Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.
Film
Independent Film Festival of Boston Fall Focus
October 31 through November 4
Brattle Theatre & Somerville Theatre
Amy Adams in a scene from Nightbitch.
Nightbitch: October 31 at 7 p.m. A woman (Amy Adams) pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her new domesticity takes a surreal turn. Directed and written by Marielle Heller (The Diary Of A Teenage Girl), based on the debut novel by Rachel Yoder.
It’s Not Me: October 31 at 9 p.m. A self-portrait of director Leos Carax (Holy Motors) and his oeuvre, revisiting in free-form more than 40 years of the author’s filmography.
Eephus: November 1 at 6:30 p.m. As an imminent construction project looms over their beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England Sunday league teams face off for the last time over the course of a day.
Devo: November 1 at 9 p.m. Explore Devo’s 50-year career through never-before-seen archival video and interviews with co-founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig: November 2 at 12 p.m. Shot entirely in secret, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s award-winning thriller centers on a family thrust into the public eye when the father is appointed to be an investigating judge in Tehran.
All We Imagine as Light: November 2 at 3:15 p.m. Moving from urban bustle to seaside idyll, this exquisitely beautiful and heartfelt fiction feature debut from Payal Kapadia follows two nurses experiencing personal turning points that are tinged with the possibility of romance.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl: November 2 at 6 p.m. On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. Once the funeral proceedings begin, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
A scene from Bird, screening at the Independent Film Festival of Boston Fall Focus.
Bird: November 2 at 8 p.m. Andrea Arnold returns with a story about a distracted father (Barry Keoghan) and his lonely and imaginative 12-year-old daughter, Bailey (Nykiya Adams), who develop a yen for attention and adventure.
Flow: November 3 at 12 p.m. A motley but irresistible crew of animals band together for an unforgettable adventure in the watery world created by animator and filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis.
Nickel Boys: November 3 at 1:45 p.m. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Colson Whitehead.
Gaucho Gaucho: November 3 at 4:30 p.m. A celebration of a community of Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as Gauchos, living beyond the boundaries of the modern world.
Hard Truths: November 3 at 6:30PM. British director Mike Leigh reunites with Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies) to create a challenging but ultimately compassionate look at modern family life. Arts Fuse review
A Real Pain: November 3 at 8:30 p.m.. Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother.
The Brutalist at the Somerville Theatre: November 4 at 6:30 p.m. Brady Corbet delivers another bold vision with this American epic starring Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, and Joe Alwyn. It is the story of a Hungarian architect who flees from Europe after the war, giving up more and more of himself in the hopes of rebuilding his life and career.
The AFGA Horror Trailer Show Double Feature
November 1 at 8 p.m.
Arlington Regent Theater
From the dungeon of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) comes The AGFA Horror Trailer Show, a compilation of the most spine-ripping, slime-slinging, soul-shredding horror trailers that you’ve never seen. This epic is partnered with The Cult Of AGFA Trailer Show — 77 minutes of AGFA’s wildest mixtape to date. Go prepared: the entire presentation runs 3 hours, with a 20-minute intermission.
Boston Jewish Film Festival
November 6 through 17 in person; 18-20 online
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, online and other venues
Since 1988, BJFF has featured international award-winning films on Jewish topics and themes. This year there are 15 features and a FreshFlix Short Film Competition. Movies will be shown across West Newton, Cambridge and Boston. Several have multiple screenings and times. Check the schedule. Film Schedule and Desciptions
A scene from Warren Miller’s 75. Photo: courtesy of Warren Miller
Warren Miller’s 75
November 6 at 7:30 pm
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square
Stacked with unbelievable action and unexpected stories, Warren Miller’s 75 features a diverse lineup of snow sports legends, Olympic hopefuls, world champions, X Games stars, and emerging talents maneuvering the powder stashes and chutes around the world, from Canada, Colorado, California, and Utah to Finland, Japan, Austria, and New Jersey.
Boston Punk Rewound / Unbound. The Arthur Freedman Collection
November 8 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Film Archives
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Rathskellar, a nightclub that looms large in Boston lore. This screening features a collection of performances shot on video by Arthur Friedman who recorded an archive of approximately 1,500 shows spanning over thirty years of Boston music. Harvard University acquired the footage in 2011 and it is an essential document filled with local sounds, spaces, and people.
A scene from Neo Homo Promo. Photo: Harvard Film Archive
Neo Homo Promo
November 10 at 3 p.m.
