this week in music

2020 NEA JAZZ MASTERS TRIBUTE CONCERT

Who: Dorthaan Kirk, Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, Reggie Workman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Mary Anne Carter, Randall Kline, James Carter, Gerald Clayton, Vincent Davis, Lisa Fischer, Morgan Guerin, Oliver Lake, Christian McBride, Jevon McFerrin, Madison McFerrin, Taylor McFerrin, Kanoa Mendenhall, Junius Paul, Steve Turre, the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars
What: Livestreamed tribute concert and discussion
Where: National Endowment for the Arts, SFJAZZ Center
When: Thursday, August 20, free, 8:00
Why: The National Endowment for the Arts will be honoring the 2020 class of Jazz Masters with a virtual tribute concert on August 20 at 8:00; this year’s honorees are Dorthaan Kirk, Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman, who will perform and receive their accolades from wherever they are sheltering in place. The evening will be hosted by 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater and also features appearances by NEA chairman Mary Anne Carter, SFJAZZ founder and executive artistic director Randall Kline, music director Terri Lyne Carrington, and musicians Ambrose Akinmusire, James Carter, Gerald Clayton, Vincent Davis, Lisa Fischer, Morgan Guerin, Oliver Lake, Christian McBride, Jevon McFerrin, Madison McFerrin, Taylor McFerrin, Kanoa Mendenhall, Junius Paul, Steve Turre, and the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars. Following the concert, Kline will moderate a live, interactive Q&A with the newly inducted masters in which the audience can ask questions on YouTube.

KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER PRESENTS LISA BIELAWA’S BROADCAST FROM HOME

Who: Lisa Bielawa, Gregory Purnhagen, John Glover, Natalie Mallis, Edith Knight Magak, Benjamin Barham-Weise, Federico Ramirez, Seth Brenzel, Elizandro Garcia Montoya, Deborah Meadows
What: Livestreamed two-night concert and discussion
Where: Kaufman Music Center and Facebook
When: Thursday, August 20, and Friday, August 21, free with RSVP, 2:00
Why: Since April 9, composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa has been presenting Broadcast from Home, a weekly series in which she creates a communal work based on testimonies about the coronavirus pandemic sent to her from the public, setting the text to music played by her, special guests, and the public as well. In such chapters as ”After-Lives,” ”Where Is Everybody?,” “The City Is Not the Same,” and ”The New Abnormal,” each of which can be individually heard here, she has collaborated with dozens of other musicians and sing coleader Gregory Purnhagen. “Broadcast from Home arose organically out of an unprecedented moment: worldwide stay-at-home orders in response to a global pandemic, and the universal feelings of shock, grief, disorientation, hope, and fear that overtook us as we navigated our strange new isolation, and then the surge of calls for justice in the midst of it all,” Bielawa said in a statement. “I am so grateful to the hundreds of people, sheltering in place from NYC to Nairobi to Melbourne to Rio de Janiero, who shared their personal experiences and raised their singing voices from their own homes to build this work with me. It stands as a document of the crisis through the lens of people’s most private experiences. Ironically, I have never felt more connected to people through my work than I did through this period of utter isolation. I’ve learned how transformative radical listening can be.”

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On August 20 and 21, the cycle will be streamed in its entirety for the first time by Kaufman Music Center, along with live discussions between Rome Prize winner Bielawa and many contributors from around the world, moderated by John Glover. August 20 will feature Natalie Mallis, Edith Knight Magak, Benjamin Barham-Weise, and Federico Ramirez, while Seth Brenzel, Elizandro Garcia Montoya, Deborah Meadows, and Purnhagen will participate on August 21. Following the two-night event, Bielawa will take a break from Broadcast from Home and move on to Voters’ Broadcast, which looks at the current presidential campaign and upcoming election. “The organic moment of a monolithic, shared reality has begun to transform and fragment, as different parts of the world grapple and react,” she explained. ”Testimony submissions are slowing as people begin to take up the challenging work of reengaging with the world. It feels like the right moment for me to step back and observe, and rest. But I will continue to communicate with this community as we move into this new phase.”

