Cornelia Street Cafe Announces Composers Collaborative & More

This Week At Cornelia Street Cafe:

On Mon Feb 08 at 8:30PM catch COMPOSERS COLLABORATIVE: SERIAL UNDERGROUND 

(Neil Rolnick, composer/laptop; Ed Schmidt, theater; CYGNUS: Emi Ferguson, Baroque flute; Lawrence Pangaro, gamba; William Anderson, guitar & mandolin; MOMENTA QUARTET)
Serial Underground, "the subversive nightclub series" (Time Out NY)
Allan Kozinn (New York Times) contextualizes CCi's monthly performances in the basement of the Cornelia Street Cafe - "... part of the ecology of urban night life." CCi artistic director, Jed Distler, curates the programs abetted by director Arnold Barkus and lighting designer David Lovett.

Tonight:
Neil Rolnick - Composer/laptop virtuoso Neil Ronick installment #2, exploring ideas of losing our senses. More info: http://www.neilrolnick.com/

A newer monologue written and performed by Ed Schmidt
More info: http://www.edschmidt.info/

plays New Music for Old Instruments with Emi Ferguson, Baroque flute, Lawrence Pangaro, gamba, and William Anderson guitar & mandolin - works by David Loeb, Jonathan Dawe, Milton Babbitt, and William Anderson.

MOMENTA QUARTET plays Arthur Kampela's String Quartet (chamber danger).

Box office: 212.663.1967 (advance purchase discount available)
Admission at the door: $15 + one drink minimum
Jed Distler, host. http://www.composerscollab.org

Tue Feb 09
8:30PM FLOW
(Kim Bock, tenor saxophone; Soren Moller, organ; Peter Retzlaff, drums)
New York based organ trio FLOW was formed in 2006 and is collaboration between saxophonist Kim Bock (SteepleChase Records), organ player Soren Moller (Jazzheads Records) and drummer Peter Retzlaff (Universal Records). Over the years, these three musicians have performed and recorded with artists such as Kenny Werner, Greg Osby, Maynard Ferguson, Dick Oatts, Antonio Sanchez and Jason Marsalis.
FLOW brings together three distinct musical personalities in a soundscape that throws an innovative light on the modern organ trio. Straight grooves, lyrical modernism, free explorations and hard core swing are all components of the FLOW experience.

The concert at Cornelia Street Cafe will conclude an 8 day tour (NYC - Columbus, OH - Saint Louis, MO - NYC) which also includes a recording session for the groups first album.

Related info: http://kimbock.com/media_kit_flow.htm

www.myspace.com/peterretzlaff
http://www.kimbock.com

Wed Feb 10
8:30PM PERRY ROBINSON-Burton GreenE-ED SCHULLER
(Perry Robinson, clarinet; Burton Greene, piano; Ed Schuller, bass)
http://www.myspace.com/perryrobinson

Thu Feb 11
8:30PM GNU VOX: DREW BRODY
(Drew Brody, voice, guitar, piano)
Drew Brody is a singer, songwriter and composer. He released his first album, self-titled, on Baskethouse Records. He also is the lead singer for the band M-LAB, and he wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Cutman, which is currently in development with BannerNY Productions.
David Devoe, host. Cover $10 http://www.drewbrody.com

Fri Feb 12
9:00PM & 10:30PM TONY MALABY QUARTET-BEN GERSTEIN/TONY MALABY QUARTET
(Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Daniel Levin, cello; Eivind Opsvik, electric bass; Ches Smith, drums; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Dan Peck, tuba; Ches Smith, drums)

First Set:
Malaby Cello Quartet
with Tony Malaby, saxophone; Daniel Levin, cello: Eivind Opsvik, elecric bass; Ches Smith, drums
Second Set:
Ben Gerstein/Tony Malaby Quartet
with Ben Gerstein, trombone; Dan Peck, tuba; Ches Smith, drums, Tony Malaby, saxophone

Saxophonist Tony Malaby, is one of the most compelling Living Voices on his instrument who is able to musically expand in multiple musical directions. Whether it is in a modern harmonic linear approach or a sonic approach. His is not an eclectic style, but an authentic language in which he is able to create meaning and communicate feeling through the primal power of sound and rhythm.
- Mark Dresser (July 2008)

Malaby is joined by some of his favorite NY improvisers - Advanced Reservations recommended.
Cover $10 http://www.tonymalaby.com