Harvard Film Archive
This is a sequel to the original Homo Promo, directed by several filmmakers and curated by Jenni Olson. The film features original 35mm trailers from some of the most well-known LGBTQ movies of the ’80s and early ’90s. The assemblage, a mix of mainstream and independent footage, reveals the stark differences in sensibility between Hollywood insiders and outsiders.
Pick of the Week
The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump
PBS and YouTube
This Frontline documentary offers a clear-eyed view of the two diametrically opposed candidates who are running for an election that will decide the future of the country: “One seeking vindication and promising a return to greatness, and the other seeking to move beyond the past and promising a greater future.” Michael Kirk and his team, who have made five prior installments of The Choice over the past 25 years, sat down with Trump and Harris’ friends, advisors, and critics, as well as authors, journalists, and political insiders. The result is a pair of deeply reported biographical arcs that go all the way back to the candidates’ childhoods. Says Kirk: “We were pulling together things that happened across their lives that will inform how they make decisions … We always follow this adage: ‘A president can bring to the job no more than the lessons of his own life.’ That is an operating principle for making The Choice“.
— Tim Jackson
World Music and Roots
Country Music: Black Roots and Branches
October 29, 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center
Country music is rooted in Black generes, instruments, and artists, and that fact has finally crossed from academic bromide to public assumption. Or perhaps one should say it that realization has reemerged, given that the first act to play the Grand Ole Opry was DeFord Bailey and Ray Charles was skillfully mixing country and soul 60 years ago. This multigenerational evening will feature once and future Carolina Chocolate Drop and Black cowboy music expert Dom Flemons, singers Donna McElroy and Farayi Malek, and the Boston debut of the Black string band supergroup New Dangerfield, which includes Tray Wellington, Kaïa Kater, Nelson Williams, and Jake Blount. It should be among the standout roots music events of the fall.
André 3000 at Big Ears, 2024. Photo: Christian Stewart
André 3000
October 30, 8 p.m.
Boch Center Wang Theater
The former Outkast rapper garnered a lot of attention when he released the musical results of his shift to ambient Japanese flute music. Now, a year later, he’s still out touring behind his New Blue Sun album. This skeptical writer caught a set at the Big Ears Festival in the spring and was impressed: both with the live band’s ability to infuse the music with deeper dynamics and with André 3000’s engaging stage presence.
Vasilis Kostas, Mike Block, and Sandeep Das
November 1, 7:30 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport
Cellist Mike Block has been curating an ongoing series of concerts at the Shalin Liu where he collaborates with fellow master musicians from around the world. This edition features an especially impressive cast: Greek laouto player and Danilo Pérez band member Vasilis Kostas along with tabla player Sandeep Das, who, like Block, is a member of the Silkroad Ensemble.
Hubby Jenkins, one of the best traditional music masters around. Photo: Orlando Camacho
An Evening with Hubby Jenkins and Elijah Wald
November 7, 8 p.m.
Passim, Cambridge
Whether he’s playing guitar, banjo, or the bones, performing early jazz, country, or the blues, former Carolina Chocolate Drop Hubby Jenkins is one of the best traditional music masters around. For this inspired pairing he’s joined by another artist who knows that music from a century ago can be just as fun as anything on today’s pop charts: guitarist, singer, and author Elijah Wald, whose recent book Jelly Roll Blues is a fascinating and often shocking look at censored music.
Spiritual Encouragers 10th Anniversary Service of Encouragement
November 10, 4 p.m.
St John Missionary Baptist Church, 230 Warren St, Roxbury
Boston gospel stalwarts the Spiritual Encouragers trace their lineage to The Disciplines, a group that Encouragers guitarist Lenny Cox joined in 1969 shortly before they became The God Squad. These days the Spiritual Encouragers bring their inspiring traditional gospel quartet sound to just about every local group and promoter’s anniversary, so it’s only fitting that the likes of the Lord’s Messengers, Men’s Witness Choir of Lincoln Congregational Church and the Jesus Gang will help celebrate the Encouragers. Also on the bill are a pair of excellent groups from Connecticut: Blessings and the Gospel Sensations.
Music of the Jewish World: Turkey, Syria, and Brooklyn
November 10, 3 p.m.
Distler Concert Hall, Tufts University, Medford
The brilliant violinist Beth Bathia Cohen knows as well as anyone the diversity of the Jewish experience – she’s the descendent of both Syrian and Ukranian Jews. For this wide-ranging concert she’s joined by Tev Stevig (oud, tanbur, bendir), Ezki Kurt (voice) & Stefanos Athinaios (percussion).
