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Bob Weir & Wolf Bros end fall tour in spectacular fashion at NYC’s Beacon Theatre

Nov 20, 2018
4 min

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros end fall tour in spectacular fashion at NYC’s Beacon Theatre

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros ended their 19-date fall tour in great form at the Beacon Theatre in New York City with a pair of unique shows that showcased the Grateful Dead catalogue and beyond. With a Sunday night show bearing no special guests, Bobby showcased his ability to lead the trio through two compelling sets, while on Monday’s tour finale he invited a handful of friends to keep everyone on their toes. Kicking things off with “Jack Straw” is always a good sign, so when Weir

The Infamous Stringdusters heat up NYC with Thursday snow show

Nov 16, 2018
2 min

The Infamous Stringdusters heat up NYC with Thursday snow show

The Infamous Stringdusters timed their late-fall trip into New York City with the first snow of the season. Throughout Thursday afternoon it snowed considerably, but the show must go on! Although some Stringdusters fans no doubt got stuck in New Jersey and Long Island, the Gramercy Theatre was packed with music fans eager to warm up with some progressive bluegrass sounds. After an opening set from The Way Down Wanderers, the Dusters set up for the first of two sets. Kicking t

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros dazzle at The Capitol Theatre before last week of tour

Nov 12, 2018
4 min

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros dazzle at The Capitol Theatre before last week of tour

Photo by Marc Millman Bob Weir & Wolf Bros is the latest touring band from the Grateful Dead singer-songwriter. Joined by Jay Lane (drums; Ratdog, Primus) & Don Was (bass; all-star record producer), the band has been breaking new ground in the Grateful Dead songbook and beyond with the stripped-down instrumentation of guitar-bass-drums and often inviting special guests to the stage. This weekend at The Capitol Theatre, Ratdog saxophonists Kenny Brooks and guitar master Warren

Dead & Company soar at Citi Field Night 2

Jun 17, 2018
2 min

Dead & Company soar at Citi Field Night 2

Photos via Dead & Company on Facebook After delivering a stellar show on Friday night, Dead & Company returned to Citi Field for night 2, an evening that would see the band rely again squarely on classic Grateful Dead material. On an absolutely beautiful summer evening, the band jumped into it at 7:45pm with a heft first set. “Sugar Magnolia” kicked things off, segueing straight into “Half Step Mississippi Uptown Toodleloo”. The venue was noticeably much more full than Friday

Parquet Courts get ‘Wide Awake!’ in first of three NYC shows

Jun 10, 2018
3 min

Parquet Courts get ‘Wide Awake!’ in first of three NYC shows

Instagram Words by Jordan Rapaport “What is music if not jazz?”, muses Parquet Courts co-frontman Austin Brown during a riff of stage banter. An oddly fitting question for a punk-leaning rock band who’s playful color palette allows them to decorate the sonic spectrum with the acuteness of a Pollock painting. For their NYC homecoming, the band chose to put on three-part experiential concert series – Land, Sea, and Air - which takes listeners to the corresponding environments

Bonobo brings Migrations Tour to NYC’s Terminal 5, Everyone Leaves Happier

Apr 29, 2017
2 min

Bonobo brings Migrations Tour to NYC’s Terminal 5, Everyone Leaves Happier

Photos by Toby Tenenbaum via brooklynvegan.com/ Whenever I’m put in the position to describe the kind of music Bonobo makes, my instinct is to just say “beautiful.” I could go much deeper with it, but it’s kind of the catch all isn’t it? Sure, the music is also categorized as downtempo, trip-hop, electronic but somehow very organic sounding. It’s easily accessible, widely enjoyed, and yet still sort of underground to some extent. Where Bonobo can distinguish himself from his

NYC Winter Jazzfest 2017 was a celebration of music and freedom

Jan 13, 2017
3 min

NYC Winter Jazzfest 2017 was a celebration of music and freedom

Photos by Jati Lindsay The central theme of this year’s NYC Winter Jazzfest was social justice, something that can be done a better job of in this country to say the very least. Throughout the festival’s many, many performances, artists would either opt into the conversation or choose to speak through their music, but as we gear up for a Trump presidency, there was no escaping the prompt. If you believe strongly in things like peace and equality, it’s probably a tough time fo

