NYS Music 202​1

Author: katherine gilman

  • ‘Love & Truth’ Album Released by Soul/Funk Masters, Crushed Velvet and the Velveteers

    Alan Evans, a prolific musician from Buffalo, has just released a new album Love & Truth, with Crushed Velvet and the Velveteers, which he claims as his guitar player alter ego. The album is released by Vintage League Music, one of Evans’ endeavors that reflects his passion for Soul & Funk music.

    love & truth crushed velvet

    Alan Evans is the multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of acclaimed band Soulive, that has been performing together since 1999. In Crushed Velvet and the Velveteers, Evans is able to focus on his guitar personality rather than being a drummer like in Soulive. His astounding talent is apparent in the new album Love & Truth, which evokes the classic 60s and 70s Soul & Funk sound of Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, and NYC.

    The album features an all star line-up of acclaimed guest vocalists including Kim Dawson (Pimps of Joytime, Matador Soul Sounds), Saundra Williams (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Saun & Starr), Lyle Divinsky (The Motet), Yanick (After Funk) and Brother GoodLove (Aztec Sun). Evans handles guitar, bass and drums with guests such as Darby Wolf & Neal Evans on keys and the horn section from the BT ALC Big Band. 

    love & truth crushed velvet

    Love & Truth is an album of outstanding musicianship, powerhouse vocal performances but most of all classic songwriting which oozes authentic soul. It encompasses quality funk music that is a blessing to all ears. The smooth guitar lines mixed with the classic drum rhythms makes it an unforgettable album guaranteed to soothe the soul. It blends a retro sound with a modern sensibility, strong songwriting and powerhouse vocals.  

    Love & Truth from Crushed Velvet and the Velveteers is available now at all good record stores, all digital streaming platforms and via the Vintage League Music.

  • Marcus Rezak Announces Tour to Celebrate Release of New EP ‘Truth in Sound’

    Denver-based guitarist Marcus Rezak just announced an album release tour to celebrate his newest EP, ‘Truth in Sound.’ He will begin the string of performances in New York City at Cafe Wha? and will conclude the tour in South Carolina.

    Marcus Rezak Truth in Sound

    Known as a master of jazz improvisation, Marcus is a frequent preference for bands and musicians looking for an excellent performing guitarist. He has a distinguished guitar style and an admirable stage presence that makes audience members craving an encore. He treats each show as if it were a live recording session, which is apparent because of the euphoric energy he radiates.

    Marcus Rezak wrote, recorded, and produced ‘Truth in Sound’ over the course of 2020 in the hopes of healing listeners through music and lyrics. The EP features four epic tracks that showcase his talent as a writer as well as a guitarist. Shred is Dead & members of Mike Gordon, Nth Power, Kung Fu, Raq, and more will join Marcus on his tour. Members of Trey Anastasio Band collaborated with Marcus throughout the process of creating the sophomore EP and are featured on percussion and tabla.

    Marcus Rezak Truth in Sound

    Full Tour Schedule

    6/27 – Cafe Wha? – New York, NY

    6/30 – 118 North – Philadelphia, PA

    7/1 – Cafe 611 – Frederick, MD

    7/2 – The Camel – Richmond, VA

    7/3 – 5 Points Music Sanctuary – Roanoke, VA

    7/4 – Charleston Pour House – Charleston, SC

    7/6 – Nectar’s – Burlington, VT

    7/7 – Zenbarn – Waterbury, VT

    7/8 – Stone Church – Brattleboro, VT

    7/9 – T-Rex Theater – Essex, VT

    7/15 – Levitt Pavilion Denver  – Denver, CO

    7/24 – Rancho Relaxo – Austin, TX

    7/31 – Empire Control Room – Austin, TX

    8/7 – The Lodge at Woods Boss Brewing – Denver, CO

    8/13 – La Boca – Middleton, CT

    8/14 – The Stone Church Music Club – Newmarket, NH

    8/20-8/22 – Summer Camp Music Festival – Chillicothe, IL

    9/18 – Deadwood Jam – Deadwood, SC

    Tickets for the tour are currently on sale here. Additional dates will be announced throughout the summer. Rezak’s vinyl record via Color Red will be available in the coming weeks. You can pre-order it here. 

  • NYC’s Blue Note Jazz Club is Reopened by Grammy Winner Robert Glasper

    R&B genius and four-time Grammy winner Robert Glasper celebrates the epic return of live music by performing at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC. The celebrity-packed grand reopening ran until 2:30am on Friday, June 18th. You can watch a recap of the night here.