Singer Mahya Hamedi will join the Crossroads of Sound ensemble. Photo: Berklee
Crossroads of Sound Concert: A Portrait of Iranian Soundscapes
November 10, 4 p.m.
Powers Music School, Belmont
This ongoing series spotlights different Middle Eastern and Mediterranean music traditions. This edition focuses on Iranian music with Boston-based tar virtuoso and composer Alireza Khodayari and singer Mahya Hamedi joining the Crossroads of Sound ensemble.
— Noah Schaffer
Visual Arts
It is hard to think of anything more obsolete than the weathervane. It was never that great at predicting the weather and its feeble utility has long been replaced by TV weatherman, radar, computer models, and the smartphone. Marshall McLuhan liked to say that obsolescence was never the end of anything: it was just its beginning as a work of art. You rarely see period weathervanes decorating barns or houses or churches anymore. They are just too valuable as folk art to be left outside on their own.
Attributed to Cushing and Sons. Pig, c 1890, copper and zinc.
The Colby College Museum of Art’s Into the Wind: American Weathervanes opens on November 9. Prompted by promised gifts from a distinguished Maine private collection– a collection that may eventually make Colby a center for American folk art — the exhibition features both early examples, made by craftsmen in wood and metal, and factory-made models from the second half of the 19th century. The selection includes a beautifully shaped peacock,sheep, a gilded, prancing horse and a stalking, gilded cat, and a copper pig. The show, the museum claims, “dives into the history of the American weathervanes, exploring their symbolism, use, manufacture, and trade in the northeastern United States during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”
Ayana V. Jackson’s Some People Have Spiritual Eyes II Photo: courtesy of artist’s website
Much admired for its vivid colors and its swirling evocation of a ship at the edge a powerful tropical storm, J. M. W. Turner’s painting known as The Slave Ship is one of the most famous and beloved works in the Museum of Fine Arts collection. The work is less often appreciated as the setting of a horror story: its full title is Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On). The work is based on actual events — throwing living slaves overboard during outbreaks of illness and dangerous weather — that were common during the Atlantic slave trade.
In Deep Waters: Four Artists and the Sea, opening November 9, the MFA combines the Turner work with another dramatic and famous painting in the collection, Watson and the Shark, by the American expatriate artist John Singleton Copley, and two contemporary works that “follow a genealogical thread united by the sea.” John Akomfrah’s three- channel film Vertigo Sea (2015) explores “humanity’s tumultuous relationship with the sea and its creatures, and the ocean’s role in the history of slavery.” Photographer Ayana V. Jackson’s Some People Have Spiritual Eyes I and II explores “divinity, femininity, and destiny through self-portraiture” and is “inspired by Drexciya, a mythical aquatic utopia populated by descendants of the pregnant women who lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean during the Middle Passage.”
Sebastian Smee, former Boston Globe art critic, now art critic for the Washington Post, will introduce his latest book Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism at the Clark Art Institute on October 30 at 6 p.m.. The book describes the tumultuous events of 1870 to 1871, when Paris was under siege and bombardment for months by Prussian troops and nearly starved. This period is also often described as the time of the birth of Impressionism. Smee combines these threads of art and conflict with the love story of impressionists Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.
This indigo-dyed cotton bandana is patterned with woodblock stamps. Photo: Victoria Andrews
The word “indigo,” which can mean both a shade of deep blue, a dye, and the plant that produces it comes from the Latin word indicum, which means “Indian:” indigo dyeing originated in South Asia. A Materials Lab Workshop: Indigo Textiles and Dyeing, at the Harvard Art Museums on November 7 from 1 to 4 p.m., will explore the history and techniques of the traditional printed, wax-resist method with Victoria Andrews, a Harvard graduate student in South Asian and Buddhist art, while you make your own indigo textile to take home. The fee is $15 for advance registration; minimum age of 14.
The Boston University Art Gallery opens Moments in Photography: Works by Janice Checchio, Jackie Richiardi & Cydney Scott on October 29. The exhibition features three mid-career photojournalists and “celebrates storytelling through the lens of a camera.” It is perhaps a sign of progress in gender equity that the show does not emphasize the fact that these are all female photographers but highlights their work as individuals. “While capturing highlights and conflicts,” the gallery says, “each artist showcases her own experience preserving a moment.”
The Institute of Contemporary Art’s ICA Gala 2024 takes place on November 8 at 7 p.m. at the ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal Street, Boston. Sponsorships of the fund-raising event range from $30,000 to $100,000 (the $15,000 level is sold out) and includes an evening of cocktails, dinner, and special performances for you and 20, 12, or 10 guests, depending on donation level. At $2,500, a single ticket may seem almost reasonable.
