Bklyn Sounds 1/8/2026—1/13/2026 | Dada Strain Guide to the WJF Marathons (and Talks)
This week's events include Winter Jazzfest / Kris Davis' Pyroclastic Records Festival / 35.5 Years of Giant Step / Duane Harriott / Tomeka Reid Quartet + Hemphill Stringtet / and more
Yes, the Winter Jazzfest-heavy edition of Bklyn Sounds is upon us. As always, there are other musicking options below the fold and beyond the paywall. There’s also something new towards the bottom this week, an experiment of sorts. After a flurry of feedback from readers, I am introducing an “Upcoming” section, highlighting longer-lead shows, ones I think are of-note and especially those that will sell-out. No more than a handful, and not too much editorial attached to them, but enough people asked for these and felt strongly that I think it’s worth the space and effort.
Friday 1/9: Manhattan Marathon
James Carter Quintet (6:30p @ City Winery) - The great Detroit tenor saxophonist who should have received so much more after being Young Lion-ized in the ‘90s, always smokes, Pavement covers not out of the question.
Patricia Brennan Tentet (7:15p @ Le Poisson Rouge) - Incredible vibraphonist, composer and conceptualizer who’s one of the music’s current MVPs, and just released one of 2025’s best albums, a strings-heavy fantasia about stars.
Amir ElSaffar New Quartet (7:15p @ Drom) - Iraqi-American trumpeter/composer keeps finding new improvised spaces between jazz, electronics and Arabic maqam melodic tradition.
Sam Gendel (8:15p @ Nublu) - Los Angeles-based saxophonist and one of the music’s “soft radical” wing’s IT musicians, with a sound is full of leisurely ambiance, always involved in playful experimentalism. Guaranteed to be crowded. (EDIT: now apparently in a duo with Nate Mercereau)
The Hemphill Stringtet (9:15p @ Zinc Bar) - Cellist Tomeka Reid leads violinists Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld, plus violist Stephanie Griffin through a set of Julius Hemphill music written and/or arranged for strings. The album is excellent!
Lady Blackbird (10:15p @ City Winery) - Los Angeles-born singer Marley Munroe whose very-London career leans into a late-’60s/early-’70s Northern Soul sound of familiar torch-like touches and post-club vitality.
Tomas Fujiwara (10:45p @ Nublu) - One of the city’s great drumming accompanists, in 2025 Fujiwara made an amazing percussion quartet album in the spirit of M’Boom, and if this is the music he’s performing, this gig’s a must.
Shahzad Ismaily, Maria Chavez & Greg Saunier (12a @ Nublu) - Multi-instrumentalist Ismaily is among Bklyn’s musical heartbeats; experimental DJ Chavez skirts rhythm- and sound-making for something new; Deerhof drummer/co-founder Saunier is also a sonic seeker. They’ve been woodshop’ing this trio for a minute.
Hanging Hearts (1:15a @ Nublu) - New propulsive sax-keys-drums trio featuring three of Chicago’s excellent musical worker bees: drummer Quin Kirchener, keyboardist Cole DeGenova and saxophonist Chris Weller.
Fonville x Fribush feat Morgan Burrs with Toribio (1:30a @ Le Poisson Rouge) - And if you need a late-night lift, here’s another trio: this one’s from Richmond, with Butcher Brown drummer Corey Fonville, organist Sam Fribush, joined by BB guitarist Burrs—plus special guest, Bklyn homey Cesar Toribio, who in addition to being a magnificent DJ/producer/singer, is a drummer/arranger.
Saturday 1/10: Bklyn Marathon
Before presenting other options for Saturday night, it behooves me to tell you that the Dada Strain @ WJF show will be excellent. But if you must…
Either/Orchestra (6p @ Brooklyn Bowl) - This four decades-old Boston big-band founded by saxophonist Russell Gershon has always had a soft spot for Ethio-jazz, no wonder its new album of music by Armenian-in-Ethiopia composer Nerses Nalbandian is exceptional.
Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Sway (6:15p @ National Sawdust) - Flute deity Mitchell’s incredible quartet with keyboardist Alexis Lombre, drummer JoVia Armstrong and multi-instrumentalist Coco Elyssee, is full of storytelling voices and unbounding electronics.
Annie & the Caldwells (8:30p @ Brooklyn Bowl) - A few weeks ago I heard Ayanna Contreras refer to the Mississippi Caldwell family’s gospel-funk band as “holy-roller disco,” and I think that’s pretty much perfect. Joyful soul vibes.
Luke Stewart Silt Trio (9:30p @ Babys Allright) - Brother Luke’s trio with Dr. Chad Tayor on the drums and D.C.-based saxophonist Brian Settles is probably the most straight-forwardly “jazz” of the many projects he “leads.” The earthy, structural turns they take makes it both his most trad, and most unique.
