E-String Videos

I just realized these were up:

Bye Bye Blackbird

How Deep is the Ocean

You are my Sunshine

ABC

I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry

After You've Gone

Such Great Heights

Gig Friday

Yoon is playing at Biscuit this Friday. Sadly, the drummer can't make this one. But it still should be fun:

Yoon Sun Choi and The E-String Band

Yoon Sun Choi - voice and toy piano
Jacob Sacks - melodica and harmophone
Khabu Doug Young - ukuleles
Mike McGinnis - bass clarinet

Friday, June 15th
6:00pm-8:00pm

Biscuit BBQ
230 5th Avenue (corner of President St. and 5th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
R train to Union St or Q train to 7th Ave

Show Friday

I'll be back home visiting Canada, but that's no reason for you to miss the fun:

Yoon Sun Choi and The E-String Band

Jacob Sacks - melodica and harmophone
Khabu Doug Young - ukuleles
Bob Bowen - guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion
and
Orlando Hernandez - improvising tap

Friday, May 18th
6:00pm-8:00pm

Biscuit BBQ
230 5th Avenue (corner of President St. and 5th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
R train to Union St or Q train to 7th Ave

Take Away Shows

Just found this amazing site Take Away Shows, with videos of street performances from a few dozen great bands. I don't know the full story but I guess this French site Blogtheque invited a bunch of bands, especially Canadian indie bands, to come and perform walking around the streets of Paris at night, last summer. For Chris there's Arcade Fire. The only ones I've looked at so far are the Islands and the Hidden Cameras, both of which are great.

The Books

Does anyone out there like The Books? Bad planning has left me with an extra ticket for their show on April 30th, which is part of the Wordless Music Series. You don't need to know me to take me up on this offer. You just need to pay me for the ticket.

Rocking the Uke Fest

New York's annual Ukulele festival is nearly upon us. Yoon's band will be playing on the opening night. $10 will get you in for an evening of Uke madness starting at 7pm, but Yoon doesn't go on until 11pm.

NY Uke Fest 2007
Thursday, April 26th @ 7pm
$10

Theater for the New City
(Joyce and J Seward Johnson Theaters)
155 First Avenue @ E10th ST, Manhattan

It should be a fun show with a spirited audience. Ukulele fans, as you might have guessed, are a pretty excitable bunch.

Upcoming shows

I have sinusitis, so I'm not sure I'll be able to make the first of these. But they'll be fun, fun, fun - unless Yoon catches it (can you catch sinusitis? I hope not.)

Monday, April 16
7:00pm-9:00pm

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - rhodes
Thomas Morgan - bass
Vinnie Sperrazza - drums

55 Bar
55 Christopher St.
1/9 train to Christopher

No Cover

Friday, April 20
6:00pm - 8:00pm

Yoon Sun Choi and The E-String Band
Jacob Sacks - melodica, harmophone, percussion
Khabu Doug Young - ukuleles
Thomas Morgan - guitar

Night and Day Skylight Room at Biscuit
230 5th Ave (corner of 5th Ave and President St.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
R Train to Union

By the way, sinusitis really sucks.

Yet more fun

Yay!

Thursday, March 29
8:30pm - 11:00pm

The E-String Band featuring Yoon Sun Choi

Yoon Sun Choi - voice, toy piano
Khabu Doug Young - ukuleles
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion
Micke McGinnis - bass clarinet
Deidre Rodman - melodica

Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th and 6th St.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Cover $5

The Restless Spirits at Cornelia St. Cafe

Coming up!

Thursday, March 22
8:30pm (one set only)

The Restless Spirits

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - piano
Matt Wilson - drums

Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street
F,B,D,A,C train to West 4th

Cover: $10 + $6 min

Danny boy

Like you've never heard it before.

Please consult a doctor before having this much fun

Oh yeah!

Friday, March 16th
6:00pm - 8:00pm

Yoon Sun Choi and The E-String Band

Yoon Sun Choi - voice and toy piano
Jacob Sacks - melodica
Khabu Doug Young - ukulele
Thomas Morgan - guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion

Biscuit
290 5th Ave (corner of President St and 5th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Show coming up

Holy kershmoley! It's 10 buckets of fun! Join us if you think you can handle this much fun!

Wedensday, February 28, 2007
8:00pm-10:00pm

The Restless Spirit Trio

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - piano
Matt Wilson - drums

Barbes
376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718.965.9177

Cover: $8

Upcoming shows

Sadly for Upyernoz, these are all in NYC:

Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 9:00pm - 11:00pm

Yoon's E-String Band

Yoon Sun Choi - voice, toy piano
Jacob Sacks - melodica
Mike McGinnis - bass clarinet
Khabu Doug Young - ukuleles
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion

Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th and 6th Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
F or R train to 4th Ave/9th St

$8 all proceeds go to the artists

Friday, January 12, 2007 8:00pm - 10:00pm

The Human Voice

Lorin Benedict, Judith Berkson, Yoon Sun Choi, Kyoko Kitamura, Jen Shyu, Sonia Szajnberg, Fay Victor (voice)
Steve Coleman (alto saxophone)
Jonathan Finlayson (flugelhorn)
Mike McGinnis (reeds)

The Stone - www.thestonenyc.com
Corner of Avenue C & 2nd street
$10 admission, all proceeds go to the artists

Monday, January 15, 2007 7:00pm-9:00pm

Yoon Sun Choi with special guests, The Creative Music Workshop and Vinnie Sperrazza (Scholarship fundraiser)

I have dedicated this night to raise funds for this wonderful creative music program. All proceeds will be donated to the CMW as a scholarship for participants.

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Vinnie Sperrazza - drums
CMW
Jacob Sacks - piano
Bob Bowen - bass
Khabu Doug Young - guitar
Brian Drye - trombone

55 Bar
55 Christopher Street
1/9 train to Christopher St

$10 (suggested donation)

Show Thursday

I'm off to Ottawa, city of ice and sleet, on Thursday, or I would be attending this:

Thursday, December 14 at 9:00pm

Yoon's E-String Band

Yoon Choi - voice and toy piano
Jacob Sacks - melodica
Khabu Doug Young - ukulele
Thomas Morgan - guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion

Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th and 6th Street)
F train or R train to 4th Ave /9th St

$5

Midnight Ukulele Disco

I'm not completely sure about this, but I think that Yoon will be appearing on this internet show tonight at 9pm EST. Afterwards, a clip of the show will be archived and watchable, but I don't think the whole half hour will be. The focus will be on the ukulele player, I'm guessing, but she'll also be performing.

Update: Oops. It'll also be on local cable. Details:

Time Warner: Channel 56
RCN: Channel 108
Free to air: Channel 17
***Or you can watch it ON THE INTERNET at www.mnn.org.

Gig Tonight

Oops. Late announcement. Right in Brooklyn:

Saturday, November 18th
6:00pm - 8:00pm

Yoon's E-String Band
Yoon Sun Choi - voice and toy piano
Jacob Sacks - melodica
Khabu Doug Young - ukulele
Thomas Morgan - guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion

@

Biscuits
(formerly known as "Night & Day")
230 5th Ave (corner of President St and 5th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
R train to Union St. or Q train to 7th Ave

$5

Show on Friday

This recently caught my eye. Should be a good show:

Friday, November 3rd - @ The Cornelia Street Cafe - 9:00 pm (two sets)

Eivind Opsvik's Overseas

Eivind Opsvik - bass, Tony Malaby - saxophones, Jacob Sacks - piano, Tom Rainey - drums

After you've gone

Thanks to the miracle of lapsing copyright, here is Yoon's E String Band performing After You've Gone (Music and lyrics by Henry Creamer and Turner Layton (1918)). They only had an hour and a half to record a quick demo, so they just raced through a bunch of songs. Still, I think it's got a nice energy.

