Pangea Hosts QUIRKY JAZZ FESTIVAL

An essential safe-place for tolerance, experimentation and disruption in the East Village, the Downtown alternative supper club Pangea hosts the first "Pangea Jazz Festival," running from Friday August 23 to Saturday August 31.

Curated to be a quirky collection of amazing jazz curios featuring a number of daring young standouts on the scene, the Pangea Jazz Festival is deliberately non-doctrinaire, slightly immersive and deeply engaged. 9 soloists and groups in search of places to gestate in the once jazz-hospitable precincts of Manhattan, are invited to transform Pangea's jewel-box showroom into a genre-fluid and regenerative creative ecosystem.

The shows vary from sophisticated outré cabaret by the Downtown legend Joey Arias, to jazz vets like Joe Giglio and Keith Loftis, all the way to unexpected turns by tapper Felipe Galganni, and indie improvisers Plaster Cramp, and a number of new and newish groups like the David Stern Quartet, The Theory Conspiracy and Marty Isenberg's The Wes Anderson Project. Taken together these official festival selections are living proof that, despite the trends, the East Village can still be the place for happenings, counter-culture, art as protest, and deep inclusion.

PHOTOS
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sxel2mqswyvywqw/AABrcPP49b8Z91I8XguV9PPta?dl=0

1/ Jazz bassist Marty Isenberg leads The Wes Anderson Project, a stellar band exploring the notably eclectic and quirky repertoire of music in Wes Anderson's films, rearranged for jazz instrumentation. The Clinton Hill Music School founder and host of the podcast "Between the Gig" captures that mixtape Anderson vibe roaming, careening and questing through music from the Velvet Underground, Nick Drake, Elliot Smith, the Zombies, et al
Marty Isenberg's Wes Anderson Project" Fri August 23, at 7pm. Cover $20

2/ Veteran jazz guitarist and vocalist Joe Giglio paints, plays and composes in many mediums... and is a teacher of improvisation! His nimble sensibility will transform the our back room into a place of forward discovery.
Fri August 23, 9:30pm. Cover $25

3/ Internationally acclaimed saxophonist Keith Loftis, has been an integral part of the two-time Grammy nominated The Baylor Project for several years. Here he and his Keith Loftis Quartet play songs from his upcoming album "Original State," which features all-new compositions.
Keith Loftis Quartet -- Sat August 24, at 7pm. (Also Wed August 14, at 7pm) Cover $25

4/ Indie live-music improvisation group Plaster Cramp -- heard weekly on Radio Free Brooklyn and consisting of Matthew Talmadge, John Frazier and Mason Brown - are here to give us an all-live version of their indescribable show called "Improbable Confettti." Together since 2016, they incorporate elements of krautrock, post-punk, minimalist techno, and, if you're not looking, even the kitchen sink. When it's on the airwaves you think you're witnessing the madcap musical mayhem in person. When it's in person, you'll think you're in another world.
Plaster Cramp's "Improbable Confetti" -- Sat August 24, 9:30pm. Cover $20

5/ Downtown darling Joey Arias will probably break a few roles if not rules (oh and a fingernail or two) in this frothy cabaret concoction with iconoclastic singing and stories out-of-school. Accompanied by pianist and music director Jono Mainelli. "More than most, Mr. Arias understands the risks and rewards of playing with fire." Stephen Holden The NY Times.
"Breaking Rules" Sun August 25 at 7pm. Cover $25

6/ Brazilian tap wizard Felipe Galganni plays a little-known instrument called the feet. Backed tonight by a kicking band and singing his heart out too, the Tap City festival star will have you digging in to this fun and exhilarating show filled with Latin influences and jazz-world hybrids. Get up and watch him dance!
Thur August 29, 7pm. Cover $15

7/ In their second Pangea appearance, the captivating and confounding The Theory Conspiracy -- consisting of James Robbins on bass, Juan Chiavassa on drums and Carlos Homs on piano -- is taking the piano trio to new heights. The newly formed (in 2019) band whose members are busy sidemen with major jazz groups, are forging a new, modern trio language all their own, spanning jazz standards to their original hip-hop and jazz-rock compositions.
The Theory Conspiracy -- Fri August 30, 7pm. Cover $20

8/ In the midst of their smash-hit extended engagement at Pangea, it's the Jazz Bastards, an illegitimate jazz act if there ever was one! Led by Jenny Lee Mitchell, Aldo Perez and Matt Kanelos -- with the musically gifted Big Apple Circus clown Glen Heroy, hornplayer Richard Philbin, and the acrobatically inclined drummer Nick Parker - Jazz Bastards could be called the ill-born progeny of PDQ Bach and Al Capone. Masterminds of an endless caper on and off stage, this immersive lounge show, different every time (thank god!) launched in August last year, and doesn't seem to want to go away.
Jazz Bastards the last Friday of this month -- Fri August 30, 9:30pm. Cover $15

9/ Even if he brings to mind a lab technician in a long white coat, don't be surprised if guitarist David Stern explodes a few notions. His David Stern Quartet -- consisting of Lewis Porter on piano, Ugonna Okegwo on bass and Tommy Campbell on drums -- bristles with mad scientist's verve and virtuosity. You'll drop a few pounds listening to these young lads.
David Stern Quartet -- Sat August 31, 7pm. Cover $15

10/ Joe Giglio leads our closing night JAM SESSION that is as inclusive as it is transcendent! There are no walls, just boundaries.
Sat August 31, 9pm. Cover $15