From NYTimes.com:
Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin (Monday) Led by Mr. Bärtsch, a Swiss pianist and composer, Ronin traffics in a precisely calibrated chamber jazz, cinematic in mood and nearly classical in its arrangement of glassy or glittering timbre. The ensemble — with the drummer Kaspar Rast, the bassist Thomy Jordi and the multireedist known as Sha — has a new live double album out on ECM, which gives some indication of what will transpire here. At 6:30 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com; $20 in advance, $25 day of show. (Nate Chinen)
Kris Davis Trio (Saturday) An inquisitive pianist with a willful but methodical approach to experimentation, Kris Davis has made herself indispensable on New York’s left-of-center jazz scene in recent years. She has top-flight accompaniment here, from the bassist Eivind Opsvik and the drummer Nasheet Waits. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $10 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)
Vijay Iyer Trio (Monday and Wednesday) Led by the pianist-composer Vijay Iyer and featuring the bassist Stephan Crump and the drummer Marcus Gilmore, this trio has released two acclaimed albums within the last few years, each striking a balance of cleverly reframed cover tunes and vertiginously propulsive originals. The group appears on Monday in Brooklyn, playing a concert set at 7 p.m. and a more informal club set at 9 p.m. On Wednesday it performs at 8:30 p.m. as part of a “Soundcheck Live!” series, with an 8 p.m. opening set by Victoire, an eclectic chamber project of the composer Missy Mazzoli. Monday at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 Seventh Avenue, at Lincoln Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 622-3300, bqcm.org; $25 seated admission, $20 for students, $15 standing room, $10 children under 10. Wednesday at Winter Garden, World Financial Center, West Street, south of Vesey Street, Lower Manhattan, (212) 417-7050, artsworldfinancialcenter.com; free. (Chinen)
Merger (Friday) Don’t let the transactional nature of the name give you the wrong impression. All negotiating parties — the cornetist Kirk Knuffke, the alto saxophonist Andrew D’Angelo, the bassist Ben Street, the drummer Nasheet Waits — are coming to the table with the same agenda of collective epiphany, and with as little paperwork as possible. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $10 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)
Tamarindo (Tuesday) The saxophonist Tony Malaby has earned a reputation as one of New York’s stalwart improvisers, through an array of sideman appointments and some rigorously rewarding albums. Tamarindo is the name of his free-form trio with the bassist William Parker; in the past the drummer has been Nasheet Waits, but Mark Ferber steps up to the plate here. At 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $10 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)
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