| Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park |
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Page 1 of 2 Celebrate Brooklynconcerts at the Prospect Park Bandshell  The Neville Brothers  Joan Osborne  Ralph Stanley  The Stills Opening night is June 14th and features New Orleans' own The Neville Brothers. Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyril get their groove on at 8 pm. Two nights later on Saturday June 16th is a soulful show not to be missed: Joan Osborne followed by a special commission by BRIC, an instrumental tribute to the music of The Supremes performed by The Jazz Passengers. Brooklyn itself is an incredibly diverse city, but its residents defend their turf fiercely, preferring the term "Brooklynites" to the more generic "New Yorkers." This year's programming at Celebrate Brooklyn honors both the international and local flavor of New York's largest borough. From Brooklyn there’s powerhouse vocalist Joan Osborne (June 16th), family music superstar Dan Zanes (July 22nd), rock heroes The Hold Steady (August 9th), the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra (July 14th), and a celebration of legendary Williamsburg-born songwriter Doc Pomus, which is curated by maverick producer Hal Willner on July 21st. Moving outside the borders of Kings County, Celebrate Brooklyn features a host of international acts as well. Legendary U.K. folksinger Richard Thompson makes a rare NYC appearance with his full band on June 21st, and a night of Montréal indie rock featuring The Stills and Sam Roberts Band goes down on June 30th. The much-celebrated Noche Flamenca brings hot-blooded flamenco dance straight from Madrid on July 12th, followed the next night by Mexico City's alt-rockers Zoe and awesome Barcelone DJ duo The Pinker Tones. Check the schedule below or at celebratebrooklyn.org for the whole list of performers. Thursday, June 14, 8pm The Neville Brothers New Orleans' royal family of funk brings the bayou to Brooklyn to open our 29th season. For more than 30 years Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyril have been turning out some of the tightest grooves and closest harmonies known to man, from classic albums like Fiyo on the Bayou and Yellow Moon to the triumphant 2004 reunion Walkin' in the Shadows of Life. With young Ivan on keyboards adding another generation of sound, the Nevilles' "spicy funk, heavenly ballads and righteous roots connections" (Rolling Stone) have never been more potent. Saturday, June 16, 7.30pm Joan Osborne / The Jazz Passengers: The Supremes Project With her brand new album Breakfast in Bed, an homage to the great soul and R&B of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Brooklyn's own JOAN OSBORNE has reconfirmed her status as one of the most powerful and versatile singers of her generation. "her voice, all on its own, conveys whole choirs of feeling." (Rolling Stone) The wild and wooly JAZZ PASSENGERS, whose "irreverent, sometimes gorgeously cinematic music somehow manages to orbit both Sun Ra and the Marx Brothers," (New York Magazine) take an instrumental approach the classic songs of The Supremes. A special commission for Celebrate Brooklyn. Thursday, June 21, 7:30pm The Richard Thompson Band / Olabelle The iconic British folk rocker RICHARD THOMPSON, here in a rare NYC appearance with his full band, delivers fearsome vocals and "guitar breaks so audacious it's like watching a highwire walker swinging in the wind but never falling off." (The Guardian UK) Drawing from a deep well of gospel, blues, bluegrass, and country influences, OLABELLE creates a "rich, cross-referential take on American roots music." (Paste Magazine) Friday, June 22, 7:30pm Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys / James Reams & The Barnstormers When it comes to bluegrass, RALPH STANLEY has no peers. The living legend, "one of the most important country musicians in the world today," (T Bone Burnett) has kept the flame alive for a half century—with grassroots help from folks like JAMES REAMS, the granddaddy of the local bluegrass scene. Friday, June 29, 7pm Groove Collective / Ravi Coltrane / Craig Harris The acid stalwarts GROOVE COLLECTIVE cap off a night of wide ranging styles with an "exhilarating soul-jazz jam session." (Down Beat) The "startlingly original" (New York Times) young sax lion RAVI COLTRANE has deftly forged his own path while embracing his father's legacy. Coltrane and his quartet bring a hard bop edge to the proceedings, while the esoteric trombonist CRAIG HARRIS "is a throwback to the days when brass players made their instruments speak." (Philadelphia Inquirer) Saturday, June 30, 7pm The Stills / Sam Roberts Band / Malajube A tasty sampling from Montréal's indie scene: THE STILLS' come packing "a rush of shoegazer guitars and suave loverboy angst"; (Rolling Stone) SAM ROBERTS BAND, with their epic new album Chemical City, arrive ready to "give American audiences a taste of their wistful, nouveau-psychedelic sound"; (Spin) and MALAJUBE will send the francophone contingent into a delirious swoon of ecstasy as they throb with "the ramshackle exuberance of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" (Pitchfork) and sing about dirty things en Français. Presented with major support from the Canadian Consulate General in New York. Thursday, July 5, 7.30pm Issac Delgado / Xiomara Laugart / Pistolera ISSAC DELGADO, the most inventive and beloved modern salsa singer of his generation, blends Afro-Caribbean rhythms with elements of pop and jazz. The liquid-voiced XIOMARA LAUGART, lead singer of the Cuban-African-hip-hop-funk mob Yerba Buena, introduces her new solo project to Brooklyn, and the blistering Mexican alt folk of PISTOLERA completes a night of deeply booty shaking Latin rhythms. Friday, July 6, 7.30pm REwind: A Cantata For Voice, Tape & Testimony Composed by Philip Miller with additional vocal arrangements by Mduduzi Mofokeng. Commissioned by the Spier Arts Trust (South Africa), MASS MoCA, Williams College ’62 Center for Theater and Dance, and the Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts Festival. A very special surprise guest will honor Celebrate Brooklyn by beginning this once-in-a-lifetime event. Cape Town composer Philip Miller's extraordinary international collaboration is based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings that led South Africa from apartheid to democracy. Opera superstar Sibongile Khumalo joins other South African soloists and a 100-voice chorus composed of Brooklyn's Total Praise Choir of Emanuel Baptist Church, the Williams College Choir, and South African ex-pats led by Lion King choirmaster Ron Kunene. The music blends seamlessly with samples of recorded TRC testimony and stunning projected images. "The Cantata brought together the cry of our country—our pain and fears, our hopes and especially our triumphs and joys in the way we as South Africans can best express these emotions—in music and song. It was a deeply moving, most powerful and uplifting experience." (Archbishop Desmond Tutu) Co-commissioned by Celebrate Brooklyn. Read on for more Celebrate Brooklyn shows. |
