbes
5/5, 6 PM the Michele Brangwen Dance Co. with music by trumpeter Tim Hagans and vocalist Danielle Reich Seale explore Statue of Liberty-inspired themes at the Mark Morris building, 3 Lafayette Ave, downtown Brooklyn, free, reception to follow
5/5, 7 PM a wild Hungarian string and brass band triplebill: Fényes Banda, Életfa Zenekar and Szikra Banda at Hungarian House, 321 E 70th St. $15/$10 stud/srs
5/5, 7 PM Florida roots reggae band the Marauders sandwiched between a couple of lame folkie acts at the small room at the Rockwood. Stranger things have happened.
5/5, 7:30 PM the Dover String Quartet with violist Steven Tenenbom play works by Haydn, Borodin and Mozart at Irving HS Auditorium, 17th/Irving Place, $15
5/5, 8 PM brilliant, Lynchian, darkly lyrical latin and Satie-inspired guitarist Jack Martin’s Bob Dylan Deathwatch at Berlin
5/5, 8 PM eclectic Mediterranean/tango/Romany band Dodo Orchestra at Club Bonafide, $20
5/5, 8 PM haunting, hypnotically lyrical fingerstyle guitarist/songwriter Jean Rohe at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away”
5/5, 8:30 PM Irish superduo House of Hamill, featuring Rose Baldino (Burning Bridget Cleary) and Brian Buchanan (Enter the Haggis) play fiery Celtic string band music at the third stage at the Rockwood, $20
5/5 Unsteady Freddie‘s monthly surf rock quadruplebill at Otto’s begins at 9 with the careeningly jangly, sardonic Aquatudes, the eclectically original, harder-rocking Blue Wave Theory at 10, the majestic, cinematic TarantinosNYC at 11 and legendarily eclectic surf band Tiki Brothers at around midnight
5/5, 9 PM smartly lyrical, politically fearless Detroit underground art-rock legends Discipline – the American Genesis, at least if you count The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as that British band’s peak – at Spectrum, $10
5/5, 9 PM ten-piece country/carnivalesque/acoustic rock powerhouse M Shanghai String Band at the Jalopy, $!0
5/5, 9 PM sharply lyrical janglerock/Americana/soul songwriter Matt Keating and guitarist Steve Mayone’s catchy new powerpop project the Bastards of Fine Arts at Sidewalk
5/5, 9ish haphazardly psychedelic Afrobeat-influenced psych-punk guitarist/bandleader Yonatan Gat at the Poisson Rouge, $12 adv tix rec
5/5, 9ish noirish blue-eyed soul singer Fiona Silver at Coney Island Baby, $10
5/5, 9:30 PM Heidi Lieb’s recently reunited all-female punk/powerpop NYC legends Sit N Spin followed eventually at 11 by oldschool garage-punks Mala Vista at Hank’s
5/5, 9:30 PM stoner boogie/psych blues band the Balkun Brothers at Hill Country
5/5. 10:30 PM God Tiny – who veer from stoner soul to boogie-ish to creepy psych blues – at Footlight Bar, $10
5/5, 10:30 PM powerhouse drummer Ralph Peterson leads his formidable Fo’Tet at Smalls
5/6, 1 PM murderous, wild, Middle Eastern-tinged surf Beninghove’s Hangmen at the 7th St. stage at the Hoboken Arts & Music Festival on Washington St; at 4:30 PM Steve Wynn’s iconic, amazingly vital, darkly psychedelic, noisy 80s jamband the Dream Syndicate at the Observer Highway stage right around the corner from the Path station, OMFG, see you there
5/6, 1 PM Zikrayatt violinist Sami Abu Shumays teaches a useful introductory class in Arabic maqam: “Are you curious about the microtonal scales used in Middle-Eastern music? Do you want to expand your improvisation skills? Sami demystifies maqam by presenting basic melodies in a straightforward call-and-response style, accessible to musicians and aspiring musicians of all levels. This 90 minute workshop will introduce several common maqamat through both songs and improvisation. Vocalists and instrumentalists welcome,” at the Jalopy, $25
5/6, 3 PM singer Elspeth Davis leads a chamber ensemble playing songs from Elvis Costello’s Juliet Letters album at Concerts on the Slope, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 139 St. John’s Place downhill from 7th Ave, sugg don
5/6, 4 PM the Claremont Trio play a program TBA at the Dreck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, free, no under-sixes.
5/6, 4 PM Tin & Bone with rising star multi-instrumentalist and champion banjo player Nora Brown, harmonica guy Trip Henderson, fiddler Stephanie Coleman and guitarist Eli Hetko at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, $10
5/6, 4 PM the Parthenia Viol Consort play works by Taverner, Purcell and their predecessors William Byrd, Robert Parsons, Orlando Gibbons, Giovanni Coprario, and John Jenkins, at St. Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson St, $25
5/6, 6 PM sharply lyrical, Waits-ish southwestern gothic/Americana songwriter Tom Shaner at LIC Bar
5/6, 6 PM descend into the maelstrom: bassists Thomas Helton and Brandon Lopez duel it out at Downtown Music Gallery
5/6, 7ish the rapturous, otherworldly Bulgarian Voices Trio at X Marks the Loft, 405 Johnson Ave off Knickerbocker, Bushwick, L to Morgan Ave,, $10 sugg don, “lamb and other librations will be served” to celebrate the Bulgarian festival of St. George
5/6, 7 PM 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 – at Pangea with special guest, downtown vocal legend John Kelly
5/6, 7 PM velvety noir jazz singer (and Tickled Pinks member) Stephanie Layton’s impressively eclectic torch/swing jazz band Eden Lane at Caffe Vivaldi
5/6, 7 PM roaring 20s hot jazz with Sweet Megg & the Wayfarers at Radegast Hall
5/6, 7 PM Ensemble Ipse play works by new Latin American composers including Santos, Bolanos, Pereyra, Hancke, Ricardo Gallo, Patricia Martínez and others at Shapeshifter Lab, $20
5/6, 8:30 PM ferocious guitar icon Marc Ribot ’s Ceramic Dog play the album release show for their incendiary, politically-fueled new one at the Poisson Rouge, $18 adv tix rec
5/6, 9 PM diverse, upbeat, lyrical Americana/bluegrass string band and Steve Martin collaborators the Steep Canyon Rangers at Bowery Ballroom, $17 adv tix avail. at the Mercury
5/6, 9 PM bass goddess Felice Rosser’s ageless reggae-rock-groove band Faith at the Treehouse at 2A
5/6, 10 PM uneasily amorphous, brooding improvisational indie band Green & Glass at C’Mon Everybody, $12
5/7, 7:30 PM the Jack Quartet play music of Derek Bermel at Music Mondays, Advent Church, northwest corner of 93rd and Broadway, free
5/7, 8 PM composer/performer Elliot Cole & percussionist Peter Ferry team up with NYU percussionists for The Future is Bright, a pointillistic, gamelanesque suite for 100 flowerpots – will they get smashed? – along with Cole’s Hanuman’s Leap, “a dramatically percussive retelling of the ancient Indian Hanuman myth, which draws on epic song, hip hop, reggae, throat singing, choral, and experimental music to create something both ancient and new” at the NYU Loewe Theatre, 25 W 4th St., free
5/7, 8ish multi-instrumentalist Nick Demopoulos‘ twinkly, atmospheric electroacoustic Smomid project at Troost
5/7, 9:30ish Dilemastronauta Y Los Sabrosos Cosmicos play their cumbia-inspired stoner dub jams at Barbes
5/7, 10 PM the Binky Griptite Orchestra (formerly Sharon Jones’ brilliant oldschool soul backing band) pinch-hit for Rev. Vince Anderson at Union Pool, free
5/8, half past noon Scottish organist Kevin Duggan plays a program TBA at Central Synagogue, 54th/Lex, free
5/8, 8 PM charming Montana Americana fiddle/guitar duo the Brook Sisters at the small room at the Rockwood.
5/8, 7 PM all-female klezmer band Tsibele (Yiddish for “onion”) and recently revitalized, careening ten-piece Balkan brass crew Veveritse at Barbes. Veveritse are also at Silvana on 5/25 at 8.
