Mr. Brightside.
Withholding comment on the big media news of the day, plus recommended live new-music events July 22–29.
Comin’ out of my cage and I've been doin’ just fine
Gotta, gotta be down because I want it all…
Lots of earnest, urgent talk about The New York Times, and the fate of arts and culture criticism therein, since the revelations of July 15. Yes, I’ve been asked for my opinion. No, I’m not inclined to share.
I spent 16 years reporting and reviewing for the Times, on and off and on again, and I owe many people respect and gratitude. Among those impacted now, Zachary Woolfe has been a valued comrade for a whole lot of the time I spent with the paper, and more than once edited my post-2016 work.
Jon Pareles is an epic polymath I grew up reading, and is a friendly colleague now. I recall bumping into him at a historic concert event I attended in 2020; I wasn’t reviewing it for anyone, but assumed that he must be. No, he said, he wasn’t reviewing it, either.
Shaking my head, I muttered something about the collective historical record we were in danger of losing. Where would future authors and scholars find reports and perspectives concerning the significant live events of our age?
“In YouTube comments,” Jon replied, deadpan.
I’m not interested in speculating about what’s happening. (Hell Gate readers know a little more than most.) I simply want to wish Zach and Jon – and Jesse Green and Margaret Lyons – the most optimal outcomes.
I’m also much too close to this matter for anything like objectivity.
And, as you may recall, I was just on a wee vacation.
Here’s some recommended reading from those who’ve broached the subject:
“The Times, A-Changin’” – Nate Chinen, The Gig
“A major music critic is taken off his post” – Will Robin, Industry
And not on the subject exactly—though Zach Woolfe has a cameo:
“9.5 Theses on Art and Politics” – Olivia Giovetti, Critical Drift
…Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
’Cause I’m Mr. Brightside.
This morning I received an email from Sugar Vendil, a Brooklyn-based pianist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist whose work has enriched the NYC-DIY scene for some time now, that resonates with my current doggedly optimistic frame of mind.
You’ve probably already heard: arts funding is decreasing, with NEA grant cancellations and some major arts foundations ending their grant programs, and we may low-key (but actually???) be entering a recession soon.
Can’t think of a better time to launch a new experimental performance series that nurtures artists’ process, pays artists, and costs little to attend!
Vendil, founder of the innovative and productive Isogram Projects (f.k.a. The Nouveau Classical Project), is an experienced hand at building community, pooling resources, and making a little go a long way. That ethos is at the root of Trustfall, a new concert series devoted to performing composers and artists working in sound, coming soon to University Settlement House.
The first program, on Wednesday, August 6 at 8pm, features performances by Melinda Faylor, Muyassar Kurdi, and Jess Tsang. Admission is free, and you’ll find all the details here.
The Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time
NOTAFLOF = no one turned away for lack of funds.
22
Duets, Vol. 1
Cassette
68-38 Forest Ave., Storefront B; Ridgewood
Tuesday, July 22; $18.04
dice.fm
Delivering what the title proclaims, this intimate showcase features three wildly promising pairings of disparate improvisational innovators: Luke Stewart and Ka Baird, Keith Fullerton Whitman and J.R. Bohannon, and C. Spencer Yeh and Ryan Sawyer.
23
Lisa Mezzacappa
Glass Box Theatre, The New School
55 W. 13th St., Greenwich Village
Wednesday, July 23–Saturday, July 26 at 8:30pm; $20 cash only
thestonenyc.com
Bay Area bassist, composer, and bandleader Lisa Mezzacappa comes to The New School for a Stone series residency focusing not only on her own projects, but also on the formidable roster of her indie label, Queen Bee, engaged this year in a vigorous program of 12 new albums in as many months. First up is duo B, Mezzacappa’s steady partnership with drumer Jason Levis, sharing Wednesday’s bill with saxophonist Cory Wright’s Green Mitchell Trio and Thursday’s with Bristle, a striking quartet with Mezzacappa, Wright, Murray Campbell on violin, oboe, and English horn, and former NYC gigster Randy McKean on saxophone and clarinets. The final shows on Friday and Saturday feature the Lisa Mezzacappa 5(ish), a six-piece band with Aaron Bennett, Kyle Bruckmann, Brett Carson, Mark Clifford, and Jordan Glenn; Friday’s set showcases Cosmicomics, a 2020 release inspired by the stories of Italo Calvino, and guests are promised on Saturday.
