Bklyn Sounds: 1/24/2023 - 1/30/2023

Shows: Thulani Davis + Wadada Leo Smith / Samir LanGus / Delano Smith + Rick Wilhite / “Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros” / Tsunami / Nu Jazz / "Assembly" #2 / Samora Pinderhughes / more

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ART-MUSIC: The relatively short but bright career of pianist, composer, interdisciplinary artist and prison-abolition activist Samora Pinderhughes has been blossoming in wonderfully meaningful ways. Friends who’ve seen his latest project, The Kitchen-produced video+music installation, Samora Pinderhughes: GRIEF, have raved about its mix of narrative storytelling, music, and ritual. (There have also been intermitent live performances, which I wish I knew about earlier.) Tuesday marks its final evening. If you’re interested in socially significant creative work, Samora is one to follow. (Tue. 1/24, 7p @ Westbeth 163 Bank Street, 4th Floor Loft, Manhattan - FREE)

A great line-up at the second “Assembly,” the new monthly “acoustic + electronic improvising + DJ” series that LS Squared (Lester St. Louis & Luke Stewart) are shepherding at Sisters. Bookworms is Nik Dawson, whose techno electronics have been moving in many insane directions at once, for over a decade. Charmaine Lee is a voice improvisor mixing vocal idiosyncrasies with synthetic tones. Trumpeter Nate Wooley’s Mutual Aid Music is an octet that plays tense, focused music. <Self-Promo Alert> Yours truly, Piotr Orlov/Dada Strain, will be DJing before, between and after, trying to connect the rhythmic, improvised, community dots. (Wed. 1/25, 8p @ Sisters 900 Fulton St., Clinton Hill - $20. For Bklyn Sounds subscribers: first 10 who show up and use the password “Brooklyn Sounds” get 50% off at the door.)

The Moroccan sintir player and singer Samir LanGus is one of the foremost gnawa musicians in New York, bringing trance-like rhythms of that ancient North African music into the city. Once a member of NYC’s Innov Gnawa group, he now fosters mutli-cultural line-ups that create a sound that bends to tradition but stands on its own. On World Music Institute’s latest “Let’s Dance” bill, he’s joined by the DJ Omar Aena, whose sets likewise create an ecstatic dance-floor atmosphere from Arabic/North African rhythms and tonalities. (Thurs. 1/26, 8p @ Nublu 151 Loisaida Ave., Manhattan - $22)

A main event! Though poet Thulani Davis and composer/trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith have known each other for nearly 50 years, they’d never performed together before 2022’s Vision Festival, and when they did, sparks flew. Thulani’s words and Wadada’s visual sound scores come together again for Harlem Stage’s ongoing “Black Arts Movement” series, backed by cellist Ashley Walters, keyboardist Erica Dohi, and the great free-jazz drummer Pheeroan akLaff. (Fri 1 /27 - Sat. 1/28, 7:30p @ Harlem Stage 150 Convent Ave., Manhattan - $25/$35)

Though mostly associated with the improvised music world, electric guitarist Brandon Ross’ attack is one of heavy loud distorted lines, and if your idea of great rock, blues and jazz overlap, he’s a guitar hero for you. (In which case, try to never miss performances by Harriet Tubman, Ross power trio with bassist Melvin Gibbs and drummer JT Lewis.) At Roulette, Ross debuts a new program, “Glyph/Sonic,” which features performances with three different ensembles: a trio that includes free-jazz/country violinist Charlie Burnham, a duo with acoustic bassist Stomu Takeishi, and a rhythm-heavy quintet that also features keyboardist David Virelles and Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco. (Fri. 1/27, 8p @ Roulette 509 Atlantic Ave., Downtown Brooklyn - $25adv/$30)

As y’all know, Detroit has no shortage of legendary techno-meets-house-meets-hi-tech-soul selectors. Delano Smith’s first work in clubs actually predates the birth of techno, harkening back to the futuristic disco of Ken Collier, but he’s adapted the electronic textures and brings all the funk together. Rick Wilhite is “The Godson” of Detroit house, partner to Moodymann, Theo Parris and Marcellus Pittman in Three Chairs. At H0LO, they’re joining forces as Parabellum, tag-teaming all night long, following another Detroit duo, Ataxia. (Fri. 1/27, 10p @ H0LO ​​1090 Wyckoff Ave, Ridgewood - $15/$20/$25)

My one experience seeing the Queens group Nu Jazz, at IRL’s Greenpoint location last January, remains etched clearly on my mind: a punky dub-jazz sextet with a hardcore/death-metal vocalist (Danny Orlowski), and a great trumpet player (Ryan Easter) energetically stretching elastic rhythm to a fevered crowd. I’ve missed the couple of shows they’ve played since, wondering if what I saw at IRL was a fusion mirage. Apparently they’ve been recording an album and Friday’s gig at T-P is the release party. And the friends they’ve invited to come along is an incredibly diverse bunch, that includes saxophonist Alfredo Colon, Black Dice founder Hisham Akira Bharoocha (under his DJ Yokubari monicker), and noise-techno DJ duo Ascension Unit (aka Via App x PUSHPIN). This could get wild. (Fri. 1/27, 11p @ Trans-Pecos 9-15 Wyckoff Ave, Ridgewood - $13-$23)

UPSTATE ALERT 1: Founded by guitarist/vocalists Kristin Thomson and Jenny Toomey in the early ‘90s, Tsunami was among the DC indie-rock scene’s period heavyweights, a powerful pop band with a strong sense in righteous community roots. (Yes, that’s kind of a DC hallmark, but after Tsunami receded, Toomey went on to help start the Future of Music Coalition.) They’ve reunited for the first time in forever to play a festival in Los Angeles in February. But for reasons they know better than I, one of the warm-up gigs is at a small club up in Catskill, across the river from Hudson. (The following night’s synth- and improv-heavy bill at the same club is massive too, if you can afford to weekend it.) (Sat. 1/28, 6p @ The Avalon Lounge, 29 Church St., Catskill, NY - $15) 

UPSTATE ALERT 2: Based for over 50 years in Woodstock, where it was started by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman, Creative Music Studio is one of the great improvised-music community organizations in the New York area. Its stable of artists and advisors is a historical and current who’s who, and all of its public events are an occasion for surprise. Sunday, Berger and Sertso lead the CMS Improvisors Orchestra, which will include, among others, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, tenor saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, and drummer Tani Tabbal. (Sun. 1/29, 4p @ The Shirt Factory, 77 Cornell St., Kingston, NY - FREE with RSVP)

Brooklyn-born DJ Spinna is the definition of a local hero — and Monday, that hero of house and hip-hop and disco and every great New York-centric dancefloor sound imaginable, is celebrating a big ol’ birthday. So Sunday evening he’s throwing his Journey party, with an all-star crew of DJs who, likewise, can make the party go off in any number of ways, including Kenny Dope, Rimarkable, Reborn and others. (Sun 1/29, 6p @ Good Room 98 Meserole, Greenpoint - $20-$30)

FILM: There’s a new documentary about composer and musical futurist Pauline Oliveros by filmmaker Daniel Weintraub. On Sunday afternoon, “Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros” will have its New York premiere, followed by a Q&A with the director. (Sun 1/29, 5p @ Roulette 509 Atlantic Ave., Downtown Brooklyn - $25adv/$30)