Today’s “Fab Five” / Selected NYCity Events – FRIDAY, July 12, 2013

Don’t Forget! – this evening around 8:20pm we have Manhattanhenge.
This natural spectacle occurs when the sun aligns perfectly with Manhattan’s grid. For your best view, try to place yourself as far east as possible along a broad avenue with views across the island (eg. 14th, 34th, 57th Streets work fine – weather permitting).

STEVE FORBERT
The singer-songwriter STEVE FORBERT performs with a full band to mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the release of his first album, “Alive on Arrival.”
CITY WINERY, 155 Varick St.
at 8PM / $20-$22
212-608-0555 / citywinery.com

Louis Hayes Quintet ‘Cannonball Adderley Legacy’
Cannonball Adderley was a much-beloved alto saxophonist who balanced the harmonic precision of bebop with the homegrown grit of soul. This tribute band, led by his former drummer Louis Hayes — and featuring Vincent Herring on alto saxophone, Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Rick Germanson on piano and Dezron Douglas on bass — preserves his spirit faithfully, and with force.” (Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton
At 8:30 and 11 p.m. / $30 and $40 cover, with a $10 minimum
581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com

FFEAR, Blurring the Line Between Jazz and Classical
(new music in bryant park) 
The four-piece jazz ensemble ffear, the forum for electro-acoustic research, blurs the boundaries between classical and jazz with its funky, earthy, and visceral work.
Bryant Park, Upper Terrace & Lawn Gravel, Sixth Ave./42nd St.
At 6:00PM / FREE
1-212-768-4242

Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Through Saturday)
As its new album, “That’s It!” (co-produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket) makes clear, this is no longer your father’s Preservation Hall Jazz Band, or even that of Ben Jaffe, its current director, whose parents founded both the Hall (still standing in New Orleans’s French Quarter) and the band more than 50 years ago.

The original job description was to preserve the authentic sounds of Crescent City jazz going back to the turn of the 20th century, but lately, and particularly in the collaboration with Mr. James, the current mandate is to write and perform new works in the classic tradition as well. In fact, “That’s It” (the title track showcases the dynamic trumpeter Mark Braud) consists entirely of the band’s originals.

Live at McKittrick, home of “Sleep oNo More,” the band also continues to grind out venerable warhorses like “Sugar Foot Stomp”—for those of us who can’t resist shouting, “Oh play that thing!” (WSJ)
The McKittrick Hotel, 530 W. 27th St.
(866) 811-4111

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

Chelsea is the heart of the NYCity contemporary art scene. Home to more than 300 art galleries, the Rubin Museum, the Joyce Theater and The Kitchen performance spaces,   there is no place like it anywhere in the world.

Come here to browse free exhibitions by world-renowned artists and those unknowns waiting to be discovered in an art district that is concentrated between West 18th and West 27th Streets, and 10th and 11th Avenues. Afterwards stop in the Chelsea Market, stroll on the High Line, or rest up at one of the many cafes and bars and discuss the fine art – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

Here are a few Special Exhibitions in Chelsea Galleries that you shouldn’t miss:

“Paul McCarthy and Damon McCarthy: Rebel Dabble Babble” (through July 26)
Paul McCarthy has a large scale exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory, decidedly not on the WestSide. “At Hauser & Wirth, a second extravaganza by the artist, working in collaboration with his son Damon, is in the same politically incorrect, punch-drunk vein on a slightly less epic scale. Here the reference point is the 1955 film “Rebel Without a Cause.” (Cotter-NYT)
Hauser & Wirth, 511 West 18th Street, Chelsea,
Mon – Fri, 10am-6pm / FREE
(212) 790-3900 / hauserwirth.com

Laddie John Dill: ‘Elementary’ (through July 26)
At the end of the 1960s the West Coast Light and Space artist Laddie John Dill began producing electric light works out of blown glass tubes in a lush palette of jewel-bright colors. Here nine of these works, all from 1971, are installed in one room at regular intervals creating a trippy visual chamber music. Elsewhere, glowing constructions of glass panes in geometric arrangements could be models for updates of Stonehenge, monuments for a new cosmic paganism.” (Johnson-NYT)
Nyehaus, 358 West 20th St.
Tue-Sat, 11am-6pm / FREE
366-4493 / nyehaus.com
==========================================================For a listing of 25 essential galleries in the Chelsea Art Gallery District, organized by street, which enables you to create your own Chelsea Art Gallery crawl: Chelsea Gallery Guide (nycgo.com)
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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (07/10) and (07/08).