March 14, 2003

Pop and Jazz Listings

selective listing by critics of The Times of noteworthy pop and jazz concerts in the New York metropolitan region this weekend. * denotes a highly recommended concert.

* ANTIBALAS, Maxwell's, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201) 653-1703. Antibalas gives a New York makeover to Fela Kuti's Afro-Beat, a Nigerian funk propelled by burly saxophones, fierce percussion and righteous anger, by updating both the funk and the political messages. Regular local appearances keep tightening up the band, which recently released its second album, "Talkatif" (Ninja Tune). It's a show just watching more than a dozen musicians cram themselves onto a club stage and still find room to dance. Tomorrow night at 10, playing two sets; tickets are $12 (Jon Pareles).

* JOSEPH ARTHUR, ELYSIAN FIELDS, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. Faith and despair grapple in the somber songs of Joseph Arthur. When he's quiet, he harks back to 1960's songwriters like Bob Dylan and Neil Young; when he's riled, he picks up the sullen momentum of grunge. Elysian Fields plays languid songs that sound best in a late-night haze as Jennifer Charles's breathy voice hints at decadence and vulnerability, while Oren Bloedow wraps the songs in slinky, deadpan guitar. Tomorrow night at 9; tickets are $12 (Pareles).

* THE BELLRAYS, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700. Combine the urgency of the early Jefferson Airplane with hopped-up garage-rock and the result is the Bellrays, whose songs encompass both hurtling momentum and streaks of entropy. Tomorrow night at 8:30, with the Star Spangles, the Little Killers and Runner and the Thermodynamics opening; admission is $12 (Pareles).

* DAVID BERKMAN QUARTET, Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662. A smart, fluid pianist and part of the true New York mainstream jazz underground, Mr. Berkman also plays for keeps: he has a hard, decisive touch. His bands are particularly well conceived, and this one includes three excellent musicians: the drummer Nasheet Waits, the bassist Ugonna Okegwo and the saxophonist Dick Oatts. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9, 11, and 12:30 a.m.; cover charge is $18 (Ben Ratliff).

STEVEN BERNSTEIN'S MILLENNIAL TERRITORY ORCHESTRA, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501. Mr. Bernstein, the trumpeter, leads his nine-piece mini-big band through Midwestern and Southwestern music of the 1930's with a revisionist, excitable cast of mind. Tonight at 8 and 10; admission is $10 (Ratliff).

CLUB SHELTER ANNIVERSARY PARTY, Shelter, 20 West 39th Street, Manhattan, (212) 719-4479. For 12 years a party called Shelter has brought the deep, thumping beat and utopian visions of house music to various clubs around New York City. A year ago Shelter settled into its own place, and it's celebrating its first and 12th anniversaries with an all-star lineup of disc jockeys, including its founder, Timmy Regisford, along with Merlin Bobb, David Morales, Little Louie Vega, DJ Spinna, Danny Krivit, François Kevorkian and Frankie Feliciano, joined by live vocalists in a night that should stretch well into the next day. Tomorrow night at 10; admission is $25 (Pareles).

CHRIS BUTLER, CHRIS BARRON, LACH AND THE SECRETS, Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103. From Tin Huey to the Waitresses, Chris Butler has been a songwriter who is equally fascinated by musicianly games and the pleasures of pop. Chris Barron was the lead singer of the Spin Doctors, while Lach has maintained the punky spirit of what he has long called anti-folk. Tonight at 9 (Pareles).

* VINICIUS CANTUARIA BAND, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7503. A Brazilian expatriate in New York, Vinicius Cantuaria can't help looking homeward. He is steeped in the bossa nova: its gently brushed guitar chords, its quietly elaborate melodies, its shades of sensuality and melancholy. He knows it well enough to stretch the form without losing its essence. Tomorrow night at 8 and 10; admission for each set is $12 in advance or $15 at the door (Pareles).

* JAMES CARTER BAND, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121. Since dissolving his quartet, Mr. Carter has been getting into one interesting situation after another. One fleet band was convened to play Django Reinhardt music; another to play funky, jagged backbeats; then, more recently, he was extroardinary in Hamiet Bluiett's Baritone Nation ensemble. This week he reminds us that it is relatively easy to create a new sound: start with instrumentation. For instance, no soul-jazz groups, for some reason, use a trombonist. Why not hire one and throw him into the mix? Mr. Carter will have Dr. Lonnie Smith on organ, Rodney Jones on guitar, Steve Turre on trombone and Eli Fountain on drums. Tonight through Sunday night at 8 and 10, with an 11:45 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $27.50 (Ratliff).

DERVISH, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400 or (212) 545-7536. A seven-member band from County Sligo, Ireland, Dervish plays traditional Irish tunes in finely worked, lacy arrangements. It can sprint through dance tunes or delicately accompany Cathy Jordan as she sings ballads in Gaelic or English. Tomorrow night at 8; admission is $21, $16 for World Music Institute members (Pareles).

