this week in music

LIVE AT BARNES & NOBLE: MOBY

Harlem native Moby will be at the Union Square B&N for a talk, signing, and acoustic performance on September 7

Union Square B&N
33 East 17th St.
Wednesday, September 7, free, 7:00
212-253-0810
www.moby.com
www.barnesandnoble.com

Born on September 11, 1965, in Harlem, Richard Hall, better known as Moby, has been making cutting-edge electronic music since the early 1980s. He is currently on the road supporting his latest project, Destroyed, a CD (Mute, May 2011) and photography book (Damiani, May 2011) that takes a long, hard look at the loneliness of life on the road. Moby, who played this weekend at the Electric Zoo Festival on Randall’s Island, will be at the Union Square B&N on September 7 at 7:00 for a talk with Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning director Lucy Walker, a signing, and a live acoustic performance; please note that he will only sign copies of Destroyed, nothing else, and people who purchase the book and/or CD will be given priority seating.

WEST INDIAN AMERICAN DAY CARNIVAL

Colorful costumes, booty-shaking music, and stomach-tempting food make the West Indian American Day Carnival one of the best parades of the year (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Eastern Pkwy. from Rochester Ave. to Grand Army Plaza
Monday, September 5, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
718-467-1797
www.wiadca.com
2010 parade

Every Labor Day, millions of people line Eastern Parkway, celebrating the city’s best annual parade, the West Indian American Day Carnival, waving flags from such nations as Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, the Cayman Islands, Antigua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Aruba, Curaçao, and many more. The festivities begin at 2:00 am with the traditional J’Ouvert Morning, a precarnival procession featuring steel drums and percussion and fabulous, inexpensive masquerade costumes, marching from Grand Army Plaza to Flatbush Ave. and on to Empire Blvd., then to Nostrand Ave. and Linden Blvd. The Parade of Bands begins around 11:00 am, as truckloads of blasting Caribbean music and groups of ornately dressed dancers, costume bands, masqueraders, moko jumbies, and thousands of others bump and grind their way down Eastern Parkway to Grand Army Plaza. Don’t eat before you go; the great homemade food includes ackee and codfish, oxtail stew, breadfruit, macaroni pie, curried goat, jerk chicken, fishcakes, rice and peas, and red velvet cake. The farther east you venture, the more closed in it gets; by the time you get near Crown Heights, it could take you half an hour just to cross the street, so take it easy and settle in for a fun, colorful day where you need not hurry.

BRAZILIAN DAY IN NEW YORK

It should get mighty crowded for this weekend’s Brazilian Day festival in Midtown

46th St. between Sixth & Madison Aves.
Saturday, September 3, free, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
917-528-8151
www.brazilianday.com

The twenty-seventh annual Brazilian Day festivities takes place this weekend along 46th St. between Madison & Sixth Aves, one of the city’s best summer parties. The celebration of Brazilian independence begins on Saturday morning at 11:00 with Lavagem da rua 46, or the Cleansing of 46th St., with a parade and festival in Little Brazil with Netinho, Del Feliz, Showdi, and Orquestra Popular Da Bomba do Hemetério. But that’s just the appetizer for Sunday, when two stages, one at 43rd & Sixth, the other on 46th between Fifth & Madison, will be home to performances by Luan Santana, Exaltasamba, Batala Band, D-Snow, Hierofante Cia de Teatro, Formando Abara e o Grupo Capoeira Brasil NY, Gilbert Jr., Sonia Azul, Banda Tom de Deus, DJs, and many others, hosted by Serginho Groisman. Great traditional Brazilian cuisine, vendors, and arts and crafts booths will line the streets, which will fill up quickly — more than a million and a half attendees are expected, so you better not be allergic to rather large crowds.

