Let's see a show.
One more shout-out for Roulette, ChamberQUEER mounts its most ambitious festival to date, and more live music picks for the next seven days.
Here’s hoping lots of folks had a chance to check out the Frank London tribute concert at Roulette on Monday night, either in person or via live-stream… I watched around half of it in real time and found it joyous and powerful, and I’ve been going back to catch the rest in fits and starts. Here, again, is an opportunity to express gratitude to Roulette for live-streaming virtually every event it presents free of charge, and then preserving the video for delayed viewing on-demand.
Tomorrow night’s sold-out gala honoring Jim Staley, alas, won’t be streaming, which makes sense given that it’s not exactly a concert per se. Fingers crossed, though, that perhaps a performance-only supercut might be assembled for public consumption.
Meanwhile, mark your calendars now for an evening of ace percussionist Nava Dunkelman in solo and duo sets on Monday, June 10, and a joint venture by interdisciplinary artists isabel crespo pardo and Anna Abondolo on Tuesday, June 11… both of which will stream if you can’t attend in person.
The Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time.
NOTAFLOF = no one turned away for lack of funds.
5
Altus
The Jazz Gallery
1160 Broadway, 5th floor; Midtown East
Wednesday, June 5 at 7:30 & 9:30pm; $25–$35, livestream $20
jazzgallery.org
The young collective of Dave Adewumi, Isaac Levien, Neta Raanan, Nathan Reising, and Ryan Sands has an arresting new album due on Friday, Mythos, so titled for finding inspiration in the Greek myth of Prometheus and the Yoruba myth of Oludumare—“because of their overlapping themes of creation, power, struggle, and love, which also happens to mirror the history of Jazz music,” the band says. The writing is potent, the playing fresh and alert; if you can’t be there in person, stream one or both sets at home.
Ben Goldberg
Glass Box Theatre, The New School
55 W. 13th St., Greenwich Village
Wednesday, June 5–Saturday, June 8 at 8:30pm; $20 cash at the door
thestonenyc.com
Versatile clarinetist and composer Ben Goldberg comes to The New School for a Stone residency featuring four disparate projects: a quartet with Nels Cline, Trevor Dunn, and Tom Rainey tonight; an electric band featuring the twinned guitars of Steve Cardenas and Will Bernard tomorrow; another plugged-in band, Invisible Guy with Visible Guest, featuring Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, on Friday; and a final foursome with Angelica Sanchez, Carmen Quill, and Ches Smith on Saturday.
Inside Light
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave., Upper East Side
Wednesday, June 5–Saturday, June 14, times vary; $60, marathon events $85
armoryonpark.org
Sound projectionist Kathinka Pasveer presides over the North American premiere of an immersive audiovisual experience conceived by Pierre Audi, based on electronic episodes from Licht, Karlheinz Stockhausen’s 29-hour opera cycle. Part 1 is presented on June 5 and 12, Part 2 on June 6 and 13, and two complete marathon traversals on June 8 and 14.
Vijay Iyer Trio +1
Smoke Jazz Club
2751 Broadway, Upper West Side
Wednesday, June 5, Thursday, June 6, and Sunday, June 9 at 7 & 9pm; Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8 at 7, 9 & 10:30pm; $25–$55
tickets.smokejazz.com
Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer brings his trio with bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Jeremy Dutton to the Upper West Side for a run of shows at Smoke, joined Thursday through Saturday by Milena Casado on trumpet and flugelhorn. Dinner orders are required at 7 and 9pm shows; livestream tickets for sets on Friday and Saturday are available here.
6
The Rhythm Method
JACK
20 Putnam Ave., Brooklyn
Thursday, June 6 at 8pm; free admission
therhythmmethod.nyc
There’s a new album by the versatile, inventive string quartet The Rhythm Method out on June 7: Pastorale features rich, diverse compositions by Paul Pinto, Lewis Nielson, and quartet violinist Marina Kifferstein. The Kifferstein and Pinto pieces are included in tonight’s free record-release celebration, along with Kaija Saariaho’s Changing Light and Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy with soprano Alice Teyssier. Use the money you’ll save on admission to take a copy of the CD home.