* ORRIN EVANS-ETHAN IVERSON DUO, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, below Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. A bright booking idea: two young pianists of exceptional promise, playing duets. (Mr. Evans has made a series of solid records on Criss Cross and Palmetto; Mr. Iverson has released his own music on Fresh Sound and currently plays with the Bad Plus.) It shouldn't matter that they have fundamentally different senses of harmony and improvisational structure: they both like to swing, and both are capable of great dynamic variety. Tomorrow night at 9 and 10:30; admission is $12 (Ratliff).

* GINUWINE, CASH MONEY MILLIONAIRES, Newark Symphony Hall, 1020 Broad Street, Newark, (973) 643-8009. The R&B singer Ginuwine doesn't have much appeal of his own, but he has a knack for collaboration: much of his earliest music was produced by Timbaland, and his current hit single, "Hell Yeah," was written and produced by R. Kelly. "Hell Yeah" also features a rap by Baby AKA the #1 Stunna (according to his latest CD, that's his full name), leader of the New Orleans-based confederation known as the Cash Money Millionaires. Tonight at 8; tickets are $40 to $65 (Kelefa Sanneh).

HABRERA HATIVIT, PHAROAH'S DAUGHTER, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Habrera Hativit (the Natural Gathering) is an Israeli band, formed in 1977 and led by the singer Shlomo Bar, that fuses music from across the Middle East. Pharoah's Daughter backs Basya Schecter's songs with elements of klezmer, jazz, Arabic and Indian music. Sunday night at 7 and 9; admission is $25 (Pareles).

* ROY HAYNES'S 78TH-BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592. Mr. Haynes was one of the first bebop drummers, having recorded with Bud Powell in 1949, and he plays bop patterns superbly when he wants, charging along with the music to support the frontline players. But forget orthodoxy: he is as free as a jazz drummer can be while still suggesting a pulse and cooperating with rhythm — in fact, while making the musicians in his band swing harder. For this special birthday gig, he'll have Joshua Redman, always a remarkably fluid improviser, in the band. But you can bet that the focus will always come back to the back of the bandstand: an hour spent with Roy Haynes is an hour of learning about drum sounds. Tonight through Sunday night at 8 and 10:30; cover charge is $45, with a $5 minimum at tables and $30 minimum at the bar (Ratliff).

JOE HURLEY'S ALL-STAR IRISH ROCK REVUE, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700. Joe Hurley, the leader of the rowdy Irish rock band Rogue's March, has started his own St. Patrick's tradition: the All-Star Irish Rock Revue. After a set of Rogue's March songs — about booze, wanderlust and tough luck — he will bring on various guests to perform music by Irish rockers from Thin Lizzy to Van Morrison to the Undertones to U2. Tonight at 8; admission is $15 (Pareles).

* JAZZ COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE FESTIVAL, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232. A worthy cooperative organization that has produced many concerts and brought forth a lot of good jazz records, the collective deserves your attention if only because of its tacit insistence on merging different approaches to playing and thinking about jazz. Tonight, it's Ben Allison and Peace Pipe, a bass-drums-saxophone-piano quartet with Mamadou Diabate on kora, the West African stringed instrument; the third set will be the Herbie Nichols Project, playing new arrangements of Nichols' fascinating music from the 50's and 60's. Tomorrow, Still Evolved, a new quintet fronted by the saxophonist Ted Nash, and the Nichols Project again at 11:30. Sunday, two sets by the saxophonist Michael Blake with his Eulipion Orchestra, a 16-piecer whose musicians come from all over the map: Marcus Printup from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Steven Bernstein and Scott Robinson from the postmodern jazz-repertory revisionism contingent, Jeff Ballard from Mark Turner and Chick Corea's current trios, Matt Munisteri from the weird, sweet swing-band Brock Mumford. I mean, all over. Tonight through Sunday at 7:30 and 9:30, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $25, $20 on Sunday (Ratliff).

MASON JENNINGS, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. Here's one more Mr. Nice Guy picking up the Dave Matthews crowd: Mason Jennings, whose optimistic songs have buoyant melodies that span folk-rock and country-rock. Tonight at 9, with Elizabeth Harper and Crooked Fingers opening; admission is $13 (Pareles).

* DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS, Bottom Line, 15 West Fourth Street, at Mercer Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 228-6300. David Johansen's latest genre excursion heads for the recorded roots of American music: the blues, ballads, country and gospel songs, full of murder and adultery and hope for redemption, that were collected by Harry Smith for his Anthology of American Folk Music, a foundation of the 1950's folk revival. Although Mr. Johansen is a master of irony, he sings the songs as straightforward folk with a touch of rock, making the old narratives sound current. Tomorrow at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.; admission is $20 (Pareles).

KID KOALA, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Kid Koala is a turntablist whose fast hands turn vinyl discs into sources of percussion and raw noise. His graphic novel, "Nufonia Must Fall" — about an office worker's romance with a robot — has just been published by ECW Press, with an accompanying soundtrack CD of modest electric-piano tunes. This performance will be based on it, using electric pianos, four turntables and a slide show. Tomorrow night at 5:30 and 8:30. with DJ P-Love and DJ Jester; tickets are $15 (Pareles).

