BAM RHYTHM & BLUES FESTIVAL
Metrotech Commons, Flatbush and Myrtle avenues, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, www.bam.org, free
June 7 Ben E. King
June 14 Fontella Bass
June 21 Leon Russell
June 28 Angelique Kidjo
July 5 Johnnie Johnson
July 12 Jerry Butler
July 19 Clarence Carter
July 26 Third World
August 2 Little Milton
August 9 Felix Cavaliere
CELEBRATE BROOKLYN!
Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th Street and Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, 718-855-7882, ext. 45, www.celebratebrooklyn.org, $3 suggested donation
June 21 Marcia Ball
June 22 Soulive+David Pilgrim
June 29 Olodum+Nego Gato
June 30 Junoon+Church of Betty
July 6 Julieta Venegas+Performer TBA: Singer-songwriter Venegas makes the most of her Tijuana tradition and her ability to evoke the angry but subtle charms of a modern rock diva. Watch her wield an accordion like a translator of bilingual emotions, a guitar like a long-term lover. Most importantly, she’s got a voice that takes you to a place beyond language, one that reveals her innermost wounds and most fervent hopes. (Morales)
July 12 Miri Ben-Ari+Esta
July 13 Cheb Mami+Performer TBA: The singer who made Sting’s “Desert Rose” more than listenable will demonstrate why Algerian rai, with its traditional beats and tinges of both reggae and rap, has become the Arab world’s predominant pop style. (Gehr)
July 14 Jimmy Bosch+Performer TBA
July 21 Bullfrog featuring Kid Koala+Performer TBA
August 3 Culture+Performer TBA
August 11 Frankie Negron
August 17 Isaac Delgado+Yamile Malagon
August 19 Baaba Maal, featuring Daande Lenol: This well-educated visionary has been poised for crossover on the edge of his hard, penetrating Mali-Senegal tenor since the late ’80s, but only recently did he start trusting his idiosyncratically indigenous musical command. If the tour is anywhere near as good as the album it’s supporting, this will vie with Super Rail Band as the Afropop event of the summer. Also: Ex-Centric Sound System. (Christgau)
CENTRAL PARK SUMMERSTAGE
Rumsey Playfield, 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue, 360-2777, www.summerstage.org, all events free unless otherwise noted
June 17 Ani DiFranco: The Little Folk-Punk-Pop-Gospel-Funk Singer That Could returns, this time with a full band, to promote her much-hyped new double album, Revelling/Reckoning (Righteous Babe). $28.50. (Phillips)
June 24 El Gran Combo+Wayne Gorbea & Salsa Picante
June 28 Remembering Shakti +Cinematic Orchestra+Mixmaster Morris: Featuring John McLaughlin, U. Shrinivas, V. Selvaganesh, and Zakir Hussain.
June 30 Cheikha Remitti+Sussan Deyhim+Dzihan & Kamien
July 1 ‘Canada Day Celebration’: Featuring Cowboy Junkies, Natalie MacMaster, Sarah Harmer, and David Rakoff.
July 4 Biz Markie+Doug E Fresh +Whodini+Full Force+DJ Kool Herc
July 7 ‘Latin Rock Day’: Featuring Manu Chao, Gogol Bordello, and Nortec Collective.
July 8 ‘Africa Fete’: Featuring Nder and the Setsima Group, Les Tetes Brulees, and Saintrick et la Tchielly.
July 12 moe.: $23.
July 14 Basement Jaxx+Bango Maffin+Martin Morales+Ron Trent: With Viva Brazil Dancers.
July 15 ‘Viva la World’: Featuring Amina, Ekova, Lo’Jo, and TBA DJ.
July 20 String Cheese Incident: $28.
July 21 Susan Tedeschi+Robert Randolph
July 22 Craig David+Lina+MKL
July 28 Kid Creole & the Coconuts+Los Mocosos+Jeno
July 29 Shadow+Super Blue: Calypso and soca champions.
August 4 Ricky Skaggs+John Herald
August 5 Living Color+Asian Dub Foundation+Propellerheads
August 6 Erykah Badu: The diva-in-waiting with the charismatic hair saw her queen-of-the-scene lustre tarnish slightly while she coped with the right Dre and his baby. But since she had the self-knowledge to spend her spare time polishing her songwriting, which had never lived up to her image, she came out sounding great on the other end. Now you get to tell her so. $45; $60. (Christgau)
August 9 Bebel Gilberto+Antony & the Johnsons+Ray Velasquez
August 10 Bela Fleck & the Flecktones+Keb’ Mo’
August 11 ‘Body&Soul’: Featuring François K., Joaquin “Joe” Claussell, and Danny Krivit; $10 suggested donation.
August 14 ‘Central Park Cabaret of International Music’: Featuring BJ Thomas, Jim White, and Wichita Wally.
August 20 Lyle Lovett & His Large Band: $30; $45.
