Live Music

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. The original venue has closed and now performances occur at The New School Glass Box Theater.

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.

Arts for Art presents free jazz and related modern music at various locations throughout the city.

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

National Sawdust is a Brooklyn-based venue putting on several shows per week.

Scholes Street Studio provides live performances of modern classical and jazz music.

Upstate New York

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.

Array Music offers seasons of contemporary classical music.

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.

Vancouver

Music on Main is a non-profit dedicated to producing classical, new, and genre-bending music in environments that are both casual and stimulating.

Boston

Semata Productions features experimental noise and electronics performances.

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

New Haven

The Uncertainty Music Series puts on several shows a month. It appears to be on hiatus as of mid-2018.

Firehouse 12 puts on about one jazz show a week in its Spring and Fall series.

Chicago

Now Is provides a great listing on upcoming jazz and offbeat classical performances in Chicago. There are tons of Chicago venues covered in this listing that don’t appear below.

Lampo is a non-profit organization that puts on several electroacoustic and modern experimental shows each year.

The Constellation puts on near-daily performances focusing on the more adventurous side of music. It is run by Mike Reed.

The Elastic features several performances per week of creative jazz.

Ann Arbor

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.

Detroit

Trinosophes is an art house that puts shows with top level experimental artists.

Houston
Suddenly Listen 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

Transparent Productions provides several experimental shows per month.

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.

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. They appear to have ceased operations.

Portland

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 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

Temescal Art Center is an organization that puts on several shows per year, and is affiliated with the Arab AMP center for Arab experimentalists.

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.

The Blue Whale focuses on jazz and regularly features creative / avant artists.

San Diego

The Fresh Sound Music Series puts on two seasons of creative music per 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, UK

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.

Bristol, UK

Bang the Bore is a loose collective that provides about one improv show a month.