Sat Feb 13
9:00PM & 10:30PM TONY MALABY QUARTET-BEN GERSTEIN/TONY MALABY QUARTET
(Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Daniel Levin, cello; Eivind Opsvik, electric bass; Ches Smith, drums; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Dan Peck, tuba; Ches Smith, drums)

First Set:
Malaby Cello Quartet
with Tony Malaby, saxophone; Daniel Levin, cello: Eivind Opsvik, elecric bass; Ches Smith, drums
Second Set:
Ben Gerstein/Tony Malaby Quartet
with Ben Gerstein, trombone; Dan Peck, tuba; Ches Smith, drums, Tony Malaby, saxophone

Saxophonist Tony Malaby, is one of the most compelling Living Voices on his instrument who is able to musically expand in multiple musical directions. Whether it is in a modern harmonic linear approach or a sonic approach. His is not an eclectic style, but an authentic language in which he is able to create meaning and communicate feeling through the primal power of sound and rhythm.
- Mark Dresser (July 2008)

Malaby is joined by some of his favorite NY improvisers - Advanced Reservations recommended.
Cover $10 http://www.tonymalaby.com

Sun Feb 14
8:30PM JO LAWRY-FRED HERSCH DUO
(Jo Lawry, voice; Fred Hersch, piano)
Two Shows: 8:30 and 10PM
Pianist and composer Fred Hersch has been called a "one of the small handful of brilliant musicians of his generation" by Downbeat and has earned a place among the foremost jazz artists in the world today. From the late 70's onward as a sideman to jazz legends including Joe Henderson, Art Farmer and Stan Getz, he has solidified a reputation as a versatile master of jazz piano, as well as a relentlessly probing composer and conceptualist. Hersch's numerous accomplishments include a 2003 Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for composition, two Grammy® nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance and a Grammy® nomination for Best Instrumental Composition. He has appeared on over one hundred recordings, including more than two-dozen albums as bandleader/solo pianist.

Australian vocalist Jo Lawry at once tests the limits of technical facility and explores the furthest reaches of musical expression. Her debut album "I Want to Be Happy" earned 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine, and recently made the publication's "Best CDs of the 2000s" list. Besides leading her own quintet, Jo has performed and recorded with many notable artists, including Clark Terry, Donny McCaslin, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Kate McGarry. Most recently Jo performed with Sting for his live concert DVD and documentary "A Winter's Night..." and subsequent tour.

Jo's involvement with Fred Hersch began with the development of his quartet, the Fred Hersch Pocket Orchestra, also featuring Richie Barshay (drums) and Ralph Alessi (trumpet). Wall Street Journal named the band's debut album, "Live At Jazz Standard" (Sunnyside) among 2009's best new releases. For this unique duo performance at Cornelia Street, Fred and Jo will perform repertoire from the Pocket Orchestra book, as well as exploring some jazz standards and their own originals.

cover $15 + $15 food/drink minimum
Our Special Valentine's Day Dinner $55 upstairs/$65 downstairs including show

More info:
http://www.jolawry.com

Mon Feb 15
8:30PM MORRISON MOTEL
John Morrison's monthly comedy quickie--some of the smartest, most politically savvy comedians in or passing through New York make and unmake their bed here before some soon to be deported illegal third world alien comes in to clean it all up . . .
"One of the city's best alt-comedy shows."
- The NY Post
John Morrison, host. Cover $10 http://www.myspace.com/morrisongod

Spoken Word

Mon Feb 08
6:00PM WHITE SWALLOW READING SERIES:
(Mark Doty; Jason Schneiderman; Alex Dimitrov; SaeEd Jones; Tom Healy)
Monday, February 8th, 6-8pm
Featuring Mark Doty and poets from the Wilde Boys, a queer poetry salon in New York.

Mark Doty's Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008. His eight books of poems include School of the Arts, Source, and My Alexandria. He has also published four volumes of nonfiction prose: Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, Heaven's Coast, Firebird and Dog Years, which was a New York Times bestseller in 2007. He is the only American poet to have received the T.S. Eliot Prize in the U.K.

Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Grand Street, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, and Tin House. A graduate of the MFA program at NYU, he is currently completing his doctorate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Alex Dimitrov is the recipient of a Hopwood Award from the University of Michigan. He holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. His poems have appeared in Best New Poets 2009, Southwest Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Crab Orchard Review. He frequently writes for Poets & Writers magazine, and is the founder of Wilde Boys, a queer poetry salon in New York City. Alex is the Awards Coordinator and Executive Assistant of the Academy of American Poets. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, he lives and writes in Manhattan.