5/8, 7:30/9:30 PM popular purist postbop saxophonist Eric Alexander leads a rare chordless trio with Doug Weiss – bass; Johnathan Blake – drums at the Jazz Gallery, $20. They’re also here on the 13th
5/8. 8 PM haunting, erudite North African Jewish music maven Samuel Torjman Thomas leads a rare small group performance with John Murchison (bass) and Jeremy Smith (percussion), Sami Abu Shumays, Megumi Sahurashi (violins), and Dror Shahaf (percussion) at Sister’s Brooklyn, Fulton off Washington, C to Clinton-Washington, $10
5/8, 8:30 PM Camille Thurman – a double threat as nuanced singer and intense tenor saxophonist – with the Darrell Green Trio at Iridium, $20
5/8, 9 PM guitar god Steve Antonakos plays electric slide blues with his band at Bar Chord
5/8, 9:30 PM the Bronx Conexion play their mighty salsa big band jazz at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
5/8, 10:30 PM charismatic, adventurous postbop/avant garde trombonist/crooner Frank Lacy leads his group at Smalls
5/9, 6 PM Punjabi psych-folk band Rhythm Tolee play live bhangra at Bryant Park
5/9, 7 PM the world premiere of Tristan Perich’s Drift Multiply for 50 violins and 50 self-built 1-bit speakers. plus mesmerizing sound sculptor/singer Lesley Flanigan debuts her new project for her own custom-made subwoofers and solo voice at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, $20
5/9, 7 PM diverse, purposeful, poignant bassist/composer Iris Ornig plays Burt Bacharach material with her band at 55 Bar
5/9, 7:30 PM the lush, propulsive, cinematically vintage Glenn Cryzter Orchestra play the album release show for their new one at the Montauk Club, 25 8th Ave. off Grand Army Plaza, Clinton Hill
5/9, 8 PM amazing microtonal Afrobeat band 75 Dollar Bill’s Che Chen on bass recorder, vocals and organ with Talice Lee on violin and Patrick Holmes on clarinet at Roulette, $15 adv tix rec
5/9, 8 PM eclectic pan-latin singer Sofia Tosello’s starkly rhythmic Chuno project at Barbes
5/9, 8 PM the Emerald Trio play works by Matt Castle, Dan Cooper, Carolyn Steinberg, Joseph Pehrson, Milina Paranosic and Davide Zannoni at the DiMenna Center, $15/$1o stud/srs
5/9, 9 PM unpredictably fun, funny psychedelic art-rock band the Academy Blues Project at LIC Bar
5/9, 9 PM Nashville gothic crooner Sean Kershaw and others play Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn covers at Otto’s. This should be amusing.
5/9, 10:30ish the amazing Miriam Elhajli – who switches effortlessly from Venezuelan-influenced folk to classic Appalachian sounds – followed by lo-fi psychedelic Americana band Lord Youth at Footlight Bar
5/10, 7 PM energetic acoustic Veracruz-style folk-punk band Radio Jarocho with special guest, spitfire poet Zenen Zeferino play the album release show for their new one Rios de Norte y Sur at Joe’s Pub, $20. Followed at 9:30 (separate $20 adm) by eclectic soul-jazz saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s Soul Party
5/10. 7:30 PM, repeating 5/11-12 at 8, the NY Philharmonic play the Elgar Cello Concerto plus Tschaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail
5/10, 7:30 PM high-voltage oldschool-style Detroit soulstress Thornetta Davis at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised
5/10, 8 PM kinetic klezmer/cumbia/cinematic jamband Isle of Klezbos with special guest, incomparably charismatic accordionist Rachelle Garniez at City Lore Gallery, 56 E 1st St., $20, Russ & Daughters rugelach plus locally-sourced Lower East Side knishes included
5/10, 8 PM tuneful, terse guitarist/singer Camila Meza and pianist Aaron Goldberg explore themes of justice, equality and social awareness in songs from the Latin America diaspora at Greenwich House Music School, $15/$12 srs
5/10, 8 PM plush, balmy, oldtimey uke swing band Daria Grace & the Pre-War Ponies followed at 10 by pastoral gothic accordion art-rock with Sam Reider & the Human Hands at Barbes
5/10, 8 PM intense improvisational cellist Leila Bordreuil and haphazardly careening, occasionally theatrical dreampop/noiserockers Gold Dime at Holo, $10
5/10, 8 PM Jamaican dancehall sensation Konshens at the computer store at 247 Bedford Ave (N 3/4) in Wililamsburg, free, rsvp rec
5/10, 8:30 perennially tuneful tenor saxophonist John Ellis & Double Wide at Bar Lunatico
5/10, 9 PM powerhouse klezmer trumpeter Jordan Hirsch’s Secret Ensemble at Funky Joe’s, 455 W.56th St., $15
5/10, 9 PM Sloan – Halifax’s answer to Guided by Voices – at Bowery Ballroom, $25 gen adm
5/10, 9 PM Clebs – the trippy, ethereal acid jazz-y duo of singer Emilie Wiebel and percussionist Jason Nazary – at Trans-Pecos, $12
5/10, 9ish Mischief Night – the Grasping Straws’ Mallory Feuer’s menacingly lo-fi guitar-drums duo – at Footlight Bar, $10
5/10, 9 PM golden age hip-hop legends EPMD celebrate Parrish Smith’s 50th bday at Highline Ballroom, $25 adv tix rec. These guys never, ever compromised their flow.
5/11, 5:30 PM haunting, brilliantly lyrical Americana songwriter Karen Dahlstrom – possibly the only writer to record an oldtime Idaho-themed album – and popular powerpop/janglerock songwriter Mike Errico at the American Folk Art Museum
5/11, 6 PM pianist Hyo-jee Kang plays works by Ligeti, Ravel and Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrouchka at the NY Library for the Performing Arts, 111 Amsterdam Ave, free
5/11, 7 PM early music ensemble Tenet play music of 12th and 13th century French troubadours at King Manor Museum, 150-03 Jamaica Ave, Queens, $15/$10 srs. The program repeats on 5/12 at 7:30 PM at Christ Church Riverdale, 5030 Henry Hudson Parkway in the Bronx for $10 more
5/11, 7/9 PM dazzlingly eclectic purist jazz singer Brianna Thomas and her group at Ginny’s Supper Club, $15 standing room avail
5/11, 7:30/10:30 PM legendary Moroccan Sufi trance ensemble the Master Musicians of Jajouka with Bachir Attar, British elecroacoustic cellist Oliver Coates, harpist Zeena Parkins, drummer Greg Fox, bassist Trevor Dunn plus a light show at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, $25
5/11, 7:30/9:30 PM eclectic electroacoustic postbop saxophonist Dayna Stephens leads his quintet at the Cave at St. George’s, 209 E. 16th St (east of 3rd Ave), side courtyard entrance, $15 cover
5/11, 7:30/9:30 PM lyrical latin jazz alto saxophonist Roman Filiu leads a sextet playing the album release show for his new one Quarteria at the Jazz Gallery, $25
5/11, 8ish fiery reverbtoned latin hardcore band Depresion Tropical followed eventually at around 10 by snarling, lo-fi surf/cumbia band Le Yikes Surf Club at Union Hall
5/11, 8 PM the Cecilia Chorus of NY perform the Mozart Requiem and the US premiere of Dame Ethel Smyth’s final, similarly harrowing 1930 large-scale work, The Prison at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $25 tix avail
5/11, 8 PM Iktus Percussion plus special guests Andrea Lodge; piano, Roberta Michel; flute, and Hannah Levinson; viola play music by emerging composers Louis Aguirre, Alice Shields, Morgan Greenwood, Jeremy Rapaport-Stein, Kevin Michael Kay, Faye-Ellen Silverman and Nicholas V. Hall at Arete Gallery, $tba
5/11, 9 PM intense female-fronted psychedelic groove/funk band Imunuri at Bar Chord. 5/17, time TBA they’re at Bowery Electtric, free adm w/rsvp; and 5/24 at 9 at the small room at the Rockwood
5/11, 9 PM sardonically relevant guitar-fueled female-fronted Americana punks Spanking Charlene at Bowery Electric, $12
5/11, 9 PM jangly Dylanesque acoustic dude Hiss Golden Messenger followed by lush, artsy Americana band Trampled by Turtles at the Nokia Theatre, $25
5/11, 9:30 PM oldschool soul ballads with singer Camille Atkisson’s Empire Beats at Hill Country
5/11, 10 PM Cumbiagra – who’ve been going in a much more psychedelic direction lately – at Barbes
5/11, 10 PM hauntingly psychedelic folk noir crooner/songwriter Jaye Bartel at Wonders of Nature, $10
5/11, 10 PM Hollywood’s Dan Finnerty leads his savagely hilarious top 40 parody group the Dan Band at Joe’s Pub, $25
5/11, 11 PM bad segue, good twinbill: jaunty female-fronted original retro rocksteady band the Big Takeover followed at midnight-ish by unpredictably fun, funny psychedelic art-rock band the Academy Blues Project at the big room at the Rockwood
5/11, 1 AM (actually wee hours of 5/12) this era’s most intensely powerful tenor saxophonist/composer, JD Allen leads the jam at Smalls
5/12, 4:30 PM the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra play the album release show for their characteristically cinematic, sweeping new one followed at 7:30 by the one guy who can match them for volume and power all by himself, Eric Wyatt and his group at Smalls
5/12, 6 PM eclectic jazz guitarist Anders Nilsson followed at 8 by state-of-the-art postbop guitarist Will Bernard & the Strays doing their Strayhorn tribute thing at Barbes
5/12, 7 PM in reverse order: oldschool reggae crew the Hub City Stompers, irrepressibly funny hardcore party band No Redeeming Social Value, dark second-wave style ska crew the Ladrones and unstoppable hardcore band None Above All at El Cortez, all ages, $12
5/12, 8 PM Jane Lecroy’s edgy, intensely lyrical electro-punk band Ohmslice followed eventually at midnight by ferociously fun, menacing psychobilly/horror rockers the Omega Men at the Parkside
5/12, 7:15ish dark psychedelic acoustic blues/klezmer/reggae/soca jamband Hazmat Modine at Terra Blues.