    Blue Note Jazz Club

    Glasper was joined onstage by comedic icons Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. Musicians included Questlove, Common, Keyon Harrold, and Talib Kweli. You can watch the performance of these artists here. Many celebrities were spotted in the audience, such as Zoe Kravitz, Jon Hamm, Susan Sarandon, Lupita Nyong’o, Don Cheadle, Maurice Brown and poet Amir Sulaiman.

    Blue Note Jazz Club

    The Blue Note Jazz Club opened in 1981 and has been one of the most premier jazz clubs in the world ever since. It is a gathering place for listeners to enjoy some of America’s best music. The club fosters innovation and progression while preserving the history and traditions of jazz. Clubs like Blue Note have been an integral part of NYC entertainment for years, and the coronavirus pandemic led them to shut down for months. The recent reopening of the clubs has been incredibly exciting for both performers and jazz fans across the state.

    Blue Note Jazz Club

    Blue Note is celebrating the grand reopening of NYC jazz clubs by presenting the Blue Note Jazz Festival that will run throughout the summer. Many up-and-coming jazz, soul, hip-hop, R&B, and funk artists will be featured. The energy between the walls of Blue Note this summer will remind attendees of the gaping hole that was left this year when jazz clubs were forced to close. The electric performances will be something you surely don’t want to miss.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKsIsP3mKdM

  • Tedeschi Trucks Band to Celebrate 10 Years at The Beacon Theatre

    Starting September 30th, Tedeschi Trucks Band will hold their first of seven shows at the Beacon Theatre to celebrate 10 years of performing. These NYC shows will be the band’s first performances since February 2020.

    tedeschi trucks beacon

    The 2021 shows will feature artists such as Nels Cline: Consentrik Quartet on September 30th, Anders Osborne on October 5th, and Jorma Kaukonen on October 6th.

    We’re thrilled to welcome Tedeschi Trucks Band back to The Beacon this fall with seven shows and to celebrate their 10th anniversary performing at the legendary theater. It is such a testament to the strength of Tedeschi Trucks Band’s connection to their audience that they can make this dual city residency a reality. These shows are another example of the unique, world-class entertainment options MSG Entertainment is able to offer with venues that span from intimate theaters such as The Beacon to The World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden.

    Darren Pfeffer, executive vice president, live, MSG Entertainment.

    The band’s multi-year, dual-city residency with The Beacon Theatre has been highly successful in years prior, and this year is even more important as it is their 10th. The Beacon residency offers the talented 12-member group an opportunity to explore an especially large range of musical territory – often exceeding 100 different songs throughout the run. Guest sit-ins have also made the residency special.

    Recent years have featured surprise appearances by Trey Anastasio, Nels Cline, Ravi Coltrane, Luther Dickinson, Amy Helm, Norah Jones, Eric Krasno, Robert Randolph, and Joss Stone, among others. While legacy acts such as the Allman Brothers Band and Steely Dan made the Beacon Theatre their home for multi-night performances, Tedeschi Trucks Band represents the next generation, pushing the envelope nightly with a loyal fanbase that looks forward each year to their run at the iconic venue.

  • Tycho to Launch Inaugural Audio-Visual Show in Brooklyn

    On Friday, July 23rd, Scott Hansen (aka Tycho) will launch his first ISO50 branded event at the Brooklyn Mirage in Brooklyn, NY. The event will feature six acts over six hours and will be an immersive audio-visual experience for attendees. Hansen himself will be headlining the show.

    tycho

    This event is one-of-a-kind, and all six acts have been hand-picked by Hansen, with good reason. Besides Hansen, the other acts that will perform in the heart of Brooklyn are RAC, Com Truise, Roosevelt, Heathered Pearls, and Nitemoves.

    About the show, Tycho says, “I’m very excited to announce a special event I’ve put together featuring artists whom I greatly respect and admire,” says Hansen. “This will be the East Coast debut of a new set I’ve developed incorporating elements from all three eras of Tycho and a return to a focus on the immersive audio-visual experience.”

    In keeping with the visual aesthetic of the festival, the digital event poster will be tokenized and made available as an NFT.  All attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase the NFT for only the cost of minting and gas fees. Tickets go on sale on Friday, June 18th at 10am ET.

    TYCHO : ISO50

    JULY 23 – BROOKLYN MIRAGE
    TYCHO

    RAC DJ SET

    COM TRUISE DJ Set

    ROOSEVELT DJ Set

    HEATHERED PEARLS

    NITEMOVES

  • Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Will Open Fall Tour in Port Chester

    Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, the Baltimore-based funk quartet, just announced their Fall 2021 tour. There are fourteen stops planned, the first two of which are at the historic Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY. From there, they will travel to various cities across the country to leave fans in awe of their funky sound.