100 YEARS | 100 WOMEN

100 years

Who: Maya Wiley, Sayu Bhojwani, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Shola Lynch
What: Virtual watch party marking a century of women’s suffrage
Where: Park Avenue Armory
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 2:00
Why: Park Avenue Armory and National Black Theatre’s second part of its “100 Years | 100 Women” program occurs August 18 at 2:00 with a free virtual watch party. Hosted by New School professor Maya Wiley, the event celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, with woman artists, activists, scholars, students, and community leaders responding to the centennial while also putting it in context with what is happening in America today. Wiley will be joined by Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, the Kasibahagua Taíno Cultural Society, and Shola Lynch, who will premiere her short film A Portrait of 100 Years | 100 Women. The project features contributions from Zoë Buckman, Staceyann Chin, Karen Finley, Ebony Noelle Golden, Andrea Jenkins, Meshell Ndegeocello, Toshi Reagon, Martha Redbone, Mimi Lien, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches, Carrie Mae Weems, Christine Jones, Deborah Willis, and many more. Also participating in the program with Park Avenue Armory and National Black Theatre are the Apollo Theater, Juilliard, La MaMa, the Laundromat Project, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, National Sawdust, NYU, and Urban Bush Women.

“TO BE THE WAVES AND THE OCEAN: NEW SOUND SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS” LIVE PERFORMANCE

Greg Glassman and Susan Jennings activate sound sculptures at Tanja Grunert’s Beatrix House gallery in Hudson (photo courtesy Tanja Grunert)

Who: Silver the Void with Susan Jennings
What: Live outdoor performance
Where: Tanja Grunert Salon
When: Monday, August 17, free, 7:30
Why: On Friday night during the golden hour, artist Susan Jennings and musician Greg Glassman teamed up for a live performance in conjunction with Jennings’s current exhibit at Tanja Grunert’s Beatrix House gallery in Hudson, with Glassman on trumpet and Jennings activating pieces from the show, “To Be the Waves and the Ocean: New Sound Sculptures and Paintings.” On Monday, August 17, at 7:30 (which just happens to be Grunert’s birthday), Silver the Void, which consists of Jennings, painter Alexander Ross, and Faye Ross, will perform on the sound sculptures and paintings. There will be no live audience; the event will be streamed live on Tanja Grunert’s social media platforms. You can watch a clip from the Friday-night performance here to get in the mood.

FROM THE ARCHIVE — COFFEEHOUSE CHRONICLES #139: HAIR 50th ANNIVERSARY (with live Q&A)

La MaMa is livestreaming it 2017 fiftieth anniversary celebration of Hair (photo courtesy La MaMa)

Who: Chris Kapp, Michal Gamily, James Rado, Galt MacDermot, Michael Butler, Annie Golden, Andre De Shields, Ellen Foley, Walter Michael Harris, Melba Moore, Natalie Mosco, Jill O’Hara, Peppy Castro, Dale Soules, Shaleah Adkisson, Lauren Elder, Shelley Ackerman, Debbie Andrews, Andy Berger, Richard Cohen, Dave D’Aranjo, Nina Machlin Dayton, Magie Dominic, Aaron Drescher, Merle Frimark, Ula Hedwig, Antwayn Hopper, Rev. Marjorie Lipari, Thayer Naples, Allan F. Nicholls, Robert I. Rubinsky, Charles Valentino, Balint Varga, Jared Weiss
What: Archival livestream of 2017 performance and live Q&A
Where: LaMaMa and Facebook Live
When: Saturday, August 15, free (donations accepted), 11:00 am
Why: On October 1, 1967, a little rock opera by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot opened at New York City’s brand-new Public Theater, the first show by living artists that New York Shakespeare Festival founder Joe Papp produced. Known as the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, Hair has propelled generations to stand together, challenge the status quo, celebrate multiculturalism, and work for peace. Fifty years after the Summer of Love, La MaMa, on January 21, 2017, gathered dozens of actors who had performed in the many iterations of the show, from the original off-Broadway version to productions around the world and the 1979 film, for a tribute concert as part of its Coffeehouse Chronicles series, which explores the history of off-off-Broadway.

The presentation featured such stars as Annie Golden, Andre De Shields, Ellen Foley, Walter Michael Harris, Melba Moore, Natalie Mosco, Jill O’Hara, Peppy Castro, and Dale Soules singing songs from the musical; the evening was hosted by Chris Kapp and Michal Gamily and included an interview with Rado and McDermot. On August 15 at 11:00 am, La MaMa will livestream that performance in its entirety — you can get a taste by watching videos of De Shields singing “I Got Life” and Moore performing “Aquarius” — followed by a live Q&A with the eighty-eight-year-old Rado. As revolutionary as Hair was, it’s a shame that so much of its narrative about such social ills as white male dominance, militarization and war, racism, homophobia, and government overreach is still so relevant today, but the music is so energizing and exhilarating, maybe it will spur you to keep fighting the good fight, now more than ever, while having a great time.

