Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, NOV. 09, 2013

Jazz & Colors – Central Park
“This installment is only the second annual Jazz & Colors, but last year’s kickoff edition was such an obvious success that the fest instantly seemed like an NYC fixture. The premise is simple: 30 jazz bands spread across the full expanse of Central Park to muse on a predetermined set of autumn- and New York–themed standards.

But to really understand the effect of this ambulatory feast, you have to turn up and plot your own course. Bring your folks, your kids, your tourist friends—this is an NYC experience for everyone. Performers this year include Wayne Escoffery, Doug Wamble, Joe Alterman, Marika Hughes, Arturo O’Farrill, Kim Thompson, ELEW and many more. See jazzandcolors.com for the complete schedule.” (TONY mag)
Central Park , 59th St to 110th St. between Fifth and Eighth Aves
12 – 4pm / FREE
212-310-6600 / centralparknyc.org

Tony Malaby’s Paloma Recio
“Paloma Recio, a vigorous working band led by the tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, explores shadowy postbop terrain with the subtlest of Spanish accents. The band is usually a quartet with the guitarist Ben Monder, the bassist Eivind Opsvik and the drummer Nasheet Waits; for this engagement, there’ll be two drummers, Dan Weiss and Billy Mintz.” (Chinen-NYT)
Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village,
At 9 and 10:30 p.m., $10 cover, with a $10 minimum
989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE (through Nov. 10)
“The company returns to the DHK Theatre—recently vacated by the ill-fated New York City Opera—for the first time in almost four decades.

Among the highlights of this diverse season are the company’s revival of Twyla Tharp’s “Bach Partita,” her fleet-footed tribute to Balanchine, after a thirty-year absence, and Mark Morris’s “Gong,” a playful piece embellished by Isaac Mizrahi’s rainbow costumes. Alexei Ratmansky offers the mercurial and virtuosic “Piano Concerto No. 1,” from last season.” (NewYorker mag)
DHK Theater, Lincoln Center,
at 2PM: “Bach Partita,” “The Moor’s Pavane,” and “Piano Concerto No. 1.”
at 8PM: “Gong,” “A Month in the Country,” and “Piano Concerto No. 1.”
$20 to $150.
(212) 496-0600, davidhkochtheater.com

Django Reinhardt NY Festival (through Nov. 10)
“Dorado Schmitt, a French guitarist with the roguish charisma and pencil-thin mustache required of any Gypsy jazz paragon, is the inexorable star of this Django Reinhardt NY Festival, as in years past. He’ll be joined by his countrymen and fellow specialists: Ludovic Beier, on accordion; Pierre Blanchard, on violin; and Francko Mehrstein, on rhythm guitar. Joining them are a succession of guests, including EDMAR CASTANEDA- Colombian jazz harpist, tonight.” (Chinen-NYT)
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton,
At 8:30 and 11 p.m./ $40 cover, with a $10 minimum
581-3080, birdlandjazz.com

Big Dance Theater* (last day!)
“Forget hay rides and trick-or-treating. The best way to observe Halloween is with an outing to “Ich, Kürbisgeist,” Big Dance Theater’s autumnally decked-out play about a reclusive peasant clan and its supernatural pumpkin harvest. Paul Lazar directs, Annie-B Parson choreographs and Sibyl Kempson provides the delightfully unintelligible text, written in an invented language. The work had its premiere at the Chocolate Factory last year, and now New York Live Arts has resurrected it as part of the Replay Series. Can this please happen every year?” (Siobhan Burke-NYT)
New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th St. (btw. 7th/8th ave), Chelsea,
At 7:30 p.m., with 10 p.m. shows on Fridays and Saturdays,/ $15 to $30
212-924-0077, newyorklivearts.org

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.

WHAT’S ON VIEW: Here are 3 Special Exhibitions in Chelsea Galleries that you may want to see:

Karl Wirsum* (through Nov. 16)
“In the 1960s when he was a member of the Chicago imagist group the Hairy Who, Karl Wirsum made graphically bristling paintings resembling banners for an underground freak show. His eye-popping and mind-bending first exhibition of new paintings and drawings in New York since 1988 finds him still rambunctiously animated.” (Johnson-NYT)
Derek Eller Gallery, 615 West 27th St. (W of 11th ave.)
(212) 206-6411, derekeller.com

Raqib Shaw, “Paradise Lost” (until Sat Dec 21)
East meets West in the work of this London artist, who originally hails from India, and whose sumptuous, jewel-and-enamel inlaid paintings and intricately detailed sculptures combine numerous traditions and canons—including Indian miniatures and textiles, Old Master painting, Orientalism and Surrealism. His works might be best described as visions of paradise being invaded by the forces of hell. It’s a strange mix that plays upon our notions of exoticism while sending them up. For his debut at Pace, the artist fills all three of the gallery’s Chelsea locations.
Pace Gallery 508 W 25th St. btw Tenth and Eleventh Aves
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm
212-255-4044 / thepacegallery.com

Richard Serra, “New Sculpture” (until Sat Jan 25 2014)
Gagosian’s double dose of Richard Serra presents dueling sides of the sculptor: the popular artist name checked in a Vampire Weekend song, and the confrontational figure familiar from his earlier career.

The gallery’s West 21st Street location presents the former in fine form, with a single massive work. Curling ribbons of steel, set on edge and towering to ceiling height, nestle together to create Serra’s signature bowing and curving of space. They swallow viewers up in a phenomenological ecstasy one usually associates with, say, walking along a narrow canyon. The metal’s russet color only adds to the sensation of experiencing something more natural than man-made.

The tone, if not the scale, of the work shifts on West 24th Street, with a group of sculptures and nary a bend in sight. Hard-edged steel plates, patinated a carceral gray, get in your way like barricades around a government building. A set of enormous blocks serves as a memorial to the recently deceased sculptor Walter De Maria, a friend of Serra’s. Experiential warmth gives way to cold truths as Serra employs his legendary toughness to challenge not only gravity, but death itself.—(Howard Halle/TONY mag)
Gagosian Gallery, 522 W 21st St, btw 10th/11th Aves
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm
212-741-1717 / gagosian.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, see the Chelsea Gallery Guide (nycgo.com)

Or check out TONY magazine’s list of the “Best Chelsea Galleries” and click through to see what’s on view.

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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 (11/07) and (11/05).