Tag: Paul Motian

From NYTimes.com:

GRAY-ESKELIN-BALLOU-FORMANEK (Saturday) In the early set of this left-of-center performance, at 8 p.m., the pianist Frank Carlberg engages with the rhythm section of Michael Formanek on bass and Devin Gray on drums. Then at 9, the same rhythm section backs a front line consisting of the saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and the trumpeter Dave Ballou. Douglass Street Music Collective, 295 Douglass Street, near Third Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn , myspace.com/295douglass; $10 suggested donation. (Chinen)20090730

? ETHAN IVERSON, REID ANDERSON, PAUL MOTIAN (Friday through Sunday) Mr. Iverson, an acutely contemporary pianist, and Mr. Anderson, a warmly decisive bassist, make up two-thirds of the Bad Plus. Their output here — with the master drummer Paul Motian, a slippery influence on both — should suggest a similar full-tilt musical engagement, but perhaps with less steely certainty and more unanswerable questions. At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village , (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com; cover, $25, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)20090730

DONNY MCCASLIN GROUP (Thursday) On his recent albums Donny McCaslin has applied his assertive tenor saxophone style to Latin American-inspired fusions. He does that here, in a free lunchtime concert, with expert help: the guitarist Lage Lund, the bassist Hans Glawischnig and the drummer Adam Cruz. From 12:30 to 1:45 p.m., Plaza at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street , (212) 935-2200, saintpeters.org/jazz; free. (Chinen)20090730

? MOSTLY OTHER PEOPLE DO THE KILLING (Sunday) Led by the bassist Moppa Elliott, this prankishly named free-bop quartet has a fairly serious recent record called “This Is Our Moosic” (Hot Cup), featuring impressive contributions from the trumpeter Peter Evans and the alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon. The group appears here as part of the Freestyle Music Series; its 8:30 p.m. set arrives sandwiched between an equally boisterous free-jazz collective (at 7) and a band called Attention Screen (at 10). Local 269, 269 East Houston Street, at Suffolk Street, Lower East Side , (212) 228-9874, myspace.com/deepopnyc; $5. (Chinen)20090730

? NED ROTHENBERG’S SYNC/HARRIS EISENSTADT’S WOODBLOCK PRINTS (Friday) Ned Rothenberg is a saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist and composer with a penchant for insistent frictions. He appears here with Sync, his East-Asian-inspired ensemble with Jerome Harris on acoustic bass guitar and Samir Chatterjee on hand percussion. Sharing the bill is a chamberlike group called Woodblock Prints, a nonet led by the drummer Harris Eisenstadt that also includes Mr. Rothenberg and Mr. Harris. At 8 p.m., Drom, 85 Avenue A, at Fifth Street, East Village , (212) 777-1157, dromnyc.com; $10 in advance; $12 at the door. (Chinen)20090730

? JENNY SCHEINMAN’S MISCHIEF AND MAYHEM (Tuesday) Ms. Scheinman often goes for rustic charm as a violinist, but she never ceases to be an adventurous improviser. Her partners in this enticingly named band, first formed a couple of years ago, are the engagingly prickly guitarist Nels Cline, the stalwart bassist Matt Penman and the polymorphically propulsive drummer Jim Black. At 7 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village , (212) 505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com; $15 in advance; $17 at the door. (Chinen)20090730

SIM FACULTY CONCERT (Wednesday) The School for Improvised Music is a nonprofit enterprise in which the instructors are adventurous and communicative musicians. Among them are this concert’s featured guests: the saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, the trumpeter Ralph Alessi, the pianist Andy Milne, the bassist Drew Gress and the drummer Gerald Cleaver. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village , (212) 242-1063, jazzgallery.org; $15; $10 for members and students. (Chinen)20090730

SKM TRIO (Friday) With an acronym derived from the first names of its members, this collective features smart musicians comfortable with free improvisation: the saxophonist Stephen Gauci, the pianist Kris Davis and the bassist Michael Bisio. At 8 p.m., 5C Cultural Center, 68 Avenue C, at East Fifth Street, East Village , (212) 477-5993, 5ccc.com; cover, $10, with a $5 minimum. (Chinen)20090730

? TRIO 3 WITH GERI ALLEN (Wednesday and Thursday) Never mind the redundancy in the title, or the fact that this avant-garde collective actually works here as a quartet. The alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, the bassist Reggie Workman and the drummer Andrew Cyrille are battle-ready teammates; they stand only to gain from the addition of the pianist Geri Allen, as they recently proved on an album called “At This Time” (Intakt). (Through Aug. 8.) At 8:30 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton , (212) 581-3080, birdlandjazz.com; $30 for general admission; $40 for premium seating; and a $10 minimum. (Chinen)