A MUSICAL MEDITATION AND CELEBRATION OF RADICAL HEALING

Who: Nona Hendryx, Nubian Q.U.E.E.N.X., Monique Wilson, Hope Masike, Sara Curruchich English, Lebo Mashile, iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ, Rosa Chávez, Liza Jessie Peterson, Be Steadwell, Angela Davis, Divinity Roxx, Sophia Ramos, Cyndi Lauper, Phylicia Rashad, Billie Jean King, Joy Harjo
What: Global virtual music and activism event
Where: StreamYard and Zoom
When: Friday, August 14, $8 – $250, 4:00
Why: On August 14 at 4:00, musician, writer, actress, activist, and legendary powerhouse Nona Hendryx will host an epic virtual concert in support of women’s collective power for social justice. Held in conjunction with feminist organization JASS, “Radical Healing” will feature an international lineup of singer-songwriters, activists, and spoken-word artists celebrating multiracial and multicultural transformation. “By radical healing, we’re acknowledging the power of music to lift our spirits and connect us across all our differences,” Hendryx said in a statement. “We recognize that we can’t build and sustain strong movements for the long haul with broken people who bear the brunt of crises and violence. We need moments of shared joy and connections as much as information and strategy. Some of the most amazing music ever created has been birthed from struggle.” Hendryx will be joined by Monique Wilson, Hope Masike, Sara Curruchich English, Lebo Mashile, iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ, Rosa Chávez, Liza Jessie Peterson, Be Steadwell, Angela Davis, Divinity Roxx, Sophia Ramos, Nubian Q.U.E.E.N.X., Cyndi Lauper, Phylicia Rashad, Billie Jean King, Joy Harjo, and others, participating from five continents. General tickets are $25 ($8 for students) and $250 to gain access to a Zoom Q&A with the artists.

JON LANGFORD AND SALLY TIMMS

Mekons members Jon Langford and Sally Timms will play livestreamed gig from Chicago club on August 14

Who: Jon Langford, Sally Timms
What: Livestream concert
Where: Hideout online
When: Friday, August 14, suggested tip $15, 8:00
Why: The Mekons are one of the greatest bands of the last fifty years. Formed in 1976, the British punks have continued to make fab records and tour relentlessly, but they’ve been sidelined because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, that doesn’t mean they’ve gone silent. On April 6, founding frontman Jon Langford, who’s been very busy during the Covid-19 crisis, performed a livestreamed concert on the back of a pickup truck for Chicago club FitzGerald’s, driven through the streets of Berwyn, Illinois, playing to people on sidewalks and porches. And on June 19, the group released its latest album, Exquisite, based on the concept of the exquisite corpse; the liner notes explain it “was recorded in lockdown on mobile phones, broken cassette recorders, clay tablets & other ancient technologies in Aptos, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York & Devon,” featuring the nom de plumes Baron Von Munchio, Comteboy de Langreamont, Honeyman Ray, Luanora Carrington (ex-Lubu Roi), the Marquis Tomato de Ironingboard, Ricmedios Bellvaro, Sallyvador Dolly, and St. Yves Pantalon-Mécanique adding music and lyrics one at a time. (Did I mention they have a wicked sense of humor?)

On August 6, Langford and vocalist Sally Timms, who teamed up for a show at the Hideout Inn in Chicago on January 19, played outdoors at the Virtue Cider Taproom in Fenville, Michigan; on August 14, the duo will return to the Hideout, but this time they will perform without an audience, as the concert will be livestreamed from an empty club; admission is free, but a $15 tip-jar donation is suggested. (Langford will be back at the Virtue lawn on August 20 with John Szymanski and play solo on the patio of FitzGerald’s on August 26.) Describing the show, the Hideout points out, “Jon Langford and Sally Timms are punk rock refugees from across the pond. Mostly they play music with fundamentalist Punk Rock icons the Mekons but have other hobbies which usually involve cross-dressing, pirate songs, and sitting round at the Hideout Tavern in Chicago defying the forces of time, entropy, and Corporate Capitalism.” Don’t miss it.