    The band cannot wait to get back on stage: “I think one of the silver linings of this pandemic is all of our renewed appreciation for live music,” says singer/guitarist “Scrambled Greg” Ormont. “The bands, the fans, the venues, we’re all rejuvenated and ready to unleash this energy. Honestly, as fired up as I am to get back on stage, I’m almost more excited to see how the crowd reacts to being back in our collective element. It’s going to be a tour for the ages.”

    After kicking off the tour in Port Chester on October 14th and 15th, P4 will continue on to the mid-atlantic region with an exciting trio of Halloween themed shows. They will then perform in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. After stopping in Des Moines, they will end the tour in Denver on November 13th. Supporting acts include Sunsquabi (October 29th to the 31st) and Neighbor (October 16th). Magic Beans will join Pigeons for the remaining tour dates.

    Fall tour tickets will be available via Artist Presale running Wednesday June 16th at 10am through Thursday June 17th at 10pm local time using the password FLOCK. General onsale will begin Friday June 18th at 10am local time, with the exception of Denver’s Mission Ballroom which will go on sale Friday at 12pm MT.

    For more information, click here.

    Pigeons Playing Ping Pong Fall 2021 Tour:

    10/15 Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre

    10/16 Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre

    10/29 Washington, DC – The Anthem

    10/30 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE

    10/31 Columbus, OH – Express Live

    11/3 Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre

    11/4 Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room

    11/5 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant

    11/6 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater

    11/7 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater

    11/9 Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s

    11/10 Kansas City, MO – The Truman

    11/12 Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre

    11/13 Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom

  • Lincoln Center’s Wynton Marsalis Releases New Symphony

    Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, recently released a recording of “Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2)” for The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Cristian Macelaru. This is the second symphony from Marsalis, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning director.

    The symphony has seven beautiful movements, taking the listener through American history and folklore. There is a movement reflecting the beginnings of jazz in New Orleans as well as one that portrays the big city soundscape of the Great Migration. It is a celebration of American blues and is a kaleidoscopic history of music in our country.

    Marsalis is the genius behind the symphony, and his imagination shines through in his work for The Philadelphia Orchestra. On the recording, Marsalis says, “The blues helps you remember back before the troubles on hand and in mind…and they carry you on the wings of angels to a timeless higher ground.” His music is powerful and is an exquisite ode to the blues and America’s musical roots.

    This recording was from a live performance in 2019 in Verizon Hall at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. It builds upon the legacies of Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, George Gershwin, and other American masters.

    “Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2)” is available globally on all digital platforms from Blue Engine Records.

    Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2) movements:

    1. Born in Hope
    2. Swimming in Sorrow
    3. Reconstruction Bag
    4. Southwestern Shakedown
    5. Big City Breaks
    6. Danzón y Mambo, Choro y Samba
    7. Dialog in Democracy

    About Blue Engine Records

    Blue Engine Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s platform that makes its vast archive of recorded concerts available to jazz audiences everywhere, launched on June 30, 2015. Blue Engine Records releases new studio and live recordings as well as archival recordings from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s performance history that date back to 1987 and are part of the R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. Since the institution’s founding in 1987, each year’s programming is conceived and developed by Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis with a vision toward building a comprehensive library of iconic and wide-ranging compositions that, taken together, make up a canon of music. These archives include accurate, complete charts for the compositions – both old and new – performed each season. Coupled with consistently well-executed and recorded music performed by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, this archive has grown to include thousands of songs from hundreds of concert dates. The launch of Blue Engine is aligned with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s efforts to cultivate existing jazz fans worldwide and turn new audiences onto jazz. For more information on Blue Engine Records, visit blueenginerecords.org.
     

  • Woodsist Festival Announces 2021 Lineup

    Woodsist Festival is returning to Arrowood Farms in Accord, NY for their 2021 season. The festival is to take place on September 25th and 26th and will be enhanced since its last run in 2019 with more music, more food, and more space. Yo La Tengo and Parquet Courts will be welcomed to the festival as headliners.

    Woodsist Festival

    Woodsist Festival leaders found that because of the unnatural state of the world in 2020, they were listening to slower, more contemplative, more intentional music. This pattern inspired them to add slower artists to the festival, such as 75 Dollar Bill Big Band, Joshua Abrams’ National Information Society, and Laraaji. Other featured artists include Kurt Vile, Kevin Morby, and Woods.