STS9 Closes Fall Tour with a NYC Heater [Review, Setlist]

Nov 13, 2016
2 min

STS9 Closes Fall Tour with a NYC Heater [Review, Setlist]

via the_wandering_herm on Instagram STS9 concluded a 17-date fall tour last night at New York City’s Terminal 5. It was a chilly night, but the Atlanta quintet brought the heat with a couple sets that went into Sunday morning. Tribe is touring in support of their latest LP The Universe Inside, which departs from the band’s instrumental electronica/rock and focuses more on vocalised dance tracks. On Saturday night, they balanced those new tracks with the classics from their ca

Lettuce Continue to Grow in Times Square

Nov 13, 2016
2 min

Lettuce Continue to Grow in Times Square

Lettuce is one of those bands we’ve been covering forever, and there aren’t that many of them really. Even in the jam scene, where bands thrive off of mixing up the setlist and improv-fueled rock, bands can get pretty stale. We’re not going to name names, but Lettuce is not one of them. In the five years that we’ve been covering Lettuce, we’ve watched them go from Suwannee side-stage Sweethearts to festival-curating funk ambassadors that have a soft spot for hip hop beats. In

NYC Winter Jazzfest Announces 2017 Lineup!

Nov 4, 2016
2 min

NYC Winter Jazzfest Announces 2017 Lineup!

The NYC Winter Jazzfest has announced their 2017 lineup to include legends, contemporary greats, and rising stars all together. Over the course of five nights, 14 different stages will host programming spearheaded by Brice Rosenbloom, one of the masterminds behind le Poisson Rouge’s bookings. Let’s get a preview of the action in… The opening concert takes place on Thursday January 5, when Pharoah Sanders headlines le Poisson Rouge. After catching a couple of Sanders’ shows th

Introducing Jaw Gems, an instrumental hip-hop band playing Brooklyn Bowl on Aug 14

Aug 9, 2016
1 min

Introducing Jaw Gems, an instrumental hip-hop band playing Brooklyn Bowl on Aug 14

Jaw Gems comes from Portland, Maine. They’re a four-piece band that makes fire beats, and has a new record coming out on 1320 Records later on this month. The band is being championed by some people who really know their stuff. Adam Deitch of Lettuce said, “The swing that J Dilla made famous on an MPC beat machine in the late ‘90s is embedded in Jaw Gems’ musical DNA, just as much as soul and funk. They have created a psychedelic, jazz-rooted, West African feeling.” His bandm

VIDEO PREMIERE: TATRAN on a Bushwick Rooftop

Jun 14, 2016
2 min

VIDEO PREMIERE: TATRAN on a Bushwick Rooftop

Israeli’s TATRAN made the journey from the Middle East to the United States a couple weeks back, playing shows at Atlanta Jazz Festival and Time Square’s Iridium in NYC. During their stay in the Big Apple, the dynamic trio played a special show on the illicit Bushwick Rooftop, a last-minute pop-up orchestrated by the band and Tango Presents, a production venture that I’ve been working on to do some interesting jazz stuff in the borough. The performance lasted about an hour an

SHOW REVIEW: Moderat Plays Career-Spanning Set at Webster Hall

May 23, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Moderat Plays Career-Spanning Set at Webster Hall

Image via Moderat started off as sort of a side project, but pretty quickly proved to be more than the sum of its parts. The duo Modeselektor and Apparat have come together for three records now, and each has taken a big step into defining what exactly the collaboration entails. On III, the most recent LP, the trio comes together for a more cohesive sound. Anchored by rich electronics that nod to their Berlin roots, and finalized with some modern R&B sensibilities and, perhap

SHOW REVIEW: Snarky Puppy Crushes Queens’ York College

May 4, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Snarky Puppy Crushes Queens’ York College

