By Merle Exit
In its 10th year, Make Music New York will bring a mix of over 1,000 free outdoor concerts to the city Tuesday, with a long list of family-themed events taking place in Queens.
From classical to folk, hip hop to opera, Latin jazz to punk rock, music will fill the sidewalks, streets, parks, gardens, plazas and porches of communities across the borough—all on the longest day of the year.
It’s all a part of Make Music Day, said to be the world’s largest annual music event, including events in more than 38 cities around the United States. It is the highlight of the international Fête de la Musique, which takes place in 700 cities across 120 countries.
“Of the many interesting concerts happening in different neighborhoods, particularly worth checking out are ‘Inside the Bird Chorus’ at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, an afternoon of jazz at the Louis Armstrong House in Corona and the ‘Street Studio’ in front of the Jamaica Performing Arts Center,” Jenny Undercofler, executive director of Make Music New York, said.
In “Inside the Bird Chorus,” oboist Dave Kadden will improvise a dialogue between himself and native bird species of the city. The event is something of an early bird itself, getting underway at 5 a.m. in the South Garden of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
Jazz musicians will gather at the Louis Armstrong House Museum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to play standard jazz numbers. At 11 a.m., the Lauren Lee “Space Jazz” Trio will hit the stage, followed at noon with selections from Great American Song Book performed by the Ed Polcer Jazz Group. The afternoon will feature performances from the Christophe Assier Quartet, the New School Jazz Quartet, singer Audrey Silver and the Elias Ortiz Quintet.
People will also get the opportunity to make their own kind of music as eight small mobile recording studios take to the sidewalks of New York. One will be located at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Composer Matt Welch will be presenting a Mass Appeal called Windchime in Court Square starting at noon. Windchime is described as being an “interactive musical work for a public space, intended for a large group of Highland bagpipers and bass woodwinds.” Windchime is a collaboration between bagpiper-composer Matthew Welch, saxophonist-composer Shelley Washington and bassoonist-composer Susanna Hancock.
The performers will walk along mapped-out paths as audience members absorb the constantly changing sonic space from any vantage point: outside, inside and walking through the sound field.
“I am excited to be presenting Windchime as part of Make Music New York because it is the only institution in the city that makes public music-making possible,” Welch said. “I am particularly happy to be presenting Windchime in Queens because the diversity of the piece is like the diversity of the borough. The different instrumentation of the piece—bagpipes, saxophones, bassoons, and so on—is meant to evoke different wind chimes from around the world.”
Queens events
ASTORIA
Athens Square Park
1 p.m. Qismat, open mic hosted by Al Qually
Fatty’s Bar and Restaurant
45-17 28th Ave.
11:30 a.m. Fatty’s Locals, neighborhood rock and pop bands
6 p.m. M. Nero Nava, rock and roll composite band
7 p.m. Nervous Breakdowns, pop/noise band
The Sparrow Tavern
24-01 29th St.
8 p.m. Sweet Magma, Queens-native rock n’ roll
Snowdonia
34-55 32nd St.
12:45 p.m. Desmond McManus, classic rocker pop
6 p.m. Supermajor, six-piece rock collective
BROAD CHANNEL
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge—South Garden
1 Cross Bay Blvd.
5 a.m. “Inside the Bird Chorus”—oboist Dave Kadden improvises with birds
ELMHURST
Dunningham Triangle
82nd and Ithaca streets
Noon Os Clavelitos, six-piece Samba band
1 p.m. La Huerta, nostalgic experimental Latin band
2 p.m. Ken Voisin, light rock and pop standards on keys
3 p.m. Hejira—A World Music Experience, Middle Eastern/jazz fusion
Manuel de Dios Unanue Triangle
83rd Street and Roosevelt Avemue
Noon Brooklyn United Marching Band, youth band playing classics
1:30 p.m. Goussy Celestin, Haitian-American jazz vocalist
2:30 p.m. La Huerta, nostalgic experimental Latin band
3:30 p.m. Gian-Carla, female jazz-fusion singer
FLUSHING
Studio M / Afro-Asian Barbeque
36-41 Main St.
7 p.m. Q Morrow, jazz-inflected world compositions
FOREST HILLS
Red Pipe Cafe
71-60 Austin St.
6 p.m. Joel Landy & Friends, folksy and uplifting guitar
8:30 p.m. Joan Mercury, R&B/pop vocals
JAMAICA
Jamaica Performing Arts Center
153-10 Jamaica Ave.
3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Street Studio: Jamaica. One of eight small mobile recording studios on sidewalks throughout NYC, for the spontaneous collaborative production of original music.
Life Camp
111-12 Sutphin Blvd.
7 p.m. Tafari XL, hip-hop performer from Jamaica
McKinley’s Children’s Garden
108-56 Union Hall St.
11:30 a.m. Noni Rene, Philly-bred rock and soul singer
Noon Benita Charles, Harlem-based soul singer/songwriter
12:30 p.m. Smax Music, eclectic reggae-rock band
1:30 p.m. Jason Waters, Queens-native folkrock singer/songwriter
LONG ISLAND CITY
Court Square
Noon – 2 p.m. Windchime (Mass Appeal Bagpipes and Low Woodwinds), an interactive musical work for a public space, intended for a large group of Highland bagpipers and bass woodwinds, composed by Matthew Welch, Shelley Washington and Susanna Hancock.
The Local NY
13-02 44th Ave.
7 p.m. Dennis Doyle, solo guitar and singer, original blues/rock-inspired songs
7:30 p.m. Richard McGraw, indie-folk singer/songwriter
8 p.m. TheBandCC, female-fronted rock band
Socrates Sculpture Park
32-01 Vernon Blvd.
7 p.m. Batala NYC, Afro-Brazilian drum ensemble
RIDGEWOOD
Ridgewood Veteran’s Triangle
Myrtle and Cypress avenues
3:45 p.m., RKHTY, reggae and R&B-inflected singer/songwriter
4:45 p.m. Jacob Friedman, atmospheric improvised looping guitar
5:45 p.m. E$go, experimental rap artist from Sunset Park
7 p.m. Ken Voisin, light rock and pop standards on keys
Venditti Square
Woodbine Street and Myrtle Avenue
4:30 p.m., Christian Linsey, indie-rock drummer and songwriter
6 p.m. Devil Pup, hip-hop rock fused with Electronics
71st Avenue Plaza
71st Avenue & Myrtle Avenue
Noon Ken Voisin, light rock and pop standards on keys
4 p.m. Joe Fuoco’s Music Center and Friends, musicians and teachers from Glendale
SUNNYSIDE
Bar 43
43-06 43rd St.
4 p.m., John Malone, Irish and classic rock
Queens Library at Sunnyside
43-06 Greenpoint Ave.
11 a.m. Robert Buscarsi, multi-lingual troubadour singing popular standards
2 p.m. Rolando R., eclectic jazz fusion
3 p.m. Bradley True, rocking children’s music artist
Spring Into the Plazas
Queens Boulevard and 40th Street
4 p.m. A Sunnyside Mixtape, hip-hop theater celebration of Sunnyside
WOODHAVEN
John Cage: Waltz 40.2
98th Street between Jamaica & 89th avenues
10 a.m.– 9 p.m. John Cage’s 49 Waltzes from 1977 asks for performers to capture music (sound) around them in specific locations throughout New York City. Anyone and everyone is welcome to take part.
12:30 p.m. Roberto Buscarsi. multi-lingual troubadour singing popular standards
