this week in music

NYC WINTER JAZZFEST 2014

Bobby Previte’s “TERMINALS” will kick off the 2014 NYC Winter Jazzfest with special guests at le Poisson Rouge

Multiple venues
January 7-11, $10-$45
One-day marathon $35, two-day marathon $55, Full Festival Pass $95
www.winterjazzfest.com

NYC Winter Jazzfest is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month with more than one hundred acts comprising more than four hundred musicians playing ten downtown venues. Things kick off January 7 at le Poisson Rouge with Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS feat. So Percussion, John Medeski, and Nels Cline, followed by the Blue Note Records 75th Anniversary Concert on January 8 at the Town Hall with Robert Glasper & Jason Moran with special guests Ravi Coltrane, Bilal, Eric Harland, and Alan Hampton and a SummerStage Showcase on January 9 at le Poisson Rouge with Revive Big Band, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bilal, and the Wallace Roney Orchestra performing Wayne Shorter’s “Universe,” “Twin Dragon,” and “Legend.” January 10 & 11 boasts ten-hour marathons at nine clubs, with such Friday highlights as Keren Ann (le Poisson Rouge, 7:15), the Mary Halvorson Septet (Judson Church, 10:00), the Roy Hargrove Quintet (le Poisson Rouge, 11:00), the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Review with Melvin Van Peebles, Vernon Reid, and Rebellum (the Bitter End, 11:15), and 3rd Eye 4tet: McPherson, Waits, Burton, Hurt (Zinc Bar, 11:30), and such Saturday hot stuff as Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society (Subculture, 6:00), Slavic Soul Party! Plays Ellington: The Far East Suite (Bowery Electric, 7:45), Henry Threadgill’s “Ensemble Double-Up” in Remembrance of Lawrence Butch Morris (Judson Church, 8:00 & 10:00), Elliott Sharp’s Orchestra Carbon (NYU Law, 11:45), Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog with Mary Halvorson (Judson Church, 11:45), the Matthew Shipp Trio (Judson Church, 1:00), and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (le Poisson Rouge, 1:30).

FIRST SATURDAY: ART ON THE EDGE

Screening of HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD is part of free First Saturday program at Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, January 4, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum kicks off its 2014 monthly free First Saturdays program with a diverse collection of events centered around the theme “Art on the Edge.” The evening will include pop-up gallery talks, the Visual AIDS discussion “What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Museum: Art, AIDS, Activism, and the Institution,” an arts workshop with Pioneer Works on innovation and collaboration and another in which participants can make a mosaic tile inspired by the exhibition “Connecting Cultures: A World in Brooklyn,” a Center for Urban Pedagogy talk on unique design, Purring Tiger performing excerpts from the multimedia dance work Mizaru, a screening of Suroosh Alvi’s 2007 documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad, live music by Dendê and Band, Idgy Dean, and ScienZe (aka Jamal Monsanto) + the EllaVators, and a book club talk led by Barbara Browning about her dance novel, I’m Trying to Reach You. In addition, the galleries will be open late, giving visitors plenty of opportunity to check out “Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey,” “War / Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath,” “Twice Militant: Lorraine Hansberry’s Letters to ‘The Ladder,’” “Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt,” “Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas,” “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk,” and other exhibits.

COUNTRY BRUNCHIN’: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Javier Bardem is coiffed to kill in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

COEN BROTHERS — BEFORE FARGO: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2007)
Nitehawk Cinema
136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry St. & Wythe Ave.
Saturday, January 4, and Sunday, January 5, 11:30 am
718-384-3980
www.nitehawkcinema.com

Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a gripping thriller dominated by the mesmerizing performance of Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic killer who believes in chance. When Llewelyn Moss (an outstanding Josh Brolin) accidentally stumbles upon the site of a drug deal gone terribly wrong, he walks away with a satchel of cash and the dream of making a better life for him and his wife (Kelly MacDonald). He also knows that there will be a lot of people looking for him — and the two million bucks he has absconded with. On his trail are the Mexican dealers who were ripped off, bounty hunter Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), and the cool, calm Chigurh, who leaves a bloody path of violence in his wake. Meanwhile, Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) philosophizes on the sorry state of the modern world as he follows the proceedings with an almost Zen-like precision. Though it struggles to reach its conclusion, No Country for Old Men is an intense noir Western, an epic meditation on chance in which the flip of a coin can be the difference between life and a horrible death. Nominated for eight Oscars and winner of four — for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Bardem), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay — No Country for Old Men is screening January 4-5 at 11:30 am as part of Nitehawk Cinema’s “Country Brunchin’” and “Coen Brothers Before Fargo” series and will be preceded by a live performance by NYC band Tatters & Rags. Yes, the Nitehawk knows that No Country for Old Men actually came after Fargo, which is part of the month-long festival along with Miller’s Crossing, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, and The Hudsucker Proxy.