HARLEM MEER PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
Lakefront plaza, Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, Central Park, 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, 860-1370, free
June 10 Viento de Agua
June 24 Grupo Saveiro
HUDSON RIVER FESTIVAL
World Financial Center, Battery Park City, Liberty Street and the Hudson River, 945-0505, www.worldfinancialcenter.com, free
June 19 Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
June 20 Bellevue Cadillac
June 26 Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine
June 27 Prairie Cats
July 10 Hugh Masekela
July 11 City Rhythm of Philadelphia
July 18 Nick Palumbo & the Flipped Fedora Orchestra
July 25 Casey MacGill
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL’S ‘AFRICA OUT LOUD’
Various venues, 875-5928, www.lincolncenter.org
July 11 Super Rail Band, Damrosch Park Bandshell: The first and rarest of the Lincoln Center Festival’s remarkable four-concert “Africa Out Loud” series (really West Africa Out Loud, but who’s map-ping?) could prove the most exciting: led by master guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, Mali’s topworking band rocked their first U.S. tour earlier this year. Expect precisely the right mix of griot wisdom and modernist experiment, hotel-band suave and art-band pride. (Christgau)
July 13 Cheikh Lô, La Guardia Concert Hall: Better equipped to roughen a croon than sweeten a shout, this native of Burkina Faso has elaborated his Cuban-tinged synthesis with greats from Wemba to N’Dour. When I saw him in 1997, a Senegalese drum kit dominated bass, two guitars, kora, sax, and traps, but the Orchestra Aragon and Pee Wee Ellis of his recent Bambay Gueej should be strongly in evidence in a pan-Africanism that never sounds ingratiating or forced. (Christgau)
July 16 Koffi Olomide, La Guardia Concert Hall
July 19 Youssou N’Dour, Avery Fisher Hall: At the Lincoln Center Festival, the world’s greatest pop vocalist can be expected to do his bourgie world-music set rather than his homeboy taxi-driver set, and who exactly he’ll bring along—N’Dour vies with Juan Formell as world’s greatest bandleader, but which backup singer or tama drummer he’s leading makes a difference—won’t be clear till show time. He has long since earned both superlatives, however. Missing him never makes sense. (Christgau)
LINCOLN CENTER OUT-OF-DOORS FESTIVAL
Various venues, 875-5108, www.lincolncenter.org, free
August 7 ‘Middle Eastern Magic’: A suave smoothy with a voice like a fist wrapped in velvet, Al-Saher, who performs in the Damrosch Park Bandshell with his band Qantara, is the Arab world’s most popular entertainer, albeit one on touchy terms with his native Iraq’s government. Also: Narmin al-Rawai and Yusri Sharif Dance Company (Josie Robertson Plaza) and Naji Youssef (North Plaza). (Gehr)
August 18 ‘The Roots of American Music,’ Damrosch Park Bandshell: Featuring Sid Selvidge, Border Radio with Nevada Slim, Sourdough Slim, and Larry Johnson, and Long Island Voices.
August 19 ‘The Roots of American Music,’ Damrosch Park Bandshell: Featuring Tom Winslow, Wood’s Tea Company, a “Tribute to Reverend Gary Davis” featuring Larry Johnson, “Under American Skies” with Tom Paxton and Anne Hills, Solas, Odetta, and Great Big Sea.
August 23 ‘Canada,’ Damrosch Park Bandshell: Featuring Barra MacNeils, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Maia Dance Theater.
August 26 ‘Brazilfest 2001,’ Damrosch Park Bandshell: Performers TBA.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT SWING FESTIVAL
Josie Robertson Plaza, 875-5766, www.lincolncenter.org
June 28 Un Traje Nuevo+Ozomatli
June 29 Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones+Tim Gillis Band
July 6 ¡Cubanismo!
July 10 Fantastic Shakers+Marcia Ball
July 11 Rick Trevino
July 12 Billy Lee Riley+Sam Butera & the Wildest
July 13 Milly Quezada
July 17 Grupo Caribe+Salsa Celtica
July 18 ‘Jumpin’ Johnny’ Sansone+Chris Gaffney with Bill Kerchin & Too Much Fun
July 20 Richard Augustin with Emeline Michel+Marce et Tumpak
July 21 Gafieira Dance Brasil: Featuring Paulo Moura and Cliff Korman.
July 24 Danú: With guests J.P. Cormier and James Keane.
July 25 Los Embajadores Vallenatos
July 26 Charivari with Michael Doucet+Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas
July 27 Papa Wemba: Leading an integrated, synthy bass/synth-guitar-traps-percussion synth two-femme singer-dancer band at Central Park in 1998, the pushing-50 sapeur’s voice was undiminished, but did I mention the synths? There’s no reason to expect an Afro-Congolese hero who’s still juicing crowds and adding to his legend in the studio to stick to a soukous that was old for him a decade ago. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t like the music better if he did. (Christgau)
MUSIC AT CASTLE CLINTON
Battery Park, 835-2789, www.DowntownNY.com, free
July 5 Marc Cohn
July 12 David Johansen & the Harry Smiths
July 19 Crash Test Dummies
July 26 The Holmes Brothers+The Blind Boys of Alabama: While the Holmes Brothers take a more “urban” (and urbane) approach to jubilee-style gospel singing, they respect this rigorous vocal tradition just as much as seminal southern practitioners like the Blind Boys of Alabama. But which act will lay more people out in the aisles with Pentecostal fever? The Holmes Brothers show off a new album of inspirational material, including work penned by Ben Harper and Bob Dylan; Clarence Fountain, cofounder and lead-vocalist for the Blind Boys, tours behind a new one too, featuring a stellar group of support musicians and Fountain’s refurbished vocal lineup. (Cooper)
August 2 John Scofield
MUSIC IN THE ANCHORAGE 2001
Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, Cadman Plaza West at Hicks and Old Front streets, Brooklyn, 206-6674, www.creativetime.org
June 7 Thomas Brinkmann, Jorg Burker (a/k/a the Modernist) & Zip
June 14 Phill Niblock
June 21 Hexstatic
June 28 Porter Ricks+Kid 606 +Panacea+SND: Presented by Force Inc. and Mille Plateaux.
VISA PRESENTS EVENING STARS
World Trade Center Plaza, 435-6600, free
June 13 Glenn Branca: “Hallucination City”
June 16 India
June 20 The X-ecutioners
June 23 El Gran Combo
WARM UP 2001
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, 718-784-2084, www.ps1.org
Dates TBA: DJ lineup TBA.
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL
Southeast quadrant, Washington Square, free
July 31 Johnny Colon & His Orchestra