^{The file After You've Gone.mp3 identified by urn:sha1:L632HNFJ7XWOG6UFJDVTCL67MGND7CG6 is licensed to the public under the Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 license.)}

Show on Thursday

Yoon and her friend Jacob just recorded an album of Joe Raposo music. Joe Raposo is the guy who wrote a lot of the best Sesame Street music ("Being Green," "Sing," etc.). They're putting on an all-Raposo show this Thursday. Come out! It'll be fun.

The Raposo Project
(Music by Joe Raposo)

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - keyboard
Mike McGinnis - woodwinds
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion

Thursday, November 2
8:30pm - 11:00pm
Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th and 6th Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
F or N and R train to 4th Ave or 9th Street

$5 (suggested donation)

4inObjects in Ann Arbor

In case you know anyone in Ann Arbor:

4inObjects (on the bill as the "Jacob Sacks Quintet")
Date: Friday, October 20th
Time: 9:00pm
Venue: Firefly

4inObjects in Toronto

Hittin' the road!

4inObjects

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
9:30pm-1:00am
The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar
194 Queen Street West

Tell all your friends! Tell the whole bunch!

Show in Brooklyn this Thursday

Fun will be had!

I hope that you are all enjoying the beginning of autumn. To celebrate the passing of Canadian Thanksgiving or Columbus Day (your choice), my E-String band will be performing next Thursday at Perch Cafe in Brooklyn and I hope that you can come and join us for great food, drinks and of course, wonderful music.
Hope to see you there!
Thank you,
Yoon

Yoon's E-String Band
Yoon Sun Choi - voice and toy piano
Jacob Sacks - melodica
Khabu Doug Young - ukulele
Mike McGinnis - bass clarinet
Vinnie Sperrazza - percussion

Thursday, October 12th
9pm-11:30pm
Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th and 6th St.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
$5 (donation)

House Concert

We had a house concert yesterday evening - our first such event. We learned two things from it: First, our apartment looks much nicer when we actually clean it, as we had to in order to prepare for the show. Who knew? Second, house concerts are fun!

Here's the band:

From left to right, that's Vinnie Sperrazza on percussion, Mike McGinnis on bass clarinet, Jacob Sacks on melodica, Khabu Doug Young on ukulele, and Yoon Sun Choi on toy piano and voice.

Here's a nice shot of Vin, Mike, and Jacob:

Sadly, although the show was recorded, almost all the music performed last night is protected by copyright. But it makes sense that I can't throw up a free mp3 of the show for a dozen of my friends to enjoy, since that music would never have been written in the first place if the composers had known that someone might some day get not-rich from sharing crappy quality live performances of the music with a few friends.

Gig Thursday

Will it be fun?  Yes.  Yes, it will be fun.  Yoon's new toy piano just arrived in the mail, too.  I love this band.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

8:30pm - 11pm
Yoon's E-String Band
Khabu Doug Young - ukulele
Thomas Morgan - guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza - "laptop" drum and cymbal
Peter Van Huffel - clarinet, wood flute
Yoon Choi - voice, toy piano
Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th-6th Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
donation $5

In other music notes, Yoon just got back from Toronto, where she was recording her third album.  Last night I was listening to a few unmastered tracks from the sessions.  Sounds very nice. 

Show on Friday

It's a fun band.

Friday, July 28, 2006
8:30pm

Yoon's E-String Band
Jacob Sacks - melodica
Khabu Doug Young - ukulele
Thomas Morgan - guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza - "laptop" drum and cymbal
Yoon Sun Choi - toy piano, voice

Perch Cafe
365 5th Ave (between 5th-6th St)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

$5 donation (suggested)

Show Sunday

More fun, fun, fun:

4inObjects

Sunday, July 16, 2006
9:30pm

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Garchik - Trombone
Jacob Sacks - rhodes
David Ambrosio - bass
Dan Weiss - drums

55 Bar
55 Christopher St
1/9 train to Christopher Station

Cover $5

Show tonight

Fun, fun, fun!

Friday, July 7th, 2006
Yoon Choi's E-String Band
Venue: 5C Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Cover: $8

A figure which includes the souls of the departed, along with all the heavenly angels

Yoon noticed today that Johnny Cash's Myspace page lists 83189 billion friends.

Buddy Rich

Go buddy!

Recently heard and upcoming

I saw Jessie Stacken's "current" perform last night at the Cornelia St. Cafe. Current features Stacken on piano, Eivind Opsvik on bass, and Jeff Davis on drums. Although I've heard the latter two play a number of times, it was the first time I'd heard Stacken. A very nice show. The trio made a recording last year, which you can listen to and download for free in it's entirety here. Enjoy.

Also, Yoon's E! String Band will be performing this Thursday. Details:

Thursday, June 15th, 2006
Yoon's E! String Band
Venue: Perch Cafe
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Time: 8:30pm and 10:00pm
Cover: $5 (donation)

In case you live in NYC have no plans for Friday evening

The Restless Spirit Music Series
Yoon Sun Choi - voice and Jacob Sacks - piano
Friday, June 2, 2006
7-9pm
5C Cafe
68 Avenue C (corner of E5th and Ave C)
F train to 2nd Ave
Cover $8

Auf einer Burg

This afternoon, I heard Yoon goofing around with Schumann Lieder. Previously, I had a vague dislike for Schumann and an impression, formed on the basis of very little evidence, that he was sort of dull. Well, obviously I'm a complete ass. The Lied "Auf einer Burg" is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.

If anyone knows a good recording of this, I'd love to know.

Show on Sunday in Brooklyn

If you live in Windsor Terrance, or on the F line, you might enjoy this:

Yoon Sun Choi's E String Band

Yoon Sun Choi - Voice
Thomas Morgan - Guitar
Jacob Sacks - Melodica
Khabu Doug Young - Eukelele

Sunday, May 14th
7pm (one set only)

Crossroads Cafe
1241a Prospect Ave
Brooklyn, NY

No Cover

Monk, as you've never heard him before

And quite possibly as you've never wanted to hear him.

Choi, Sacks, Wilson

Here's my Friday evening:

The Restless Spirit Music Series
with Yoon Sun Choi (voice) and Jacob Sacks (piano)
with special guest, Matt Wilson (drums)

Friday, May 5th
7:00pm-9:00pm

5C Cafe
68 Avenue C (corner of E5th and Ave C)
F Train to 2nd Ave

Cover: $8

Three shows

Three shows this week in NYC worth mentioning. Sadly, I can only make the second. They're below the fold.

UPDATE: Damn! Second and third shows have been cancelled.

