May 21, 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.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. A late-breaking hippie band from Japan, Acid Mothers Temple — led and loosely organized by Kawabata Makoto — was dressing in long robes well before the "Lord of the Rings" movies. It plays open-ended, pulsating, drone-rooted jams that sometimes meander, sometimes head for other dimensions. Mr. Makoto describes his goal as "extreme trip music." Sunday night at 9; tickets are $12 in advance, $15 on Sunday (Jon Pareles).

MONTY ALEXANDER, Iridium, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121. Mr. Alexander, a jazz pianist originally from Jamaica, has often refitted reggae songs and steel-drum sounds for a jazz-trio context; it's breezy, amiable stuff. Tonight through Sunday night at 8, 10 and 11:30; cover charge is $27.50; minimum, $10 (Ben Ratliff).

WESSELL ANDERSON QUINTET, Up Over Jazz Cafe, 351 Flatbush Avenue, near Seventh Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, (718) 398-5413. A longtime member of Wynton Marsalis's Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the alto saxophonist Mr. Anderson has a warm, sweet tone; his playing can be radiant with soul and happiness. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9, 11 and 12:30; cover charge is $20; minimum, $5 (Ratliff).

RICHARD BARONE, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Richard Barone, who led the Bongos in the 1980's, is still attached to the alchemy of a well-turned melody with a touch of heartbreak in the lyrics and a hint of chamber-music intimacy. He's working on his first new solo album in a decade, and in the meantime he's revisiting his older songs backed by vibraphone, cello, keyboards, drums and guitar. Tomorrow night at 9:30; admission is $15 (Pareles).

RON CARTER TRIO, Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212) 475-8592. Mr. Carter, one of the great jazz bassists, never stops readjusting his focus, from the classical canon to Brazilian music to straight-ahead jazz. With this group — which includes the pianist Mulgrew Miller and the guitarist Russell Malone, and no bass or drums — he recently made a thoughtful, serene chamber-jazz album called "The Golden Striker" (Blue Note). Tonight through Sunday night at 8 and 10:30; cover charge is $20 to$30 (Ratliff).

JASON COLLETT, Sin-e, 148-150 Attorney Street, near Houston Street, Lower East Side, (212) 388-0077. Mr. Collett, from the Toronto-based indie collective Broken Social Scene, comes to town in support of his solo debut, "Motor Motel Love Songs" (Arts & Crafts), a winsome, often memorable collection of alt-country songs. Tomorrow night at 10, with Grey Does Matter; tickets are $8 (Kelefa Sanneh).

CARLA COOK, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, above Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626. A soulful singer who reaches outside jazz technique and into pop and gospel to get what she needs; usually she has an excellent jazz group backing her up. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8, 10 and midnight; cover charge is $30 (Ratliff).

ELLERY ESKELIN TRIO, Issue Project Room, 619 East Sixth Street, East Village, (212) 598-4130. The saxophonist's trio, with Andrea Parkins on accordion and samplers and Jim Black on drums, is now in its 10th year; it's a frisky group, fracturing Mr. Eskelin's blues-and-bop roots with jagged backdrops. Tomorrow night at 8; admission is $10 (Ratliff).

THE FEVER, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. Two decades after punk-funk was concocted in New York and England, its revival starts to sound like good old rock 'n' roll, particularly when the Fever's lead singer, Geremy Jasper, splits the difference between James White of the Contortions and Mick Jagger. Tonight at midnight, with A.R.E. Weapons at 11 and Robbers on High Street at 10; admission is $13 (Pareles).

BELA FLECK AND EDGAR MEYER, Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 840-2824. Trying to merge rootsy American music with classical virtuosity, Bela Fleck on banjo and Edgar Meyer on double bass offer versions of Bach, jazz tunes and their own compositions. Their fingers are assured, though their music tends to have more cleverness and mathematical precision than heart. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $35 to $50 (Pareles).

"GREAT DRUM: MASTERS OF SPIRIT," Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Indian music meets other traditions in this concert directed by the drummer Franklin Kiermyer. His colloborators include T. V. Gopalakrishnan, an Indian vocalist and violinist; Debashish Battacharya, playing Indian slide guitar; Bao'an Cao playing the Chinese erhu (fiddle) and suona (double-reed instrument) and Hilario Soto playing llawi (Andean flutes). Tonight at 7; admission is $25 (Pareles).

