by | Jun 20, 2023 8:57 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
The dancers in the circle were lifting up their own spirits and the spirits of those around them. They were participating in a culture that was now in its third generation of practitioners. And, as was explained, they were helping strengthen and preserve it; if they didn’t, they could lose it.
Continue reading ‘Conference Gives Master Class In Hip Hop History’
by | Jun 19, 2023 8:33 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Click Tracks in the groove.
The buttery warmth of the baritone saxophone, the silky strum of the upright bass, and the percussive pops and slick slides of tap shoes: all three came together in musical conversation with one another at Best Video this past Friday night as the band Click Tracks took to the performance space’s indoor stage. A rain burst dashed hopes of an outdoor show, but did not impede the exuberant and energetic fusion of a multitude of music forms in the night ahead.
by | Jun 14, 2023 2:38 pm | Comments (0)
Bill Lowe let out a cry from his tuba, guttural and keening, ecstatic and heartbreaking at the same time. Ken Filiano responded in kind from his bass. Hafez Modirzadeh joined in with a moan from his saxophone. Naledi Masilo unspooled a string of skittering vocalizations. Taylor Ho Bynum release a plaintive wail as Kevin Harris laid down ominous piano lines. Luther Gray arrived with a rattling drum line that solidified into a rhythm that Lowe emphasized with snapping fingers. As he directed each of the players to take solos, Lowe broke into smiles. The music may have spoken about complex emotions, but there was great satisfaction in the telling.
by | Jun 12, 2023 9:02 am | Comments (1)
Eleanor Polak Photos
Angelique Kidjo and New Haven Symphony Orchestra at the Arts & Ideas Festival.
A crowd of people swarmed New Haven Green like ants on a picnic blanket Saturday to witness the opening of the 28th annual Arts & Ideas Festival. “Are you ready to rise with me?” asked Rev. Kevin Ewing, A&I’s board chairman. “In case you didn’t know it, that’s the theme of this year’s festival.”
Before long, the attendees would not only feel their spirits rise, but would rise to their feet from the uplifting music and vibrant atmosphere — featuring international superstar Angelique Kidjo and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
by | Jun 12, 2023 8:59 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Grupo Tentación on the Green on Sunday.
Under a crisp and clear Sunday sky, two bands — Grupo Tentación and QUITAPENAS — brought highly danceable Latin beats to the New Haven Green for the second night of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
by | Jun 7, 2023 1:27 pm | Comments (1)
Eleanor Polak photos
Franz Ferdinand performs at College Street Music Hall.
Outside, the air Tuesday night was thick with smoke from Canadian wildfires. Inside College Street Music Hall, the air was thick with smoke of a different kind, illuminated by bright lights and filled with the particular haze that comes from a crowd of people, jittery with excitement.
They were gathered to see the Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand, packed in shoulder to shoulder and trading water bottles and sips of beer. From teenagers to those who had been teenagers when the band formed, roughly 20 years ago, everybody was in high spirits and ready for the show.
Continue reading ‘Franz Ferdinand Conquers College Street Music Hall’
by | Jun 1, 2023 9:04 am | Comments (0)
Eleanor Polak Photos
Haven String Quartet at Yale Art Gallery.
“Think about the relationship between listening and looking.”
So encouraged Jessica Sack, curator of public education at the Yale University Art Gallery and organizer of “Playing Images,” at an event that combined artwork with the music of the Haven String Quartet.
Continue reading ‘Haven String Quartet Makes Painting An Experience’
by | May 31, 2023 8:53 am | Comments (2)
A strutting, triumphant anthem from Daniprobably. A sweet, country-inflected song of hope from Alexandra Burnet and the Stable Six. A rambunctious, sparking collaboration between Mightymoonchew and Dooley‑O. All these New Haven favorites and more appear alongside several other Connecticut bands in a state-spanning, 12-track compilation from Verso Records — a new nonprofit label attached to Westport Library that marketing manager and New Haven music scenester Brendan Toller hopes will become a harbinger for the future.
by | May 26, 2023 3:19 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
The McKoy family wins the day at Celentano school art auction.