First:

Thursday April 27th 8pm

Judith Berkson voice & piano

originals and songs by Bach, Schubert, Schoenberg, Moishe Oysher, and Fred Rogers

with Gerald Cleaver drums

Barbès
376 9th St. (corner of 6th ave.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave
www.barbesbrooklyn.com

Second and third:

NYC wants lollipop, NYC gets lollipop

Taking time off their busy schedule of fighting fires and growing protein-rich cassava for local food banks, the Lollipop People have duly noted and answered the distress call of our NYC brethren. We will be playing two shows - Friday April 28th in Manhattan, and Saturday April 29th in Brooklyn. Of the two shows, the second will likely be more fun.

Details:

April 28th, Lower Manhattan Cultural Center, 630 pm w/ Bernard Pearce. 200 Hudson, 4th floor.
April 29th, Galapagos Arts Space, 7 pm w/ Ambitious Orchestra CD release party. 70 N 6th Street, WIlliamsburg, Brooklyn. galapagosartspace.com

Our band:

Friendly Rich - vox, fisher price turntable
Sly Juhas - drums, celery
Brandi Disterheft - bass
Gregory Oh - harpsichord, toy piano, melodica
Nichol Robertson - banjo
Jeff Burke - bassoon
Karla Ferguson - accordion
Kristin Theriault - harp, harpy
Hector Moreno - cello
Scott Thomson - trombone, saucepan

Check us out at myspace.com/friendlyrich and friendlyrich.com

Bring your friends! Someone invite Francine and MDJ. Kiki must stand and be counted!

Second review

The 4inobjects CD just got its second review, this one in the Chicago edition of All About Jazz. No link, so I'm going to lovingly type the damn thing out:

4inObjects
4inObjects
Yeah Yeah Records
by Rex Butters

The New York based jazz collective 4inObjects finally lets everyone in on the buzz with the release of their self-titled collection. The risky quintet features the writing and vocal talents of Yoon Sun Choi, a singer of considerable range and a lyricist/composer mapping new territory while remaining rooted in accessible and memorable melodic structure. All members have interacted for nearly 10 years, and a Choi and Jacob Sacks duo project has already been released. As with many bands of startling originality, their performances of new material impresses, but their covers demonstrate the breathtaking uniqueness of their vision. Both Radiohead's "Airbag" and the Bacharach warhorse "Close to You" enter territory undreamt by their respective composers and subsequent interpreters. While each musician has much to say, their shared appreciation of understatement generates the dynamic tension.

On Choi's "Back to You," David Ambrosio's simple bass and Dan Weiss' high hat hiss hit like the first sprinkle of a coming storm. Jacob Garchik's trombone moans low over the taut rhythm intro anticipating Choi. Her vivid imagery crisply builds quick intensity even as Sacks dabs color with minimalist piano accents. Choi scats in duet with Garchik, taking flight over the now fully engaged rhythm section. The first of the covers, Radiohead's Airbag," appears deconstructed, just hints from Sacks and wordless improv from Choi. Weiss clicks his sticks, Ambrosio explores, then Choi's reading of the dreamy lyric focuses the instrumentalists. Her improvisational liberties with phrases and ornamental vocalizing, along with similar tendencies throughout the ensemble remakes the piece in the best jazz sense. "Close to You" taps into the unexplored dark longings at the heart of the song, beginning with Sacks' ominous variations stating the theme. By the time Choi's voice slides in on Ambrosio's bass string, it's a sunbeam piercing a dark cloud. The Choi/Sacks "Sorry" gracefully works some unusual intervals, with Garchik's muted trombone taking the long way home. Choi's freewheeling scat decorates the easy funk of her "Tunnel Mountain Drive." Sacks snatches at chords in accompaniment, Garchik trades phrases with Choi, and Ambrosio stretches and bends like a rubber man.

This auspicious debut recorded live three years ago demands an updated session release. Young musicians all, 4inObjects promise domestic pleasures for years to come.

"Gosh, where can I get myself a copy?" you're probably asking yourself. Answer: Here or here.

Show Friday, April 7th, 2006

Breaking news! Show on Friday!

Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks
Friday, April 7, 2006
7pm-9pm (two sets)
5C Cafe
68 Avenue C (corner of E5th and Ave C)
F train to 2nd Ave
Cover $8

In case you're curious what they sound like, I recently posted two mp3s from this series.

Orgasm Addict

I just love the phrase "heads of state" in The Buzzcock's tune, Orgasm Addict. It suggests complete dissolution:

you're makin' out with school kids, winos and heads of state.
you even made it with the lady who puts the little plastic bobins on the christmas cakes.
butchers' assistants and bellhops, you've had them all here and there.
children of god and their joy-strings, international women with no body hair.

Bury Me Not

As regular readers know, Yoon and Jacob Sacks have a music series at the 5C Cafe in the East Village. The first Friday of most months they're joined by a guest musician. (Past guests include: Andrew Bishop, Judith Berkson, Jacob Garchik, Mat Maneri, Mike McGinnis, Ben Monder, Thomas Morgan, Eivind Opsvick, Angelica Sanchez, and Khabu Doug Young.)

Yoon and Jacob have a fairly diverse repertoire consisting of standards, original music, folk songs, children's songs and whatever. They also play free sometimes. Anyway, as a devoted husband I make it to almost all the shows, and so I would be bored stiff by now if not for two things. First, each guest brings out something completely different in Yoon and Jacob's playing. Second, the two of them just hate playing anything twice the same way. As soon as one of them seems to be going into a rut or playing something familiar, the other will deliberately fuck them up completely and then they'll be racing off on some cool tangent.

I've wanted to illustrate this point with an audio file for a while now, but Yoon is petrified of breaking copyright law. But now I've got two versions of a traditional Canadian folk song called "Bury Me Not," so there are no copyright problems involved in posting them. (So the only thing Yoon can complain about now is her intonation problem on the tunes, which really isn't all that bad. She seems to feel honour-bound to shriek in horror at most recordings.)

These mp3s were recorded a month apart, with different guests. The recording quality sucks and there's talking in the background, but if you turn up the sound and close your eyes, you'll get the general idea.

Listen to this one first, even though it was recorded second. The song is called "Bury Me Not." It's terribly sad and beautiful, and their guest, Mike McGinnis (on clarinet), does a wonderful job of catching that mood and heightening it. Although Yoon and Jacob never play this the same way, this is certainly much closer to the way that they usually play it, and it's also roughly what you would expect for a tune of this sort.

Now here they are playing the same piece with Jacob Garchik (on trombone) the month before. I think Garchik had heard them perform the piece before, got bored, and made up his mind to do something completely different. He starts off the piece, and Yoon and Jacob Sacks quickly pick up his idea and develop it for the rest of the tune. The plinky sound on the piano is produced by laying a sheet of paper across the strings.

Now don't you feel like a perfect horse's ass for failing to buy both the duo album and the quintet album? Well, don't you?

First Review!

4inObjects's first release got its first review in this month's All About Jazz (or PDF, p. 20):

4inObjects’ debut recording introduces a full-bodied new voice in jazz singing, backed up by a superb band studded with some of the most talented players to be found anywhere.

Yoon Sun Choi’s singing is strong and direct. She has good control and intonation and handles subtleties with an unfussy assuredness. She doesn’t whisper much, but neither does she overdo the bluster - though she can belt, especially when the band gets up to full volume. In concert the diminutive singer sheds vanity, contorting her face in whatever way she needs to get the sound she wants. Her lyrics are intimate and poetic - in a good way.

