The Jazz Gallery, the little jazz club with a forceful sound that tends to be in the forefront when it comes to introducing incredible young musicians to the scene have an exciting line-up for the weekend; for live audiences and those looking to be entertained in their living rooms via livestream.
On June 17, the Gallery presents bassist and composer Dezron Douglas with dynamic musicians saxophonist Emilio Modeste, pianist George Burton, and drummer Joe Dyson. During the pandemic Douglas was busy in his apartment hosting Force Majeure: Brunch in the Crib with his partner composer and Harpist Brandee Younger. Together they also recorded their first duo CD “Force Majeure,” one of the most significant albums of 2020. It was a union of R&B and jazz with songs like; “Sing” from Sesame Street, the Jackson Five hit “Never Can Say Goodbye,” Pharaoh Sanders and Leon Thomas’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan,” the Stylistics hit ballad “You Make Me Feel Brand New” and the duo co-written composition “Toilet Paper Romance.”
On June 18 pianist and composer Angelica Sanchez Trio with bassist Michael Formanek and one of America’s greatest drummers Billy Hart.
On June 19, the collaborative trio of Fujiwara/Halvorson/Bynum featuring drummer Tomas Fujiwara, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and cornet, & other brass instruments Taylor Ho Bynum.
Two sets each night at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Admission is $25/$10 members; limited cabaret seating: $35/$20 members. Located at 1160 Broadway on 28th Street. For more information or tickets visit the website www.jazzgallery.org.
The composer, director, and actor residing in Harlem Troy Anthony is currently preparing his world premiere Juneteenth revival service, “The Revival: It Is Our Duty” at The Shed (545 West 30th Street), on June 19. His performance will include a 35-person community choir and five-piece band featuring original songs composed and written by Anthony to celebrate individual and collective liberation of Juneteenth. “We have a traditional church band with Hammond-B3, guitar, drums. I will play piano but will be singing for the most part,” said Anthony.
The Revival which is the theme of most church services is divided into three elements: Struggle, Surrender, and Salvation. Anthony penned a number of songs using the chants taking place at the Black Lives Matter protests and addressing the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor––lyrics include “No justice, no peace” and “I want to breath freely, I want to live…my skin is holy…” Breonna Taylor was killed five minutes away from Anthony’s childhood home in Louisville, Kentucky. “Watching what happened on television here in New York was painful, it hit me in an entirely different way,” said Anthony.
“We are honoring our Struggle the pathway to freedom from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement; Surrender is to acknowledge where we are right now and what the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and all the others mean to us; and Salvation is the collective liberation of our society,” explained Anthony.
Anthony’s sermon centers around writer, feminist, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde’s quote “Your Silence Will Not Protect You.” “Her words were a call to action. No one is going to come along and fix this,” said Anthony. “You have to activate your voice being quiet isn’t the answer.”
This summer, The Shed opened its second edition of Open Call, the organization’s large-scale commissioning program to foster new performance and visual artwork from emerging NYC-based artists. Out of 15,000 proposals, 27 artists were selected to receive up to $15,000 and production support to create their work. Two of these recipients are DonChristian Jones and Troy Anthony. The Shed’s Open Call program will premiere in free performances through Open Call and via free livestream.
On June 17-18, at 8 p.m., DonChristian Jones’ performance installation Volvo Truck is an immersive experience that is an homage to ’90s Philadelphia, inspired by his childhood, the women who raised him, and his reverence for Black women.
Admission to all Open Call exhibits and performances are free.
For tickets visit the website at TheShed.org/opencall.
On June 19, 1865 two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to ensure that all enslaved people were freed. Step Afrika! will celebrate Juneteenth premiering three of their works: “Trane,” “Little Rock Nine,” and “The Movement.” Step Afrika’s virtual celebration honors and embodies the determination, resilience, and reclamation of freedom with newly filmed choreographic masterpieces inspired by the African American experience.
Founded in 1994 by C. Brian Williams, Step Afrika! is the first professional company dedicated to the tradition of stepping. Step Afrika! blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities; traditional African dances; as well as an array of contemporary dance and art forms.
To register for the free premiere on June 19, at 8 p.m., visit the website www.stepafrika.org.
New York City is a sizzling pan of live music that keeps this city alive as we celebrate this Black Music Month we must pay tribute the great blues legend Bobby Rush who will briefly leave his home in Jackson, Mississippi to perform at the City Winery on June 28, at 8 p.m. The show is billed as Bobby Rush Raw: An Intimate Night of Stories & Songs w/ Early Times & The High Rollers.
Rolling Stone magazine crowned Rush “King of the Chitlin’ Circuit,” an acknowledgment of the years he spent touring the network of small clubs for Black performers and audiences. His music style, his sound is the heart of Black music encompassing his life experiences in funk, soul and of course blues.
His new Rounder Records release, “Porcupine Meat,” features all-new compositions that recently earned him a Grammy Award.
Performing on the heels of his friends and mentors blues men like Elmore James, Muddy Waters and B.B. King, Rush is one of a few remaining Black blues musicians who experienced the terrorism of racism during the Jim Crow era. “I think what we thought was forwards wasn’t forwards,” he said of the suggestion that Floyd’s killing represented a step backward in the struggle for racial justice. “I been having feet on my neck all my life,” he stated in a recent New York Times interview.
Rush’s memoir, “I Ain’t Studdin’ Ya: My American Blues Story,” written with Herb Powell is due on June 22. At age 82, the singer, songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player and all-around entertainer is at the peak of his long career and finally getting his accolades.
Rush’s show is a hurricane of black music components soul, funk showering blues and big storytelling. For tickets visit the website
www.Citywinery.com.