Archives for posts with tag: Zinc Bar

bandstand_picPhoto Credit: Hank Williams

Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.

Suga’ in My Bowl is off the air this week. Join us on air next Sunday. To get your fix until then, check out our our audio archives. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at some upcoming gigs — and a chance to get some free tickets if you act fast.

We start with another ticket giveaway for the final event in the Schomburg Library’s Women’s Jazz Festival on March 30th! We have two tickets left for the show with saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin‘s Soulsquad and vocalist Catherine Russell. Details at their page and sign up at the post on our blog for the free tickets.

wjf2015_0

Saxophonist Oliver Lake is also a visual artist and has an exhibit of his painted sticks at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in downtown Newark NJ until May 21st.

Oliver_Lake_Stick
Photo: Oliver Lake’s Redbone Stick Plus. | oliverlake.net

Bassist Christian McBride leads his big band at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club from March 31st-April 5.

Randy Weston will lead his African Rhythms Sextet with bassist Alex Blake at the Jazz Standard from April 2nd-5th.

Saxophonist Tia Fuller leads a quartet with bassist Mimi Jones at Smoke from April 3rd-5th.

Low brass specialist on tuba and trombone Joe Daley will be at Terra Blues with Hazmat Modine on April 4th and 18th.

Dancer Patricia Nicholson Parker appears at Clemente Soto Velez Center as part of Arts for Art’s monthlong “Our Earth/Our World” festival of musicians, poets, and visual artists.

OurEarth_OurWorld

Drummer Bobby Sanabria will be at Zinc Bar on April 8th.

Pianist Harold Mabern’s trio celebrates the release of their Afro Blue CD at Smoke on April 10-12th.

That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves April 5th. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.

Hank Williams is an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.

bandstand_picPhoto Credit: Hank Williams

Welcome to Suga in My Bowl radio‘s weekly feature, On The Bandstand, where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests. We’re online weekly and on the air on NYC’s WBAI-FM radio alternate Sunday nights from 11 PM -1 AM. Keep up with us via Facebook, the blog here, or our main website, or Twitter and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.

This week’s guest on the radio is vocalist Carmen Lundy! She has no immediate area shows, but as usual, we’ll keep you in the loop for when she comes to town. Meanwhile, we have some upcoming gigs — and another chance to get some free tickets if you act fast.

We start with another ticket giveaway for the Schomburg Library’s Women’s Jazz Festival on March 23rd! We have four tickets to the Great Women of Blues and Jazz show curated by Toshi Reagon and featuring bassist Mimi Jones for our fans and supporters!! Fill out the sign-up sheet in our previous post with your details by Monday morning 3/23 if you’re interested. We’ll contact you if you’re a winner. Good luck!

wjf2015_0

Saxophonist Oliver Lake is also a visual artist and has an exhibit of his painted sticks at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in downtown Newark NJ until May 21st.

Oliver_Lake_Stick
Photo: Oliver Lake’s Redbone Stick Plus. | oliverlake.net

Vocalist Thana Alexa will be at Subculture on March 23rd.

Drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts hosts a listening session of some of his favorite music at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem on March 25th.

Guitarist Marc Ribot will be at Greenwich House in Manhattan’s Uncharted Series on the 26th.

Pianist Geri Allen, bassist Mimi Jones, and saxophonist Tia Fuller are all part of the line-up in a free concert at Rutgers University’s Newark NJ campus on the 26th.

Pianist Michele Rosewoman leads her New Yor-Uba ensemble at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club from the 27-29th.

Pianist Onaje Allen Gumbs is at Kitano on March 28th.

Saxophonist Lou Donaldson will be at William Patterson University’s Shea Center for the Performing Arts in Patterson, New Jersey on March 29th.

Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin leads her Soulsquad at the Schomburg on March 30th with vocalist Catherine Russell to wrap up their Women’s Jazz Festival. We’ll have another ticket giveaway next weekend for this show! Check back for details.

Randy Weston will lead his African Rhythms Sextet with bassist Alex Blake at the Jazz Standard from April 2nd-5th.

Saxophonist Tia Fuller leads a quartet with bassist Mimi Jones at Smoke from April 3rd-5th.