The first-rate band features at least two of the most promising younger exponents of New York’s amazingly vital jazz scene: pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Dave Ambrosio, not to pass over the fine work of Jacob Garchik on trombone and Dan Weiss on drums. In addition to her vocal talents, Choi knows a good musician when she hears one - or four, as it were. The music ranges from vamp-based originals to an inspired rendition of Burt Bacharach’s “Close to You”. 4inObjects is a regular at 55Bar, so go on, catch them live.

You can now buy the CD directly from the band's website or from CD Baby (which is currently down).

By the way, you can see Yoon and Jacob Sacks play with Mike McGinnis tonight at 7pm at the 5C Cafe.

4inObjects at Barbes, Wednesday, March 1st, 2006

Come on out and see 4inObjects at Barbes in Brooklyn. Show starts at 8pm; one set.

Intonation

I just listened to a bit of a live set of the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Main impression: that was easily most out of tune guitar I've heard since my high school band, Three Jews and a Goy.

Mixymatosis

Surely no other song in the entire history of music displays as much compassion for rabbits as Radiohead's "Mixymatosis."

Upcoming music

Just a few upcoming shows in the NYC area that caught my eye . . .

Sunday, Feb. 19th, 2006

The Ben Gerstein Collective

Ben Gerstein trombone
Jacob Sacks keyboard
Jacob Garchik computer
Eivind Opsvik bass
Thomas Morgan bass
Dan Weiss drums

8:00-11:00pm
BAR 4
444 7th ave. @15th St., Park Slope

Same night, more money:

Bill McHenry finishes up a week at the Village Vanguard with Paul Motion (drums), Ben Monder (guitar) and Reid Anderson (bass).

Yoon saw them on Friday night and said it was a great show. [Update: Here's a review of the show.]

Tuesday, Feb. 21st, 2006

Everybody knows that Tuesday nights are for Slavic Soul Party at Barbes!

Wednesday, Feb. 22nd, 2006

Bloody Panda plays at Tonic at 8pm. This is a doom metal band featuring the drummer in 4inObjects, the collective Yoon plays in. Sounds like fun in a now-I'll-sacrifice-an-animal-then-kill-myself sort of way.

Thursday, Feb. 23rd, 2006

Same club, very different band: Toronto-based saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff plays at Tonic at 8pm with Mark Helias (bass) and Jim Black (drums).

Looking ahead a little, mark your calendars for March 1st, when 4inObjects plays the early set at Barbes.

At the 55 Bar

These are mainly to confirm that I'm the world's worst photographer. Also, the trombonist looks like he's insane and has glass eye because I used the red-eye corrector that came with the camera. Eh. I'll take down the photo if he threatens to sue.

As for the show, it was lots of fun. The drummer came down with a bad chest cold in the week before the gig, the bassist was stranded in Chicago with flight delays, and Yoon managed to get herself a migraine. But the show went on: the drummer got well enough to play, the bassist made it to the second set, and Yoon took some happy pills. I think a good time was had by most, if not all.

CD Release Party

Here's the write up in Time Out New York:

A bold young collective, 4inObjects brings together four of New York's most consistently impressive rising instrumentalists - trombonist Jacob Garchik, pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Dan Weiss - and cuts them loose behind adventurous vocalist Yoon Choi. The band's soon-to-be-issued debut CD, on Yeah Yeah Records, captures an intense live set, including a radical reinterpretation of Radiohead's "Airbag."

And the CD release party is tonight!

Can you really afford to miss this? Can you? No, I didn't think so. Details here.

Mark your calendars!

After much hard work . . .

Hello Friends and Music Lovers,

We would like to invite you to our CD Pre-release party at the 55 Bar on Sunday, January 29th. We are very excited and hope that you can join us and share in this event. Our new CD will be available at this performance ahead of it's official release on February 14. Hope to see you this Sunday!

4inObjects

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Garchik - trombone
Jacob Sacks - piano
David Ambrosio - bass
Dan Weiss - drums

Sunday, January 29th
9:30pm
55 Bar (55 Christopher St. - 1/9 train to Christopher Station)
Cover $7

Choi and Sacks at the 5C Cafe

Looking for Friday night fun? Come to an early show at the 5C Cafe.

Friday, December 2nd, 2005

The Restless Music Series
Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks with special guest, Ben Monder
Venue: 5C Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Cover: $8

This has been another completely disinterested announcement from the staff here at Explananda.

Opsvik at Barbes tonight

This should be really good:

Eivind Opsvik's Overseas

Tony Malaby saxophone
Jacob Sacks keyboard
Eivind Opsvik bass/compositions
Gerald Cleaver drums

10 pm at Barbes (376 9th street at the corner of 6th avenue in Brooklyn)

Tubapalooza

Coming up again, this Saturday.

The Lollipop People

Go have a listen.

They were recently described to me as "seriously hot meets monster-truck good."

4inObjects in Brooklyn

4inObjects

Yoon Sun Choi vocals
Jacob Garchik trombone
Jacob Sacks piano
Dave Ambrosio bass

Tuesday, November 15, 2005
9pm-12am
Koze Lounge
676 fifth avenue @ 20th street
south slope, b'klyn 718.832.8282

Show tonight in the East Village

I've gotten lazy about posting Yoon's shows lately. Here's one, happening tonight:

Friday, November 4th, 2005
The Restless Music Series
Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks with special guest, Andrew Bishop
Venue: 5C Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Cover: $8

I'm sure that some day someone will come to one of Yoon's gigs because I've posted it on Explananda. And then all my blogging will be vindicated.

Recent Shows

Last night I went to see Juliette and the Licks at the very fun Bowery Ballroom. The Juliette in question, in case you didn't know she was also pursuing a career as a rocker, is Juliette Lewis, the actress.

It was a fun show. The music, I admit, wasn't great. As both Nick (see sidebar) and his brother Dan pointed out, it was all pretty much the same tempo with the same feel, and with few really catchy hooks. Dynamics, man, dynamics! Nevertheless, the band was tight, and Lewis's performance was so energetic and over-the-top that I found myself really enjoying the show. And I never noticed before, but goodness gracious me, Lewis is so very, very hot, in that sort of freaky, alpha-woman sort of way I know we all love. I was right up close to the front, off to stage left. But if you were at the show, I assure you I wasn't the jackass screaming "Julliette!" repeatedly - I was standing in front of him, getting it screamed in my ear.

Which reminds me: In September, I saw a few other bands at the same venue. I've mentioned Frog Eyes before. The show was alright, but not as good as I'd hoped after listening to one of their albums 400 times.

A week after that show, I saw The National and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on the same evening. The National writes catchy, sappy tunes that I like without really respecting myself for it. My main objection to their recorded stuff is that it sounds a bit too processed. Live, they were much rougher around the edges, which I sort of found refreshing. On the other hand, perhaps they overdid it: the main singer had the worst time feel I've ever seen in a live performance.

