'BAM Rhythm & Blues Festival at MetroTech'
photo: Bernard Bernand
Shades of blues: Amadou & Mariam perform at Summerstage
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MetroTech Commons, corner of Flatbush and Myrtle avenues,
718-636-4100, bam.org
June 8 Easy Star All-Stars
June 22 Odetta with Catherine Russell
June 29 Salif Keita
June 30 Eddie Palmieri
July 6 Willie Colón July 13 Amadou & Mariam:Whether the blues originated in Mali or bounced back there in a felicitous echo makes no difference as soon as this fabulous blind couple hits the stage (or the MP3 file "Dimanche a Bamako" was one of last year's highlights). Amadou Bagayoko plays nasty vamping blues beside wife Mariam Doumbia, a pepper-voiced chanteuse. The results are glorious. GEHR
July 20 The Radiators
July 27 The Spinners
August 3 Tortured Soul
August 4 James Blood Ulmer: Guitarist James Blood Ulmer spent his formative years playing with Ornette Coleman and deciphering his mysterious "harmolodic" music theory system, learning a structure for Coleman's seemingly unstructured free jazz. Recently he's been working out his downtown jazz in a Delta blues format, and his outside lyricism conjures up the eerie mysticism of Skip James and Son House. BEHRMAN
August 10 Billy Paul
August 11 Lonnie Liston Smith+ Eliane Elias
'Celebrate Brooklyn'
Prospect Park Bandshell,
9th Street and Prospect Park West,
718-855-7882 x 45, celebratebrooklyn.org
June 15 Maceo Parker
June 16 Tiempo Libre +Javier Garcia + Cuban Cowboys
June 17 Laurie Anderson +Chirgilchin
June 22 Los Lonely Boys + James Hunter
June 23 Natalie MacMaster's Cape Breton
June 24 Savion Glover & Friends + Robert Glasper
June 30 TV on the Radio + Matt Pond PA: If their rousing, almost-religious spring shows are any indication, TVOTR's forthcoming major label debut will bring the stomping rhythms, gospel-inflected harmonies, and arty, soulful guitars—which, live, fuzz and crackle under Tunde Adebimpe's smooth doo-wop croon—to a much wider audience. Tonight they're joined by fellow Brooklyners Matt Pond PA and their OC-approved, midtempo chamber pop. Also: Voxtrot. RABER
July 1 Angelique Kidjo + Vusi Mahlasela
July 7 Barrington Levy +Patrick Junior
July 8 Toshi Reagon & Big Lovely +Juca
July 9 Ralph's World + Rita Houston
July 12 Guster + Ray LaMontagne
July 13 Yo La Tengo: Hoboken's finest will perform The Sounds Of Science—their soundtrack to eight short nature documentaries by French director Jean Painlevé—as a live accompaniment to the films. A warm Brooklyn night will set the perfect scene for these surreal images of jellyfish and octopus accompanied by some of the most experimental, dreamy sounds of Yo La Tengo's career. With Samara Lubelski. RABER
July 14 Brooklyn Philharmonic
July 15 Nortec Collective +Beto & Richie Grupo Sonador
July 21 Alloy Orchestra + Morley
July 27 Philip Glass & Kronos Quartet + Slavic Soul Party
July 28 Leela James + BFE Sound System
July 29 Sonora Poncena +Joe Bataan
August 3 Bill Frisell + The Moonlighters
August 4 Los Amigos Invisibles +Los Tres + Zoe
August 5 African Festival: Kekele + Lagbaja + African Underground All-stars + Martino Atangana & the African Blue Note: Masked Lagos singer-saxophonist and serious Fela fan Lagbaja will rev things higher in the wake of locally-based Cameroonian guitarist Martino Atangana and the pan-African hip-hop of the African Underground All-Stars. But headlining Kinshasa-to-Paris supergroup Kekele, constructed around the revered Papa Noel and featuring crack guitarists Syran M'Benza and Rigo Star, will go for the beauty in the great Congolese rumba tradition—even if they have to mine the Cuban songbook to get there. CHRISTGAU
'Central Park SummerStage'
Rumsey Playfield,
mid-park at 72nd Street,
summerstage.org
June 16 Charlie Hunter Trio + Sex Mob + Mathew Shipp + Nils Petter Molvaer
June 25 Feist + Buck 65 + Jason Collette: Although it's not so secretly Canadian day in Central Park, those pining for some Montreal vibe should be forewarned. Feist features Calgary-born, Toronto-based, Broken Social Scene–linked chanteuse—no, singer-songwriter—Leslie Feist, and how about that? Feist appears on the most recent album by the Nova Scotia–born, Toronto-based Richard Terfry, a/k/a Buck 65, which features a band no one would call hip-hop. CHRISTGAU
June 28 Bonnie Raitt + Keb' Mo': Ms. Raitt's take on electric blues can still be incendiary, especially if you keep your ear on the guitar. She's also venturing into new, jazzier territory these days; along with her more soulful pop, these should make for an especially good pairing with Keb' Mo's flowing, mellifluous update of acoustic blues. MAZOR
June 29 Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series 30th Anniversary: Audra MacDonald
July 2 Seu Jorge + Jose Gonzales + Alex Cuba Band: Best known for his lilting Portuguese Bowie covers in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Jorge should be better known for his own earthy inner-city sambas. Gonzalez is an Argentinean-Swede who sings lucidly, in English, while playing clean classical-influenced guitar. Born and raised in Cuba, Alex Cuba Band multi-instrumentlist–leader Alex Puente sounds it. GEHR
July 8 Hakim
July 13Ani DiFranco
July 15 The Family Stand
July 16 Amadou & Mariam + Daby Toure
July 20Umphrey's McGee + Galactic
July 23Konono No. 1: Dancey and trancey, this West African Congo troop takes likembé pianos (thumb pianos in the same family as mbiras) but amplifies them via a hodgepodge of magnets, microphones, and old car parts; dancers, singers, and traditional percussion provide ornamentation to the rustic and tribal grooves. Last years lauded shows at Joe's Pub were the first stateside appearances since their inception around 1980—well recommended! Fans of Thomas Mapfumo take note. Also: Daara J. BOSLER
July 26 Fiona Apple + Damien Rice + David Garza: Last December at the Nokia, Apple proved that the extraordinary circumstances of Extraordinary Machine's creation hadn't dulled her ability to get onstage and flip wigs. A half-year later, she'll likely be sharper still. Irish balladeer Rice is pretty snoozy on record, but live he channels the intensity of the old souls he worships. Austin-based Garza makes perfect power pop of which too few people are aware. WOOD