Not wanting to get outbid for a third year in a row, Nicole McKoy showed up to a Prospect Hill auction ready to spend big to be extra sure she’d win the drawings made by her two favorite artists — who just so happen to be her daughters.
by | May 26, 2023 8:17 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Midnight Psychic.
Unapologetically pounding drum machines. Guitars and basses suffused with enough effects to meld with the keyboard washes in the background. Vocals floating in a sea of reverb. The sound of darkwave — a morose, sexy strain of music that rose out of punk and new wave in the early 1980s and has turned out to have a persistently long life — washed over Cafe Nine on Thursday night as three bands showed an eager audience how it was still done, four decades in.
by | May 23, 2023 8:34 am | Comments (0)
Ike Abakah Photo
Trey Moore.
“Love Drugs,” the first cut from the New Haven-based musician Trey Moore’s new album Psychedelic Love Drugs, starts as a smooth number, a sultry guitar, a gentle rhythm. “Reality,” Moore sings. “I want it now.” As if in response, the song kicks into a new mode, with swirling keyboards, a dirty drumbeat, lush strings. It’s a signal for what the album has in store; as the name implies, Psychedelic Love Drugs is about expansion — mentally and musically.
by | May 22, 2023 8:51 am | Comments (0)
Mali Obomsawin.
“It’s good to be in the building where we recorded this album,” said Mali Obomsawin at the beginning of her sextet’s set at Firehouse 12 on Friday night. “Feels full circle. It’s good to be back.”
by | May 19, 2023 8:39 am | Comments (0)
Contributed Photo
David Sasso, at far left, recording the new album with Jacob's Ladder.
Hunkered at home with his Martin D28 guitar one Blursday evening during the lockdown depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, David Sasso heard familiar melodies come out a new way.
Fast forward to May 2023: Sasso returned home to debut a bluegrass take on a traditional Jewish prayer service, with an album of said music about to drop.
Continue reading ‘Ghost Of Bill Monroe Welcomes The Sabbath Queen’
by | May 18, 2023 9:02 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
Halfway through the first number from the Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere Quintet at Cafe Nine Wednesday night, the band already sounded like they’d be playing for hours. A first, highly energetic section of solos was winding down, and there was a brief pause in the music. As the others in the ensemble held a chord, drummer Ryan Sands stood up for a few seconds, just long enough to take off his coat, then hit the next beat without a hitch. It was a signal both that the music was getting hot, but also that the musicians were getting comfortable — as well they should.
by | May 16, 2023 11:29 am | Comments (8)
Peter Omalyev Photos
NHV Noise magazine
Are you one of those people wishing there was an events calendar listing local shows and helping you navigate what’s going on in New Haven and beyond? Well, a new zine by the name of NHV Noise is coming to a performance space near you, full of writing, art, and yes, that calendar.
by | May 16, 2023 8:29 am | Comments (0)
MIchelle Cann and Alisdair Neale.
An historic premiere. Significant anniversaries and, in some cases, a final concert for several members of the orchestra. An orchestra program featuring works entirely by Black American composers, not presented in February, when one of those composers was in the audience. Another work performed by a Grammy-winning classical pianist.
Friday night’s final concert for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s 2022 – 23 Classics season at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts was loaded with significance.
by | May 15, 2023 8:36 am | Comments (3)
Luxuriating in a warm spring day, ArtWalk — organized by the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance — brought out a crowd on Saturday for a full afternoon of art, craft, music, theater, food, and community.
by | May 12, 2023 8:56 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photo
The State House Co-Owner Carlos Wells.