CYHSY was awesome. If you've never heard them before, have a listen:

Upon this tidal wave of young blood (mp3)

Over and Over Again (Lost & Found) (mp3)

4inObjects at the 55 Bar on Monday

If you're in NYC and feel like a good jazz show:

Monday, September 26th
7pm-9pm

4inObjects

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - rhodes
Dave Ambrosio - bass
Jacob Garchik - trombone
Dan Weiss - drums

55 Bar (55 Christopher St)
1/9 train at Christopher St.
Free (two drink min)

Judith Berkson at Barbes on Sunday

Judith Berkson is awesome. If you're looking for something to do Sunday, Sept. 4th, in Brooklyn, you should check out Judith at Barbes:

Judith Berkson has sung with musicians such as Steve Coleman, Frank London, Joe Maneri and Yiddish folk legend Theodore Bikel. Jazz Times calls her "a singer who fearlessly attacks awkward intervals and boasts a range that's hard to believe". Accompanying herself on piano, wurlitzer and accordion she'll be playing originals and improvising along with songs of Schoenberg, Schumann, Ellington, Greek Rembetica and Cantorial music. 7:00pm

Jazz in the East Village tonight

In case you're interested and in town.

Friday, August 5, 2005

The Restless Spirit Music Series
Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks with special guest, Khabu Young (guitar)
Venue: 5C Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Cover: $8.00

Jazz on Monday night

My darlin' wife, Yoon Sun Choi, has a gig tomorrow night in the Village. She's playing standards, which is unusual for her. Details below the fold.

Monday, July 18 8:00pm-11:30pm

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Khabu Doug Young - guitar
Bob Bowen - bass

The Bar Next Door
129 Macdougal St (downstairs of La Lanterna Di
Vittorio)
A/C, F/B/D train to West 4th

Cover: $5.00 + one drink min.

Jazz in the East Village

My lovely wife has a gig tonight in the East Village:

The Restless Spirit Music Series Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks with special guest, vocalist Judith Berkson Venue: 5C Cafe Location: New York, NY Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm Cover: $8.00

4inObjects at the 55 Bar

My lovely wife is playing at the 55 Bar on Monday, June 20th:

4inObjects

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - piano
Dave Ambrosio - bass
Jacob Garchik - trombone
Special Guest on Drums

Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm

Eight Shows

Some good, reasonably inexpensive jazz coming up. Details below the fold.

Sunday, May 28th: At Barbes, at 7pm:

ROY NATHANSON QUARTET with special guest Marc Ribot. Jazz Passenger Roy nathanson will be joined by his former bandmate in the Lounge Lizards as well as regular associates Sam Bardfeld (Violin) Tim Kaya (bass and vocals) and Gerald Cleaver (Drums). Roy's latest project (which will be touring Europe under the name of "the Barbes band") draws in part from his old songbook - made popular by the likes of Elvis Costello, Debbie Harry and Jimmy Scott - but the focus is on new pieces which feature Roy's storytelling: an assortment of quirky narratives, memories, aphorisms and stream of consciousness monologues which range from moving to poignant to outright funny. The narratives are incorporated in tight musical structures which include sung choruses, quotations and superb arrangements and ensemble playing.

The drummer, Gerald Cleaver, is great. Haven't heard any of the others yet. The bass player will briefly be our roommate in a few days (he's moving in, we're moving out, so we'll overlap by a month).

But - tough call - at roughly the same time (6pm-8pm), at the Bowery Poetry Club:

Gersoritzviklellan + Weiss/Sacks Trio
Gersoritzviklellan - which features:

Ben Gerstein - trombone
Jonathan Moritz - tenor saxophone
Eivind Opsvik - bass
John McLellan - drums

Weiss/Sacks Trio - which is featuring:

Jacob Sacks - keyboard
Thomas Morgan - bass
Dan Weiss - drums

The cover is $7 for that show.

On Tuesday, May 31st, my current roommate Vinnie Sperrazza has a gig at the 55 Bar at 7pm. Great drummer too. No cover, but they expect you to buy a drink. Later in the evening around 10pm, same bar, Dave Binney's Balance is playing. Should be good.

Same night at Nublu at 9pm, Bill McHenry is playing. I saw him play with a different group there last week and really enjoyed the show. No cover.

Barbes should be fun all night on Wednesday, June 1st. At 8pm, there is this:

MALABY/SANCHEZ/RAINEY - Tony's playing is thick and powerful, nimble and lyrical. Whether composed or improvised, his music is so carefully crafted it always feels written. What he delivers in the end is old-fashioned beautiful music with unbelievable emotional power. The Malaby/Sanchez/Rainey Trio may be of his finest vehicles. The interaction between the three ferquent collaborators is near-telepathic. Their first release Alive in Brooklyn was recorded live at Barbes - with Angelica Sanchez on keyboard, Tom Rainey on drum and tony Malaby on saxophones. $8

Great stuff. And then at 10pm, the second half of Eivind Opsvik's CD release party:

Eivind Opsvik OVERSEAS II - CD Release Concert
Tony Malaby - tenor saxophone, Loren Stillman - alto sax, Jacob Sacks - piano, Jeff Davis - drums, Eivind Opsvik - bass and compositions. In 2003 Norwegian Bassplayer Eivind Opsvik released his debut CD on Fresh Sound Records; "Overseas". The Press said: "Eivind Opsvik has an unusual gift for writing small, poignant pieces of music"(New York Times) "The excellent debut recording …shows what happens when a musician puts the whole range of his imagination into play" (Downbeat) In the month of May. The follow up "Overseas II" features eleven new compositions by Opsvik complemented by the spirited playing of his band. - $8

I saw the first set of the first CD release party last week at the 55 Bar and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Frog Eyes

Woo hoo. I ordered the Frog Eyes CD, "The Golden River," a few days ago, and it just came in the mail. It's awesome.

The music is hard to describe. The lead singer sounds a bit like David Bowie would sound if he had a nervous breakdown and thought he was Tom Waits. It's sad and manic and strange - and very much worth the $12 I spent on it (including shipping and handling!).

MP3 Blog Wiki

Fuck, yeah.

via

Jazz this week

Two cool shows coming up . . .

First show: Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 23rd), Bill McHenry is at Nublu at 9pm. Nublu is one of those silly bars with no sign outside. Get directions on the website and then just look for a door with a blue light over it. Trust me. And remember the secret handshake I taught you.

Second show: Wednesday, May 24th. Eivind Opsvik is having one of his two NYC CD release parties. (The CD features multiple sets of musicians, I think, so having two release parties makes a certain amount of sense.) This one is at the 55 Bar at 10pm. Cover is probably $8 or $10.

Jazz in NYC

My lovely wife has a show tonight (Friday, May 13th) with 4inObjects:

Venue: The Friend's Seminary (15 Rutherford Pl.) (Right around E. 16th and 3rd Ave in Manhattan)
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm
Cover: $10.00

Weekend Music

On Friday, my lovely wife has a show. On Saturday, there's Tubapalooza. Details for both shows below the fold.

Details for the first show:

Friday, May 6th, 2005

The Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks Duo with special guest Mat Maneri (viola)
(The Restless Music Series)
Venue: 5C Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Cover: $8.00

Then there's Tubapalooza. It's got quite the lineup. I have to miss this show, but that doesn't mean you do!

Ron Caswell's TUBAPALOOZA
Saturday, May 7th 2005 9pm - very late!@ Zebulon
258 Wythe Avenue (betwixed Metropolitan Ave. and N. 3rd)
Brooklyn, NY 11211 (Williamsburg)
L train to the Bedford Stop
A FREE night of nothing but great TUBA bands!
4 bands 4 FREE!
http://roncaswell.com

9pm - Susan Watts and the Fabulous Shpielkehs Susan Watts, mighty trumpet princess of Philadelphia's
klezmer Dynasty, House of Hoffman.
http://susanwattsonline.com

10pm - the Knobs!
Polished and turned on!
http://theknobs.us

11pm - Who's Yo' Crawdaddy?
Daddy's got some gumbo for you!
http://whosyourcrawdaddy.com

12am - Slavic Soul Party
Brash and strong as slivovitz, Slavic Soul Party! is downtown's answer to Balkan brass band music!
http://slavicsoulparty.com

Levy

Tomorrow night (Saturday) I'm off to see the band Levy play at Tonic (8:30pm).