LOSER'S LOUNGE TRIBUTE TO VAN MORRISON, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. The pop archivists of the Loser's Lounge take up the soul-folk-jazz-speaking-in-tongues hybrids of Van Morrison. Tomorrow night at 9 and 11; admission is $15 (Pareles).

TIMO MAAS, Centro-Fly, 45 West 21st Street, Chelsea, (212) 627-7770. One of Germany's most popular trance DJ's comes to town to preview tracks from his forthcoming mix CD, the second installment in his "Music for the Maases" series. Tomorrow night after 10; admission is $20 (Sanneh).

RAUL MALO, Village Underground, 130 West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 777-7745. Raul Malo, the leader of the Mavericks, has never let himself be bound by the strictures of country. His music looks back to the 1950's and 60's with a clear-eyed nostalgia, and he has the soaring tenor voice of a dedicated Roy Orbison fan. He's performing solo, sharing a bill with Greta Gaines. Tonight at 8; admission is $20 (Pareles).

* NRBQ, Village Underground, 130 West Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 777-7745. For more than 30 years, with just two lineup changes, NRBQ has been following its own vision of rowdy good-time music, in which Jerry Lee Lewis and Sun Ra splash wild piano clusters over rockabilly two-beats, and twangy guitar lines carry lighthearted pop tunes. It is impossible to predict what the band members will pull out of their giant repertory of tunes they've written or remembered. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $20 (Pareles).

* ONEIDA, Luxx, 256 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-1000. The relentless, driving minimalism of 1970's bands like Can, the fuzztone abuse of garage-rock, the squall of post-punk and a reckless sense of humor share an adrenaline buzz in the songs of Oneida. Sometimes repeating keyboard lines and bass riffs batter relentlessly against frantic drums; sometimes the songs spiral into dissonant psychedelic crescendos. Sunday night at 8, with Neptune, Coup Fourré and Pornbelt opening; admission is $8 (Pareles).

MAURO PICOTTO, CHRISTIAN SMITH, Arc, 6 Hubert Street, near Hudson Street, TriBeCa, (212) 226-9212. A night of brash dance music from two European DJ's. Mr. Picotto, from Italy, is known for playing (and producing) upbeat trance tracks, while Mr. Smith, from Sweden, mixes rigid techno beats with the funkier sounds of house and electro. Tomorrow night after 11; admission is $25 (Sanneh).

TRUDY PITTS-ORRIN EVANS DUO, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, below Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. Philadelphia is in the house. Mr. Evans, a young jazz pianist, tends to take mainstream jazz harmony and structure and atomize it with enthusiastic power; he may play differently around Ms. Pitts, a Philadelphia fixture since she made a series of soul-jazz records playing Hammond organ in the 1960's. Tonight at 9 and 10:30; admission is $12 a set (Ratliff).

* RAINER MARIA, Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103. Everything is in flux in the music of Rainer Maria. From verse to verse, its music can sound like hurtling punk or grand arena-rock or pensive folk-rock. Its songs ring out in major keys, with a calibrated turbulence that leads to meter shifts and bursts of counterpoint. As Caithlin De Marrais sings about lovers' quarrels and self-doubt, the songs turn ambivalence into determination. Tomorrow night at 9, on a bill with Mates of State and Saturday Looks Good to Me; tickets are $12 in advance, $14 tomorrow (Pareles).

* ERIC REED SEPTET, Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037. In this fine band, four horn players perform elegant arrangements and improvise over the razor-sharp swing of the trio that sits at the group's core. And what a trio: the hyper-alert Mr. Reed, with the young bassist and drummer Barak Mori and Rodney Green. It's a thrill: they rock lavishly, having fun on a fast ride. Tonight through Sunday night at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30 tonight and tomorrow night, $25 on Sunday (Ratliff).

SOL Y CANTO, Makor, 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 601-1000. A pan-American group from Boston, Sol y Canto delves into jazz and rhythms from across the Caribbean and the Americas, along with some Spanish flamenco. Sunday at 3 p.m.; admission is $15 (Pareles).

DAMO SUZUKI, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. Damo Suzuki wafted his vocals through the songs of the 1970's German band Can, whose minimalist, jazz-tinged excursions have become a strong influence on various avant-rock groups. Among them is Cul de Sac, a Boston group that mixes live and electronic sounds; it will be joining Mr. Suzuki, along with the saxophonist Daniel Carter. Sunday night at 8; admission is $12 (Pareles).

CEDAR WALTON TRIO, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080. With powerful hands and tidy arranging impulses, Cedar Walton has always been one of the best pianists in New York and one of the relatively few musicians alive to have written a few tunes known by each fresh class of jazz students. But perhaps the strongest reason to see him is the masterly way he functions in a rhythm section. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30, with a $10 minimum (Ratliff).

WORDSWORTH, Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, near Sterling Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-0236. Wordsworth, a rapper best known for his stint on MTV's rhyming sketch-comedy series "The Lyricist Lounge Show," headlines this night of back-to-basics hip-hop. Expect the punch lines to outshine the choruses. Doors open tonight at 9; admission is $10 (Sanneh).