FIRE PLAY

Fire Play will be keeping the rock-and-roll flame burning at some diverse venues over the next few months

Fontana’s (and other upcoming venues)
105 Eldridge St.
Friday, September 2, $8, 8:00
212-334-6740
www.fireplayband.com
www.fontanasnyc.com

Formed on the Lower East Side in 2009, Fire Play burns it up with a classic rock sound infused with pop, country, blues, and surf elements, evoking the late 1970s and early 1980s with such stompers as “Hole in Your Heart,” “You Light the Fire,” and “You Never Will.” Jazzy lead singer Sari Schwartz, orchestral drummer Jay Alexander, folkie bassist Cid Rivera, and guitar rockers Chris Hanson and Rob Adelman play feel-good music that gets your body grooving, and they’ll be doing it in a wide range of places over the next few months. On September 2, they’ll be at Fontana’s with the Daimons, Chris Duggan, Graveyard Lovers, and Modern Primitives. On September 10, they’ll be on Governors Island for Pig Island II ($70), a celebration of all things pork, featuring twenty local chefs serving up eighty hogs. On October 29, Fire Play will be at the Local 269 on East Houston St., followed by a trio of performances at the Ward-Nasse Gallery on Prince St. on November 5 and December 3 and 17, squeezing in an appearance at Desmond’s Tavern on December 9, making for one of the strangest tours we can think of in recent memory.

QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK: CONCERTS CANCELED

Long Beach, Long Island (and other venues)
September 1-15, free
www.quiksilverpro.com

Things are about to get pretty extreme in Long Beach, and we’re not talking about any lingering aftereffects of Hurricane Irene. From September 1 through 15, the beachfront community will play host to Quiksilver Pro New York, two weeks of intense competitions (with $1 million in prizes at stake), live performances, and living on the edge. The festival officially gets under way Friday on Pier 54 in Hudson River Park, where the Tony Hawk Vert Jam will take place at 2:00 in a large halfpipe with appearances by Hawk, Kevin Staab, Jesse Fritsch, Mitchie Brusco, Sandro Dias, Neal Hendrix, and Elliot Sloan, followed by an after-party at the Standard Hotel. Then it’s back to Long Beach for surfing, volleyball, BMX demos, the Roxy Surf Camp, the Bravest Versus Finest Surf Comp, autograph signings, and other events and activities based in and around the Village. Among those on hands will be Corey Bohan, Allan Cooke, Craig Mast, Anthony Napolitan, Edwin DeLarosa, Josh Kalis, Matt Miller, Wes Kremer, Rob Wise, Jeremiah Smith, Alfredo Mancuso, Kelly Bolton, Brad Simms, Brett Banasiewicz, and Ryah Jordan. More than two dozen bands will hit the stage for free concerts, including Girl Talk, the English Beat, the Ettes, Interpol, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Benjamins, the Max Weinberg Experience, Wavves, Neon Indian, and the Flaming Lips, while Kelly Slater & Friends will lead a benefit show on September 10. The festivities return to Manhattan on September 7 for the world premiere of Travis Rice’s snowboarding movie The Art of Flight at the Beacon, followed on September 8 by Roxy Fashion Night Out at the Roxy Store in SoHo. Oh, and did we mention that it’s all free?

Update (9/2/11): As it turns out, Long Beach is in fact still feeling the lingering aftereffects of Hurricane Irene, which has forced the cancellation of most of the special events that were scheduled to take place as part of Quiksilver Pro New York, including all of the free concerts as well as the autograph signings and demonstrations that were to take place in what was being called the Village, which is no more. However, there is a petition demanding that the concerts go on as planned; you can read and sign it here. The professional competition is still on, as is this afternoon’s Tony Hawk Vert Jam on Pier 54.

