Tag Archives: nels cline

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).

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “NEVER DON’T STAY” BY KEVIN BOWE

Minneapolis native Kevin Bowe decided to become a musician after seeing one of the Replacements’ earliest gigs, blown away by the beautiful reckless abandon of the legendary Minnesota band. Years later Bowe, who wrote songs, produced, and/or played with Leiber and Stoller, Etta James, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Alison Scott, Leo Kottke, Peter Case, John Mayall, the Proclaimers, Robben Ford, the Meat Puppets, and Freedy Johnston, got to become a Replacement, joining Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson on a four-track covers EP recorded this past September to help raise funds for former ’Mats guitarist Slim Dunlop, who suffered a stroke in February 2012. Now Bowe is back with his longtime band, the Okemah Prophets, on tour with their new disc, Natchez Trace, the follow-up to 2003’s Angels on the Freeway (Crosses on the Road) and 1999’s Restoration. The sixteen-song disc, made with Prophets Pete Anderson on drums and Steve Price on bass, along with contributions from Westerberg, Johnston, Chuck Prophet, Scarlet Rivera, Tim O’Regan, and Nels Cline, is a collection of countrified indie rock, pop, and blues, with such highlights as the rollicking “In Too Deep” and “Devil’s Garden,” the driving “Haven’t You Heard,” the horn-heavy “Everybody Lies,” the foot-stompin’ “Waitin’ for the Wheel” and “Just Restless,” and the Westerbergian “Never Don’t Stay” and “Gutters of Paradise.” (You can check out all the songs and more here.) Kevin Bowe + the Okemah Prophets will be at Rockwood Music Hall on March 26 at 7:00 (free), preceded by Jonathan Powell and followed by Caitlin Canty, and at the Rock Shop in Brooklyn on March 27 ($10) with Dear Comrade and A Is for Atom.

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY: FESTIVAL

Electronic musician Ikue Mori interprets Christian Marclay’s “Ephemera” score at the Whitney with pianist Sylive Courvoisier (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Wednesday – Sunday through September 26
Admission: $12-$18 (pay-what-you-wish Fridays from 6:00 to 9:00)
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org

Since the late 1970s, New York-based multidisciplinary artist Christian Marclay has been exploring the intimate connection between sound and image through sculpture, video, photography, live music, collage, and site-specific installation. His unique approach to this relationship is on view at the Whitney in the thrilling interactive exhibition “Festival,” which includes dozens of Marclay’s highly original scores, including “Graffiti Composition,” comprising graffiti scribbled on posters by passersby in Berlin; “Pret-a-Porter,” consisting of clothing that has musical notations on them; “Zoom Zoom,” a slideshow of photographs of signs that contain onomatopoeiac language; “Mixed Reviews,” translated music reviews that run around one gallery space in a seemingly endless line of text; “Covers,” a collection of empty record sleeves; “The Bell and the Glass,” a double video projection that draws comparisons between the Liberty Bell and Marcel Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors”; and “Chalkboard,” in which visitors are encouraged to write or draw anything they want on a giant musical staff. All of these scores and more are meant to be interpreted and improvised by musicians, guaranteeing that no two performances will ever be the same. Live events, all free with paid museum admission, continue daily through August 27, with such upcoming “concerts” as Peter Evans and Zeena Parkins performing “Box Set” on August 18 at 1:00, David Moss taking on “Manga Scroll” on August 20 at 7:00, Kato Hideki, Zeena Parkins, Sara Parkins, and Nels Cline teaming up for “The Bell and the Glass” on August 21 at 1:30, Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz interpreting “Graffiti Composition” on August 25 at 4:00, and Bill Frisell playing “Wind Up Guitar” on August 26 at 1:00. There will also be Artist’s Talks every Friday afternoon, with Moss on August 20, Marina Rosenfeld on August 27, and Guy Klucevsek on September 3 and 17. “Festival” is indeed a festival of word, sound, and image, a fascinating celebration of aural and visual language by a masterful artist whose reach knows no boundaries.

In conjunction with “Festival,” which runs through September 26, Marclay’s “Fourth of July” has been extended at the Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea through August 24. (Also currently at the Whitney are “Jill Magid: A Reasonable Man in a Box,” “Off the Wall: Part 1 — Thirty Performative Actions,” and “Collecting Biennials.”)