Low brass specialist on tuba and trombone Joe Daley will be at Terra Blues with Hazmat Modine on April 4th and 18th.

Drummer Bobby Sanabria will be at Zinc Bar on April 8th.

That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves April 5th. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.

Hank Williams is an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.

bandstand_picPhoto Credit: Hank Williams

Suga in My Bowl radio presents a new weekly feature, On The Bandstand where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests.

Program note: Suga’ in My Bowl has changed to a biweekly schedule on WBAI Radio and now alternates Sunday nights with Sports Qualified at our usual 11 PM -1 AM time period. You’ll get the same great show; just every other week! So mark your calendars or just keep up with us via our Facebook page, the blog here, or our main website and we’ll keep track of the schedule for you.

Suga’ in My Bowl is pre-empted this week for the winter pledge drive. Join us on air on Sunday March 8th. To get your fix until then, check out our our audio archives. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at some upcoming gigs.

Oliver_Lake_Stick
Photo: Oliver Lake’s Redbone Stick Plus. | oliverlake.net

Saxophonist Oliver Lake is also a visual artist and will have a showing of his painted sticks at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in downtown Newark NJ until May 21st.

Bassist Alex Blake leads a Quartet at Zinc Bar on the 24th.

Bassist Reggie Workman and saxophonist Oliver Lake will be at the Village Vanguard on February 24th-28th as part of TRIO 3.

Drummer Bobby Sanabria will be at St. Peter’s Church for a lunchtime show with Gene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble on February 25th. They’ll also be at Somethin’ Jazz Club on March 4th.

Vocalist and pianist Andy Bey will be at Minton’s in Harlem on February 27-28th.

Blues vocalist Alexis P. Suter will be at The Turning Point in Piermont, NY on February 28th.

Harpist Brandee Younger will be at Minton’s in Harlem on March 1st.

Organist John Medeski will be at Brooklyn Bowl on March 5th.

That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is back on WBAI‘s airwaves March 1. We’ll also have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online next Sunday with a fresh set of listings.

Hank Williams is an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.

WJF_2015_poster-crop

Winter is finally settling in to New York City, which means a lot of things. It’s getting dark earlier, we’ve already been hit with one cold snap with more definitely on the way, and snow is inevitable sooner or later. But one of the bright spots in the otherwise dark days of January is the Winter Jazz Fest, which is returning for the 11th year in 2015 from the 8th to the 10th. We profiled Suga’ guests (and a few others) appearing at the fest last year and will do the same as we get closer, but the preliminary line-up has been announced, so it’s worth taking a quick look at what’s going on and a preliminary peek at who’s there, although they’re promising more additions to the line-up and it will probably take even longer to get a full sense of all the side players in the groups.

Schedule and Tickets

The schedule kicks off with two different concerts on Thursday, January 8th. The Robert Glasper Trio, Jose James, Derrick Hodge, and Kendrick Scott are the headliners in a celebration of the legendary Blue Note Records label at Le Poisson Rouge. Single event tickets are $25 in advance ($30 at the door) or a $75 pass for admission to the entire festival. Meanwhile, a fundraiser concert for the Disability Pride organization will take place at the Friends Meeting Hall in Manhattan. It features a sizable list of performers and tickets go for $100 or $145 with a 3-day WJF pass. There are a variety of different ticket combos, ranging from $35 for Friday or Saturday night, to $55 for both, and up for packages with the Thursday night events. It’s a reasonable cost considering the vast array of top performers who will be there. Sets generally run from 6 PM until 2 AM (at Zinc Bar) on Friday and Saturday nights, so it’s entirely reasonable to catch 3-4 full sets of music per night if one wants to, even with overlaps.

Locations

Winter_Jazzfest_15_map

The WJF continues around several locations in Greenwich Village and the East Village, with Judson Memorial Church again serving as the epicenter (and the festival’s box office and check-in site) and one of the larger venues. Zinc Bar and Le Poisson Rouge return as venues, joined by the Greenwich House Music School, Minetta Lane Theater, Players Theater, Bitter End, Carroll Place, Subculture, and Bowery Electric. Subculture and Bowery Electric are further away from most of the venues, which are clustered around Washington Square Park. Keep this in mind as you scan the schedule: you may be walking fast to shuttle between venues if one place you want to hit is on the east side.