WEST INDIAN AMERICAN DAY CARNIVAL SPECIAL EVENTS

Brooklyn Museum parking lot
Washington Ave. & Eastern Pkwy.
September 1-4
718-467-1797
www.wiadca.com

The West Indian American Day Carnival will host millions of spectators lining Eastern Parkway, thousands of marchers in elaborate, colorful costumes, and big trucks pumping out loud music on Labor Day, but the partying actually begins on September 1 outside at the Brooklyn Museum, with several hot concerts leading up to the parade. On Thursday, September 1, the Official Welcome to New York Event ($25, 7:00) features Dr Jay, Back to Basics, Anonymous, Casanovas, Mad Man Maddy, Trinibago Massive Rhythm Section, and many others. On Friday morning, the Official Stay in School Concert (free, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm) includes a fashion show, spoken word, karate, and live music and dance, while BrassFest ($45, 8:00) will get things moving and shaking that night with Patrice Roberts, Farmer Nappy, WCK, Skinny Fabulous, Lyrikal, Devyn, Kutters Rhythm Section, and Machel Montano HD & Kes the Band, “the only place to experience Road March King, the Soca Monarch King, and the Groovy Monarch Kings together.” On Saturday morning, the Junior Carnival ($2, 9:00) begins at Kingston Ave. & St. Johns and heads to the Brooklyn Museum, while that night is highlighted by the Steel Band Panorama Competition ($40, 8:00), with such competitors as Pan Sonatas, Casym, D’Radoes, Sesame Flyers, Harmony, Adlib, Despers USA, Pantonics, Crossfire, and Metro Steel Orchestra. And then, on Sunday, the annual Caribbean Gospel Fest 2011 ($20, 2:00) takes place in the afternoon, followed by Dimanche Gras ($35, 7:00), an all-night extravaganza with Sparrow, Devyn, David Rudder, Allrounder, Benjai, Swallow, Red Plastic Bag, Kofi, stilt walkers, rhythm masters, Golden Harps Steel Orchestra, and many more, all leading up to the best annual parade in the city.

RON CARTER BIG BAND

Ron Carter’s Great Big Band will practically fill the Jazz Standard all by itself (photo by Jim Anderson)

Jazz Standard
116 East 27th St.
August 30 – September 4, $30, 7:30 & 9:30
212-576-2232
www.jazzstandard.net
www.roncarter.net

Michigan-born cellist and bassist Ron Carter is a true jazz legend, having played on thousands of recordings with such seminal and diverse figures as Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis, Milt Hinton, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Harry Connick Jr., McCoy Tyner, Bill Frisell, Gil Scott-Heron, and even a Tribe Called Quest throughout his long career. But there’s one thing the musician, composer, and City College and Juilliard professor hasn’t done before, and that’s make a big band album — until now. Teaming up with Grammy-winning composer and arranger Robert M. Freedman, the seventy-four-year-old Carter has recorded Ron Carter’s Great Big Band (Sunnyside, September 13), a collection of thirteen brass-infused numbers with a cast of seventeen musicians. The album includes fresh takes on such Carter originals as “Opus 1.5 (Theme for C.B.)” and “Loose Change” as well as stirring versions of Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma,” Cannonball Adderley’s “Sweet Emma,” W. C. Handy’s “Saint Louis Blues,” and Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints.” One of the standouts is Freedman’s own “Pork Chop,” with its intoxicating horn riffs and hot bass solo. The album ranges from noirish bop and lovely, subtle ballads to bright, polished showstoppers that call up familiar snippets from Broadway tunes, although it does occasionally veer into TV-theme-song territory. Carter will be bringing his big band to the Jazz Standard for a series of shows August 30 through September 4, featuring Jerry Dodgion, Steve Wilson, Wayne Escoffery, Scott Robinson, and Jay Brandford on reeds, Tony Kadleck, Jon Owens, Greg Gisbert, and Alex Norris on trumpets, Jason Jackson, Steve Davis, James Burton, and Douglas Purviance on trombones, Russell Malone on guitar, Mulgrew Miller on piano, Willie Jones III on drums, and the one and only Ron Carter on bass. Although the album won’t be released until September 13, it will be available for purchase during this exciting stand from one of jazz’s most innovative and endearing figures.