5/12, 7:30 PM powerpopstress Tara Lynne and the Sometime Boys’ incendiary frontwoman Sarah Mucho join “musical and comedic forces” followed at 9:30 by elegant, sharply lyrical parlor pop stylist Heather Eatman at Freddy’s
5/12, 7:30 PM Juilliard Quartet cellist Astrid Schween leads an ensemble playing works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Scott Joplin, Brahms, Franck and Didorenko at the Lounge at Hudson View Gardens, 128 Pinehurst Ave at W183rd St, $12, reception to follow
5/12, 8 PM veteran Greek chanteuse Maria Farantouri and her band play a tribute to legendary balladeer Mikis Theodorakis at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, $34 tix avail
5/12, 9ish cult favorite apocalyptic stoner boogie/doom/art-rock band Mos Generator followed by popular heavy lo-fi 90s rockers Fu Manchu at Bowery Ballroom, $15
5/12, 9ish composer Vanessa Rossetto presents her new work The Dirt, exploring the physical manifestation of transgenerational trauma at Issue Project Room, $15
5/12, 10 PM bass saxophonist Stefan Zeniuk’s punk mambo band the NY Fowl Harmonic followed by explosive, creepy, colorful psychedelic rembetiko metal band Greek Judas a at Hank’s
5/13, 2 PM-ish sardonically catchy powerpop/janglerockers the Hell Yeah Babies and long-running, wickedly jangly, tuneful Americana rockers the Sloe Guns in Tompkins Square Park
5/13, 3:30 PM adventurously lyrical pianist Lucy Yao leads a multimedia electroacoustic program of works by emerging composers Trey Makler and Kirsten Milenko examining the Orpheus/Eurydice myth from Eurydice’s perspective, plus dance by Moscelyne Parkeharrison, Barry Gans, Nicolas Noguera at Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 152 W 71st St, sug don $15 or pay what you can. Yao is also at Arete Gallery at 67 West St in Greenpoint on 5/20 at 3 PM leading a trio with Madeline Hocking on violin and Paul Mizzi on flute playing new work by Samn Johnson, $15/$10 stud/srs
5/13, 3:30 PM violinist Christina Bouey and pianist Tatiana Tessman play works by Saint-Saens plus Beethoven’s Kreuzer Sonata at Scholes St. Studios, $15
5/13, 6:30 PM charmingly inscrutable Parisienne chanteuse Chloe & the French Heart Jazz Band at Club Bonafide, $20. She’s also here on 5/25 a half hour earlier
5/13, 7 PM pianist Jinjoo Yoo leads her Trio at Shapeshifter Lab, $10. Purist Monk influence, unselfconscious sense of humor, vivid compositions: good stuff.
5/13, 7:30 PM the reliably exciting Queensboro Symphony Orchestra play Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3 plus the Jupiter Symphony plus the world premiere of Paul Joseph’s “The Vanished Princess” to celebrate Mother’s Day at Mary’s Nativity Church, 46-02 Parsons Blvd., Flushing, sug don
5/13, 8 PM somber, diversely textural, female-fronted, often atmospheric postrock/avant garde band Oracle Hysterical play the album release show for their new one Hecuba – a cut-and-paste retelling of the Euripides play – at National Sawdust, $25
5/13, 8 PM the New Asia Music Society plays works by Mozart as well as the world premiere of Shih-Hui Chen’s Flashback Moments at Merkin Concert Hall, $25 tix avail
5/13, 8 PM an electroacoustic multimedia program by intense avant garde singer Ka Baird on piano and vocals with Chris Penalosa on the mixing desk at Roulette, $15 adv tix rec
5/13, 9 PM bassist Petros Klamanis plays his haunting Mediterranean jazz at the third stage at the Rockwood, $15. At 11 PM the amazing Miriam Elhajli – who switches effortlessly from Venezuelan-influenced folk to classic Appalachian sounds – is up the block at the small room there.
