this week in music

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.

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: SUMMER HD FESTIVAL

HD festival gives opera lovers the chance to catch free screenings of recent Met performances

Lincoln Center, Josie Robertson Plaza
Columbus Ave. at 63rd St.
August 29 – September 5, free, starting time between 7:15 and 8:30
212-769-7028
www.metoperafamily.org

Hurricane Irene might have forced the cancellation of the first two nights of the Met’s Summer HD Festival, but the fat lady has not sung quite yet. Every night from August 29 through September 5, the Metropolitan Opera Guild will be presenting a free screening by the fountain in Josie Robertson Plaza of a previous Met performance, each one preceded at 3:00, 4:00, or 6:00 by an indoor ticketed lecture ($8-$12) given by a member of the Community Programs staff. (Many of these talks are already sold out, so be sure to get your tickets in advance.) Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra were stormed out, so the festival gets under way Monday night, August 29, at 8:30 with Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, recorded live this past February. On August 30, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna star in Puccini’s La Rondine (8:00) from January 2009, while August 30 features a February 2011 performance of John Adams’s Nixon in China (7:45), a collaboration with Peter Sellars. On September 1, Elīna Garanča and Alagna appear in Bizet’s Carmen (7:45), directed by Richard Eyre, from January 2010. The next night, Deborah Voigt gives her all in a January 2011 performance of Puccini’s La Fanciulla Del West (8:00). Stephen Wadsworth’s new production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, from October 2010 with René Pape, will be shown on September 3 (7:15), with Natalie Dessay in Mary Zimmerman’s version of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (8:00), from March 2011, screening on September 4. The series concludes on Labor Day at 7:15 with Verdi’s Don Carlo, directed by Nicholas Hytner, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and starring Alagna, Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Simon Keenlyside, filmed on December 11, 2010.

CANCELED: AFRO-PUNK FESTIVAL 2011

Das Racist was supposed close Saturday’s Afro-Punk Festival on the Bites&Beats Stage, but the two-day festival has now been canceled because of the hurricane

Commodore Barry Park
Park Ave., Navy St., Flushing Ave. & North Eliot Pl., Brooklyn
Saturday, August 27, and Sunday, August 28, free, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
www.afropunk.com
www.nycgovparks.org

[ed note: We have just gotten word on Friday at 11:00 am that both days of the Afro-Punk Festival have been canceled, with further information on possible rescheduling to come.]

With the approach of Hurricane Irene, most outdoor events in the city taking place on Sunday have been canceled in advance, but as of this writing the seventh annual Afro-Punk Festival is on for both days this weekend, with an amazing lineup of acts and special activities. Held in Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn, the free festivities include live performances on Saturday by Ninjasonik, Bad Rabbits, Reggie Watts, Gordon Voidwell, Toro y Moi, Gym Class Heroes, Das Racist, and Santigold, with Sunday’s roster highlighted by Cerebral Ballzy, Kenna, Fishbone, Res, Janelle Monae, Joi, Tamar-kali, Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely, and Cee Lo Green as well as lots of the city’s hottest DJs. There will be a market with booths from the Brooklyn Circus, Coup D’etat, Harriet’s Alter Ego, Freedom Star, Nakimul, Daf.Nei, Montgomery, Metal Taboo, Hot Trash Vintage, Noir A-Go Go, and more, and the Bites & Beats Food Trucks will feature noshes from such mobile eateries as Joyride, Mexicue, Cookies n Cream, Frites ‘n’ Meats, Desi, Two Pitas in a Pod, Rickshaw Dumpling, Kelvin Natural Slush, Taim, Eddie’s Pizza, Bian Dang, Green Pirate Juice, Schnitzel & Things, and Wooly’s Ice. And hotshots will fight it out in the Nike Battle for the Streets Skate and BMX Competition, with Nigel Sylvester and P-Rod on hand. Meanwhile, artists such as Coby Kennedy, Alice Mizrachi, Toofly, Rimx, Rob Fokused, Rip Josama, Baja Uk Weli, Lichiban, and See One will contribute to a wall mural over a large-scale photograph of Afro-punk kids taken by Barron Claiborne, and the Afro-Punk Denim & Chrome Custom Bike Show & Calendar Shoot will collect some awesome rides.