— Peter Walsh
Sylvia Palacios Whitman, Passing Through, Sonnabend Gallery, 1977. Courtesy of Babette Mangolte and BROADWAY 1602 HARLEM, New York.
Given where American politics is headed, artists and the rest of us will have to pick up pointers on the demands of organizing and protest. The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study‘s Rhyme, Rhythm, and Resistance: Enacting the Art of Dissent (at the Lia and William Poorvu Gallery, Schlesinger Library, 3 James Street, Cambridge, opening on November 4 through March 23, 2025) comes along at a propitious time. “Drawn from the Schlesinger Library’s extensive collections, the show explores the people behind protest songs, poetry and spoken word, musicals and plays, and the movements that made them. Rhyme, Rhythm, and Resistance follows a centuries-long effort in the United States to reconcile a poor regard for women’s experiences with a lack of care from parties in power. Using affect theory as a framework, we aim to provide space to take women’s words as seriously as their actions and a critical feminist lens through which to view motivations for speaking up.”
— Bill Marx
Theater
COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.
From left: Gabrielle Policano, Annie Abramczyk, Alexa Lopez and Sophia Marcelle in Falcon Girls at the Yale Repertory Theatre. Photo: Joan Marcus
Falcon Girls by Hilary Bettis. Directed by May Adrales. Staged by Yale Rep at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven, CT, through November 2.
A world premiere of a drama based on a true story: “It’s the ’90s in rural Falcon, Colorado. Six teenage girls on the FFA horse judging team are determined to make it to nationals come hell or high water. But to do that, they must grapple with jealousy, rivalries, sex, Jesus, AOL chat rooms, impossible expectations, and rumors of a serial killer.” The script is a “coming-of-age memoir — and a love letter to the girls Bettis grew up with and the horses who saved their lives.”
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by David Catlin. Directed by Brian Isaac Phillips. Produced by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in partnership with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre at Liberty Hall, Lowell, November 8 through 24.
According to the MRT publicity, this stage version “elucidates not only the fictional story of the novel, but also the true events of how the book came to be written. Brace yourself for an adventure into the heart of darkness with this fresh interpretation of the legendary tale. As the theater darkens, you will find yourself questioning: what makes us monsters?”
Karen MacDonald and Gordon Clapp in the SpeakEasy Stage Company production of Pru Payne. Photo: Nile Scott Studios
Pru Payne by Steven Drukman. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through November 16.
The East Coast premiere of a dramedy that “tells the story of Prudence ‘Pru’ Payne, a sharp-tongued intellectual and critic who recently signed on to share her extraordinary life in an eagerly awaited memoir. But when Pru’s memory starts to fade, her son sets her up in a state-of-the-art care facility, where love takes hold just as the world she once knew begins to slip away.” The topnotch cast includes Gordon Clapp, Karen MacDonald, Marianna Bassham, De’Lon Grant, and Greg Maraio. Arts Fuse review
Tartuffe by Molière. Translated by Richard Wilbur. Directed by Bryn Boice. Staged by the Hub Theatre Company of Boston at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont, Street, November 9 through 24.
Another go at the classic takedown of incredulous people caught in the machinations of religious (and lascivious) hucksters. The cast includes Steve Auger, Lily Ayotte, Jeremy Beazlie, Patrick Curran, Lauren Elias June Kfoury, Brendan O’Neill, Brooks Reeves, Laura Rocklyn, Kayla Sessoms, and Robert Thorpe.
A scene from Double Edge Theatre’s Leonora, la maga y la maestra. Photo: courtesy of the artist
Leonora, la maga y la maestra, conceived, created, and directed by Stacy Klein. Staged by Double Edge Theatre at 948 Conway Road Ashfield on November 8 and then November 13 through 17.
Conceived and directed by Double Edge’s founder and vision strategist Stacy Klein, Leonora, la maga y la maestra is inspired by the visual art, writings, and life of British-born Mexican artist Leonora Carrington and her mentorship of a long line of male artists. This dream-like performance piece unfolds as an encounter between Leonora and Adán (everyman); at its best, it evokes the magic, mystery, and humanity found in Carrington’s eccentric but spellbinding work. This revival follows the company’s international tour to Poland and Norway, where the piece was further adapted and developed. I saw an earlier version of the production, and it was a dazzlingly surreal eyeful.
Galileo’s Daughter by Jessica Dickey. Directed by Reena Dutt. A co-production of WAM Theatre and Central Square Theatre. At the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, from October 18 through November 3. Then at Central Square Theatre, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, November 14 through December 8.