5/13, 10:30 PM noir-inspired alto saxophonist/composer Nick Hempton leads leads his group at Smalls
5/13, 7 PM the darkly eclectic, enigmatic Lorraine Leckie – equally adept at Slavic and Americana noir and dark cabaret – at LIC Bar followed by dark Americana singer Emily Frembgen. 5/18, 11 PM Leckie is at Sidewalk; 5/31 at 10 PM she’s at Pete’s
5/14, 2 PM trailblazing pipa goddess and singer Min Xiao-Fen’s Blue Pipa trio reinterprets the work of legendary jazz trumpeter Buck Clayton, Chinese composer Li Jinhui, Count Basie and Duke Ellington at Fresh Meadows Library, 193-20 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows
5/14, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, Ensemble Signal plays works by Helmut Lachenmann at the Miller Theatre, free
5/14, 7 PM Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Nina Young perform their own works for violin, viola, and electronics, at the second-floor space at 1 Rivington St off Bowery, $20/$15 srs
5/14, 7 PM a benefit for progressive candidate Zellnor Myrie’s State Senate campaign with traditional Ghanian music by Alfred Kpedsaane and Brittany Anjou at the Owl, $50 contribution if you have it for the candidate who co-sponsored the Tenant Bill of Rights
5/14, 7:30 PM saxophonist Javier Oviedo and pianist François-Xavier Poizat play a very rare program of works by Mompou, Poulenc, Britten and Schulhoff at the Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 E 65th St., $25
5/14, 8 PM funky, lyrically intense dark folk jamband the Sometime Boys– with the riveting Sarah Mucho on vocals – at the big room at the Rockwood
5/14, 9 PM darkly torchy southwestern gothic/Europolitan songwriter/guitarist Miwa Gemini at LIC Bar
5/14, 9:30 PM Los Cumpleanos play psychedelic cumbias with new wave synths & retro organ, effect-laden trombone and trumpet as well as a three piece percussion section at Barbes
5/15 7 PM Katie Hyun plays solo violin works from Bach to Bartok at the second-floor space at 1 Rivington St off Bowery, $15/$10 srs
5/15, 7/9 PM unorthodoxically intriguing new classical works by Greg Watson and other contemporary composers played by Cesare Papetti – percussion; Derin Oge – piano; William Lang – trombone at Arete Gallery, $15
5/15, 7:30 PM pianist Tamara Cashour and ensemble play works by Frederick Boyle, Richard Brooks, Cashour, Robert Cohen, Kevin McCarter, Timothy Lee Miller, Dary John Mizelle, Dana Dimitri Richardson and David See Church of the Transfiguration, 1 E. 29th Street $20
5/15, 8:30 PM the world’s creepiest crime jazz/film noir band, Big Lazy at Bar Lunatico. 5/25 at 10 they’re at Barbes and 5/29 they’re at the third stage at the Rockwood at 8:30 for $10 followed by amazing, psychedelic instrumentalists Sandcatchers – who blend cinematic, pastoral Americana and Middle Eastern themes
5/15-20, 8:30/11 PM this era’s most consistently interesting, original jazz pianist/composer Vijay Iyer leads his sextet at the Vanguard, $30
5/15, 10 PM brilliant drummer/percussionist Willie Martinez & La Familia Sextet play classic salsa grooves at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
5/15, time/price TBA brilliant, Lynchian, darkly lyrical latin and Satie-inspired guitarist Jack Martin’s Bob Dylan Deathwatch and dark glam/ghoulabilly cult hero Tav Falco’s Panther Burns at El Cortez
5/16, 7 PM busy jazz and klezmer bassist Jim Whitney plays the album release show for his colorful, Stravinsky-esque new one Dodecahedron with Eric Halvorson on drums, Nate Radley on guitar and Bennett Paster on keyboards at 55 Bar. Whitney is also at Barbes at 7 on 5/22 with his Perpendicular Shoes quarrtet with Diego Voglino – drums; Michel Gentile – flute and Sean Moran – guitar followed at 9 by clever, fiery, eclectic ten-piece Balkan/hip-hop/funk brass maniacs Slavic Soul Party
5/16, 7:30 PM perennially interesting new music advocates Ensemble Mise-En play works by Korean and Austrian composers Sungji Hong (Korea/Texas), Mirela Ivičević (Croatia/Austria), Peter Jakober (Austria), Seong Ae Kim (Korea/NYC), Matthias Kranebitter (Austria) and Sojin Yoon (Korea) at the Austrian Cultural Center, 11 E 52nd St., free, rsvp req. The free program repeats on 5/17 at 8 at the Cell Theatre
5/16, 8 PM “feminist feline marching band” Pussy Grabs Back, catchy, edgy, darkly kinetic female-fronted Romany-tinged rock band the Trouble with Kittens , mystery band Nevada Nevada and the irrepressible Ellia Bisker’s explosive Balkan/New Orleans flavored Funkrust Brass Band at Friends & Lovers, $tba
5/16, 9 PM tuneful, epically-inclined, cinematic trombonist John Yao leads his quintet at Terraza 7, $10
5/16, 9ish haunting, intense, creepy harp/violin duo Leya at le Wallet, 1154 Myrtle Ave (Broadway/Bushwick Ave)
5/17, 4:30 PM a rare performance of Vietnamese music worth skipping work for: the Mekong Group play mystical dan tranh songs at Poe Park Visitor Center, 2640 Grand Concourse in the Bronx, B/D to Kingsbridge Road
5/17, 6 PM the Samurai Mama Big Band play music by Rudresh Mahanthappa, Maria Schneider, Radiohead, and Owen Carter at the auditorium at Harlem Hospital Center, 506 Malcolm X Blvd at 136th, free, res req
5/17, 7 PM badass, fiercely political, sultry New Orleans oldtimey chanteuse Carsie Blanton at the Mercury, $15
5/17, 7 PM Jog Blues – who reinvent classical Indian themes much like Brooklyn Raga Massive does – at the Rubin Museum of Art, $25 adv tix rec
5/17-18, 7:30/9:30 PM Gil Evans scholar/archivist/conductor Ryan Truesdell leads the Gil Evans Project playing rare, recently unearthed gems by the iconic big band composer at the Jazz Standard, $30
5/17, 8ish ethereal vibraphonist Chris Dingman solo and the duo of atmospheric guitarist Todd Neufeld and terse bassist Thomas Morgan at the Owl, $10
5/17, 8 PM luminous, soulful pan-Latin jazz chanteuse Claudia Acuña with Pablo Vergara on piano & Jauncho Herrera on guitar at Mezzrow, $20
5 /17, 8 PM the Starbenders – who blend a little funk and reggae into their powerpop and glamrock – followed by the Muckers – who veer between catchy GBV powerpop, gutter blues and art-rock – at the Knitting Factory, $12 adv tix rec
5/17, 9 PM intense, lyrical jazz bassist/composer Pedro Giraudo leadshis Tango Quartet, followed at 10 by wryly funny, psychedelic covers of 60s Russian psychedelic pop songs with the Eastern Blokhedz – who specialize in the catalog of legendary Polish singer Edita Piaha – at Barbes
5/17, 9 PM bassist Brian Glassman’s “Klezmer-Jazz Alliance” at Funky Joe’s, 455 W.56th St., $15
5/17, 9 PM a killer, edgy violin-driven twinbill: Dana Lyn’s psychedelic, ecologically-themed Mother Octopus followed at 10 by Skye Steele and band at Niagara at 7th and A
5/18, half past noon singer/guitarist/flamenco dancer Marija Temo at the World Financial Center atrium, free
5/18, 5 PM Street Beat Brass Band play ”music from New Orleans Jazz to polka, Mexican banda, gospel, klezmer, and funk” at Bryant Park
5/18, 7 PM Michael Moss’ wildly improvising 22-piece Accidental Orchestra play the album release show for their lavish new one at the Westbeth Community Center, 155 Bank St. in the west village, $10
5/18, 7 PM cleverly lyrical, witty saxophonist Daniel Bennett with guitarist Nat Janoff and Matthew Feick on drums at Bloomingdale School of Music, 323 W 108th St (off of Broadway), free
5/18, 8 PM rustic Brazilian jungle guitar-and-accordion sounds with Regional de NY followed at 10 bypsychedelic cumbia band Yotoco at Barbes
5/18-19 at 8, repeating on 5/22 at 7:30 PM the NY Philharmonic play Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 plus Shostakovich’s savage Symphony No. 5 at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail
5/18, 8 PM Barbes comes to Queens: pioneering Guinea guitar legends the Mandingo Ambassadors and epic ranchera/bolero brass crew Banda de los Muertos at Flushing Town Hall, $16
5/18, 8 PM Korean musicians and dancers perform Ssitkimkut: The Korean Shaman Ritual of the Dead at the Asia Society, 725 Park Ave, $25. There’s also a pre-concert lecture at 7.
5/18, 8 PM multi-instrumentalist Brandon Lopez plays the debut of his piano trio, “Mess,” – “With Mess, he attempts to dismember the notion of the piano trio to create a counterpart where each instrument functions outside of their supposed traditional roles. A sprawling thing devoid of harmony or melody, the trio insists giving violence and silence equivalent weight,” at Issue Project Room, $10 sugg don
5/18, 8 PM chamber ensemble Collectio Musicorum play a homage to baroque composer Guillaume Dufay and his contemporaries at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, 122 W. 69th St., free
5/18, 9 PM broodingly lyrical Nashville gothic band Leland Sundries at Bowery Ballroom, $15 adv tix avail. at the Mercury. Avoid the putrid headlining poser-rock band at all costs.
