Nearly there.
Getting back up to speed, slowly and gradually… and where to find some new-music action in the meantime.
After a week away, and two weeks off here, I feel happily restored, but not quite back into the swing of things fully. To be honest, I’m also still working on establishing a balance among my new professional engagement, freelance commitments, what remains of my days, and where what I do here fits in.
My recent note about my new place and mode of employment, and what impact it will have on this newsletter and everything else, is here.
Fortunately, the timing is right for a little more slowness and contemplation, since it’s always more challenging to find musical events during the week before Labor Day. But then again, this is New York City, and something is always going on somewhere.
Tonight, violinist Jennifer Choi opens an abbreviated Stone series of concerts at The New School: three nights rather than four, since the school is closed for the holiday weekend. For her first outing she showcases her Partita Project, playing unaccompanied works by J.S. Bach, Missy Mazzoli, and John Zorn. On Thursday night she’ll improvise with fellow members of new-music ensemble Either/Or. Friday’s program, titled “A Modern Sound Bath,” finds her playing Zorn’s Hockey and Alexandra Vrebalov’s Sound Shapes, and improvising, with guitarist James Moore and pianist Kathleen Supové. The shows start at 8:30pm, admission is $20 cash at the door, and you’ll find more details here.
Pianist, composer, and bandleader Vijay Iyer has had a free concert with his trio booked for this Friday, Aug. 30, on the Bryant Park Picnic Performances schedule since the season was announced months ago. But a just-arrived news alert reveals that Iyer and his bandmates, bassist Devon Gates and drummer Jeremy Dutton, will be joined by singer, songwriter, and composer Arooj Aftab. If you know the work Aftab and Iyer have done together with Shahzad Ismaily as Love in Exile, you won’t need any further urging to catch this engagement, presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance; details here. (Ismaily doesn’t appear to be involved in Friday’s concert, but cropping him out of the photo above felt disrespectful.)
Elsewhere…
Trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Joe Lovano are in action with their quintet Sound Prints at the Village Vanguard through Sunday; details here.
Bargemusic hosts its annual Here and Now festival of contemporary music this Friday through Sunday, Aug. 30–Sept. 1, with offerings by Scott Wheeler, Trio THuS, Daron Hagen, Ken Ueno, Joel Hoffman, and more; schedule here.
On Sunday, Sept. 1 at 3pm, flutist Roberta Michel and pianist Matt Mitchell meet up at 2B&2C, located at 9 Ave. B in the East Village, to perform Morton Feldman’s For Christian Wolff; more information here.
Saxophonist Tim Berne is back at Lowlands on Tuesday, Sept. 3, playing with guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, bassist John Hébert, and drummer Tom Rainey at 8pm; Lowlands is at 543 3rd Ave. in Brooklyn, and payment is pass-the-hat.
Also on Tuesday, Sept. 3, saxophonist Sam Weinberg continues his back-room residency at Sisters in Brooklyn, leading a trio with bassist Henry Fraser and drummer Jason Nazary. Sharing the bill are flute dynamo Laura Cocks and poet Parker Menzimer; details here.
No doubt there’s even more going on, and here are my favorite places to look:
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.