Does Levy produce generic 80s-sounding pap or are they something fresh and new in rock? Your insolent question bores me. The fact is, they write nice tunes, and I enjoy listening to them. If you want to be snooty, you can just fuck off back to Williamsburg, as far as I'm concerned.

You might go to Levy's site and give 'em a listen, if you're into pop. They offer 6 full free downloads on their site. The best, in my opinion, is "On the Dance Floor." As far as I can make out, it's about the pain of botching a chance at casual sex through a loss of nerve. Since, of course, I never botched a chance at casual sex through a loss of nerve, it's hard to relate. But it sounds very difficult, and I find the song strangely affecting.

The Panopticist is not impressed

Believe it or not, this description is actually pretty generous:

The song is awful. The singer is awful. The production is awful. The video itself is packed with just about every music video cliche in the book. Utterly, sphincter-puckeringly bad.

Show in Ann Arbor

If you live in Ann Arbor and you're looking for trouble, my lovely wife has a show there on Saturday. I'm stuck at home taking care of the dog. Wah. Thank goodness for Netflix. And my half-dozen mistresses.

Saturday, April 9th, 2005

Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks Duo
Venue: Kerrytown Concert House
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Time: 8:00pm
Cover: Purchase tickets here.

Free Jazz in the East Village

The style, I mean. Not free as in free beer.

I'm looking forward to this show. I imagine it will be less accessible than most of their other work, but it's nice to give your ears a stretch once in a while. And Angelica Sanchez is great. Here are the details:

Friday, April 1st
Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks, with special guest, Angelica Sanchez (The Restless Spirit Series)
Venue: 5C Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 7:00pm
Cover: $8.00

MusicBrainz

A handy tool, for when Gracenote lets you down:

Free software MusicBrainz analyzes your digital music collection and fills in missing artist and song title information for your MP3’s and CD’s.

Via Lifehacker

Thursday night

My lovely wife has a show on Thursday evening:

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2005
Band: 4inObjects
Venue: Cornelia Street Cafe
Location: New York, NY
Time: 10:00pm
Cover: tba

Check 'em out!

Tom Waits's favourite 20 albums

Here.

My heart just bleeds for the music industry . . .

when I read stories like this.

How to procrastinate (MP3 madness edition)

Suppose you've grown bored of your music collection. The radio plays the same five shit pieces over and over again, punctuated by long stretches of commercials, so that's no help. What to do?

Why not turn to blogs for some help? After all, (good) political blogs do a good (and sometimes great) job of directing you to news and opinion pieces you might otherwise miss as you scan your daily reads. So it's hardly surprising that mp3 bloggers, who are certainly not lazy about music, have managed to dig up quite a bit of good stuff that you've probably never heard before.

To help, I've added a list of mp3 blogs to the sidebar (which I'll try to update from time to time). The universe of mp3 blogs has exploded recently, so this is the tiniest of selections. But there's some good stuff here, and it'll get you started.

Aurgasm - Very eclectic.

Benn Loxo du Taccu - Truly awesome African music blog.

Fluxblog - Obscure and often funny music.

Honey, Where You Been So Long? - Pre-war blues.

Largehearted Boy

Locust St.

No Frontin', Just Music

The Number One Songs in Heaven

Podsiphon - Collects free and legal mp3s.

Radio Free Chauncy - Not an mp3 blog, exactly. But a very interesting selection of mp3s to listen to or download.

Said the Gramophone - One of the best - and Canadian!

Scissorkick

Sixeyes - Great site - And Canadian too!

Soul Sides

The Stypod

The Suburbs are Killings Us

Xanax Taxi - Jazz, funk, etc.

The Witness Exchange

If you're really into live music, you might also want to check out EasyTree. (Registration is required, and sometimes they cap the number of active members. But just wait a while and you'll be able to join.)

OK, so that's a few blogs to get you started. Now let's talk about some tools that will help you with all this.

-- Downloading mp3s is easy. Just right click on the link to the mp3, click "save", and presto! But what if you take one look at a web page and think, "My God, I've simply got to have every one of these mp3s!" If you're as lazy as I am, there's no way you're going to spend 5 minutes right clicking links. Thank the heavens that you use Mozilla Firefox! Cause with the handy extension, Downthemall, you're just one click away from grabbing those suckers automatically:

1. Get Downthemall from here and install it.
2. Configure downthemall. When you find a website with a bunch of mp3s, just go to "Tools" and select "DownTHEMall". A window of possible links will come up. In the "Filter" section type ".mp3" (without the quotation marks). (The dot helps to filter out links with "mp3" in the name.)
3. Just hit "Start Downloads!"

-- Some of the sites listed above contain links to torrents, which requires a bittorrent client to download. No need to worry about how all this works. The basic idea is just that for a regular download, your computer connects to a remote server and pulls a file from that server. When you download a torrent, by contrast, your bittorrent client connects to everyone else who is downloading that file, and grabs pieces of the file from each computer (and each computer, in turn, grabs the pieces it needs from you). Bittorrent makes it much easier to safely distribute enormous files over the internet. Anyway, there are a bunch of bittorrent clients out there. I use ABC (Yet Another Bittorrent Client). Just download, install, and you're laughin'!

-- Some sites offer music in lossless formats like shn or flac. Those files can take up an awful lot of room on your hard drive. A program called Magical Jelly Bean Shn Shortner is very useful for taking these files and converting them to mp3 format. (For some reason, a lot of the purists who run sites like EasyTree insist that you not convert the files from lossless formats - but screw 'em! Who are they to tell you how to listen to your music?)

Enjoy.

Tubapalooza

If you're into Tubas, this here show is your thing:

TUBAPALOOZA, Friday March 4th, 2005 9pm - very late!
@ Zebulon
258 Wythe Avenue (betwixed Metropolitan Ave. and N. 3rd)
Brooklyn, NY 11211 (Williamsburg)
A FREE night of nothing but great TUBA bands!
4 bands 4 FREE!
http://roncaswell.com

The 55 Bar on Tuesday

My lovely wife has a gig on Tuesday at the 55 Bar:

4inObjects

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - Rhodes
Dave Ambrosio - Bass
Jacob Garchik - Trombone
Dan Weiss - drums

Tuesday February 22
7:00pm - 9:00pm
No Cover

Update: Oh. And there's a gig tomorrow night too:

The new collective trio of Jacob Sacks, Dave Ambrosio, and Vinnie Sperrazza are playing at Charley O's in midtown on Monday, February 21st.

Jacob Sacks: keyboard
Dave Ambrosio: bass
Vinnie Sperrazza: drums
w/ Yoon Sun Choi: voice
and Mike McGinnis: saxophone

at Charley 0's
713 8th Avenue (at W. 45th Street)
8-11:30
$5 cover

Three nights of music

Friday, check out the Slavic Soul Party:

Maia
98 Ave B., East Village
11 pm.