5/18, 9ish exotic vibraphone-driven surf band the Vibro-jets at Troost
5/18, 10:30ish alternately ambient and swirlingly ferocious guitar looper Ben Greenberg aka Hubble and the even more feral Reg Bloor playing the album release show for her deliciously assaultive new one Sensory Irritation Chamber at Muchmore’s, $10
5/18, midnight awesomely unhinged horror surf/hotrod instrumentalists the Mad Doctors at the Gutter, $10
5/19, 2 PM bouncy, slyly amusing psychedelic cumbia band Consumata at Lafayette Avenue and Edgewater Road in Hunts Point Riverside Park in the Bronx, 6 to Longwood Ave
5/19, 3 PM Wall to Wall Leonard Bernstein at Symphony Space with a whole series of chamber and vocal ensembles playing a career retrospective in more or less chronological order, free, the whole marathon lineup is here
5/19, 4 PM pyrotechnic klezmer clarinetist and Dave Tarras protege Michael Winograd and lyrical trumpeter Ben Holmes play poignant, cleverly intertwining new klezmer music followed at 6 by eclectic jazz guitarist Anders Nilsson and at 8 by uneasy Transylvanian jazz pianist Lucian Ban and baritone saxophonist Alex Harding at Barbes,
5/19, 4:30 PM experimental singer Odeya Nini, dancers Coco Karol and Ximena Garnica, sound artist Michaela Davies, and wild New Orleans-influenced loopmusic maven Sxip Shirey at the New School’s Glass Box Performance Space, 55 W 13th St,, $15
5/19, 7 PM magical Persian/Turkish improvisations with kamancheh fiddle icon Kayhan Kalhor and baglama player Erdal Erzincan at the Schimmel Center at Pace University on Spruce St. in the financial district, $30 tix avail
5/19, 7 PM wild Korean-klezmer cross-pollination with Lee Tae-Baek (ajaeng); Yi Jiyoung (gayageum); Kim Sung-Ah (haegeum); Kim Tae Young (janggo); Gamin (piri); Sita Chay (violin); Frank London (trumpet) and Ned Rothenberg (saxophone) at the Asia Society, $25
5/19, 7 PM sensational ex-Klezmatics fiddler Alicia Svigals and pianist Marilyn Lerner play their original score to the rare 1918 silent film Yellow Ticket at National Sawdust, $30. Followed at 10 ($20 separate adm) by wild avant jazz trumpeter Stephanie Richards playing the album release show for her new one
5/19, 7:30 PM acclaimed classical guitarist Sharon Isbin with guest six-stringer Romero Lubanbo at the World Financial Center atrium, free
5/19, 8 PM folk-gospel duo Gathering Sparks plus Pete Seeger’s Walkabout Clearwater Chorus at the People’s Voice Cafe, sugg don, $20, “more if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away”
5/19,8 PM entertaining female-fronted saloon blues/parlot pop band the Claudettes at the small room at the Rockwood
5/19, 8 PM the Centre Symphony Orchestra play Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, plus Beethoven’s Triple Piano Concerto in C Major, Op. 56 with Muneko Otani, violin, Elizabeth Anderson, cello and Kaoru Fukuda, piano, at St. Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Ave., at 54th St, $10 sugg don
5/19, 10 PM 70s dark folk legend Kath Bloom – who has a haunting new album out – a at Wonders of Nature, $10
5/19, 11 PM stoner 70s Murder City style rockers Sun Voyager at the Gutter, $10
5/20, 11 AM a rare performance of music for kids that isn’t condescending or stupid: Vered & the Babes play the album release show for their new one Songs for Sisters and Brothers, “which approaches the topic from every angle – from the eldest’s point of view, the youngest’s point of view, and the parent’s point of view,” outdoors at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, free
5/20, 1 PM epically lyrical alto saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum with Middle Eastern drummer April Centrone at the Cutting Room, $15 adv tix rec
5/20, 1/3 PM Sandbox Percussion play works by Steve Reich, Andy Akiho, Victor Caccese, Jonny Allen & Alex Weiser at Colonels Row on Governors Island, free
5/20. 1 PM new music guitarist Denise Mei Yan Hofmann leads a chamber ensemble premiering soprano Kelsey Park’s new work exploring the challenges of fertility at at All Angels Church at 80th and Broadway., free
5/20, 6 PM high voltage skiffle/Americana band the Salt Cracker Crazies at LIC Bar
5/20. 7:30 PM the Orchestra of the League of Composers plays music by Du Yun, Samuel Adler, Hayes Biggs, and John Harbison at the Miller Theatre, $20/$12 stud/srs
5/20, 8 PM thereminist Pamelia Stickney’s Transcendental Dissonance Quartet followed at 9:30 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes
5/20,8 PM the PubliQuartet play NYC premieres of works by composers Jessica Meyer and Steven Snowden and a world premiere by Xian Wang at Arete Gallery, $20
5/20, 8 PM Triptyk with Patricia Brennan – vibraphone; Leonor Falcón – violin; Noel Brennan – drums and Multi-percussion followed by ethereal, raptly haunting singer Sara Serpa leading her trio with Angelica Sanchez – piano; Erik Friedlander – cello at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, $15
5/20, 9 PM an all-female version of singer/keyboardist Sara McDonald’s lush, cinematic 17-piece art-rock/chamber pop band the New York Chillharmonic at Littlefield
5/20, 9 PM bad segue, good twinbill: thoughtful, purposeful original jazz songwriter Gracie Terzian followed by ethereal folk noir songstress Belle-Skinner, at the small room at the Rockwood
5/21, 8/10:30 PM eclectic, paradigm-shifting B3 jazz organist Brian Charette leads a multi-generational Coleman quartet with George Coleman Sr. on tenor and his son on drums plus Vic Juris on guitar at the Blue Note, $15 standing room avail
5/21, 8 PM a rare NYC performance by edgy Japanese experimental percussionist, composer, and theater artist Midori Takada at the Kitchen, $25
5/21, 8:30ish legendary, savagely lyrical British new wave era songwriter Graham Parker at City Winery, $25 standing room avail.
5/21, 9:30 PM ex-Chicha Libre keyboard sorcerer Josh Camp’s wryly psychedelic cumbia/tropicalia/dub band Locobeach at Barbes
5/21, 10 PM high-voltage delta blues/Romany swing guitarist Felix Slim at LIC Bar
5/22, 8 PM a rare bass-fronted large jazz ensemble (just like Mingus), the Ross Kratter Jazz Orchestra at Club Bonafide, $15
5/22, 8:30 PM quirky, smartly lyrical avant cello-rock with the Icebergs followed by the catchy, edgy, darkly kinetic female-fronted Romany-tinged Trouble with Kittens at Pete’s
5/22, 9:30 PM ethereal folk noir songstress Belle-Skinner at Sidewalk
5/23, 6 PM haunting, lyrical Indian violinist/composer Trina Basu at the Rubin Museum of Art, free w/museum adm
5/23, 6 PM erudite, purist torchy cosmopolitan jazz chanteuse Svetlana & the Delancey 6 at Bryant Park
5/23, 7 PM an extremely rare small club gig by noir Americana icon Neko Case at Littlefield, $30
5/23, 8 PM cinematic trombonist/guitarist Curtis Hasselbring’s colorful, wry, sometimes satirical Curhastra at Barbes
5/23, 8 PM serpentine, cinematic, epic art-rock band Book of Harmony, string metal band Stratospheerius and math-metal band the Astral Cadence at Gold Sounds, $10
5/23, 8 PM purposeful, tunefully purist trombonist Nick Finzer plays the album release show for his new one with his sextet at Subculure,45 Bleecker at Lafayeette, $20 adv tix rec
5/24, 6 PM International Contemporary Ensemble plays a rare all-Zosha Di Castri program at the NYPL for the Performing Arts out back of Lincoln Center, free, res req
5/24, 7 PM Luc Sante reads; reggae-soul Faith bandleader and badass bassist Felice Rosser follows in an evening of music and spoken word at the Howl space, 6 E 1st Str
5/24, 7:30 PM koto player Yumi Kurosawa and shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura perform an eclectic program of traditional and untraditional Japanese music spanning four centuries, including duets with cello and tabla at the Japan Society, 333 E 47th St, $25
5/24, 8 PM thoughtful, original cello/fiddle Americana duo Oliver the Crow at the third stage at the Rockwood, $10
5/23, 8:30 PM intense, rapturous Balkan/Middle Eastern ensemble the Secret Trio –Tamer Pinarbasi, Ismail Lumanovski & Ara Dinkjian – at Bar Lunatico
5/24, 7 PM ridiculously bad segues but three good acts: wryly surreal Lynchian parlor pop duo the Dream Eaters, oldtime country blues guitarist Mary-Elaine Jenkins and intense female-fronted psychedelic groove/funk band Imunuri at the small room at the Rockwood
5/24, 7:30 PM repeating on 5/26 at 8 the NY Philharmonic play Berio’s Sinfonia with mighty avant garde choir Roomful of Teeth, plus Richard Strauss’ epic Alphine Symphony at Avery Fisher Hall, $30 tix avail
5/24, 7:30 PM newschool Cuban salsa jazz quintet Gerardo Contino y Los Habaneros at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised
5/24, 8 PM David Ostwald and his ensemble the Louis Armstrong Eternity Band at Langston Hughes Library, 100-01 Northern Boulevard, Corona, Queens, a 15-minute walk from the 7 stop at Junction Blvd
5/24, 9 PM klezmer mischief and mayhem: Reb Leybl & the Heights and the 156th Street Freylekh Band (w/Louis Pollison & Jesse Chevan) at Funky Joe’s, 455 W.56th St., $15
5/25, 5 PM Brooklyn’s original punk Balkan horn group Hungry March Band at Bryant Park
5/25, 7 PM indie classical piano/percussion ensemble Bearthoven play a program TBA at Arete Galley, $15
5/25, 7:30 PM the NY Festival Orchestra and Festival Chorus play works by Mozart, Hirai, Haydn, Handel, plus Japanese songs at Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church, 152 W 66 St (west of Broadway), $20, reception to follow
5/25-26, 8 PM cinematic, lyrical vibraphonist Joe Locke with Lorin Cohen & Jim Ridl at Mezzrow, $20 at the bar
5/25, 8 PM woodwind group Soundmind Ensemble play Schoenberg’s iconic wind quintet and other works at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, $15
5/25, 9 PM a killer triplebill with Patricia Santos and Tara Hanish’s amazing, intense, soul-infused cello-rock/cello-metal duo the Whiskey Girls, pensive acoustic duo Peach and Knife – Molly White and Elena Degl’Innocenti – and creepy noir chamber pop/murder ballad duo Charming Disaster at Pine Box Rock Shop
5/25, 9 PM slinky maracatu/New Orleans/surf rock mashups from Nation Beat at the big room at the Rockwood
5/25, 9 PM acerbic, intense jazz cellist Hank Roberts leads his sextet with Dana Lyn on violin at I-Beam, $15
5/25, 10ish Christina Schneider’s jangly psych/garage/blue-eyed soul band Locate S1 at Secret Project Robot, $12
5/26, 1:30 PM energetic acoustic Veracruz-style folk-punk band Radio Jarocho at Langston Hughes Library, 100-01 Northern Boulevard, Corona, Queens, a 15-minute walk from the 7 stop at Junction Blvd
5/26, 7:30 PM lyrical postbop trombonist/composer Michael Dease leads his sextet at Smalls
5/26, 7:30 PM the CMS Improvisers Orchestra directed by Peter Apfelbaum and Karl Berger explore river-themed group improvisation at El Taller, 215 W 99th St., $10
5/26, 8 PM otherworldly, ancient trance-dance music from the Punjab and Morocco: Falsa Band and Innov Gnawa at the Owl, $10
5/26, 9 PM sardonic, tuneful punks the Car Bomb Parade at the Gutter, $7
5/26, 10 PM bassist Dana Schechter’s haunting, sweepingly menacing loopmusic instrumental project Insect Ark at Union Pool, $12
5/26, 10 PM psychedelic salsa bandleader Zemog El Galle Bueno at Barbes
5/27, 4 PM a very rare perofrmance of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir piano music by pianist Cory Smythe and International Contemporary Ensemble at National Sawdust, $30
5/27, 7 PM brilliant steel guitarist Mike Neer’s Steelonious – who do Monk covers in the same vein as Buddy Emmons – followed at 9:30 by Romany jazz/psychedelic rock guitar mastermind Stephane Wrembel at Barbes
5/27, 7 PM fiery, deviously fun oldtimey swing guitarist/crooner Seth Kessel & the Two Cent Band at Sunny’s
5/27, 6:30 PM Blythe Gruda sings her enigmatic art-rock and parlor pop at Pete’s
5/28, 8 PM the NY Philharmonic play Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, free, GET THERE EARLY, like 6 PM if you’re going
5/28. 9:30ish singer Carolina Oliveros’ mighty 13-piece Afro-Colombian trance/dance choir Bulla en el Barrio at Barbes
5/29, 9 PM terse, enigmatic avant garde singer Anais Maviel plays the album release show for her new one at Roulette, $15 adv tix rec
5/30, 6 PM terse, hypnotic acoustic guitarist Camila Celin and tabla player Ehren Hanson reinvent stark Indian carnatic sounds at the Rubin Museum of Art, free w/museum adm
5/30, 7 PM Indian-inspired jazz vocal-and-bass duo François Moutin & Kavita Shah play the album release show for their new one Interplay at Joe’s Pub, $20. Followed at 9:30 (separate $25 adm) by the Jim Kweskin Jug Band with Samoa Wilson on vocals.
5/30, 7 PM noir and spy-theme-inspired downtown composer Annie Gosfield plays an electroacoustic keyboard world premiere at National Sawdust, $25
5/30, 7:30 PM pianist Elias Stemeseder and vocalist Lauren Kinsella perform the world premiere of their cross-disciplinary music theater work for two improvisers, Press Play Backwards at the Austrian Cultural Center, 11 E 52nd St., free, res req
5/30, 8ish violinist Laura Ortman, fearlessly relevant no wave-ish songwriter Emilie Lesbros and the magical microtonal Sarah Bernstein’s Unearthish playing the album release show for their new one at Wonders of Nature
5/30, 8 PM the Hands Free – composer/performers James Moore (guitar/banjo), Caroline Shaw (violin), Nathan Koci (accordion) and Eleonore Oppenheim (bass) – celebrate the release of their self-titled debut album at the Kitchen, $20
5/30, 8 PM “thingNY gives a taste of its opera-in-development with a short selection of songs from Gelsey Bell’s Rolodex, in which the ensemble surrounds the interrogation table to investigate a crime, calling on witnesses from a Rolodex that doubles as a musical score. Varispeed, with additional members from thingNY, performs their new arrangement of Kenneth Gaburo’s masterpiece, Maledetto, from 1968” at Roulette, $15 adv tix rec
5/30, 10 PM moodily lyrical, politically savvy Irish folk-rocker Niall Connolly at the small room at the Rockwood
5/31, 7 PM intense, fearlessly relevant Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and his amazing Middle Eastern jazz ensemble put a relevant, intense new spin on ancient Syrian sounds at National Sawdust, $30
5/31, 7:30 PM six-string guitarist Timucin Sahin and pianist Cory Smythe play uneasy Middle Eastern-tinged improvisations at Drom, $10 adv tix rec
5/31, 7:30 PM colorful, intense, politically fearless tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger leads his quartet at Smalls
5/31, 7:30 PM Punjabi-American soul with Zeshan B at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised
5/31, 8 PM a rare Brooklyn appearance by sharply lyrical, grimly futuristic parlor pop band the Tyranny of Dave followed at 10 by Super Yamba playing their psychedelic Afrobeat jams at Barbes
5/31, 8 PM singer Gabrielle Herbst leads a chamber octet through her dreamlike but arresting new opera, Vulnerability at Roulette, $15 adv tix rec
5/31, 8:30 PM Indian jazz crew Overview Effect with Mustafa Bhagat – sitar; David Freeman – drums; Steve Hudson – keyboards; Jamie Zillitto – bass with special guests Ivan Barenboim – bass cllarinet & Arun Ramamurthy – violin play the album release show for their new one at the Jalopy, $15
5/31, 8:30 PM impressively diverse, adventurous latin jazz pianist Aruan Ortiz at Bar Lunatico
5/31, 9 PM Lynchian Moscow klezmer/latin noir dance band Vanya Juke at Funky Joe’s, 455 W.56th St., $15
6/1, 7 PM the Aizuri Quartet with Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh play immigration and exhile-themed works by Azmeh, Komidas, and Lembit Beecher, plus a suite of short works by Pauchi Sasaki, Michi Wiancko, Wang Lu and Can Bilir at the Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $35 but worth it
6/1. 7 PM pianist Zach Lapidus, bassist Peter Brendler and drummer Aaron Seeber play an all-Leonard Bernstein program at Bloomingdale School of Music, 323 W 108th St, free
6/1, 8 PM one of the year’s best twinbills:hard-hitting, brass-fueled newschool latin soul/boogaloo dance band Spanglish Fly and epic, original, intense original Balkan monsters Raya Brass Band at Flushing Town Hall, $16
6/1, 8 PM the epic (possibly four-hour) annual performance by legendary Japanese collective improvisers Marginal Consort – who use homemade acoustic instruments, electronics, bamboo sticks, marbles, water and more – at Pioneer Works, $20
6/1, 8:30 PM, repeating on 6/2 at 7:30 PM the reliably entertaining, adventurous Chelsea Symphony play works by Samuel Beebre, Jonathan Bruce Brown and Respighi’s Pines of Rome. Friday’s concert features soloist Susanne Chen on the Victor Bruns’ Contrabassoon Concerto. Saturday’s concert also has the Violin Concerto by Erich Korngold featuring Emanouil Manolov, at St. Paul’s Church, 315 W 22nd St., $20 sugg don
6/2, 3 PM this year’s Choralfest features performances by the rivetingly eclectic all-female Accord Treble Choir, Stuyvesant High School Choir, St. Thomas Gospel Choir, Polyhymnia early music singers, Every Voice Choirs, University at Buffalo Choir, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Canticum Novum Singers, LaGuardia High School Women’s Choir and New York Virtuoso Singers at Symphony Space, free
6/2. 9 PM intense frontwoman Hannah Fairchild’s searingly lyrical punk/art-rock/noir cabaret trio Hannah vs. the Many at Hank’s. OMFG this band is good – they slayed on an off-night at LIC Bar, who knows what they could do in the surprisingly good sonics here.