JOHN WESLEY HARDING, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. John Wesley Harding, who named himself after a Bob Dylan song about an outlaw, sounds like Elvis Costello enamored of folk-rock, gruffly revealing his ruefulness and cynicism in stolidly tuneful songs. Tonight at 9; tickets are $15 (Pareles).

* HANK JONES QUARTET, Fat Cat, 75 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 675-7369. Mr. Jones, who made his first album in 1947, can improvise with such elegance and minimum of fuss that it's not immediately obvious how many idioms he's shuttling among; you hear bebop, drawling blues, a little repeated riff, some refracted harmony. Throughout it is swing, sure and steady, and a seemingly endless number of songlike phrases that could conceivably have come from any part of American popular music in the last 50 years. It does you good to hear him. Tonight and tomorrow night at 10, 11:30 and 1; cover charge is $10 (Ratliff).

SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS, WHITE MAGIC, East River Amphitheater, East River Park, Lower East Side, www.eastrivermusicproject.com. An afternoon concert featuring Ms. Jones's retro-funk band along with White Magic, an intriguing band led by Mira Billotte, from Quix*o*tic. The debut White Magic release is "Through the Sun Door" (Drag City), a mini-album of mysterious, folk-inspired songs set to makeshift arrangements. Tomorrow afternoon at 2, with Big A Little A, Measles Mumps Rubella and Blood on the Wall; free (Sanneh).

* SHUJAAT KHAN AND HIDAYAT KHAN, Zankel Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue, at 57th Street, (212) 247-7800 or (212) 545-7536. The sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan, who died on March 13, taught his sons the sitar in a family style that evolved — and continues to evolve — through what is now the seventh generation. Shujaat Khan has already emerged as an important player in his own right, collaborating with musicians outside the Indian classical tradition but playing ragas with idiomatic grace. This concert is both a tribute to the vocalistic style that Vilayat Khan brought to Indian classical improvisation, and a demonstration of his sons' individualism. Tomorrow night at 8:30; tickets are $38 and $50, or $33 and $45 for World Music Institute members (Pareles).

ENRICO MACIAS, Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street, (212) 496-7070. Enrico Macias, who was born in Algeria, has been one of France's favorite pop crooners since the 1960's. Tomorrow night at 9 ; tickets are $53.50 to $103.50 (Pareles).

PAT MARTINO QUINTET, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-3080. Mr. Martino is one of jazz's finest guitarists, with a limpid sound and fast fingers; you'll see guitar students hanging on his every note. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9 and 11; cover charge is $35 and $10 food/drink minimum. (Pareles).

* MONEEN, the Downtown, 190 Main Street, Farmingdale, N.Y., (516) 293-7700. This underrated Canadian emo band specializes in furious, unpredictable confessionalism. On "Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?" (Vagrant/TVT), the members make up for undercooked (or overheated) lyrics by adding rigorous instrumental passages that sometimes tug the songs in new directions. Sunday afternoon at 3, with Northstar, Chronic Future, Monroe and the Fight, a female-fronted singalong punk band from Dudley, England; tickets are $8 (Sanneh).

* MOVEMENT NEW YORK CITY, Volume, 99 North 13th Street, near Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 388-3588. The city's most exciting new dance club gives a warm-up party for the Memorial Day weekend electronic music festival in Detroit. Headline DJs include Derrick May, who helped invent techno and still spins it better than just about anybody; he delights in making dancers adjust to his constant jump cuts. (Full lineup: www.volume.tv.) Tomorrow night after 10; tickets are $18 in advance, though you might pay more at the door (Sanneh).

LEONA NAESS, ANDY STOCHANSKY, KATE JACOBS, Housing Works Used Book Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, SoHo, (212) 334-3324. Leona Naess sorts out a complicated love life in songs that move between gentle strumming and chunky rock that would please Sinead O'Connor fans. Andy Stochansky, formerly Ani DiFranco's drummer, is now a self-described techno-folk songwriter whose yearning tenor rises above percussion and electronic rhythms. Kate Jacobs's girlish voice, and her folk-rock tunes, are often sweeter than the disappointments and family strife she sings about. Tonight at 7:30, as a benefit for Housing Works; tickets are $25 (Pareles).

