Avant Music News

The following is a list of venues and organizations, roughly by geographical location, that put on performances of music discussed on this site. Included are links to some web sites that cover live goings on in a general area.

New York City and surrounding area

The Stone is John Zorn’s venue for improv and avant-garde music, feature shows most nights of the week.

Issue Project Room is a Brooklyn space that offers creative music, theater, video and literature, but their focus is mostly on music.

Roulette is a long-running experimental music series, putting on 10-15 shows a month.

Barbes, a bar and performance space in Brooklyn, features mostly jazz and related music.

Wordless Music puts on modern classical shows.

Rise Up Creative Music and Arts presents free jazz and related modern music at various locations throughout the city.

Brooklyn’s IBeam puts on regular improv and experimental shows.

Upstate New York

New Thing Productions puts on experimental and improv shows in Syracuse, but aslo posts shows of interest throughout the area.

Output Noise puts on and records free improv shows in the Rochester area.

Toronto

The Music Gallery puts on regular shows and hosts the annual X Avant New Festival.

Halifax

Nameless Sound puts on shows in this area.

Montreal

Casa del Popolo features jazz and experimental performances in a cafe atmosphere. They also curate an annual June festival, the Suoni per il Popolo.

Boston

Semata Productions features experimental noise and electronics performances.

Non Event is promoter of experimental music and puts on shows.

Chicago

Lampo is a non-profit organization with a space in the North Loop that puts on several electroacoustic and modern experimental each year.

Umbrella Music puts on a variety of shows across several small venues in the city. The core group involved seems to be based around current members and alumni of Ken Vandermark’s groups, but other musicians from around the world are featured as well.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Kerrytown Concerthouse puts on shows all year round, but also hosts Edgefest every October.

St. Louis

New Music Circle is a long-running series of jazz and improv shows.

Dallas
Nameless Sound puts on shows about every month focusing on free jazz.

Denver

Creative Music Works brings jazz and contemporary music performances to the area.

Philadelphia

Ars Nova Workshop is a non-profit putting on several jazz and experimental shows a month.

Bowerbird is another Philly non-profit putting on about 70 experimental music shows each year.

Washington DC

Electric Possible puts on about one experimental show each month.

Sonic Circuits also puts on about one show a month and also hosts a festival.

Baltimore

An Die Musik Live puts on jazz and classical shows several nights a week.

Out of Your Head is focused on free improv.

Creative Differences presents jazz and improvised music in Baltimore at The WindUp Space and other occasional venues. Generally a couple of concerts a month.

New Orleans

Open Ears Music features weekly improv shows in the Big Easy, and the best part is that they post recordings for free download.

Portland

Portland Ear and Eye Control lists shows free jazz and improv shows in the Portland area.

The Creative Music Guild is a non-profit organization that has been putting on free jazz and improvised shows in Portland, OR since 1991.

Seattle

The Wayward Music site lists upcoming shows from the Seattle Composer Salon, Washington Composer’s Forum, and Seattle Improvised Music, among other organizations. Venues and music styles vary from jazz to classical and beyond.

Gallery 1412 puts on regular jazz / improv and experimental shows.

Oakland

21 Grand puts on jazz and experimental shows.

Los Angeles

REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney Calarts Theater offers a variety of experimental music performances throughout the year.

The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS) puts on noise shows throughout the year.

Krakow, Poland

Alchemia offers a frequent free jazz shows and has been the location of many live recordings. The English version of their site is a little rough but from the Polish version you can still get an idea of what’s coming up.

Melbourne, Australia

Experimental Melbourne provides upcoming left-of-center shows in the Melbourne area.

London, England

Cafe Oto features almost nightly free jazz and experimental music.

The Vortex also features free jazz and improv, but mixed in with more mainstream shows.