The festival has become almost a victim of its own success over the years: two years ago it sold out and there have been regular problems with space in the smaller venues on the list. It’s virtually impossible to get into Zinc Bar after the early evening, for example, especially when festival goers combine with the usual Zinc crowd. Securing Minetta Lane and Players Theatre should help immensely in this regard, since both are larger spaces. Still, if one of the acts you want to catch is at one of the smaller spaces on the list, there isn’t much recourse other than to get there very early — and perhaps be prepared to wait. It likely reflects a compromise between supporting some of the smaller venues that program jazz throughout the year in more intimate spaces and the reality that the festival is drawing more people — a good thing — to see the more popular acts. There’s probably not a better fix for the issue.

Lineup

We’ll do a follow-up with a “cheat sheet” of picks on our radar, but rather than post their extensive list (WJF claims over 100 acts and counting), I’ll point you toward the artist line-up and the list of personnel, the latter of which gives a fuller sense of who’s behind some of the groups. It’s an impressive list that leans toward the experimental end of the jazz spectrum — indeed, some of the acts will probably push the boundaries of jazz — but with the variety of performers there should be something for a broad spectrum of fans. There’s a pretty thoughtful mix of vocalists and instrumental groups and there’s a diversity of styles. If you have favorites (which is likely if you’ve been following the music scene for a while), then dive in and check for people you want to see. If not, you could do worse than to just sample a few different acts that look interesting and explore. Indeed, that’s advice that goes for anyone since there are quite a few composite groups that pop up for the event and give a chance to see players that don’t always perform together try new things. There are a few ways to get a handle on what you’re likely to hear and who to catch:

  • The Winter Jazz Fest organizers have set up a channel on Apple’s iTunes Radio with music from festival artists.
  • Check the ever-helpful YouTube for performance videos (often live) and sample tracks from an artist or combo.
  • Soundcloud is catching on as a listening platform: do a search for artists there.
  • Next week, we’ll take a look at a few of the artists profiled on the Suga’ in My Bowl show who’ll be there and some others we’re looking forward to seeing. Are you heading to the WJF? What are some of the acts you’re looking forward to seeing? Let us know in the comments.

    Hank Williams is an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.

    bandstand_picSuga in My Bowl radio presents a new feature, On The Bandstand where we collect upcoming NYC area shows from current and past Suga’ guests.

    This week’s show is a special spring fund drive broadcast, but there are plenty of live music listings.

    On May 13th, Pianist Vijay Iyer will appear at The Stone.

    On May 14th, drummer Bobby Sanabria appears at Zinc Bar in Manhattan with Eugene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble. On the 17th, he leads the Multiverse Big Band in a show at Orchard Beach in The Bronx

    Organist John Medeski will be at Stage 48 in Manhattan with the M&M’s including Thurston Moore on May 15th.

    Vocalist René Marie leads a group at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club from the 15th to the 18th.

    Poets Sonia Sanchez and Jessica Care Moore join many other performers in a tribute to the late Amiri Baraka at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Café on May 17th and the show is free.

    Vocalist Catherine Russell appears at the Players Club on May 18th as special guest with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks.

    Trombonist Craig Harris leads the Harlem Night Songs Big Band in a set of Sun Ra’s music on May 18th at Harlem’s Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. Details are on Harris’s website.

    Looking further ahead, Pianist Harold Mabern leads a trio at Small’s on May 21st.

    That’s all for now. Suga’ in My Bowl is pre-empted for the next 2 Sundays on WBAI for their Spring Fund Drive, but we’ll have another edition of “On the Bandstand” online here with a fresh set of listings.

    Speaking of the fund drive, Suga’ in My Bowl is offering a premium of a 4-CD set of a Poetry Project tribute and our interview with Amiri Baraka. You can really help WBAI (and our show) with a pledge for the CD set or a simple donation to WBAI, starting with as little as $5. Consider becoming a “WBAI Buddy” with a monthly pledge.

    Hank Williams is an associate producer for Suga’ in My Bowl on WBAI Radio and webmaster for the Suga’ and Behind the Mic sites. He is also a PhD candidate in English and Africana Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and teaches at Hunter and Lehman Colleges and The City College of New York.