Night After Night

WNYC: Weekend Arts Planner, July 29, 2023.

Endea Owens (Photograph courtesy Jazz at Lincoln Center and Bryant Park)

The latest Weekend Arts Planner segment for WNYC, which aired on Weekend Edition on Saturday, July 29, covered items selected from a Gothamist story published on Thursday: "25 free things to do in NYC this August."

David Furst and I talked about Free Shakespeare in the Park, happening now in Central Park; Beach Session Dance Series, coming up Aug. 26 on Rockaway Beach; and Live After Dark, a new concert series debuting Aug. 1 at Bryant Park. We closed with a quick mention of a 45th anniversary celebration for Roulette, featuring Immanuel Wilkins, 75 Dollar Bill, and Ka Baird, at Bryant Park on Aug. 26.

First up in that last series is fast-rising bassist, composer, and bandleader Endea Owens, who also plays a free Jazz at Lincoln Center showcase outdoors in Times Square on Aug. 31, part of the TSQ Live series. And a Gothamist reader quickly let me know I'd missed one more free gig featuring Owens, on Saturday, Aug. 26, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, on day two of the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival.

Listen above, and read more here.

Gothamist: 7 Picks a Week, July 28, 2023.

Endea Owens (Photograph courtesy of the artist)

My contributions to "7 Picks a Week," the weekly Gothamist guide of arts and culture events and happenings in and around New York City. The complete article can be found here.

Check out fast-rising bassist Endea Owens for free

Detroit bassist, composer and bandleader Endea Owens is making a big noise lately on the New York City jazz scene, and here's where you can find out why: On Tuesday, Owens and her soulful combo, The Cookout, will inaugurate "Live After Dark," a new weekly series at Bryant Park. It's not happening on the sprawling lawn, but instead on the more intimate L'OR Porch on the park's south side. The show starts at 8 p.m., and it's free. And if you can't catch Owens & Co. here, you'll get another chance on Aug. 31, when Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts the band smack-dab in the middle of Times Square; details here.

Encounter a Sondheim hit in a whole new way.

Also happening at Lincoln Center on Wednesday is a new production of the Stephen Sondheim musical "Company," presented in collaboration with Deaf Broadway and performed by deaf actors in American Sign Language. The show is directed by James Caverly ("Only Murders in the Building") and stars Garrett Zuercher ("Law & Order: Criminal Intent") as Bobby, with a 2011 concert recording, featuring Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone with the New York Philharmonic, serving as an auditory soundtrack. The show starts at 8 p.m. in Damrosch Park; learn more here.

WNYC: Weekend Arts Planner, July 22, 2023.

John-Andrew Morrison (L) and Allen Gilmore (R) in "Malvolio," staged by Classical Theatre of Harlem at Marcus Garvey Park. (Photograph courtesy Classical Theatre of Harlem)

The latest Weekend Arts Planner segment for WNYC, which aired on Weekend Edition on Saturday, July 22, covered a series of Shakespeare-related plays happening in New York City parks – including Betty Shamieh's ingenious Malvolio, which closes this coming Sunday – plus the latest and last Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra season, and a couple of big concerts featuring Kool & the Gang and DJ Rekha in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Listen above, and read more here.

Gothamist: 7 Picks a Week, July 21, 2023.

Conductor Louis Langrée starts his final series as music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra on Saturday. (Photograph: Sachyn Mital)

My contributions to "7 Picks a Week," the weekly Gothamist guide of arts and culture events and happenings in and around New York City. The complete article can be found here.

Celebrate summer music in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

It’s been 50 years since Kool & the Gang scored their first hit with “Jungle Boogie,” but the group has even more history: as Jersey City teenagers, its members first hooked up as the Jazziacs in 1964. Two of those founders, bassist Robert “Kool” Bell and drummer-turned-keyboardist George Brown, are still in the band, which just dropped a new album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun,” and Brown has just published a memoir, “Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me.” The band is headlining a free City Parks SummerStage show at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Saturday night; get your groove on with songs like “Ladies Night,” “Too Hot” and “Celebration,” and then come back Sunday evening for a “Bhangra Bacchanal” hosted by Basement Bhangra founder DJ Rekha featuring legendary Punjabi vocalist Malkit Singh.

Visit a cemetery for a taste of New York City on film

Rooftop Films has kept NYC film fans busy with free outdoor screenings of action flicks, family fare and documentaries all summer long. Now, this weekend, they're hosting one of their signature events, and while it's not free, you'll get a lot of value for under $20. "New York Non-Fiction," invitingly described as "Eight million stories, five short films, one night," opens with live music from Mediterranean surf-rock stylists Habbina Habbina, followed by five short films covering such NYC topics as artistic genius, delivery workers and the dollar slice. It's all happening at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery on Saturday at around 8 p.m., and you can order tickets here.

Mark the end of an era with Mostly Mozart

The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra is back in action during the weeks ahead — and it's a farewell engagement in more ways than one. The talented French conductor Louis Langrée has served as music director of the festival and its band since 2003. During his 20-year tenure, he revitalized the orchestra and helped to turn the festival from a sleepy summer series into a must-see proposition. This summer's series is his last, and he'll start with a free concert in Damrosch Park on Saturday night. After that, the orchestra returns to David Geffen Hall for the first time since 2019, presenting a series of choose-what-you=pay concerts. The program on Tuesday and Wednesday demonstrates Langrée's knack for forging meaningful connections between the classical tradition and the wider world, pairing Mozart's Mass in C minor with a world premiere by Amir ElSaffar, an improvising trumpeter of Iraqi-American descent. A sense of farewell also extends to the orchestra, which will return next summer with a new name and a new music director, Jonathon Heyward, who you can see in action Aug. 4 and 5. Check out details for the entire series here.

