April 9, 2004

Pop and Jazz Listings

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

ANTIETAM, SUE GARNER AND ANGEL DEAN, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7503. Antietam, from Louisville, Ky., has been playing lean, forthright indie-rock since the 1980's and has a new album, "Victory Park" (Carrot Top). Sue Garner and Angel Dean are fond of the stranger, rawer side of country, and they have their own new album, "Pot Liquor" (Diesel Only); they're likely to mingle with Antietam, who are longtime friends and collaborators. Megan Reilly opens tonight at 8; admission is $8 (Jon Pareles).

* ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI, Fort Awesome, 490 Morgan Avenue, at Division Place, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, (718) 302-0623; Fez, 380 Lafayette Street, at Great Jones Street, East Village, (212) 533-2680. On Tuesday, this Australian indie-rock octet released an American version of "Fingers Crossed" (Bar/None), a lightheaded CD full of whimsical arrangements (on "The Owls Go," a different instrument seems to be introduced every few measures) and playful whispery singing that sometimes sounds as if it comes from the mouths of Teletubbies. At Fort Awesome Sunday night at 9, with Strega, Tae Won Yu; suggested donation, $5. At Fez Monday night at 9:30; admission is $10 (Kelefa Sanneh).

* BEYONCÉ, ALICIA KEYS AND MISSY ELLIOTT, Hartford Civic Center, 1 Civic Center Plaza, (860) 727-8010. These young women want good love and respect, and they'll bump and grind to get it on the Ladies First Tour. Beyoncé makes her lover's vows atop the latest choppy hip-hop rhythms, letting her creamy voice swoop and glide before she shows off her dance steps. Alicia Keys reaches back to sultry, dynamic 1970's soul and shows off some classical piano flourishes. And Missy Elliott is the ringmistress for a fast montage of her hits with a squad of costume-changing dancers. Tonight at 7; tickets are $65.75 and $75.75 (Pareles).

BIG DADDY KANE, HOLLERTRONIX, Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, at Sterling Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-0236. Big Daddy Kane was mixing slick come-ons with slicker threats long before Jay-Z (who was, for a brief moment, his hypeman); with any luck, he'll show off some of his old smoothness and swagger tonight. And if he can't get the job done, the Philadelphia-based D.J. team Hollertronix should be able to step into the breach. Tonight at 8, with DJ JS-1 and White Mandingos; tickets are $21 (Sanneh).

THE BLACK LIPS, Sin-é, 148-150 Attorney Street, Lower East Side, (212) 388-0077. The Black Lips like their garage-rock raunchy and raucous, and they reportedly have stage antics to match. Tomorrow night at 9, with the Lids, the Brimstones and the Shop Fronts opening; admission is $8 (Pareles).

BOYSKOUT, Pianos, 158 Ludlow Street, at Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 505-3733. Boyskout, a four-woman group from San Francisco, looks back to the pounding minor-key drones of early 1980's mope-rock, probing the betrayals and identity crises of young love with Goth intensity: "I'll swallow poison if you swallow first." Tomorrow night at 10:30, with the Somnambulants and Au Revoir Simone ; admission is $7 (Pareles).

BRASILIA, Pianos, 158 Ludlow Street, at Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 505-3733. Minimalist rockers in the mold of Stereolab and Can, Brasilia plays pulsating songs that plink and hum with the sounds of vintage keyboards and bemused voices, or crank up the patterns with fuzz-toned edges. Tomorrow night at 8:30, with Clemente at 7:30 and Intelligence at 9:30; admission is $8 (Pareles).

* BILL CHARLAP TRIO, Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037. Still relatively new to bandleading, though it seems as if he's been at it for decades, Mr. Charlap has a steady trio with Peter Washington and Kenny Washington; his performances have become extraordinary displays of discipline and improvisation — the wonders of an organized imagination. He'll be playing music from his new album, "Somewhere" (Blue Note), reinventions of music written by Leonard Bernstein. Tonight through Sunday night at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30 (Ben Ratliff).