MAURA O'CONNELL, Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-1155. An Irish singer whose voice is suffused with melancholy warmth, Maura O'Connell chooses songs from the most heartfelt songwriters on both sides of the Atlanic and fills them with kindly empathy. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $25 in advance, $27.50 the day of the show (Pareles).

* ORQUESTA BROADWAY, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, 450 Grand Concourse, at 149th Street, Mott Haven, the Bronx, (718) 518-4455. For 40 years, Orquesta Broadway has held on to charanga, the elegantly lilting dance music that came out of Cuba in the 1950's. With its unlikely combination of percussion, a violin section and hyperactive flute obbligatos, charanga looks back to parlor orchestras and forward to salsa, and the band led by Eddie Zervigón, who hails from Cuba and plays the traditional five-keyed wooden flute, has kept charanga thriving in New York City. For this 40th-anniversary concert, Orquesta Broadway will expand to 20 members and be joined by two galvanizing Cuban violinists: Alfredo de la Fé and Felix Pupi Legarreta. Tomorrow night at 7:30; tickets are $20 and $25 (Pareles).

ANDERS OSBORNE, CLARENCE BUCARO, TriBeCa Rock Club, 16 Warren Street, (212) 766-1070. Anders Osborne was born in Sweden but has done his best to become a full-fledged New Orleans rocker, teaming up with brass bands and making his guitar moan the blues. Clarence Bucaro's cozy songs hark back to late-1960's Van Morrison. Tomorrow night at 9:30; tickets are $15 in advance, $20 tomorrow (Pareles).

CHRIS POTTER GROUP, Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037. Jazz fans are known to get serious about the virtues of really skilled musicians, and one faction is particularly keen on Mr. Potter, the saxophonist who has played with amazing articulation with Dave Holland, Dave Douglas and Steely Dan, as well as making a string of his own records. Tonight through Sunday night at 9 and 11 ; cover charge is $30 (Ratliff).

RATATAT, Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-5103. The two guitarists who make up Ratatat have one simple but sometimes charming idea. They plug away at 70's-inspired riffs, creating atmospheric tracks that split the difference between minimalist post-rock and maximalist hard-rock. Tonight at 9, with Prosaics and the Holy Ghost; tickets are $10 (Sanneh).

"REMEMBERING THE VILLAGE GATE": ALL-STAR LATIN JAZZ JAM SESSION, TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street, (212) 220-1460. Part of the continuing Lost Jazz Shrines series, celebrating old and important nightclubs, this concert pays respect to the extraordinary Salsa Meets Jazz nights at the Village Gate in the 1980's, which were effective in mixing up audiences and musicians. The concert includes Joe Gonzalez, Lewis Khan, Paquito Pator, Mario Rivera, Victor Venegas, Bobby Sanabria and Sonny Fortune. Tonight at 8; tickets are $35 (Ratliff).

LES SANS CULOTTES, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700. The lightheaded charm of the 1960's French rock known as ye-ye is concept enough for Les San Culottes, a Brooklyn band. Campiness is virtually built into the fuzz-toned guitars, electric organ, cooing female voices and know-it-all male growls. Tonight at 11:30, preceded by These Bones at 8:30, Hopewell at 9:30 and the Deathray Davies at 10:30; admission is $10 (Pareles).

* SIMON AND THE BAR SINISTERS, Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, MAnhattan, (212) 683-6500. Simon Chardiet is the kind of guitarist bar-band fans dream of finding: a one-man twang meltdown who knows where surf meets blues, rockabilly meets klezmer, country meets punk. His songs are wryly frustrated; his guitar solos assuage his troubles with the grand sweep of American music. Tonight at 10; free (Pareles).

JESSICA SIMPSON, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, mid-park at 69th Street, (212) 360-2777. Jessica Simpson was already trying to be a pop singer before she was a reality-television star; now that she has name recognition, she's chirping again. This outdoor concert is a benefit for the Skin Cancer Foundation and will have a "Beauty Village" offering tryouts of skin-care products. Tomorrow afternoon at 2; tickets are $27. Sold out, but returns may be available before the concert (Pareles).