Playlist (The obvious is not to me).

A weekly tally of noteworthy things that got stuck in my ears…

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Dynamic Maximum Tension (New Amsterdam/Nonesuch; due Sept. 8, 2023)

Bob Dylan - L'Amphitheatre, Lyon, France, June 29, 2023 (ROIO; 2023)

Tangerine Dream - Botanique Orangerie Session 2022 (Eastgate; 2023)

Jlin - Perspective (Planet Mu; due Sept. 29, 2023)

Christopher Tignor - "Ritual of a Thousand Limbs" from The Art of Surrender (Western Vinyl; due Sept. 29, 2023)

Kory Reeder - Texas: Vol. I (self-released; 2023)

“After” is what we have to live with - Ensemble Terrible/Patrik Kako; All Things Seem Mention of Themselves - chamber orchestra/Nicholas DeMaison; Erb Study - woodwind quintet; Flatland - University of Nebraska at Kearney Wind Ensemble/Duane Bierman; Lamentations in Extended Patterns - brass quintet; Some thoughts regarding the recent work of Sr. Bolaño - Jack Nagel; Where I Lay My Head - chamber ensemble; Meadowlarks - Lincoln Southwest High School Orchestra/Jacob Fahrlander

Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders - The Snailhook Tapes, Vol. 2 (Pome Pome Tones; 2023)

Jim O'Rourke - Steamroom 61 (Steamroom; 2023)

Pharoah Sanders - Pharoah (India Navigation/Luaka Bop; 1977/due Sept. 15, 2023)

Nick Dunston - Skultura (Fun in the Church/Tripticks Tapes; due Sept. 29, 2023)

Ilhan Ersahin/Dave Harrington/Kenny Wollesen - Your Head You Know (Nublu; 2023)

Claire Rousay - "Sigh in My Ear" (Saddle Creek; due Aug. 11, 2023)

Gavilán Rayna Russom - Trans Feminist Symphonic Music (Longform Editions; 2022)

Laurel Halo - Atlas (Awe; due Sept. 22, 2023)

Gift Horse - Cultural Payout (Husky Pants; due Sept. 1, 2023)

The Fierce and the Dead - News from the Invisible World – preview tracks (Bad Elephant; due July 28, 2023)

Joe Russo's Almost Dead - Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, Jan. 29, 2023 (Nugs.net; 2023)

Mary Jane Leach - Woodwind Multiples - Manuel Zurria. Libby Van Cleve, Sam Dunscombe, Shannon Peet (Modern Love; 2023)

Dead & Company - Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA, July 14, 2023 (Nugs.net; 2023)

Tengger - Tengger (We Are Busy Bodies; due Sept. 29, 2023)

Dead & Company - Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA, July 16, 2023 (Nugs.net livestream; 2023)

Playlist (Three miles north of purgatory).

A weekly tally of noteworthy things that got stuck in my ears…

Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Riccardo Muti - Contemporary American Composers (CSO Sound; 2023)

Jessie Montgomery - Hymn for Everyone; Max Raimi - Three Lisel Mueller Settings - Elizabeth DeShong; Philip Glass - Symphony No. 11

Black Duck (Douglas McCombs, Bill MacKay, Charles Rumback) - Black Duck (Thrill Jockey; 2023)

Vanessa Rossetto - elysian fields (self-released; 2023)

Gunn-Truscinski-Nace - Glass Band (Three-Lobed Recordings; due July 28, 2023)

Bob Dylan - Gran Theatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain, June 23, 2023 (ROIO; 2023)

The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses (Expanded Edition) (Ruby/Fire; 1982/2023)

Goose - Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 3, 2023 (self-released; 2023)

Cole Pulice - If I Don’t See You in the Future, I’ll See You in the Pasture (Longform Editions; 2023)

Melanie Velarde - Alley Soup (Longform Editions; 2023)

Jana Irmert - Time Piece (Longform Editions; 2023)

Ayami Suzuki - Strands (Longform Editions; 2023)

Asher Tuil - Fugue (self-released; 2023)

Steve Roach - Alive in the City of Angels - 2023 - Exclusive Edition (Steve Roach Exclusive; 2023)

Evan Parker - NYC 1978 (Relative Pitch; 2023)

Dietrichs - Catch the Leaves (Relative Pitch; 2023)

Bob Dylan - L'Amphitheatre, Lyon, France, June 29, 2023 (ROIO; 2023)

Greg Davis & E. Jason Gibbs - Steam Fence (Superpang; 2023)

Savvas Metaxas - Byzantine Drama (Superpang; 2023)

Franz Rosati - Vivarium I (Superpang; 2023)

Stephen Karnes - Banafseg 5 (Rural Situationism; 2023)

Traysh - Shady Favorites (Husky Pants; due July 28, 2023)

Doug Wieselman - WAH-Zoh (figureight; 2023)

Goose - Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 4, 2023 (self-released; 2023)

Tu-Ner - "31" (single edit) and "Apple Turtle" from T1 - Contact Information (7d Media; due Aug. 14, 2023)

BlankFor.ms - Jason Moran - Marcus Gilmore - Refract (Red Hook; due Sept. 1, 2023)

James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet - For Mahalia, With Love (TAO Forms; due Sept. 8, 2023)

Grateful Dead - RFK Stadium, Washington, DC, 6/10/73 (Grateful Dead/Rhino; 2023)

Golden Feelings - Better Weather (self-released; 2023)