Alas, that's past my bedtime. But perhaps it isn't past yours. Saturday, don't forget this absolute must-see show! Sunday, don't miss The Four Bags doing their thang at Barbes, in Brooklyn:

THE FOUR BAGS. Using trombone, accordion, guitar and clarinet/saxophone, the Four Bags combine the vibrancy of popular music and modern jazz with the rigor and sophistication of a classical chamber music group. Their adventurous repertoire includes arrangements of Frederic Chopin, Alec Wilder, and Brian Wilson augmented by original compositions from each member. The result is strikingly beautiful, sophisticated and yet highly entertaining. They have performed at Celebrate Brooklyn!, BAMCafe, Symphony Space - and they're big in Japan!

With Bryan Drye - Trombone; Jakob Garchik - Accordion; Mike McGinnis - saxophones & Clarinet and Sean Moran - Guitar.

They go on at 7pm.

NYC jazz

What are you doing this Saturday? Well, it couldn't possibly be as important as going to this:

Yoon Sun Choi (voice) and Jacob Sacks (piano)
with special guest, Ben Monder (guitar)

Saturday January 29th
7:00pm-9:00pm

5C Cafe
68 Ave C (E5th and Ave C)
F train to 2nd Ave

Cover $8.00

Listen to clips of the Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks duo over at Yoon's site.

Two Shows

Two shows coming up soon in NYC. The first is this evening (Wednesday, January 12th) at Barbes:

MICHAEL BATES - OUTSIDE SOURCES Ohad Talmor-saxophone/clarinet, Russ Johnson-trumpet, Shane Endsley-drums, Michael Bates-bass Open organic music with involved compositon and creative improvising. Arrangements of Prokofiev and an emphasis on contrapuntal playing.

The show starts at 8pm.

The second is this Friday, (January 14th):

Jacob Sacks 2005 Concert Series

Jacob Sacks piano
Jacob Garchik trombone
Ben Gerstein trombone
Thomas Morgan bass
Dan Weiss drums

Friends Seminary Meetinghouse
15 Rutherford Place (corner of 15th street and Rutherford...15th st. between 2nd and 3rd avenues)
L train to 3rd avenue or a short walk from Union Square

a two set concert starting at 7:30 pm
$10 admission

Both shows sound great, and I'm looking forward to them.

Thursday night's entertainment

This should be really good:

Dan Weiss, Thursday, January 6 - 7:00 PM

55 Bar

Dan Weiss - Drums/Tabla, Miles Okazaki - Guitar

Dan will be taking tabla repertoire and constructing a solo on drumset using all the elements of a traditional tabla solo. The lehara (repeating) melody played behind the solo will be played by guitar.

Rodeohead

All you Radiohead fans (or critics) should go here and click on the cowboy.

Via Sixeyes.

Jazz Notes

I went to see Eivind Opsvik last night at the 55 Bar. Nice show. Opsvik writes great original music, and then gets consistently strong musicians to play it. Have a listen to a few tracks from his album:

Foxtrot (MP3)

Redford (MP3)

Indian Summer (MP3)

You can listen to more music and get links to buy the album online here. Go, you fools, go!

No wait! Speaking of the 55 Bar, my lovely wife is playing an early set there tomorrow night with 4inobjects. Don't miss it! Here are the show details:

Tuesday November 23, 2004
4inObjects
55 Bar
55 Christopher Street
New York,NY
7:00pm
Cover: Free

I'll be there. If you go, make sure to introduce yourself. I'm the guy with the handlebar moustache wearing lederhosen.

New York City Jazz

My lovely wife has a show coming up this Friday. You'd be insane to miss it! Details below the fold.

Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks Duo Friday November 12 7:00pm-9:00pm at 5C Cafe 68 Avenue C (at E5th and Ave C) Take F train to 2nd Ave Cover: $6.00

Dana Lyn, fiddler

A friend and former roommate of ours has finally got a web site up. She's an Irish fiddler, a real old-school purist, with a great spirit. If you're in NYC (or Ireland, where she's a frequent visitor), you oughta check her out. Either way, you oughta buy the CD she's hawking on her website. Great stuff.

NYC Jazz

Dean Bowman will be at the 55 Bar this weekend. He's really worth seeing. Fantastic voice. Details below the fold.

Dean Bowman, Wednesday, November 3 - 7:00 PM Dean Bowman - Vocals, Rael Wesley Grant - Bass, Jamie Affoumado - Drums "...the most important jazz vocalist since Bobby McFerrin" -Sue Mingus

Dean Bowman has become a most accomplished and eclectic vocalist, transcending the genres of jazz, avant garde, gospel, and hard rock.

The Return of the King

My wife, a friend and I went to the Jazz Standard last night to see Nancy King, who was back in town for a rare show. The show confirmed for my wife and me that King is one of the greatest jazz singers ever.

King was accompanied by Fred Hersh on piano. Hersh sounded good, and the two of them sounded good together, but King is so mesmerizing that it's easy to forget there's anyone else in the room when she's singing. I won't try to describe her performance except to say that it was superb in just about every way: the sheer range and emotional reach of her voice, her improvising, her interpretations, her humour and spontaneity, and the fact that she didn't sing a cliche the entire set. Damn, it was good.

Although King is well-known among jazz musicians, she never achieved the kind of recognition outside of the jazz world that she so richly deserves. In a world cluttered with millions of stale, predictable Diana Krall CDs, I'd say that something went wrong somewhere.

West African music blog

I'll bet you were just thinking to yourself "Where can I find some good West African music?"

This looks like a nice place to start.

(Via . . . I'm not sure, but it was probably the invaluable Sixeyes.)

Tom Waits

A new Tom Waits album is almost upon us. Listen to a little old Tom Waits here.

Step right up

The invaluable 6ize reminds me that Step Right Up (MP3) is one of Tom Waits' funniest songs.

Go have a listen.

Two Gigs in Brooklyn

My lovely wife is performing in Brooklyn tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow night. Details below the fold.

(If you come to either gig be sure to introduce yourself to me. Just so you can pick me out of the crowd, I'm 300 pounds, 6 foot 4, and I have a tattoo of a man having his way with a goat on my forehead. . . . Oh, just joking. I can't make it either night. Unfortunately, I'm out of town.)

Wednesday September 22nd
Michel Gentile Group (Yoon Sun Choi - voice, Michel Gentile - flute, Jacob Garchik - trombone, TBA - bass, TBA - drums
Barbes
376 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY
7:00pm - 9:00pm
No Cover

Thursday September 23, 2004
4inObjects with special guest Thomas Morgan
Montauk Club
Brooklyn,NY
8:00pm
Cover: TBA

More Shatner

Anyway, as I was saying, never encourage me. The invaluable Sixeyes has more Shatnerama, for those of you who can't get enough. I know I can't. (It's worth clicking through just to see the picture.)

I'll get serious again when I can bear to read the news.

Nimoy on Hobbits

Right then. Well, since yesterday's William Shatner link earned me rave reviews, let me try again. (It just goes to show: Never encourage me.) Like yesterday's post, this one is a bit stale. But you never know. So without further ado, here is Leonard Nimoy singing a song about hobbits. Enjoy.

I would appreciate it very much if someone could explain in the comments why someone keeps throwing a stuffed gorilla in the air behind Nimoy at the end of the clip.

