Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – SATURDAY, MAR. 15, 2014.

Kevin Mahogany
“Kevin Mahogany—an old-school jazz vocal ace with a robust sound and a repertoire that spans standards, blues and classic soul—croons all week in midtown.” (TONY)
Birdland, 315 W 44th St. btw Eighth / Ninth Aves
212-581-3080 / birdlandjazz.com
8:30 and 11pm / $40, plus $10 minimum

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
“For his new album, “The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint,” the powerful young trumpeter augmented his quintet with the OSSO String Quartet; the singers Becca Stevens, Theo Bleckmann, and Cold Specks; and the guitarist Charles Altura. As the album’s producer and chief composer, Akinmusire skillfully embeds his bravura horn work in an undeniably ambitious new-jazz vision. Bleckmann and Altura join his regular band here.” (NewYorker)
Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St.
At 7:30; 9:30 p.m., with an 11:30 set tonight / $25 and $30.
212-576-2232, jazzstandard.net

Justin Townes Earle 
“The Americana lullabies in his childhood must have been spectacular: Mr. Earle is the son of the country renegade Steve Earle and named for his father’s mentor Townes Van Zandt. He captures a pleasing, guttural restlessness in his bluesy ballads about cosmopolitan places. “Down on the Lower East Side,” from his most recent album, “Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now,” paints the destination as foreboding yet irresistible” (Anderson-NYT)
At 7 and 10:45 p.m. / $25 to $40
City Winery, 155 Varick Street, near Spring Street, South Village,
212-608-0555, citywinery.com

The Allman Brothers Band (also other dates through Mar. 29)
“Like a New York version of the Santa Ana winds, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ residency at the Beacon Theater is a proud annual affair. (Your individual tolerance for guitar solos, however, determines the concurrent bluster.)

Last year they celebrated the 40th anniversary of their Southern rock staple “Brothers and Sisters,” and the set list for this iteration should still skew with according reverence to that album, the first the group recorded after the death of its leader Duane Allman”.(Stacey Anderson-NYT)

If you have been meaning to catch this band, better do it this year. Gregg Allman, the band’s singer, keyboardist, and nominal leader, announced that the group as a whole would stop its regular touring after 2014.
Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th St.,
212-465-6500, beacontheatre.com
At 8 p.m. / $50.99 to $150.99.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen…the Beatles!’ (through May 10)
“Drawn from the library’s collection, as well as that of the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live and private collectors, this exhibition of more than 400 items examines the cultural, social and musical impact of the band on American life after its first performance here in 1964. Included are clothing, lyric sheets and a re-creation of a teenager’s bedroom filled with Beatles memorabilia.” (NYT)
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., Mondays and Thursdays from noon to 8 p.m. / FREE
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts:111 Amsterdam Avenue, at 65th Street, Lincoln Center,
917-275-6975, tinyurl.com/kledtsf

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and 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:

Richard Serra, “New Sculpture” (last day!)
“In this show, Richard Serra continues along the road that emerged from the hugely successful “Torqued Ellipses” of the 1990s, but also circles back to his earlier oeuvre. Here you have the Serra of the ’60s and ’70s, revised and updated: heavy rectilinear plates and cubes fabricated in steel rather than lead, his signature material in the ’60s.” (Schwendener-NYT) 
Gagosian Gallery, 555 West 24th Street,
 Tue–Sat 10am–6pm / 212-741-1111, 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. ==========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (03/13) and (03/11).