    Arrowood Farms is located at 236 Lower Whitfield Road, Accord NY 12404. Tent and RV camping is available at the Rondout Valley Campground one mile away from the festival site. A carefully curated selection of local Hudson Valley-based food vendors will be on-hand serving all day long. Tickets are on sale here

    The festival’s first edition in 2009 was a collaboration with label Captured Tracks, and was one of Real Estate’s first shows. The most recent Woodsist Festival lineup from 2019 included Whitney, Real Estate, Woods, Kevin Morby, Waxahatchee, Hand Habits, Bonny Doon, Wet Tuna, and Anna St. Louis.

  • SummerStage 2021 Lineup Released with Shows Across New York City

    The SummerStage 2021 lineup has just been released, with shows planned presented by Capital One and the City Parks Foundation to begin on June 17th in New York City. The concert series will continue throughout the summer, ending in October. This is the largest free outdoor performing arts festival, so you don’t want to miss it! You can complete a ticket request form now.

    This year’s SummerStage festival centers around the theme of rebirth and resilience, as seen in the season’s artwork. All of the graphics are illustrated by Lyne Lucien, an award-winning Haitian artist based in Brooklyn. SummerStage is a women-run festival with a mission of diversity and inclusion. Since 2019, SummerStage has been transforming the music industry by presenting an annual lineup that features a 50:50 gender balance.

    Performing arts fanatics will be able to enjoy the SummerStage 2021 lineup in various locations across New York City: Central Park, Coney Island, and Marcus Garvey Park. The festival will focus on distinctly New York genres, including hip-hop, Latin, indie rock, contemporary dance, jazz, and global music. SummerStage will also be partnering with Rooftop Films for a free drive-in film and live performance at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

    New York-Centrist artists such as Patti Smith and Her Band, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tito Nieves, Armand Hammer & The Alchemist, The Metropolitan Opera, La India, Antibalas, and Marc Rebillet will be featured as part of the free in-person shows. Benefit concerts will feature artists such as of Machine Gun Kelly, Lake Street Dive, Dawes, Chris Botti, Galactic, and Indigo Girls.

    Free tickets are required for entry to every free SummerStage show this season. Ticket pod request forms will be available three weeks prior to each show. City Parks Foundation will frequently update their audiences on venue safety following New York State and City public health guidelines.

    To get amped up for the 2021 season, take a look at the SummerStage 2019 recap!

    City Parks Foundation helps to make public parks vibrant and welcoming gathering spaces for community initiatives such as arts, sports, and environmental education programs for New Yorkers.

  • Dee Snider Releases Video for “I Gotta Rock (Again),” performs in Patchogue June 11

    On July 31st, heavy metal vocalist Dee Snider will release his fifth full-length album, Leave a Scar, via Napalm Records. He recently released his first single on the album, “I Gotta Rock (Again)” along with a new music video.

    Hailing from Queens, Dee Snider has become one of the most respected vocalists in the heavy metal world. The release of this album is incredibly exciting for him and his fans, especially because he recently shared that at the end of 2019, he didn’t see his career continuing. The state of the world in 2020, however, led him to find himself through his music again and come out with Leave a Scar.

    Leave a Scar expresses the pain and anger that Dee felt while in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes how this time of solitude made him more in-tune with the writing process than ever before. He felt a deep need to fill the album with messages to and for listeners that need to speak up, but don’t feel that they can. This experience was a catalyst for him to make his best music yet, proving how his career is far from over.

    “I Gotta Rock (Again)” is a strong start to the album and will have listeners head banging from the get-go. Another track that will leave listeners in awe is “Time to Choose,” which features a vocal attack by Cannibal Corpse’s George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. “The Reckoning” is a classic heavy metal assault, and track “All or Nothing More” showcases Snider’s harmonic talent. Melodic, metalcore inspired “In For The Kill” is also highly anticipated, as well as “Down But Never Out” and its strong drums. “Before I Go” has a mesmerizingly catchy chorus and chilling lyrics. The last track on the album is a ballad titled “Stand.” This song fulfills Dee’s purpose of ensuring that listeners feel their own struggles are being heard. Leave a Scar pushes Dee’s music boundaries and sets him into a new era of genius.

    Jamey Jasta, Dee’s producer, boasts about the artist, revealing how powerful his range and vocals are. Jasta mentions how unique and original his sound is and confidently states that Dee is an American leader of the rock and metal community.

    Former Twisted Sister frontman and Long Island native Dee Snider is coming back to Long Island to film an upcoming concert film. It will take place on June 11th at Stereo Garden in Patchogue. The show is in support of his new solo album “Leave A Scar” which is to be released July 30th.

    dee snider

    Tickets to the show can be found here. The 7 p.m. show will be limited to 200 attendees who must be vaccinated or have a recent Covid-19 test. You can see the tracklist and video for the first single”I Gotta Rock (Again)” from the new album below.

    Pre-order Leave a Scar here.