by | Feb 13, 2023 8:35 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Alexandra Burnet and The Proven Winners
“I missed the view from up here,” Alexandra Burnet said as she stood on the stage at Three Sheets Friday night. “I’ve thought about it every day for years.” Three years, to be exact, as Friday night saw the first multiple-band show at the Elm Street bar since before the pandemic began.
by | Feb 9, 2023 8:44 am | Comments (0)
Courtesy Retrosolo
Loor at the State House on Saturday.
New Haven high-school student Miguel Loor, a.k.a. Retrosolo, found an online following for his music a few years ago, but truly found his place by planting his feet in the Elm City as a performer and show organizer, packing clubs and DIY spaces from Crunch House to Space Ballroom. Now, as he contemplates doing a few out-of-town shows, he also has a sense of things coming full circle.
by | Feb 7, 2023 9:04 am | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio Photo
Alexander Silver Angeloff and a sampling of his creations.
When you walk into The Cultured Café on State Street, you are greeted by the feeling that you’ve walked into as natural a habitat as you can find that is not actually outside. Philodendrons wind around glass jars full of fermenting vegetables on a wooden counter. Above, cotton ball-like clouds dot a blue sky ceiling. What the café serves is also as close to nature as it can be, courtesy of the café’s owner Alexander Silver Angeloff, who is trying to make the path into the world of natural health safe, welcoming, and delicious.
by | Feb 3, 2023 9:00 am | Comments (0)
As the Afro-Semitic Experience — the band headed by pianist Warren Byrd and bassist David Chevan exploring Black and Jewish religious music and the connections between them — readies for a year of concerts and recordings, it also finds itself marking a big anniversary: The band played its first concert, at Congregation Mishkan Israel, 25 years ago.
In the years since, it has recorded 11 albums and played concerts around the country. Band members have come and gone, and a couple have passed. But the creative camaraderie between Byrd and Chevan persists, as they continue to find common ground and work toward unity in the community.
Continue reading ‘Cultural Bridge-Builders Celebrate 25 Years’
by | Feb 2, 2023 12:10 pm | Comments (1)
Stanley "Stan the Man" Welch and Jesse Hameen II on Wednesday.
Living local jazz legend and accomplished drummer Jesse Hameen II started out his musical career at the old Winchester School with a humble pair of instruments: his own two hands, which he put to work in a “hambone” body-percussion performance in the first show of what would become a decades-long career of finding the rhythm in his home city.
Continue reading ‘Jazz Icon's Path From "Hambone" To Morse Hall’
by | Feb 2, 2023 8:40 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Stefan Christensen.
The healthy-sized audience at Cafe Nine on Wednesday night found itself treated to a night of improvised music that was somehow both energetic and soothing, harsh yet mellow, as three performances and a DJ set offered a chance to trance out from the cold.
by | Feb 1, 2023 11:19 am | Comments (0)
Paul Bass Photo
Stetson Branch Librarian Diane Brown with Chris "Big Dog" Davis at WNHH FM.
Chris “Big Dog” Davis signed up to co-produce an update of a hit song Stevie Wonder wrote. Little did he know at first that he would also be recording the song with the legendary musician.
by | Jan 30, 2023 8:41 am | Comments (0)
Karen :Ponzio Photos
Dan Soto's Artificial Energy.
Two bands shook up Best Video this past Saturday night — one new to town and one very familiar with the local performance space. Missiles to Malta, hailing from Bethel, was playing its first show at the beloved Hamden haunt, while New Haven’s own Dan Soto’s Artificial Energy was back bringing its own unique brand of high-octane hits to friends old and new.
by | Jan 27, 2023 3:52 pm | Comments (0)
Kimberly Wiplfer photos
Kolton Harris and film student Joaquín Morales.
At Thursday's BITE kickoff.
“Who would have ever thought I’d be back in here watching a film?” asked Tracey Massey, in a hushed whisper, in the back row of a film screening at the former Stetson Branch library building in the soon-to-be-demolished Dixwell Plaza.