CHICKS WITH DECKS, Avalon, 660 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 807-7780. This tour brings together two of the most popular female D.J.'s. DJ Rap, from England, specializes in breaks and drum 'n' bass, occasionally making room for airier, vocal-driven tracks. (In 1999, she released an electronic pop album called "Learning Curve.") DJ Irene, based in Los Angeles, is known for raucous, energetic sets, based on the repetitive, thumping beats of hard house and trance. Tonight at 10; admission is $25 (Sanneh).

KURT ELLING, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-3080. Mr. Elling, a singer with an authoritative voice, has often talked about the benefits for singers of studying the work of saxophone players; he'll put lyrics to a well-turned old solo by Dexter Gordon, or Wayne Shorter. At other times, he flirts with Beat literature, delivering run-on stream-of-consciousness raps that undulate with the music. Tonight at 9 and 11; cover charge is $35 (Ratliff).

MIKE ERRICO, Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Mike Errico ponders love, God, fame, drinking and "light conversation when there's nothing left to say," with his voice quavering and shambling around the strumming of his guitar. Tonight at 7:30; admission is $12 (Pareles).

* THE FALL, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. Mark E. Smith, leader (and, it sometimes seems, sole member) of the great art-punk band Fall, is a songwriter without the song part: more often than not, his band's job is merely to keep time while he recites his witty stories and aphorisms. These days, watching the Fall play live can be hard work. Here's hoping the words aren't slurred beyond intelligibility. At the Knitting Factory tonight at 10:30; tickets are $20; sold out but returns may be available. (Sanneh).

* THE FLATLANDERS, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144. The parched landscapes of West Texas nurtured songwriters with an eye for lonely ramblers, a surreal sense of humor and an ear for all the music that drifted across the plains: country, blues, honky-tonk and rock 'n' roll. In 1972, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock made one album together as the Flatlanders; they have since gone on to celebrated solo careers. But they remain kindred spirits and have reunited in recent years with three more decades of material to draw on. Tonight at 8; admission is $27.50 (Pareles).

* ROBERT GLASPER QUINTET, Up Over Jazz Cafe, 351 Flatbush Avenue, near Seventh Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, (718) 398-5413. Over the last few years, mostly at the Up Over Jazz Cafe in Brooklyn and the Jazz Gallery in Manhattan, this pianist, in his mid-20's has been perfecting a free-range style: he seems to have his eye not on the bar of music he is playing but on the whole piece as one great canvas, and he moves around in it, bass and drums synched to the ebb and flow. The style sometimes reminds you of Keith Jarrett, but there's more gospel in its harmonies and hip-hop in its rhythms. Tonight and tomorrow at 9, 11 and 12:30; cover charge is $15

(Ratliff).

BENNY GOLSON QUARTET, Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662. Mr. Golson is an unlikely jazz hero: upbeat, fascinated by technique, a nonpurist who has spent equal time among the different aesthetic dispositions of East and West Coast jazz, a tinkerer who has written soul-jazz standards like "Killer Joe" as well as his own classical music. Above all, he is a first-class saxophone improviser, a Philadelphia colleague of John Coltrane going back to the mid-1940's whose own notions of phrasing and harmony have been deeply influenced by his friend's. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30 (Ratliff).

EL GRAN COMBO, Copacabana, 560 West 34th Street, Manhattan, (212) 239-2672. El Gran Combo was formed in 1962 and has been consistently on the Latin charts ever since. By now, it's an institution, and many leading salsa musicians have come up through its ranks. Along with Sonora Ponceña, it has become one of Puerto Rico's definitive salsa bands, pitching eager romance and island memories amid hard-driving percussion and horns. Tomorrow night, doors open at 10, performance after midnight; tickets are $30 (Pareles).

DAVID HAZELTINE QUARTET, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, above Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626. Since the late 1950's, when it was happening for the first time, hard-bop has been evergreen. Mr. Hazeltine, who plays piano with definition and strength and swing, after the fashion of Cedar Walton, is one of its better practitioners to make his name in the 90's. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, 10 and midnight; cover charge is $20 (Ratliff).