6/2, 10 PM singer Allysen Callery blends medieval and new, original folk noir sounds at Wonders of Nature, $10
6/3, 3 PM the rivetingly eclectic all-female Accord Treble Choir, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 423 Clinton St. (Greene/Gates) in Ft. Greene. 6/9 at 6 they’re at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, 552 West End Ave (entrance on 87th St.)
6/3, 7 PM Karen Bentley Pollick reprises “an awesome solo violin & viola recital mixing Serbian, Lithuanian, Oriental, Icelandic & Mid-Eastern harmonies and melodies” at Spectrum, $10
6/4, 8 PM Tosca Opdam, violin and Victor Stanislavsky, piano play works by Prokofiev, Bach, Korngold, Debussy and De Raaf at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, $25
6/4 8 PM the DaCapo Chamber Players perform an enticing new music bill with works by Philip Glass, David Lang, Dylan Mattingly, Christopher Cerrone, Tania Leon, Taylor Brook, Mario Davidovsky and others at Merkin Concert Hall, $20/$10 stud/srs
6/5, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6, the Spektral Quartet play works by George Lewis, David Fulmer and Eliza Brown at the Miller Theatre, free
6/7, noon the world’s most-recorded drummer ever, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie’s All-Star Shuffle with guests Bobbi Humphrey and Quiana Lynell at Metroteck Park in downtown Brooklyn
6/7, 7 PM the Spectrum Symphony play a rapturously lyrical, extremely rare performance of Henryk Wieniawski’s High Romantic Violin Concerto No. 2 plus the equally rare, arioso 1867 Mass in F by Italian-influenced Polish composer Prince Poniatowski with brand-new orchestration by conductor David Grunberg at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Ave, $30
6/7, 7:30 PM iconic, fearless Mauritanian rights crusader and psychedelic bandleader Noura Mint Seymali at the Lincoln Center Atrium, free, early arrival advised
6/7, 8 PM Mitra Sumara – New York’s only psychedelic 1960s style Iranian art-funk band – play the album release show for their new one at Nublu 151, $15
6/7, 8 PM bassoonist Dafne Vicente-Sandoval plays Jakob Ullmann’s mystically ambient Müntzer’s stern at the San Damiano Mission, $20
6/8, 8 PM hypnotically explosive live bhangra dance band Red Baraat at Flushing Town Hall, free, rsvp req
6/8, 8 PM sitar legend Krishna Bhatt teams up for some ragas with avant guitar fave Gyan Riley at the Poisson Rouge, $20 adv tix rec
6/9 hilariously acerbic, perennially relevant purist rock/Americana songwriter Amy Rigby at Berlin
6/10, 3 PM the original Mexican-American folk-punks: Los Lobos at Prospect Park Bandshell
6/10, 5 PM the Toomai String Quintet with special guest vocalist Alina Roitstein play the release show for their gorgeous new album, Cuerdas Cubanas – “modern string arrangements of legendary songs by Ernesto Lecuona as well as salsa, bolero, and mambo classics” at Symphony Space, tix $17 with code TOOMAIFAN
6/10 up-and-coming new music ensemble Face the Music collaborate with the Tricentric Foundation, playing Anthony Braxton compositions; ensembles include the FTM Big Band, Improv Ensemble, and Advanced Jazz Project with performers from Braxton’s circle, at the Jazz Gallery
6/12, drinks at 5:30 PM, show at 6 the Mivos Quartet’s Olivia De Prato plays solo violin works by Ned Rothenberg, Missy Mazzoli and others at the Miller Theatre, free
6/12, 8 PM the NY Philharmonic plays a program TBA at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The program repeats on 6/13 on the great lawn in Central Park (enter at 79nd St. in the west side), 6/14 at Cunningham Park in Queens – enter at 193rd Street, near 81st Avenue or Union Turnpike, concert is at the 193rd St. field; and 6/15 in Prospect Park (use the 9th St. entrance). They’re also at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island for free at 3 PM on 6/17.
6/13, 7 PM new, adventurous and older, more traditional klezmer and Jewish liturgical sounds, probably in reverse order: Klezmatics trumpeter Frank London and his Klezmar All Stars;clarinet/mandolin wizard Andy Statman; Middle Eastern tinged folk-rockers Pharaoh’s Daughter fronted by chanteuse Basya Schecter; wild, hilarious klezmer punks Golem; popular cantor Magda Fishman; theatrical singer Eleanor Reissa; the excoriatingly lyrical, fearlessly anti-fascist Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird and Yiddish theatre maven Zalmen Mlotek at Central Park Summerstage
6/14, 6:30 PM David Ostwald and his ensemble The Louis Armstrong Eternity Band at Flushing Library, 41-17 Main Street, Flushing, 7 to Main St.. 6/29 at 6 they’re at Peninsula Library, 92-25 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach, Queens. Hitch a ride if you can
6/15 Eno-esque, haunting, fearlessly political Berlin feminist singer Mary Ocher at Holo
6/16, 8 PM fiery jazz oudist/guitarist Gordon Grdina leads his potentially explosive Quartet at Greenwich House Music School, $15
6/16 wildly eclectic Afrobeat/funk/art-rock jamband the Jauntee at Drom
6/19, 4:30 PM trailblazing pipa goddess and singer Min Xiao-Fen’s Blue Pipa trio reinterprets the work of trumpeter Buck Clayton, Chinese composer Li Jinhui, Count Basie and Duke Ellington at Windsor Park Library,79-50 Bell Boulevard, Bayside, Queens
6/20, 8 PM golden-age era hip-hop artist Big Daddy Kane celebrates his 30th anniversary onstage (and about his 20th playing the NYC summer parks circuit) at the Amphitheater at Coney Island, 3052 West 21st St., free. Caveat: this is a rare free show at a Nazi corporate venue, prepare to be treated like a criminal at the entry gates
6/21, 7:30 PM funny quirk-pop songwriter Jonathan Coulton, a lame 90s band, and then iconic, perennially relevant lit-rock songwriter Aimee Mann at Prospect Park Bandshell
6/21-24, 8 PM dancer Molissa Fenley and Company join with percussionist Frank Cassara and violist Ralph Farris for an evening ofwater-themed scores by Linda Bouchard, Andrew Toovey, Frank Cassara and Tigran Mansurian at Danspace Project, 131 E 10th St, $22
6/22, 7 PM saxophonist and composer Tyrone Birkett “presents a musical work giving voice to the dispossessed, acknowledging circumstances caused by dehumanization and “otherness,” at Flushing Town Hall, free
6/22, 7 PM cellist Margalit Cantor, soprano Katherine Copland & pianist Marc Peloquin play a program tba at Bloomingdale School of Music, 323 W 108th St, free
6/23, 6 PM an all-Portuguese triplebill at Central Park Summerstage, in reverse order: fado chanteuse Mariza, rainy-day keyboard instrumentalist Noiserv, and more improvisationally-inclined pianist Renato Diz.
