Bklyn Sounds 5/2/2023 - 5/8/2023 + Long Play and the Enduring Myth of Downtown Music

Bang On a Can's Brooklyn festival + Other Shows: DJ Tara's "UpBeat" / gabby fluke-mogul + Charlie Burnham / Kahil El’Zabar Quartet / musclecars + Kai Alcé / "Drumswitch" and more

Is there any other myth of “New York as an arts utopia” that matches the power and mystique of the Downtown (always cap’d) scene of the 1970s and early ‘80s? I would venture that there is not. The books and films and articles and museum shows just keep elevating it — I too am guilty — even as real-estate developers and short-sighted civic planners replace its landmarks and displace the communities and creative groups largely responsible for what was unmistakably a golden era for the city’s creativity (...there I go again…). Especially when it comes to music.

For those fluent in the stories of the time when musicians formally began breaking down the walls between highbrow and low, between genres and disciplines and cultures, Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival feels natural, a contemporary update of a supposedly borderless world. Now in its second year (it was supposed to launch in May 2020 but…), a successor to Bang on a Can’s decades-running Marathon, Long Play programs this music over the course of three days (Fri. 5/5 thru Sun 5/7), at a smattering of theaters, clubs, performance and reading spaces in Central Brooklyn, instituting an old-school CMJ/New Music Seminar/Winter Jazzfest-type of venue-to-venue crawl. With Brooklyn naturally inheriting the mantra of the below-14th-Street crowd.

That said, Long Play’s sound is centered on the more kunsthalle-ish (rather than DIY) aspects of Downtown — “new music” emanating from the institutional realms of contemporary classical composition, improvisation and avant-garde — but as anyone who reads Dada Strain knows, those worlds are now porous, encompassing everything from electronic producers to metal bands. And though I can complain about about a dearth of beatwise rhythm music (the late-night club apparently still not equal in stature as a “serious” new-music space), Long Play is a gift to anyone with broad tastes and a love for the unexpected.

This weekend’s program is stocked with big shows by cornerstones of Downtown culture — legendary voice minimalist Meredith Monk’s “Memory Game” kicks off the proceedings on Friday (unfortunately, the only show that is sold out), while the AACM luminaries Art Ensemble of Chicago close out the festival on Sunday night (both at Pioneer Works in Red Hook). There are also incredible talks with composers Tyshawn Sorey and Henry Threadgill (both of whose music is part of the festival), and a conversation between ‘32 Sounds’ film director Sam Green and one of the film’s subjects, the composer Annea Lockwood. (All these conversation will take place at the Center For Fiction.)

Long Play’s primary attraction though is the flurry of Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening shows, most of which are a short walk from one another. A full schedule of all the excellent events can be found HERE. But there are definitely a few that I would like to spotlight (in chronological order): 

• a duet set between the New York-born/Tamil-raised vocalist/bassist Ganavya and the London-based reeds player Shabaka Hutchings (Sat 5/6 3:30p, @ BRIC Ballroom)

• a performance by the “little big band” version great NYC indie improvising minimalists 75 Dollar Bill (Sat 5/6, 5:30p, @ BRIC Ballroom)

• a performance by the improvising metallic-blues power trio, Harriet Tubman (Sat 5/6, 7p @ Littlefield)

• a duet set featuring the tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and drummer Chad Taylor (Sat 5/6, 7:30p @ public records)

• a performance by the post-hardcore, electronic improvisation band, Nu Jazz (Sat 5/6, 7:30p @ Mark Morris Dance Center)

• a special performance by the large ensemble Exo-Tech, featuring a slew of great New York-based improvisers (Sat 5/6, 10p @ Mark Morris Dance Center)

• a special performance by a trio of electronic composers/producers Tyondai Braxton, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Ben Vida (Sat 5/6, 11p @ Roulette)

• a performance by the the vibraphonist Patricia Brennan's More Touch group (Sun 5/7, 2:30p @ BAMcafé)

• a reunion of the band behind Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus, performing Threadgill’s music (Sun 5/7, 5p @ Mark Morris Dance Center)

• a special duet performance by the saxophonist David Murray & pianist Marta Sanchez (Sun 5/7, 6p @ Roulette)

Check the full schedule for additional details.

Lon Play is not cheap. But if you enjoy spending Saturday and Sunday running around the neighborhood, following the music, the ticket offers immense value, considering the level of creative talent involved. For Dada Strain readers, there is also a 15%-off discount code. Check below. Additionally and to their credit, the Bang on a Can organization is not only conscious of the importance that music plays in our lives, but the need to create opportunities to see and hear it performed when it is financially unfeasible. Which is why it is incredibly heartening to see the following note on the Eventbrite ticket-purchasing page: “As a mission based institution, it's important to us that no person be unable to attend due to cost. If you feel you are in need of a discount, please drop us a line at info@bangonacan.org. We'll also be handing out a number of fully subsidized passes closer to the event thanks to our Supporters.”

That language may be contemporary, but the energy it exudes really does harken back to another time in New York City’s arts community. And “Amen” to that. 

(Long Play Festival, Sat 5/6 & Sun 5/7 @ various venues around Downtown Brooklyn and Gowanus - Single-Day Passes: $96.29, Two-Day Passes: $161.19 - use the code “LP15” for 15% off tickets when purchased online) 

THIS WEEK’s OTHER SHOWS: