Top Events / WestSide

Kristin Hoffmann
Caffe Vivaldi – 32 Jones Street (btw. Bleecker/W4th)
9:15 & 10:45PM; no cover. (212) 691-7538

“The voice can remind you of Sarah McLachlan or Joni Mitchell in one moment then turn towards the grittiness of Janis Joplin or the rock power of Pat Benetar in the next. But the ability to possess all these facets in one voice makes singer Kristin Hoffmann intrinsically unique.”- E.J. Jacobs,Topcoat Magazine

Kevin Eubanks
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street (btw 8th and 9th Avenues)
8:30 and 11 p.m. , $30 and $40 cover, with a $10 minimum
(212) 581-308 / birdlandjazz.com

“On “The Messenger” (Mack Avenue), his most recent album, the versatile guitarist Kevin Eubanks lays out a well-considered mix of in-the-pocket funk, untroubled fusion and soulful ballads. It’s not only his strongest work since leaving “The Tonight Show”; it’s his most satisfying effort in more than a decade. And as with this engagement, it features Bill Pierce on saxophone and Rene Camacho on bass, along with a firecracker of a drummer (Nate Smith, in this case). — NATE CHINEN, NYT”

Linda Eder
54 Below, 254 W 54th st Cellar
8:30 pm/$75 & 11:00 pm/$30;
Food & Beverage Minimum $30

“One of the world’s most beloved and versatile voices, Linda Eder is forever linked to Broadway history via her Theatre World Award winning performance in Jekyll & Hyde. 54 Below is delighted to welcome this celebrated songstress to our stage for six very special performances only. She’s a best-selling recording artist with fourteen solo albums to her credit, but this April, get up close and personal with Linda in Broadway’s living room.”

John Singer Sargent Watercolors
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park
718-638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org

“The exhibition brings together 93 of his watercolors and 9 oil paintings from the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both institutions acquired significant quantities of his work early on, the Brooklyn Museum from Sargent’s career debut show in New York in 1909 and the Boston museum from a solo show there in 1912.

The beauty of Sargent’s watercolors is in how seemingly effortlessly yet exactly he captured outdoor light and complicated man-made and natural forms. In landscapes, close studies of fruit and flowers and portraits of women you see at once the supremely deft action of the brush and the illusions of a sun-drenched halcyon world that it conjures. Prepare for bedazzlement. (KEN JOHNSON) 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”

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change.

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.