William Shatner

I'm too busy to post today. But I won't just send you away empty handed. Check out this page for 3 classic William Shatner mp3s: "Lucy in the sky with diamonds," "Common people," and "Mr. Tambourine man."

Download 'em. You won't be sorry.

New York City Jazz

Some day, some person will show up to one of my wife's gigs because they've seen it listed on explananda. On that day - on that glorious day - all my blogging will be redeemed. Will you be that lucky person? Your next chance to be that lucky person is this evening. See you in the East Village. Details below the fold:

Friday September 17th Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks Duo with special guest, Thomas Morgan 5C Cafe 68 Ave C New York, NY 7:00pm-9:00pm Cover: $8.00

Jazz in Toronto and Guelph

My lovely wife is up in Canada, our bitterly cold Northern homeland, for a gig or two. Catch her Wednesday, Sept. 8th in Toronto at the Rex or Thursday, Sept. 9th at the Guelph Jazz Festival. Details below the fold.

Wednesday September 8, 2004
4inObjects
The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar
194 Queen Street West (Toronto, Canada)
(416) 598-2475
9:30pm
Cover: TBA

Thursday September 9, 2004
4inObjects
Guelph Jazz Festival
MacDonald Stewart Art Centre
1:30pm

New York City Jazz

4inObjects is playing tomorrow night at the 55 Bar. Details below the fold.

4inObjects

Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Sacks - piano
Jacob Garchik - trombone
David Ambrosio - bass
Dan Weiss - drums

Tuesday, August 17th
7:00pm-9:00pm

55 Bar
55 Christopher Street (at 7th Ave)
1/9 train at Christopher Station

No Cover (2 drink min)

If I were a closer, "A Simple Formality" by Komeda

A neat rundown of songs chosen by (and for) baseball players for their introduction at Page 3. Few shocks, except for that a few actually choose "She Bangs." Apparently most players are either heavy metal or rap fans. It did please me to see "Misty Mountain Hop" a couple of times.

At an Elmira Pioneers game several years ago, the catcher, named Bingo Owens I think, who was about 10 years older than everyone else on the team, had "Ring of Fire" played every time he came up to bat. Best choice ever.

New York City Jazz

My lovely wife has a gig tonight, this time in Brooklyn. Wish I could be there. I'm getting awfully homesick. Details below the fold:

Who?

East 5th Quartet with guest pianist Jacob Sacks
Yoon Choi - Voice
Thomas Morgan - Bass
Vinnie Sperrazza - Drums

Where

The Royale
506 5th Ave (btwn 12th-13th Street)
Brooklyn
F train to 7th Ave or N/R train to 9th St.

When?

Monday August 2
10:00pm - 1:00am

NO COVER

188 Copies of Michael Bolton's "Timeless"

From Slashdot (minus the hyperlinks):

RIAA Continues Distributing Dud CDs to Satisfy Settlement - by michael (27% noise) cosyne writes “Part of the music industry’s recent price fixing settlement involves giving free CDs to public libraries. Although they are technically complying with the the letter of the law, they’re abusing the spirit by giving the libraries large piles of crud. According to the Stevens Point Journal, ’[the] Milwaukee Public Library received 1,235 copies of Whitney Houston’s 1991 recording of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” 188 copies of Michael Bolton’s “Timeless,” 375 of “Entertainment Weekly: The Greatest Hits 1971,” and 104 copies of Will Smith’s “Willennium.”’ The recording industry obviously wouldn’t want to have libraries loaning out music that people might otherwise buy.” See also a related story about shipments to another state.

I am a peaceful man, but if anyone has the nerve to bring a Michael Bolton CD within 10 feet of me I will be sorely tempted to bloody his nose.

Shooby Taylor

Gotta give him this: No one ever sounded like Shooby Taylor.

(The link is to an MP3, which is very much worth hearing. The complete page is here.)

Body and Soul, again

The other day I mentioned a web site offering many, many different versions of the jazz standard, Body and Soul. In the meantime, I have discovered one drawback to listening to that many versions of the same song: Afterwards, it's awfully hard to get the damn tune out of your head.

Buh buh-buh buh buh buh-buh, buh buh-buh buh buh buh buh buh. Buh buh-buh buh buh. Buh buh-buh-buh, buh-buh buh buh.

Body and Soul

Looking for a hundred different versions of the jazz standard "Body and Soul"? Get 'em here.

Via - who else? - Body and Soul.

New York City Jazz Notes (Balkan Jazz Edition)

Hot damn, I wish to could make it to this:

on Monday, July 12, and every Monday this summer:

SLAVIC SOUL PARTY. Monday Night Balkan Party

Matt Moran leads one of the best Balkan Brass Band anywhere. They will be in residence every Monday until the end of the summer, so no need to travel all the way to Serbia. Stay right here in Brooklyn and experience a take on Balkan Music which is as brash and as strong as Slivovitz (the Serbian Plum Brandy) - equal parts fire, funk, free-form and old school-exuberance. SSP will make you feel like you're attending wedding orchestrated by Emir Kusturica . With Greg Squared (clarinet, alto sax), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Jacob Garchik and Brian Drye(trombones), George Rush (tuba), Peter Stan (accordion), Jerry Kisslinger and Matt Moran (percussion)
@ Barbes, 376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.) Park Slope, Brooklyn 718.965.9177

Eric Idle says "Fuck you very much, FCC"

Heh. (MP3)

New York City Jazz: Michel Gentile at Barbes

It's so nice to have a place close to us in Brooklyn to see jazz. This show ought to be interesting. (My wife appears in it, so I would say that, wouldn't I?)

Michel Gentile Quintet

Michel Gentile - flute
Yoon Sun Choi - voice
Jacob Garchik - trombone
John Hebert - bass
John Mettam - percussion

Wednesday May 26th
7:00pm-9:00pm

Barbes
376 9th Street (at 6th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th ave

No Cover
Followed by the Mat Maneri Trio at 9

New York City Jazz

A promising show coming up at the 55 bar:

Eivind Opsvik's "Overseas", Monday, May 17 - 10:00 PM
Eivind Opsvik - Bass, Tony Malaby - Saxophones, Jacob Sacks - Rhodes, Kenny Wollesen - Drums

I'll be in town, so I may actually go to this one, even if it is far past by bedtime. If you go, be sure to introduce yourself. I'm the tall bald guy with all the tattoos.¹ By the way, Eivind Opsvik's CD "Overseas" is very much worth buying, if you're interested in extremely good jazz.

^{1. That was a joke.}

NYC Jazz Recommendation

At the 55 Bar:

Ben Monder, Wednesday, April 28 - 10:00 PM
Ben Monder - Guitar, Kermit Driscoll - Bass, Take Toriyama - Drums

"Ben Monder has played nearly unsurpassable jazz guitar with any number of actual jazz groups. But what he plays with his own group comes from another planet." -Ben Ratliff, NY Times

I saw Monder a week or two ago with a different group at Barbes in Brooklyn, and a month or so before that in the same venue with Take Toriyama (can't remember who was on bass). Monder is highly recommended. Toriyama is a great drummer too. I wish I could make it to this show.

If you live in Brooklyn (especially on the F line) it might make more sense to wait until he's at Barbes again. The 55 Bar is more expensive (cover plus a two drink minimum if I remember correctly; Barbes has a tip jar instead of a cover and they just cross their fingers over whether you'll buy a drink).

More NYC Jazz

Despite the fact that we all live in the U.S., an