COIL 2014

Multiple venues
January 3 – February 1, $15-$20
212-352-2101
www.ps122.org

PS122’s East Village home might be under renovation, but that isn’t stopping the organization from presenting the ninth annual incarnation of its winter performance festival, Coil. This year’s festivities comprise nine cutting-edge works in various disciplines, with tickets for all shows only $20, so there’s no reason not to check out at least one of these unique, unusual productions. Reid Farrington stages the ultimate heavyweight match in the world premiere of Tyson vs. Ali at the 3LD Art & Technology Center (January 3-19), in which live action and multiple screens pit Mike Tyson against Muhammad Ali. Mac Wellman’s Muazzez at the Chocolate Factory (January 7-17), from “A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds,” transports the audience, and actor Steve Mellor, into outer space. Heather Kravas’s a quartet at the Kitchen (January 8-12) consists of four dancers performing four dances in four parts each. Director Phil Soltanoff, systems designer Rob Ramirez, and writer Joe Diebes boldly go where no one has gone before in An Evening with William Shatner Asterisk at the New Ohio Theatre (January 9-12), creating a hybrid work highlighted by humans interacting with video clips of words spoken by Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek but strung into new thoughts and statements. Tina Satter’s highly stylized House of Dance at Abrons Arts Center (January 9-13) investigates a tap-dance contest and the relationship between a teacher and his student. The performance series CATCH 60 celebrates its tenth anniversary with the one-night-only CATCH Takes the Decade at the Invisible Dog Art Center (January 11), with works by Cynthia Hopkins, Molly Lieber & Eleanor Smith, Anna Sperber, Ivy Baldwin, and others. Okwui Okpokwasili’s solo Bronx Gothic at Danspace Project (January 14 – February 1) is a song-and-movement-based coming-of-age story about two eleven-year-old girls. All three parts of Jeremy Xido’s solo piece The Angola Project will take place at the Invisible Dog (January 14-17). And family tragedy lies at the center of Brokentalkers’ Have I No Mouth at Baryshnikov Arts Center (January 14-26), with company director Feidlim Cannon and his mother trying to put things back together. In addition, the Red + White Party will get folks mingling as SPIN New York on January 12 ($30 and up) with Elevator Repair Service, and the SPAN conversation series will be held at NYU on January 18.

RINGO STARR’S SHEA STADIUM DRUM KIT

Ringo Starr’s drums are on view at Bloomingdale’s, along with George Harrison and John Lennon guitars (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Bloomingdale’s
1000 Third Ave. at 59th St.
Through December, free
212-705-2098
www.ringosbeatlekits.com
www.bloomingdales.com

Fifty years ago this February, four mop-topped Liverpudlians landed in New York City and changed the world when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. In honor of that event, as well as the release of new Beatles merchandise, Bloomingdale’s is displaying Ringo Starr’s Shea Stadium drum kit, consisting of the Ludwig 22-inch bass Richard Starkey played at Shea on August 15, 1965; floor and rack toms from the Fab Four’s 1964 and 1966 tours, which stopped at the home of the Mets on August 23, 1966; a Jazz Festival snare drum from Ringo’s second Oyster Black Pearl kit, used by Paul McCartney on Macca’s solo debut and various early Wings tunes and purchased at Manny’s Music Store on February 9, 1964; and Ringo’s original bass drum travel case. The display, inside a Plexiglas case in the men’s department next to Magnolia Bakery at the Third Ave. entrance, also includes a new model of George Harrison’s Signature Duo Jet Guitar, which the Quiet Beatle used on “Please Please Me” and appears on the cover of his 1987 album, Cloud Nine, as well as a John Lennon electric model. The memorabilia will be moving shortly to Los Angeles, but a whole lot more paraphernalia will be heading this way in February when Beatles Fest comes to town.

