Top Events / WestSide

Talks About Writing and Hollywood 
Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway, at 12th Street,
(212) 473-1452, strandbooks.com
7 p.m., ; purchase of one of the books
or a $15 Strand book card is required.

“The actress Diane Ladd, whose book “A Bad Afternoon for a Piece of Cake” was published by Inkwell Productions in January, will talk about it with Rex Reed, the film critic and a columnist for The New York Observer.”

Barbara Carroll Quartet
54 Below, 254 West 54th Street, Manhattan,
476-3551, 54below.com
“At 7 and 9 p.m. $25 to $35 cover, with a $15 minimum.

Last week saw the first installment of a WBGO Jazz Series at 54
Below, the room beneath Studio 54. This week Barbara Carroll picks up the thread, practicing her brand of literate jazz cabaret with help from a trusted rhythm section, and from the clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski. (Chinen) NYT”

Jeff Ballard Fairgrounds
Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street,
(212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com;
At 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., $25 cover, with a one-drink minimum.

“Jeff Ballard is one of the standout jazz drummers of his generation, a humming engine of polyrhythm and an ace with earthy texture. He has worked often at the Village Vanguard as a sideman, notably with Fly and the Brad Mehldau Trio, and now he makes his debut as a leader there — rescheduled from the week last fall when Hurricane Sandy hit — with a quintet featuring the trumpeter Eddie Henderson, the pianist Kevin Hays, the guitarist Jeff Parker and the bassist Larry Grenadier.  (Nate Chinen) NYT”

Charnett Moffett
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, 60th Street and Broadway,
at 11 p.m., $5 cover, with a $10 minimum.
(212) 258-9595, jalc.org;

The bassist Charnett Moffett has a new album, “The Bridge” (Motéma), that showcases his facility and musicality in a solo setting, finessing original pieces and choice covers. He’ll do something similar in three separate rooms next week; at Dizzy’s Club he’ll open for the Peter and Will Anderson Quintet.

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS @ 3 MUSEUMS:
(Museum Mile & other Fifth Avenue area Museums)

‘The Path of Nature: French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785-1850’ (through April 21)
“Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity” (through May 27)
“African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde” (through Sept. 2)
Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1000 5th Ave,@ 82nd street /
(212) 535-7710, metmuseum.org

“Zarina: Paper Like Skin” (through April 21)
“Gutai: Splendid Playground” (through May 8)
“No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia” (through May 22)
 “The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo’” (through May 27)
Guggenheim Museum: 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street, /
(212) 423-3500, guggenheim.org.

“Drawing Surrealism” (through April 21)
“Degas, Miss La La and the Cirque Fernando” (through May 12)
Morgan Library & Museum: 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, /
(212) 685-0008, themorgan.org.