Made Kuti (9:45p @ Brooklyn Bowl) - Son of Femi, grandson of Black President Fela, the latest Kuti to lead a big Afrobeat-influenced band into the future is a trumpet player with chops and an arranger with broad, pan-Africanist vision. The vocal songs are fine.
Dawn of MIDI (10p @ National Sawdust) - A decade-plus on from the release of a masterpiece album that I think of as among the 21st century’s most influential, Amino Belyamani, Aakaash Israni and Qasim Naqvi are playing shows again. GUTTED to miss this one!
DoYeon Kim Quintet (10:15p @ LOOOVE Annex) - The Korean gayageum player and vocalist Kim’s music is at the intersection of folk universalism and punk-jazz intensity. At its best, unlike anything I’ve heard since the Downtown moment when Boredoms, No Wavers and the Knit crew were rubbing up against one another.
Tomeka Reid Quintet (10:45p @ Babys Allright) - Another of the music’s current MVPs, cellist Reid’s all-star group (Fujiwara on drums, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and bassist Jason Roebke) are about to drop a wonderful straight-ahead album with moments of great boogie.
Kahil El’Zabar & Isaiah Collier (11:45p @ Music Hall of W’burg) - Reunion of the saxophonist firebrand Collier, with legendary Chicago drummer/percussionist El’Zabar, a few years after they made some exceptional, cross-generational music together.
And if you’re still standing, wash it all down with: Bring Dat Ass WJF Edition, Toribio’s party over at Good Room, where Cesar’s DJing will be piled onto by keyboardist Jason Lindner and multi-instrumentalist Coulou, for a live-jam dance-floor session. Two other instrumentalists who know their way around records, MIRA MIRA and Haseeb Iqbal, will hold down the Bad Room. It’s unofficial, but all Winter Jazzfest wrist-bands get in for $10. (Sat 1/10, 10p @ Good Room, Greenpoint - $15-$25)
If you are contemplating coming out for the marathons but weighing the admittedly hefty ticket price, remember that Dada Strain readers can use the discount code DADA at the online ticketing checkout for a 20% discount on various NYCWJF Marathon ticketing packages. Buy Tickets Here. (So please consider subscribing to Dada Strain, which gives readers constant access to ticket discounts around town, some for all readers, some for paid-subscribers-only.)
Lastly, there are also numerous great talks happening during NYC WJF this year. If on Saturday and Sunday, you’re in any condition to listen to stories that’ve shaped the world we live in, or musiciking ideas that can model our future, go to Downtown Bklyn’s 651 Arts where programming smartie (and great Dada Strain colleague) Ariella Villenfanche helped produce what are sure to be incredible conversations with artists, writers and thinkers. Saturday’s on 60 Years of AACM, and Sunday’s on Artists Of Witness and Resistance stand-out, as does a roundtable of scribes discussing a new project, Sphere: A Journal of Jazz in Motion. The talks kick-off Thursday night when Dan Charnas and Marcus J Moore interview Kassa Overall at Ace Hotel, and end on Tuesday with Gilles Peterson’s Liner Notes at Roulette, which is billed as an evening of music and stories. All of these (with the exception of Gilles) are free with RSVP.
THIS WEEK’s OTHER SHOWS:
For the past few years, pianist Kris Davis, whose Pyroclastic Records is one of the world’s most conistently excellent improvised music labels, has thrown some WJF counter-programming at Jazz Gallery. Pyroclastic Artists: A Winter Festival brings together a group of its recording artists —some of whom will, yes, play at WJF too—for a show of label strength. Davis will play with Eric Revis and Andrew Cyrille (Thurs 7p) and in a quartet with Larry Grenadier, Nasheet Waits, and Ingrid Laubrock (Sat 7p); vibraphonist Patricia Brennan brings back her Septet (Thurs 9p); pianist Angelica Sanchez will play in a trio featuring Sam Newsome and Waits (Fri 9p); pianist Sylvie Courvoisier will present Amalthea featuring Brennan, Dan Weiss and Thomas Morgan (Sat 9p); and Brandon Seabrook, Yvonne Rogers, David Leon and Ned Rothenberg play as solos and in duos (Fri 7p) (Thurs 1/8 - Sat 1/10, 7p @ Jazz Gallery, Manhattan - $45-$$$)
Uncivilized is a kind of shambolic folk-jazz collective steered by guitarist Tom Csatari, and includes in its stable many excellent Bklyn musicians, some of whom occasionally record within the large ensemble. At times, after recording, they host DIY shows filled with solo sets, as well as collective noise-making. Uncivilisation Festival III is one such show, taking place at the Red Hook record shop. It’ll include solo sets by Ben Stapp (tuba), Rick Rosato (bass), Thomas Morgan (bass and his electronic WOODS set-up) and Ben Monder (guitar); while Uncivilized & Friends house band will perform the collective’s lovely new composition, “Froggies.” (Fri 1/9, 6p @ 360 Record Shop, Red Hook - $10suggested)