Marta Sánchez Quintet
92NY
1395 Lexington Ave.; Upper East Side
Wednesday, July 23 at 7:30pm; $40–$60, livestream $25
92ny.org
Jazz in July. Most widely known for her role in saxophone titan David Murray’s current quartet, Spanish pianist Marta Sánchez has also attracted notice as a formidable composer, a talent displayed in full on her 2024 release, Perpetual Void. Performing at 92NY in the venerable Jazz in July series now curated by Aaron Diehl, Sánchez leads a quintet fronted by saxophonists Greg Ward and Jeremy Viner in new compositions featuring vocalists Emma Frank and Vuyo Sotashe and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill as guests. (If you can’t attend in person, tickets are available for a livestream accessible for 72 hours.)
24
Barbez
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater
425 Lafayette St.; Greenwich Village
Thursday, July 24 at 9:30pm; $24 plus two drinks or one food item minimum
publictheater.org
The old world-meets-new music combo Barbez, one of New York City’s most singular, iconic ensembles, comes to Joe’s Pub in support of a beautifully heartbreaking new single, “Elegy for Gaza” b/w “Rooftops of Tehran.” The band’s first recording in seven years finds its signature sound intact and compelling, and proceeds benefit World Central Kitchen and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Opening the show is The Lonesome Organist, and the same bill hits the Avalon Lounge in Catskill, NY, on Friday; details here.
26
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society with the Aaron Diehl Trio
92NY
1395 Lexington Ave.; Upper East Side
Saturday, July 26 at 7:30pm; $40–$60, livestream $25
92ny.org
Jazz in July. The enticing finale to this year’s Jazz in July series matches up composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue leading his powerful, persuasive ensemble Secret Society, with pianist Aaron Diehl, curator of the series. After a set of Argue originals, Diehl and his nimble trio come aboard for “Organic Consequence,” a Diehl composition newly embiggened by Argue, and the world premiere of A Banquet for the Birds, Argue’s new suite for piano and jazz orchestra inspired by Emily Wilson’s acclaimed translation of The Iliad. In a word: mythic. (If you can’t attend in person, tickets are available for a livestream accessible for 72 hours.)
27
Black Chamber Folk Music
The Sultan Room
234 Starr St.; Brooklyn
Sunday, July 27 at 7pm; $25.65
dice.fm
Formerly active under the name Organic Trio, veteran improvisers and community linchpins Daniel Carter, William Parker, and Cooper-Moore come together under a moniker well suited to an approach deeply rooted in communal music-making. They’ve not yet recorded (though audio and video documents are out there), so you’ll need to show up for this Sunday evening prayer meeting produced by FourOneOne, also featuring guitarist, songwriter, and producer Chuck Roth as watergh0st.
29
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 W. 37th St.; Midtown West
Tuesday, July 29 at 7pm; $23.50
oslmusic.org
Brad Lubman conducts a chamber-sized cohort of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in works by 2025 DeGaetano Composition Institute participants Lukáš Janata, Paul Novak, Sofia Jen Ouyang, and Zihan Wu, prepared under the supervision of composer-mentor Augusta Read Thomas. OSL superfans will also want to grab tickets now for the orchestra’s next two performances: performing with Aussie psych-rock cabal King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard in material from Phantom Island, the band’s new orchestral album, at the Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, CT, on July 30 and Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on August 1.
JG Thirlwell: Heaven and Earth Magic
Nitehawk Cinema
188 Prospect Park West; Brooklyn
Tuesday, July 29 at 7pm; $24
nitehawkcinema.com
An iconic veteran artist who’s never lost his taste for invention or reinvention, post-punk post-minimalist composer-performer JG Thirlwell provides live music to accompany a rare screening of Heaven and Earth Magic, a 1962 stop-motion surrealist fantasia by the mystical anthologist and cultural shaman Harry Smith. This North American premiere is preceded by Thirlwell’s own exhilarating 11-minute film Sonder, commissioned by Sweden’s Frekvens Film Symposium in 2018 and photographed by Sebastian Mlynarski.
More vital directories of new-music destinations:
Find even more events in Night After Night Watch: The Master List, here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.
"YouTube comments" – LOL, though it hurts too much to laugh