Critics’ picks: Best live music in NYC
Find this week's best live music events in New York City, as chosen by Time Out's critics.
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
- Rated as: 4/5
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
Theater review by Adam Feldman. York Theatre Company (Off Broadway). By Mark Nadler. Music and lyrics by various writers. Dir. David Schweizer. 1hr 45mins. One intermission. Where ivories are concerned, Mark Nadler tends to favor the slap over the tickle. In some past outings, the adroit
- Citigroup Center, 619 Lexington Ave, at 54th St, downstairs
- $67.50
- Sun May 19
CarnegieKids presents the Itty Biddies
- Critics choice
- Free
Local jazz and cabaret act the Lascivious Biddies debut their brand-new children's music as part of Carnegie Hall's roving series. Expect smooth sounds, thanks to vocals from Leanne Westover, Saskia Lane's upright bass and the tinkling piano keys of Deidre Rodman. In addition to tunes about colors
- Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street Settlement 466 Grand St, at Pitt St, 10002
- Sun May 19
Miguel Frasconi and Annea Lockwood
- Critics choice
Composer, improviser and instrument builder Miguel Frasconi brings his brilliantly shimmering, pealing glass menagerie to the Old Stone House for two weekend outings: an evening concert on May 17, and a family-friendly show-and-tell gathering on May 19.
- Old Stone House Washington Park, at 3rd St, between Fourth and Fifth Aves
- Sun May 19
Brian McKnight
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
A favorite among melisma-loving R&B fans for the better part of two decades, Brian McKnight raised some eyebrows last year with his gloriously filthy YouTube release "If You're Ready to Learn." We're looking forward to the sing-along for that ("Let me show you how your pussy works…"). Mr. McKnight
- B.B. King Blues Club & Grill 237 W 42nd St, between Seventh and Eighth Aves, 10036
- Sun May 19
Henry Cole and the Afrobeat Collective
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Henry Cole, a scarily advanced Puerto Rican drummer who works regularly with saxist Miguel Zenón, heads up his own band, an eclectic Afrobeat ensemble souped up with heady rock atmospherics.
- Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (at Frederick P. Rose Hall) Broadway, at 60th St, 10019
- Sun May 19
The Gil Evans Project
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Ryan Truesdell, the bandleader and scholar who brought Gil Evans's charts from the Out of the Cool LP to life during 2011's Impulse! Records tribute here at the Jazz Standard, oversees a weeklong run devoted to various aspects of Evans's prodigious output, from his early years with Claude Thornhill
- Jazz Standard 116 E 27th St, between Park Ave South and Lexington Ave
- Sun May 19
JEFF the Brotherhood + Hunters
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Last year was something of a banner year for face-melting blues punks JEFF the Brotherhood. Not only did they perform on Insane Clown Posse's demented single for Third Man Records, they also cut their debut album for Warners, Hypnotic Knights, with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. When you can count
- Mercury Lounge 217 E Houston St, between Essex and Ludlow Sts, 10002
- Sun May 19
Kenny Garrett Quintet
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
Both intense and intensely lyrical, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett has played under the watch of Miles Davis and gone head-to-head with Pharoah Sanders, never once sublimating his identity or power. Here he helms his own combo, a band that's more than happy to connect the dots between funk and bop.
- Iridium 1650 Broadway, at 51st St
- Sun May 19
Angela Di Carlo: The Mad World of Miss Hathaway
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
If you tune in to Mad Men just for bodacious badass Christina Hendricks, this serial satirical musical is for you. Angela Di Carlo writes and stars as ’60s secretary Joanne Hathaway. For more information, go to madworldofmisshathaway.tumblr.com.
- 21A Clinton St, between E Houston and Stanton Sts, 10002
- $20
- Sun May 19
The Milk Carton Kids + The Barefoot Movement
- Price band: 2/4
- Critics choice
You know that feeling you get on a road trip, when everything’s going great? You’ve covered a cool hundred miles in a day, seen some beautiful, funny things, taken your shoes off in the grass…and now it’s dusk and the stereo’s playing your favorite song? Well, that song—at least the feel of it—is
- Bowery Ballroom 6 Delancey St, between Bowery and Chrystie St
- Sun May 19
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