The closing of The State House has brought forth a wealth of emotions from the New Haven music community as it prepares for the end of the State Street venue’s five-year run as a Ninth Square powerhouse of productions, showcasing everything from heavy metal multiple band bills and R&B jam sessions to sequin-studded cabarets, puppet theater, and DJ-driven dance parties. With the last show currently scheduled for May 28, co-owner Carlos Wells hopes to concentrate on the next two weeks of shows that will take the venue to its end in a celebratory fashion.
by | May 8, 2023 8:35 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
Anonymous Inc.
On Friday night under a full moon the New Haven-based record label Fake Four, Inc. brought a four-act bill to the State House built on friendships and a familial music community that also whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
Indigaux, Chris Conde, Myles Bullen, and the return of Ceschi and Anonymous Inc. was a homecoming of sorts, as Ceschi (a.k.a. Julio Ramos) has been on tour as of late with his newest band, The Codefendants. Anonymous Inc. — featuring brothers Julio and David Ramos and Max Heath — had not played live in four years. It was also their last time playing at the State House, which plans to close at the end of the month.
by | May 4, 2023 8:49 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos.
The official ribbon cutting commences.
Neighborhood Music School launched a new recording studio and debuted its own record label, Equitone Records, with a press conference, ribbon cutting, and, of course, live music.
Continue reading ‘Ribbon Cut On Neighborhood Music School's New Recording Studio, Record Label’
by | May 1, 2023 8:56 am | Comments (0)
“Mr. Dynamite,” the first song off Killer Kin’s latest (and self-titled) album, starts with a churning two-note riff that acts as a distillation of the band’s whole approach to making music — raw, propulsive, and sexy. When the rest of the band slams in to kick up the energy a few more notches, it feels like a promised fulfilled. The singer’s barked vocals culminate in a bare-bones, ruthlessly effective chorus: “dynamite’s coming, you better run / dynamite’s coming, you better hide / dynamite coming, you better run.” It’s a warning that you don’t want to listen to, because the explosion of the rest of the album is worth sticking around for.
by | Apr 25, 2023 8:22 am | Comments (1)
Tom Stio Photo
Joe Walsh Band show on 1/18/23 at Café Amici.
If someone said that one of the best places to hear the latest and greatest in bluegrass was based in Hamden, you might not believe them. And yet it’s the case.
GuitartownCT Productions has been bringing storied bluegrass veterans and up-and-coming stars to this area since 2008. On May 5, the series — now operating out of Cafe Amici at 1640 Whitney Ave. — will celebrate its 15th anniversary and its 120th show. It’s a milestone that Chris Wuerth, head and founder of GuitartownCT, never saw coming. In 2008, he was just a fan who wanted to bring his “bluegrass hero,” the legendary Tony Rice, to town for a show.
Continue reading ‘Bluegrass Concert Series Celebrates Big Milestone’
by | Apr 17, 2023 3:33 pm | Comments (7)
Lisa Reisman photos
A shower of pink, for 50th straight year.
Valentina Simon doing her thing at Sunday's fest.
Amid a riot of pink blossoms, the scent of spring in the air, and the sounds of Airborne’s “Groovin’ on a Sunday Afternoon,” Valentina Simon leapt and spun and twirled in front of the bandstand, prompting others to join her.
Continue reading ‘Wooster Square Blooms At 50th Blossom Fest’
by | Apr 17, 2023 9:01 am | Comments (1)
New Haven Symphony Orchestra music director candidate James Blachly went out of his way during Sunday’s concert at Southern Connecticut State University to invite the audience closer: to himself, to the performers, and to the music.
Continue reading ‘Symphony Concert Connects Under Candidate's Baton’
by | Apr 14, 2023 8:24 am | Comments (0)
Allison Stock Photo
Symphony director hopeful James Blachly.
For New Haven Symphony Orchestra Music Director candidate James Blachly, conducting was partly about finding a listener’s perspective. “What drew me to this field in the first place was a magical experience as a listener, and I spend my career trying to continue that experience for other listeners and musicians, in every hall I enter.”
Continue reading ‘NHSO Music Director Hopeful Interrogates The History’