On the projector played “Black Joy,” a musical short film by Kolton Harris, which tells the story of a group of Black students in detention who find pride and celebration in their Blackness through song and dance.
“I came to this library 40 years ago as a child growing up in this neighborhood. It is here where we learned the first stories of Black joy. Here’s where we read books about Martin Luther King Jr., where we heard the first Michael Jackson song, the first Nina Simone song. We learned about Malcolm X. All of those stories generated out of this library.”
“It was joy. It was magic. [Harris] is reminding us of that. It was really just like it is in his film,” said Massey.
Continue reading ‘"Black Joy" Film Fest Bids Farewell To Former Stetson’
by | Jan 27, 2023 8:52 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Bluegrass Jamming
The back room at Next Door was jam-packed with bluegrass music lovers as the Humphrey Street restaurant featured its latest installment of the Bluegrass Jam, held on the fourth Thursday of every month and hosted by the New Haven-based band Five ‘n Change. According to band members Ken McEwen and David Sasso, the jam has been growing steadily since it began back in the spring of 2022.
by | Jan 26, 2023 8:53 am | Comments (0)
The improvisational jam duo P(x3) was on the stage of the State House Wednesday creating great grooves to dance to. But the figures leaping and spinning on the screen behind him weren’t dancing; they were fighting, in kinetic and ludicrous ways — as is the style of Super Smash Bros., the hit fighting video game from Nintendo that’s now almost a quarter-century old and still going strong. The audience members gathered to watch were in rapt attention. On a couch pulled up close to the stage, two players, their eyes glued to the screen, were in mortal combat, though one that would end with a smile.
by | Jan 23, 2023 8:51 am | Comments (0)
Courtesy KSO
Cabrera.
With something like a gambit, New Haven Symphony Orchestra music director candidate Donato Cabrera scored a pedagogical victory, showing the audience a wide range of sounds with a selection of pieces designed to show off different sections of the orchestra before bringing a full symphony orchestra at the close.
Continue reading ‘Guest Conductor Strides To Success In NHSO Concert’
by | Jan 23, 2023 8:47 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
PULSR.
Four bands — two based in New Haven, two based in Philadelphia and New York City — rocked the crowded floor of the State House on Friday night. It was an indication of how both New Haven-based and touring acts are starting to find their footing again after the pandemic, making the connections among one another to bring the music scene back for live audiences.
Continue reading ‘Four Bands Range Across State House Stage’
by | Jan 19, 2023 8:40 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
185668232.
At the beginning of his set, 185668232 asked everyone in the audience to say their names while he held out a microphone. “One, two, three,” he said, and everyone in the audience said their names. The syllables blended in the air. 185668232 looped the sound. “Do you like your name? Can you say it with some energy?” he asked. We did, and he mixed the two samples together. Now it was a surging mass of noise, swelling and subsiding, creating a rhythm. Now 185668232 was ready to begin.
by | Jan 18, 2023 8:46 am | Comments (1)
Courtesy KSO
Cabrera.
“If I were to describe my aesthetic as a conductor, it would be about trying to find the narrative first,” said New Haven Symphony Orchestra guest conductor and candidate for NHSO music director Donato Cabrera in a phone interview last week. “It’s a reflection of how I believe music can be connected to the community.”
Continue reading ‘Guest Conductor Shakes Hands And Swings Batons At NHSO’
by | Jan 18, 2023 8:36 am | Comments (1)
Larry Bellorín and Joe Troop, of Larry & Joe, positioned themselves close to one another on the Cafe Nine stage Tuesday night, surrounded by instruments.
“Buenas noches,” Bellorín began. Troop translated. “Good evening.”
As Bellorín continued, Troop translated.
The two musicians were delighted to bring to New Haven “the best of our music — the best of Venezuela and the best of Appalachia.” Also, “as you’ll notice, we’re twins.”
That last line drew laughter from the healthy-sized crowd, but it was the right encapsulation of what the duo were about, in the sincerity and depth of their mission, the virtuosity and emotion they brought to their playing, and the humor and big-heartedness with which they delivered it all.