CHÉRI

ABT veterans Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo play passionate lovers in Martha Clarke’s unique adaptation of Colette’s CHÉRI (photo by Joan Marcus)

The Pershing Square Signature Center
The Irene Diamond Stage
480 West 42nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Extended through December 29, $75
212-244-7529
www.signaturetheatre.org

In 1920, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette published the short novel Chéri, the story of a love affair between a young man and an older woman that she had first told in a series of short stories for Le Matin. Baltimore-born director and choreographer Martha Clarke (The Garden of Earthly Delights) has now transformed the beloved tale into a minimalist performance piece that is the first of her three Residency Five productions for the Signature Theatre. Chéri stars current American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Herman Cornejo as the title character, a twenty-four-year-old man in the midst of a torrid six-year affair with Lea (former ABT principal dancer Alessandra Ferri), the forty-nine-year-old best friend of his mother, Charlotte (Amy Irving); both women are courtesans in Belle Époque France. “Was he my gift to her? Or did she take him from me?” Charlotte says to the audience in one of four monologues adapted by Tina Howe (Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances) from Colette’s Chéri and its sequel, The Last of Chéri. Over the course of sixty-five minutes, Cornejo and Ferri perform a series of solos and pas de deux that display their fiery emotions, which grow ever more complicated when Charlotte marries her son off to a virgin from a wealthy family. Chéri and Lea move passionately in rhythm, as if they are the only two people in the world, but when he comes back from fighting in WWI, nothing is quite the same. Although much of the dancing is splendid, particularly when Cornejo lifts Ferri against a wall and his face makes its way down her body, it becomes repetitive, an at-times confounding mix of silent-film acting and operatic panache. Irving is calm and steady as Charlotte, but her words feel unnecessary, as if they could have been trimmed down to spare surtitles instead. Set and costume designer David Zinn’s stage melds the colorful lightness of Bonnard with a Caligari-like German Expressionism, highlighted by long, slanted doorways and mirrors that more than hint at an approaching darkness. The gentle, tender score is played live by pianist Sarah Rothenberg and features selections from Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Richard Wagner, Morton Feldman, and, most prominently, Federico Mompou. Unfortunately, Clarke’s Chéri winds up being less than the sum of its parts, a collaboration that never reaches its potential.

THE BREEDERS LAST SPLASH 20th ANNIVERSARY TOUR / SPEEDY ORTIZ

Breeders are back for twentieth anniversary of LAST SPLASH

Webster Hall
125 East 11th St. between Second & Third Aves.
Thursday, December 19, and Friday, December 20, $30, 8:00
www.websterhall.com
www.breedersdigest.net
www.speedyortiz.bandcamp.com

Twenty years ago, indie supergroup the Breeders exploded onto the scene with their second full-length album, The Last Splash, which featured the monster hit “Cannonball,” reaching platinum heights propelled by an ultracool video directed by the impossibly hip team of Spike Jonze and Kim Gordon. Consisting of bassist Josephine Wiggs from the Perfect Disaster, drummer Jim Macpherson, and twin-sister guitarists Kim and Kelley Deal from the Pixies (Kelley replaced original Breeder Tanya Donelly of the Throwing Muses, who went on to form Belly), the band created a punchy, infectious sound that influenced such other groups as Nirvana, whom the Breeders opened for on a European stint. The Breeders are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of The Last Splash, which also includes such gems as “Invisible Man,” “Flipside,” “No Aloha,” and “Drivin’ on 9,” with the release of the deluxe box set LSXX (4ad, May 2013) and a tour in which they are playing the record in full. They’ll be doing so at Webster Hall on December 19 & 20, adding all of 1990’s Pod as well. But be sure to get there early, because you won’t want to miss Northampton’s Speedy Ortiz, a band whose music evokes the heyday of the Breeders.

Speedy Ortiz will open Breeders shows at Webster Hall (photo by Noe Richards)

Named after a street-gang punk in Jaime Hernandez’s Love and Rockets comics, Speedy Ortiz is currently on the road in support of its debut album, Major Arcana (Carpark, July 2013), a ten-song treat in which the band is constantly changing tempos and volume, offering tantalizing surprises every step of the way. Guitarist and lead singer Sadie Dupuis writes the music first, then adds lyrics that fit into her shifting melodies. “Was it the teeth or my tongue that said / ‘Go shut your lips, let us take a rest’? / Oh, my mouth is a factory / for every toxic part of speech I spew,” she begins on “Tiger Tank,” adding, “Oh, my face is a label / to convey how very awfully I’m doing.” In its short three-year history, Speedy Ortiz hasn’t been doing awfully at all, releasing the cult hit “Taylor Swift” (“Blood-shaking, clot-making viper that feeds on a mouse / Poaching the eggs of the snakes that I slayed in the South), an EP called Sports that includes songs about basketball, indoor soccer, and curling, and the speaker-rattling Major Arcana and have the EP Real Hair, featuring “Everything’s Bigger,” scheduled for early 2014, reteaming them with Pixies producer Paul Q. Kolderie, who worked on the “Taylor Swift” / “Swim Fan” single. Dupuis, shredding guitarist Matt Robidoux, Christmas-born bassist Darl Ferm, and drummer Mike Falcone will be opening for the Breeders at the Webster Hall shows before going off on their first European tour.