Snarky Puppy brought an incredible vibe to York College in Jamaica, Queens. The only NYC stop of their current tour in support of the recent (and awesome) Culcha Vulcha saw a crowd of young and old music enthusiasts alike getting wild to the band’s proggy jazz fusion sound. The night began with a few new ones off that record, “Tarova” and “Semente” before diving into some old tunes. The band’s huge sound and presence had the crowd screaming and head-bobbin’ in a way that felt

SHOW REVIEW: Mobb Deep Enlists Phony PPL And Plays ‘The Infamous’ Front to Back at Blue

Apr 15, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Mobb Deep Enlists Phony PPL And Plays ‘The Infamous’ Front to Back at Blue

Image via @mjb28a on Instagram Mobb Deep’s The Infamous is one of the greatest hip hop records ever made. The Queens duo crafted an absolutely masterpiece as they blended self-produced, dark beats with the story of life in the Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing development in the country. There was nothing glorious about the story they had to tell, one of drugs, violence, reckless living, and disregard for fellow man, but as Prodigy said last night, you can learn

SHOW REVIEW: Pharoah Sanders Delivers Passionate, Dynamic Sets at the Legendary Birdland

Apr 7, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Pharoah Sanders Delivers Passionate, Dynamic Sets at the Legendary Birdland

Image via Tempo Music Pics Amidst a renaissance of spiritual jazz, Pharoah Sanders brought his tenor saxophone to the legendary Birdland jazz club in New York City to play a mix of expected classics and passionate surprises. Over the course of two sets on Wednesday night, Sanders and his quartet showcased the top-tier musicianship that has garnered such acclaim for the past five decades. Both sets ran about 90 minutes, with the first one utilizing classics like “Thembi” and C

SHOW REVIEW: Daymé Arocena Leaves Stellar First Impression on NYC

Mar 24, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Daymé Arocena Leaves Stellar First Impression on NYC

All Photos by Mario Ruben Carrion for Afro-Latino Festival NYC As Daymé Arocena concluded her first show ever in New York City, the room was lit with smiles. She left it all on stage, leaving the rest of us to wonder how she’s going to do that five more times in the next couple days. For being heralded as Afro-Cuban jazz’s big savior, Daymé sure is humble. When she took the stage at Subrosa last night, she greeted the intimate crowd as if we were in a living room. She made us

SHOW REVIEW: Kneebody & Daedelus debut Kneedelus project in New York City

Mar 16, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Kneebody & Daedelus debut Kneedelus project in New York City

Photo via Kneebody’s Facebook, Photo by Ben O’Brien Smith The marriage of electronics and live bands isn’t always executed well. I’ve seen countless electronica producers make the foray into ‘live band’ territory, and it’s often lacking. On the other side of things, sometimes bands try to employ electronics into their music, and it isn’t quite right as well. Since the marriage doesn’t always work, much like romantic marriage, it makes it all the more special when it does. Suc

NEW MUSIC: Space Captain – In Memory EP [Neo-Soul, Jazz, Prog]

Mar 1, 2016
2 min

NEW MUSIC: Space Captain – In Memory EP [Neo-Soul, Jazz, Prog]

I don’t really follow the Grammys, and I didn’t watch this year’s show. But there was an image I saw, maybe a still from a video rather, of Thundercat, Anna Wise, Bilal, and company up on the stage accepting the award for “These Walls.” That was awesome to me. “These Walls” was a stand-out cut on To Pimp a Butterfly, and stood as my favorite song off the LP for a while there. It’s luscious and rich, well-planned and well-executed. Above all, it’s damn good music, and no matte

SHOW REVIEW: Umphrey’s McGee & Tauk Open Beacon Theatre Run With Straight Fire [Pics, Rev

Jan 25, 2016
2 min

SHOW REVIEW: Umphrey’s McGee & Tauk Open Beacon Theatre Run With Straight Fire [Pics, Rev

Words & Photos By Francesco Marano On Thursday, January 21, 2016, progressive rock jamband Umphrey’s McGee kicked off the first night of their 3-run residency at the famed Beacon Theatre in New York City. This night would prove to be a special one because it was the 18th anniversary of their first concert, which was in South Bend Indiana. Selected to open all three shows were up-and-comers TAUK. Hitting the stage at approximately 8PM, TAUK got the night started off with a hea