Continue reading ‘Larry & Joe Fuse Venezuela And Appalachia’
by | Jan 16, 2023 12:42 pm | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery photo
Hanan Hameen of Dance and Beyond Sunday at New Haven Museum.
Through words, music, and movement, storytellers, drummers, and dancers offered dozens of families a chance to find their place in the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., the broader causes of social justice he dedicated his life to, and the rich culture he came out of.
by | Jan 16, 2023 8:40 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
FaTE on Friday.
Three bands filled The State House with a multitude of sounds on Friday the 13th in another of Elm Underground’s lucky streak of shows that have been making New Haven music fans happy for almost exactly one year now.
Continue reading ‘Elm Underground Keeps Lucky Music Streak Alive’
by | Jan 13, 2023 8:18 am | Comments (0)
O.K. Company and Jessy Griz brought down the house and soothed the soul at Cafe Nine on Thursday night, with an evening of strong voices, deep grooves, and big emotions.
by | Jan 9, 2023 8:40 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
The Furors.
As the first full moon of 2023 hung high in the January sky above Best Video, another first was happening inside: beloved New Haven band The Furors had returned, playing its first live show since February 2020. This welcoming back filled every chair of the performance space with the smiling faces of longtime fans and friends who were ecstatic to hear the legendary local duo tear through their extensive catalogue of catchy and memorable music.
by | Jan 6, 2023 9:58 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery photos
Movimiento Cultural drummers and dancers liven up Wilson Library.
Kids making crowns for themselves, with and without parental aid.
As Movimiento Cultural Afro-Continental’s drummers played driving rhythms and singers instructed families in the traditions of bomba, one young dancer learned fast about the ways that she could converse with lead drummer Kevin Diaz during the ongoing library-hosted Three Kings Day fest.
She made a gesture, and Diaz, fully attentive, responded with a crack from his drum. She gestured again, and he responded in kind on his instrument. The smiles that passed between them needed no words to convey their meaning.
by | Jan 4, 2023 10:13 am | Comments (1)
George Coleman.
Amid the frenzy of the New Year, we shouldn’t forget a startling lesson from the Old Year.
That is, we shouldn’t bury a certain lesson in life if we find ourselves in need of optimism and inspiration in the next 52 weeks and beyond.
Let’s return, if you’re willing, to an evening in early December, and to Morse Recital Hall on College Street.
Continue reading ‘Jazz Great Inspires A Night Of Magical Thinking’
by | Jan 2, 2023 8:39 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Lys Guillorn & The Void Kittens
Friends gathered, greeting each other with wishes for a happy new year while music swelled all around them. A New Year’s Eve gathering, perhaps? Actually, it was the night before, as Best Video was the setting for the penultimate night of 2022 — and who better to bring it through than local favorites The Sawtelles and Lys Guillorn & The Void Kittens?
Continue reading ‘2 Bands Ring In New Year's Eve's Eve At Best Video’
by | Dec 19, 2022 9:44 am | Comments (0)
The Jam
Four horn mics, three drum sets, two keyboards, and one massive stage set up was ready Friday night to present The Holiday Jam, the season friendly version of The Jam, a now iconic New Haven music series and staple of The State House where it has found its home since 2019.
A musical mélange of friends and fellow musicians that come together to improvise and inspire, The Jam is the brainchild of musicians Paul Bryant Hudson and Jeremiah Fuller, who, along with a core group of musicians, typically play one set as a full band, and then a second set where they invite other musicians and vocalists to come up and have a turn at being part of the magic. The entire time, they intertwine their respective skills and sounds of jazz, R&B, soul, and just about everything and anything else, uplifting each other to reach the highest of heights.
by | Dec 19, 2022 8:51 am | Comments (2)
Kevin Saint James at Cafe Nine.
Sunday allowed music lovers to take in live music from the afternoon through the evening at Cafe Nine and the State House, in offerings that encompassed jazz to rock to hip hop, all within the space of a block.