6/27, 7 PM oldschool 90s hardcore hip-hop nostalgia: Black Moon and Smif N Wessun at Betsy Head Park, 167 Livonia Ave in Crown Heights; 3 to Saratoga Ave.
6/28, 7:30 PM the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra play Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21/6; Othmar Schoeck: Summer Night, Pastoral Intermezzo for Strings, Op. 58 (NY Premiere) and Beethoven: String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 “Serioso” at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, free
6/29, 7 PM fiery latin dub guitarist/bandleader Nicolas Emden at the park on the Hudson at 125th St.
6/29, 8:30ish jazz royalty; Branford Marsalis and band at Prospect Park Bandshell
6/30, 3 PM energetic acoustic Veracruz-style folk-punk band Radio Jarocho at Forest Hills Library, 108-19 71 Avenue, Forest Hills, 7 to 71st St.
6/30, 7 PN in reverse order at Prospect Park Bandshell: banjo player and Nashville pop refugee Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, mandolinist Sierra Hull and Justin Moses and badass original country blues and oldtimey guitarist/songwriter Mamie Minch, who’s gonna blow them all off the stage
6/30, 7ish perennially relevant hip-hop artist Talib Kweli at Betsy Head Park, 167 Livonia Ave in Crown Heights; 3 to Saratoga Ave
7/5, noon hypnotic, pulsing, sousaphone-driven Guadalupian/New Orleans band Delgres at Metroteck Park in downtown Brooklyn
7/7, 6ish golden age hip-hop legends EPMD at Springfield Park, 147th and Springfield Blvds at the far edge of Queens
7/8, 6ish in reverse order: newschool lovers rock crooner Kabaka Pyramid, the surprisingly vital version of what’s left of popular 70s roots reggae band Third World and ubiquitous loverman Barrington Levy at at the Amphitheater at Coney Island, 3052 West 21st St., free, prepare to be treated like a criminal at the entry gates since this is a corporate venue
7/12, noon Amalgarhythm with lyrical pianist Kris Davis and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington at Metroteck Park in downtown Brooklyn
7/12, 7 PM oldschool-style, accordion-fueled vallenato punks Very Be Careful and alternately rustic and techy tropicalians Systema Solar at Queensbridge Park, 41st Ave and Vernon Blvd in Queens, F to 21st St. and walk to the water
7/12, 8ish feral female-fronted psychedelic cumbia/Afrobeat allstars Combo Chimbita and iconic second-wave Afrobeat band Antibalas at Prospect Park Bandshell
7/13, 7:30ish cumbia reapper Ana Tijoux‘s Roja y Negro and Spanish hip-hop artist Mala Rodriguez at Prospect Park Bandshell
7/14, 5ish pensively lyrical, politically fearless Uruguayan folk-jazz singer Jorge Drexler at Central Park Summerstage
7/14, 7:30 PM Malian griots Trio Da Kali and new music icons Kronos Quartet at Prospect Park Bandshell
7/19, noon trippy, darkly cinematic Afrobeat psychedelia with Jupiter & Okwess at Metroteck Park in downtown Brooklyn
7/20, 7:30 PM kinetic chamber-rock dance band My Brightest Diamond and cutting-edge sitarist Anoushka Shankar at Prospect Park Bandshell
7/24, 7:30 PM the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA leads an ensemble in an epic re-score of the 1978 martial arts flick The 36th Chamber of Shaolin at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center, free, get there very early
7/26, noon trumpeter Terence Blanchard & the E-Collective at Metroteck Park in downtown Brooklyn
7/27, 7:30 PM Malian griot Cheick Hamala Diabate and the world’s most popular duskcore band,Tinariwen at Prospect Park Bandshell
7/27, 7:30 PM classic Feelini film scores live with Hal Willner’s Amarcord Nino Rota at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center
7/28, 7 PM a very rare Iranian rock triplebill in reverse order: crooner Faramarz Aslani accompanied by Babak Amini, underground legends KIOSK and Brooklyn expat band Habibi at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center
7/29, 3 PM trippy, darkly cinematic Afrobeat psychedelia with Jupiter & Okwess followed by politically fearless Afrobeat scion Femi Kuti at Central Park Summerstage
7/29, 4 PM Gran Combo bandleader Charlie Aponte and his latest salsa dura project at St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx
8/2, 8ish the Nigerian “Queen of Afrobeat” Yemi Alade at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center
8/4, 3 PM Brazilian neosoul singer Xenia Franca, the Hamilton de Holanda mandolin Trio and trippy dub band Baiana System at Central Park Summerstage
8/4, 8:30 PM popular Jamaican dancehall crooner Tarrus Riley at Prospect Park Bandshell
8/5, 1 PM klezmer clarinet/mandolin wizard Andy Statman, Irish group Cherish the Ladies, Grupo Rebolu, and Sidiki Conde and Tokounou on the plaza at Lincoln Center. The program repeats at 5 out back in Damrosch Park.
8/5, 6 PM a brassy New Orleans bill: New Breed Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a lame jamband, and then Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave at Central Park Summerstage
8/5, 7 PM Puerto Rican percussion ensemble Yuba Ire and two popular Miami bands—Philbert Armenteros y Los Herederos and PALO! accompany a dance performance at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center,
8/9, 7 PM 5/5, 9ish noirish blue-eyed soul singer Fiona Silver and popular blues guitarslinger Gary Clark Jr. at Prospect Park Bandshell
8/8. 6:30 PM in reverse order: the Sun Ra Arkestra play a live score to Space Is the Place, José James sings Bill Withers and Samora Pinderhughes: The Transformations Suiteat Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center. Jury’s out on the openers.
8/10. 7:30 PM the Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band reinvent Leonard Bernstein’s Wes Side Story soundtrack at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center
8/11, 3 PM the North, South, East, and West choruses sing the world premiere of John Luther Adams: In the Name of the Earth at Harlem Meer in Central Park
8/10, 7:30 PM fiery, politically fearless, atmospheric Tunisian art-rocker Emel Mathlouthi and macabre slowcore band Godspeed You Black Emperor at Prospect Park Bandshell
8/11, 8:30 PM jangly, clanging late 80s nostalgia with the Breeders at Prospect Park Bandshell
8/25, 5ish purist swing singer Catherine Russell and Jamaican jazz piano icon Monty Alexander’s reggae-jazz Harlem-Kingston Express at Marcus Garvey Park
8/26, 3 PM the trio of Adam O’Farrill, Immanuel Wilkins and Joel Ross, Amina Claudine Myers, then a lame corporate jazz act, then Gary Bartz leading a quartet at Tompkins Square Park
8/26, 8ish perennially vital latin jazz piano sage Eddie Palmieri at Central Park Summerstage
8/28, 8 PM badass oldschool electric bluesmistress Celisse Henderson and a bunch of actors read from and play music inspired by the Howard Zinn classic People’s History of the United States at Central Park Summerstage. They did something like this at Lincoln Center last year and it was surprisingly subversive.
9/27, 7 PM the all-female Resistance Revival Chorus sing epic, inspiring populist gospel tunes and anti-trumpie broadsides followed by afropop singer Angelique Kidjo at Central Park Summerstage