INOUK, THE OCCASION, ON! AIR! LIBRARY!, CALLA, Sin-é, 148-150 Attorney Street, near Houston Street, Lower East Side, (212) 388-0077. Moods and tempos shift unpredictably in Inouk's songs, which set up and then shatter Minimalist patterns. The Occasion plays brooding, slowly gathering songs that favor minor keys and confessions of trouble. On! Air! Library!, which has just released its self-titled new album on the Arena Rock label, is a three-piece group with twin sisters, Alley and Claudia Deheza, and Phillip Wann all trading off vocals, as echoey guitars and syncopated drums ripple and sputter around them. Calla opens with an acoustic set. Tonight at 8; admission is $8 (Pareles).

JUNKIE XL, Avalon, 660 Avenue of the Americas, at 20th Street, Chelsea, (212) 807-7780. Working as Junkie XL, the Dutch producer Tom Holkenborg scored a big hit with his 2002 remix of Elvis Presley's "Little Less Conversation." As that single suggested, his style is eclectic but straightforward: he can turn an unlikely idea into a good-natured romp. He is to play a live set tomorrow night at 10; tickets are $15 (Sanneh).

* SHUJAAT KHAN AND KARSH KALE, Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212)239-6200. Shujaat Khan's father, Ustad Vilayat Khan, was renowned for the singing tone of his improvisations, and Shujaat Khan is a disciple who has soaked up his father's style and has now set out to extend it. In recent years, he has been retracing Indian music's ancient Persian connections in the trio ghazal, and now he is collaborating with Karsh Kale, a tabla player and disc jockey whose far-reaching band fuses Indian traditions and electronica. Tomorrow and Sunday nights at 7 and 9:30; admission is $25

(Pareles).

LAMBCHOP, PERNICE BROTHERS, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. An unlikely big band from Nashville, Lambchop is assembled around the unhurried songs of Kurt Wagner. As he broods over isolation and disappointment, the band swells behind him with chiming percussion, hovering pedal steel guitar, shimmering vibraphone and perhaps even a touch of funk guitar, all of it promising wordless companionship and solace. The Pernice Brothers couch songs of heartache and melancholy in doleful melodies and lush arrangements that draw on pop with hints of old-fashioned country. Tonight at 9, with Kevin Devine opening; admission is $15 (Pareles).

BERNIE LEADON BAND, Maxwell's, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201) 798-0406. Berne Leadon, who played guitar and banjo in the Eagles, holds on to country-rock in his own band, which is a little scruffier than his previous affiliation. Tonight at 7:30; admission is $10 (Pareles).

JASON LINDNER QUARTET, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, below Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. The leader, a pianist, is a percussive, original musician with a current fixation on Latin rhythms; his various groups (trio, quartet, big band) usually display a great compound rhythmic sense and some fine players. This one includes the saxophonist Jimmy Greene, the bassist Omer Avital and the drummer Jonathan Blake. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9 and 10:30; admission is $15 a set (Ratliff).

LOSER'S LOUNGE TRIBUTE TO JESUS, Fez, 380 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 533-2680. Instead of focusing on a songwriter, the pop archivists of the Loser's Lounge are spending this weekend with a different kind of star: Jesus, as the subject of songs from Bob Dylan, the Velvet Underground, Al Green, the Byrds, Nirvana, Edwin Hawkins and, of course, "Jesus Christ Superstar." Tonight and tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $25. Sunday night at 8; tickets are $20 (Pareles).

RUSSELL MALONE QUARTET, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232. Mr. Malone, a guitarist who enlivened the first popular version of Diana Krall's group, balances jaw-dropping agility with blues acumen; he has a new record, "Playground," on Max Jazz. Tonight through Sunday night at 7:30 and 9:30; cover charge is $20, $15 on Sunday (Ratliff).

CHICO O'FARRILL AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ BIG BAND, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-3080. Chico O'Farrill's ambitious compositions, from 1950 until his death in 2001, took the graduated crescendo of Latin big-band music and applied to it a classical sense of contrasting themes and sophisticated harmony. His son, the pianist Arturo O'Farrill, has taken over what was his regular performing big band, and they play a lot of great Latin jazz for large ensemble, mostly the elder O'Farrill's. Tomorrow night at 9 and 11; cover charge is $30 (Ratliff).