* REGINA SPEKTOR, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501. Giggling at her piano, Regina Spektor plays the wise child, singing with quizzical glee about love, street fights and strange tranformations. Somewhere between Meredith Monk, Bjork and Tori Amos, she brings a sharp eye and ear to her free associations. Tonight at 8, on a bill with Langhorne Slim; tickets are $12 (Pareles).

SQUEEZEBOX REUNION, Don Hill's, 511 Greenwich Street, at Spring Street, SoHo, (212) 219-2850. For 10 years, a club night called Squeezebox has brought together drag queens, rockers and dancers. For its 10th-anniversary event tonight, the Squeezebox house band starts at 12:30 a.m. and is to be joined by Boy George, Bebe Buell and others from its long roster of celebrity visitors, perhaps including Chrissie Hynde and Courtney Love. The Jayne County Five performs at 11:30, and Craig Wedren's group Baby performs at 10:30. Admission is $15 (Pareles).

YOSVANY TERRY GROUP, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, below Spring Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. Mr. Terry, the Cuban saxophonist, has been in lots of bands since arriving in New York; he has helped to redefine Latin jazz as a complex new idiom; his group includes Avishai E. Cohen, Luis Perdomo, Yunior Terry, Jeff Watts and Pedro Martinez. Tonight and tomorrow night at 9 and 10:30; admission is $15 (Ratliff).

VON BONDIES, Stone Pony, 913 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park, N.J., (732) 502-0600. These unregenerate garage-rockers from Detroit don't bother with innovation, but they play their three-chord, fuzz-toned stomps with punch and smart timing. Tonight at 8; tickets are $12 (Pareles).

BEN WALTZER QUARTET, Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319. Mr. Waltzer is a young jazz pianist who is interested in a meaty, rhythmic sound, delicately exotic harmony and organized small-group composition with strong melodic motion. It's sort of a new take on Duke Ellington's legacy, which his new album on Fresh Sound, "100 Dreams Ago," with the bassist Matt Penman and the drummer Gerald Cleaver, makes plain. Tonight at 8:30; cover charge is $10 (Ratliff).

RANDY WESTON AFRICAN RHYTHMS SEXTET, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232. Mr. Weston, the pianist, has a dynamic style: it leads him toward the extreme ends of the piano with a ringing percussiveness that's pure Ellington. But his ambitions have been larger than that ever since his first trips to Africa in the early 1960's, when he was exposed to West African highlife music, which he promptly worked into his own jazz recordings, and continued through his collaborations with Gnawan musicians. This weekend, it's his jazz band with African leanings. Tonight through Sunday night at 7:30 and 9:30, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $25, $20 on Sunday (Ratliff).

THE WHO, DAVID JOHANSEN, Madison Square Garden, 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, (212) 465-6741. The Who's tour after the death of its bassist, John Entwistle, gave Pete Townshend something to prove, and he did, slashing away at his guitar and pushing Roger Daltrey to take the rote out of the songs. The band is back again; with any luck, it's still fired up. Sharing the bill is David Johansen, the former New York Doll and alter-ego of Buster Poindexter; he'd better have his rock side upfront to compete. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $54.50 to $254.50 (Pareles).

Z100'S ZOOTOPIA, Madison Square Garden, 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, (212) 465-6741. What's hit radio pumping out these days? Songs full of pouting and flirting, rapping and crooning. Acts hoping to reach total-saturation mode on Z100's playlist include Avril Lavigne, Jessica Simpson, Mario Winans, Maroon 5, Liz Phair, Black Eyed Peas and the "American Idol" also-ran William Hung. Tonight at 7; tickets are $74.50 to $229.50 (Pareles).

ZERO 7, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800. This British producer duo specializes in hazy, languorous tracks that get where they're going slowly, if at all. On the new Zero 7 album, "When It Falls" (Elektra), the producers experiment a bit more with live instruments; the results are, by turns, gentle, vague and bland. Needless to say, this kind of thing doesn't usually sound best in a crowded rock club, but the duo comes to town tonight anyway. Tonight at 8; tickets are $30 (Sanneh).