7
Dave’s Waves Sonic Luncheonette
Sunview Luncheonette
221 Nassau Ave., Greenpoint
Friday, June 7, 7pm–midnight; Saturday, June 8, 1pm–midnight; Sunday, June 9, 1–6pm; by donation
Facebook
Multi-instrumentalist and composer David First sets the tables for the latest in his Dave’s Waves series, a sonorous smorgasbord devoted to drones, resonance, and audio-visual installations. On Friday at 9pm, Sarah Hennies joins the Dave’s Waves House Band (First with Erin Rogers, Jessica Pavone, and Tristan Kasten Krause); on Saturday at the same time, Matt Sargent sits in; and on Sunday at 3pm, First performs in a duo with composer and vocalist David Garland. Bring your own headphones and vibrate accordingly.
8
Heller Bassoon Ensemble
Fridman Gallery
169 Bowery, Lower East Side
Saturday, June 8 at 7:30pm; $25, students $20
new-ear.org
International Contemporary Ensemble bassoon ace Rebekah Heller assembles an elite cadre of fellow bassoonists for an evening of auspicious premieres: the live-ensemble debut of Steve Reich’s Grand Street Counterpoint, a new arrangement by Heller of Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc (with vocalist Damian Norfleet), and a new piece, Nurture, by Fay Victor.
Sarah Hennies
Whitney Museum of American Art
99 Gansevoort St., Meatpacking District
Saturday, June 8 at 1 & 4pm; $30, seniors, students, and visitors with disabilities $25
whitney.org
Presented under the aegis of the 2024 Whitney Biennial, composer and percussionist Sarah Hennies presents two performances of Motor Tapes, a nearly hour-long composition she wrote for Ensemble Dedalus. Here, a star-studded assemblage of interpreters includes Lauren Cauley, Laura Cocks, David Friend, Madison Greenstone, Judith Hamann, Tristan Kasten-Krause, Hannah Levinson, Christopher McIntyre, Erin Rogers, Brendon Randall-Myers, Bill Solomon, and Nate Wooley.
The Next Festival with Seth Parker Woods
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 W. 67th St., Upper West Side
Saturday, June 8 at 7:30pm; $25, seniors and students $15
kaufmanmusiccenter.org
Peter Askim conducts a string orchestra comprising early-career participants in the Next Festival of Emerging Artists in world premieres by Askim, Curtis Stewart, and Michael Dudley Jr. Cellist Seth Parker Woods is featured in Rebecca Saunders’s Ire, and Herencia by Andrea Casarrubios completes the program.
Lee Odom + Catherine Sikora & David Menestres
Recirculation NYC
876 Riverside Dr., Upper West Side
Saturday, June 8 at 3pm; $15 suggested donation
soupandsound.org
Soup & Sound, Andrew Drury’s house-concert series turned itinerant presenting initiative, hosts an intimate program matching a solo set by woodwind player Lee Odom and a duo by saxophonist Catherine Sikora and bassist David Menestres.
9
David Grubbs and Wendy Eisenberg
Noguchi Museum
9-01 33rd Rd., Long Island City
Sunday, June 9 at 3:30pm; $16, seniors and students $6, under 12 free
noguchi.org
The subtle, simpatico guitar duo of David Grubbs and Wendy Eisenberg reconvenes to open the monthly Bang on a Can Summer–Fall concert series at the Noguchi Museum. These shows are ideally intimate and tickets are limited, but they include museum access—a substantial bonus.
11
ChamberQUEER 2024: Constellation
MITU580
580 Sackett St.. Unit A—Ground Fl., Brooklyn
Tuesday, June 11–Sunday, June 16; times and prices vary, NOTAFLOF
chamberqueer.org
Constellation is an ideal name for the largest undertaking to date by the concert presenter and community initiative ChamberQUEER, both because it’s filled with brilliant, illuminating performers and events, and because those events are scattered among a number of neighboring locations. Opening day brings an afternoon sound bath by Bloom Sound Collective; an early evening set by big dog little dog, the minimalist folk-groove outfit of violinist Jessie Montgomery and bassist Eleonore Oppenheim; and a closing set by the Canadian duo of trans(masculine) vocalist Teiya Kasahara and pianist David Eliakis. For complete details, see the calendar here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.