New York http://www.villagevoice.

com/content/printVersion/201143

To Serve and Protect: A

Freestyle Series
Rumbles On
Jim Macnie
published: February 28, 2006

Speak a blustery underground language and your

chances of filling grand halls are nil. No question,
dissonance and delirium can be compelling, but they
often demand the kind of attention that mainstream
listeners just can't muster. It's one of the reasons that
bastions of avant action are often in flux, and it's why the
music's ever-morphing lingo has become symbolic of resilience. Guess that means you can call Dee
Pop an avant guardian. For the last several years the
photo: Shiho Fukada
veteran drummer (Bush Tetras, y'all) has curated the
weekly Freestyle Jazz series in various spots around the
East Village. What began in the late '90s at Internet
Café and developed in the early '00s at CB's Gallery is
looking to thrive this spring in the back room of
Jimmy's Restaurant, a scruffy little shelter for the
Members of Jackalope play by no rules
music on 7th Street. Driven by an amalgam of
Details:
experienced outcats and fresh-faced progsters,
See also: Freestyle's aesthetic parameters have always been
Faust Things First
A mammoth production of the epic verse gets a stateside broad. Any given month might find the refined
staging abstractions of the Bauhaus Quartet sharing the
by Michael Feingold
schedule with the boisterous brouhaha of Mostly
Don't Call It Noise Music Others Do the Killing .
Japanese metal bands summon power and energy from the
'70s
by Zach Baron
The continuous search for new spaces has not been
unlike the pursuit for groundbreaking musical notions.
Wonder Women Pop believes left-of-center sounds take stamina,
A season of old masters, Gumby, biomorphs, and cell phones whether you're presenting them or playing them.
by R.C. Baker
Freestyle has no sponsors. "I want the music to sell
A Mechanized Culture and its Equally Mechanical itself," he says, "and though there have been some
Population Meet rough weeks, it generally does."
by Carla Blumenkranz

As the winter subsides, the series storms on.

Tweaking Their Legacies: Composers Reinvent
Themselves Saxophonist Sabir Mateen, bassist Jane Wang, and
by Leighton Kerner percussionist Warren Smith romp 'n' rumble on March
30. Tenor player Ellery Eskelin goes head-to-head with
Dancing in Your Sleep: Label Microcosm Calms the
Nerves
drummer Gerry Hemingway on May 25. Both groups
by Tricia Romano find singular ways to employ the brusque music's
radical past while tweaking some novel iterations.
Postmodern Pioneer: The Next Generation Making sure the series sustains sonic diversity is
Bokaer gets physical, digital, and naked

1 of 4 12/6/09 12:18 PM
New York http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/201143

by Elizabeth Zimmer crucial to its booker, who likes to set the avant
vernacular's myriad dialects against each other.
Vision Quest
Get your avant-garde fix with plenty of experimental cinema Sparking some friction is a good way to keep the
this season lexicon alive. Jim Macnie
by Ed Halter

Freestyle Jazz takes place every Thursday night at

Jimmy's Restaurant, 43 East 7th Street, 212-982-3006.

Listings by Jim Macnie

Anthony Braxton's 12 + 1
March 16–19
Iridium, 1650 Bway 212-582-2121

The AACM's scholarly granddad hasn't lost a whit of his experimental edge. The pointed large
ensemble music of this rare NYC visit will be filled with rhythmic variety, decorative dissonance, and a
sui generis attitude that should get him over any hump he encounters.

Italian Jazz Festival

March 28–April 2
Birdland 315 W 44th. 212-581-3080

A recent string of impressive albums finds pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and trumpeter Enrico Rava
celebrating not only their own tunes, but the work of high-vis artistes Fellini and Morricone as well.
Perfect time to let us see how the stuff works on stage. Several players, including Dado Moroni and
Stefano Bollani, participate. But it's Pieranunzi's lithe and lyrical trio with Marc Johnson and Paul
Motian that's the must-see evening of this event.

James Blood Ulmer

March 28–April 2
Jazz Standard. 116 E 27th, 212-576-2232

From urban bluesman to jazz-rock terror, the grumbling guitarist has been many things to many
people. His various personas are shown off in a clip of dates that stretch from the sawtooth strings of a
solo outing to the harmolodic hoedown of his newly reorganized Odyssey trio to the r&b stomp of
Vernon Reid–architected Memphis sessions.

7th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival

March 29–April 30
Various Venues, centralbrooklynjazz.org

It starts with Billy Harper's woolly tenor exhortations and ends with James Spaulding blowing out the
candles at an Ellington birthday party. In between you'll find big bands saluting Billie and Youth Jazz
jamborees. The fest is a great symbol that the music can flourish in the outer boroughs.

'Highlights in Jazz'
April 6
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers, 212-220-1460

2 of 4 12/6/09 12:18 PM
New York http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/201143

In this"Ultimate Jam Session" curator Jack Kleinsinger gives a bunch of r&b-flavored mainstreamers
the green light to get groovy. Graying participants Fathead Newman, Lew Soloff, Jimmy Cobb,
Mulgrew Miller, Steve Turre, and Ernie Watts make middle-of-the-road swing an intriguing spot. The
show's dedicated to the late Ray Barretto.

Grachan Moncur
April 8–9
Iridium, 1650 Bway, 212-582-2121

As last year's Mosaic box reminded, the veteran trombonist had one of Blue Note's most unique
ensemble sounds – brooding yet brassy. Like his pal Charles Tolliver, he's back in action and
surprisingly vital. A robust new disc of older pieces turns out to be oddly haunting.

Bill Frisell Quintet

April 18–30
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Ave South, 212-255-4037

It's all about variety with Frisell. This band, with the Sex Mob rhythm section, should find him moving
away from the wistful prairie vibe of the last few years; they'll bring some eloquent slapdash into the
room. Maybe that means the horns of Ron Miles and Greg Tardy will have a fast track to the wild blue
yonder.

Tim Berne's Big Satan

April 19
55 Bar, 55 Christopher, 212-939-9883

Sometimes imploding is just as much fun as exploding. The saxophonist has a terrific way of kicking
his kinetics—it makes for myriad types of tension and gives the small combo an orchestral feel. This is
especially true when he's working with French guitarist Marc Ducret, Big Satan's in-house devil dog.

Joe Lovano and Hank Jones

Tuesday, April 25–30
Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Bway at 60th, 212-258-9595

Proving the most eloquent improvisers can trounce intergenerational differences, the saxophonist and
pianist have turned heads with their quartet work for the past two years. Here's their alone-together
moment, and methinks it might be as sublime as most of the city's jazz fans are hoping.

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Thursday, May 4–6
Rose Hall, 60th and Bway, 212-258-9800

The "New Orleans: Congo Square" show finds Marsalis and pals celebrating the historic marketplace
adjacent to the French Quarter where drummers were royalty. Blowing through charts by Jelly Roll
Morton, Joe Robichaux, and Sam Morgan, the LCJO also make room for a Ghanaian hand
percussionist.

Omer Avital Birthday Celebration

3 of 4 12/6/09 12:18 PM
New York http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/201143

May 12–13
Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson, 212-242-1063

One of the feistiest personalities on the local jazz scene, the Israeli bassist has been making his music
soar since returning to action around the start of the year. Thick horn lines ride the gallop of the
rhythm section in a keenly constructed musical world that sounds wonderfully loose.

4 of 4 12/6/09 12:18 PM