* ONEIDA, Maxwell's, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201) 798-0406. Oneida's songs hurtle forward in a frenetic tangle of patterned repetition, psychedelic noise and lyrics about sex, drugs, rock and dystopia. Tonight at 10, with Modey Lemon and Dirty Faces opening; admission is $8 (Pareles).

PARTICLE, BUCKETHEAD, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800. Particle is a jam band rooted in funk that plays long, long sets late at night. Along the way, it might jam on "Planet Rock," do a meditation on a single chord or stoke a gospely, organ-driven buildup fit for the Allman Brothers Band. Buckethead, the speed-fingered guitarist who was in the reconstituted Guns N' Roses for its brief tour, shares the bill. Tonight at 8; admission is $22.00 (Pareles).

* "PIANO MUSIC OF SCOTT JOPLIN AND HIS GENERATION," 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500. Various musicians, including the pianists Dick Hyman and Reginald Robinson, the clarinet wunderkind Evan Christopher and the veteran drummer Eddie Locke, will take on Joplin's famous ragtime music. But this being a 92nd Street Y jazz show directed by Mr. Hyman, it will have historical context; they'll also play the music of the time that framed it. Tomorrow at 8; tickets are $40 (Ratliff).

SI SÉ, S.O.B.'s (Sounds of Brazil), 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street, South Village, (212) 243-4940. Si Sé is a multiple-identity New York band, formed by a singer, Carol C, and a keyboardist, disc jockey and programmer, Cliff Cristafaro, plus a pair of viola players and a rhythm section. Its songs touch down variously in downtempo Sade territory, pop-flamenco, reggae, trance, drum-and-bass or various Latin hybrids. Tonight at 11, with DJ Sabo opening; admission is $17 (Pareles).

SIXTEEN HORSEPOWER, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. Old-time country music was haunted by faith, death and love. David Eugene Edwards, the leader of Sixteen Horsepower, ties his own obsessions to the country tradition. He awaits apocalypse and hellfire around every turn, and banjo picking still surfaces amid the piano and electric guitars. Tomorrow night at 10, with the National opening; admission is $15 (Pareles).

* LUCIANA SOUZA, Joe's Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8770 or (212)239-6200. Ms. Souza, the jazz mezzo-soprano, who grew up in Brazil, has an alert, clear voice, with undertones of calm conversation and the sound of a well-rested intelligence. She is also a composer of intriguing art songs, and her most recent project has been setting Pablo Neruda poems to music, for a new album on Sunnyside called "Neruda." She'll be performing that music here, in duets with the pianist Ed Simon. Tonight at 9:30; cover charge is $20 (Ratliff).

SUN RA ARKESTRA, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121. You have to admire a 16-piece band that tends to parade through a club at the end of a set. The sequin-capped, post-Ra Arkestra, led by the saxophonist Marshall Allen, always makes the audience part of the musical experience. It is doing its best with a book that has hundreds of tunes in it, from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to "Interstellar Low Ways." Tonight through Sunday night at 8 and 10, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $30 (Ratliff).

"TRIBUTE TO MARIO BAUZÁ," Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592. Mario Bauzá, the trumpeter for Machito's orchestra starting in the 1940's, was a primary mover in the creation of Latin jazz. It was he who brought Chano Pozo to Dizzy Gillespie's attention, thereby making tracks like "Manteca" happen; it wasn't until the early 1990's, when he convened his own band, that he was finally recognized more widely as the major American musician he was. The fine band this week contains some alumni of the Bauzá group and some great younger players as well: the trumpeter Michael Philip Mossman, the trombonist Conrad Herwig, the drummer Bobby Sanabria, the saxophonist Mario Rivera, the bassist Ruben Rodriguez, the percusionist Pedro Martínez and the singer Xiomara Laugart. Tonight through Sunday night at 8 and 10:30; cover charge is $15 to $25 (Ratliff).

THE WEIRDOS, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. Formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, the Weirdos were a local sensation for their theatrical shows and punk attitude. Reaching back to garage and surf-rock and sometimes tossing in electronic noise, with songs like "We Got the Neutron Bomb," the Weirdos were among the primordial West Coast punks. First came reissues, and now the reunion. Tonight at 6:30,; admission is $12 (Pareles).