SaeEd Jones is a poet and public speaker who recently moved from the South to New Jersey. He received a BA in English at Western Kentucky University. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Word Riot, The Adirondack Review, Barnwood Magazine, and Underground Voices. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Rutgers-Newark.

Angelo Nikolopoulos is a retired high school teacher currently pursuing an MA at NYU's creative writing program, where he also serves as the managing editor of the Washington Square Review. He also works as a writing fellow at Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island and is the founder of The White Swallow reading series.

Tom Healy is the author of the book of poems, What the Right Hand Knows, from Four Way Books. His poems and essays have appeared in BOMB, The Paris Review, Salmagundi, Tin House, The Yale Review,and other journals. He studied at Harvard and Columbia.
Angelo Nikolopoulos, host. Cover $7

Tue Feb 09
6:00PM STORYTELLING
(KURT GERSTMANN; Regina Ress)
Storytelling occurs the second Tuesday of every month.
New York STORY Exchange

Curator/Host: Barbara Aliprantis

Format: Open MIC (5-6 min each) - There is no judging, no contest, no theme! Just great fun!

Followed by Featured Tellers: Kurt Gerstmann * Regina Ress

KURT GERSTMAnn Tells funny and poignant stories drawn from his remarkable life's journey which began prior to WWII, when he was smuggled out of Germany through a network of Catholic safe houses, to the British Mandate of Palestine, what is now, in part, Israel. At the age of 14 he joined the Hagana Underground and at 16 joined the just born Israeli Army. After Medical Studies in Switzerland, he immigrated to the US where he spent his adult life as a Pathologist in the NYC area. A born storyteller, Kurt tells stories about life's ironies and the inherent humor even in difficult situations.

Regina Ress has been exploring the themes of desire and love for centuries...well, for a while now. Bring your Valentine or simply your heart and enjoy as we discover - through the power of story - the compelling attraction between two people, one of the great themes of human experience. Whether we smile at hesitant young love, observe the current that draws more sophisticated lovers together, or wonder at the journeys taken to follow love, we stir our senses, spark our memories, and heat our spirits at the fires of human passion.

"Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition." - Alexander Smith (1830-1867) Scottish Poet
Barbara Aliprantis. Cover $7 http://www.barbaraaliprantis.org

Wed Feb 10
6:00PM INTERCULTURAL POETRY SERIES
Intercultural Poetry Series : Russian Night!
Presentation of the Annual Russian Magazine

INTERPOEZIA 2009

Reading by New York Russian Poets

Andrey Gritsman, host. Cover $7 http://www.magazines.russ.ru/interpoezia/

Fri Feb 12
6:00PM SON OF PONY
(Moira T. Smith, featured poet)
The Friday night legendary open mic poetry series.
Arrive before 6 pm to sign up.

Moira T. Smith is a poet/singer/song-writer/artist who has been workin' her thang on the scene for some while and getting her kicks in the process. She has appeared on MNN Cable's Poetry Thin Air and performed at the annual Clearwater Festival. She also hosts 'The Mix' --an ongoing performance event at Gizzi's Coffee. Her musical repertoire includes original songs/poems in an electro-roots-blues-trance style and traditional British Isle ballads. She is currently recording her first CD.
Jackie Sheeler, host. Cover $7

Sat Feb 13
6:00PM ITALIAN-AMERICAN WRITERS ASSOCIATION
Italian American Writers Association, featured readers are: Rachel de Vries and Fred Gardaphe,
plus open mic, 5 minute limit.

Marisa Frasca recently retired her professional briefcase to dedicate her time to poetry, and to reviving old Sicilian folk songs. Her Sicilian poems, and her translations into English, have appeared in VIA: Voices Italian Americana, Arba Sicula, Journal of Sicilian Folklore and Literature, and Feile Festa. Her work has also appeared, or is forthcoming, in More Sweet Lemons, Creations Magazine, Pyramid, 12th Street, and Long Island Sounds.

Paul D'Agostino holds a Ph.D. in Italian literature and is somewhat employed as an adjunct professor of Italian at CUNY Brooklyn College, where he also works as a writing advisor in the Art Department. He spends most of his time writing, translating, making artwork and curating group art exhibits at Centotto :: galleria [simposio] salotto, an essentially pro bono gallery he runs in the living room of his Bushwick loft.

Maria Lisella, host. Cover $7 http://www.iawa.net

Mon Feb 15
6:00PM NEW YORK QUARTERLY
(Donald Lev; Amanda J. Bradley; Joe Weil)

Ted Jonathan, host. Cover $7