Another theatrical perspective on Galileo: “Rattled by a personal crisis, a playwright flees to Florence to study the letters between Galileo and his eldest daughter Maria Celeste. Caught up in the threats against her father, Maria must abandon her work and join a convent. The writer’s discovery of Maria’s strength and tenacity inspires her own pursuit of purpose. Alternating between past and present, this play is a personal examination of faith, forgiveness, and the cost of seeking and speaking truth.”
A scene from Papel Machete’s On the Eve of Abolition. Photo: Pedro Iván Bonilla
On the Eve of Abolition, a bilingual (Spanish/English) multimedia performance by Papel Machete. Co-presented by Emerson Paramount Center and Ágora Cultural Architects at the Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington Street , October 31 through November 3.
This Papel Machete extravaganza, according to ArtsEmerson is a “radical imaginary sci-fi story set in 2047 about survival, struggle, and the people’s liberation movement that made abolition possible .. puppets, video projection, and miniature sets collide to transport audiences to a future where prison abolitionists have created the conditions to end the prison industrial complex in the liberated lands formerly known as the U.S. and Mexico.”
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Music and lyrics by David Yazbek. Book by Jeffery Lane. Directed by and co-produced by Allison Olivia Choat with musical direction by Catherine Stornetta and choreography by Brad Reinking. Staged by Moonbox Productions at Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow Street, September 28 through October 20.
A 2004 musical comedy version of the 1988 film starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin. According to the Moonbox Productions’ publicity: “Lawrence Jameson makes his lavish living by talking rich ladies out of their money. Freddy Benson more humbly swindles women by waking their compassion with fabricated stories about his grandmother’s failing health. After meeting on a train, they attempt to work together, only to find that this small French town isn’t big enough for the two of them. They agree on a settlement: the first one to extract $50,000 from a young female target, heiress, Christine Colgate, wins, and the other must leave town.”
Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?), written and performed by Zoë Kim. Directed by Chris Yejin. Co-Produced by CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions at the Plaza Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, November 11 through 30.
The world premiere of a one-person drama that is billed as a “love letter to the inner child.” This is “Kim’s autobiographical journey through love’s many forms — how it’s learned, given, and reflected inward.” The performer “shapeshifts into the souls of her family into a whirlwind of memory, where tears and laughter collide. It’s not just a story, but a reckoning — weaving through the soft threads of Korean/American identity, belonging, and healing.”
Sojourners by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Huntington Stage, 264 Huntington Avenue, October 31 through December 1.
The first production of what will be an ambitious, city-wide production (over the course of two seasons) of the complete nine-play Ufot Family Cycle, a Nigerian American family story by the Massachusetts-raised playwright, Mfoniso Udofia. Here’s the plot of the first play in the series, according to the HTC website: “Marriage, migration, and the pursuit of education collide with surprising humor when a young and brilliant Nigerian couple arrives in Houston in 1978, looking to earn their degrees and bring insights back to their home country. But when Abasiama discovers that her husband has been seduced by Motown records and American culture, she begins a surprising friendship with a local woman named Moxie.”
Note: “This Cycle marks the first time all nine plays will be complete and performed in their intended order. In addition to producing the first three plays, The Huntington will also serve as a motherboard of resources and connection to bolster the creative process and success of the remaining six productions that will be mounted through 2026 by and with arts organizations, universities, social organizations, non-profits, and a host of community activation partners.”
Charles Kean’s staging of Lord Byron’s Sardanapalus, with a stage set inspired by Austen Henry Layard’s archaeological finds. The Illustrated London News, June 18, 1853.
Sardanapalus by Lord Byron. Directed by Raz Golden. An on-demand viewing of Red Bull Theater’s staged reading (on October 24) at the Sheen Center Loreto Theatre, 18 Bleecker Street, NYC, streaming through November 3.
This is too rare an opportunity to pass up. A staged reading of Lord Byron’s blank verse tragedy about “the fall of the last Assyrian king and his decadent reign.”
The drama has been produced from time to time. From the Red Bull Theater’s website: “Sardanapalus first opened, long after Byron’s death, at Drury Lane Theater in London on April 10, 1834, in a production by William Macready, which ran for twenty-three nights. The actor and theater manager, Charles Kean, revived the play in 1853 for a successful two seasons of ninety-three performances. It was not uncommon for these Victorian performances to limit the king’s ‘effeminate’ manner and appearance; they cut the mirror scene and downplayed questions of gender identity by emphasizing the play’s representations of militaristic imperialism and governance.
In 1990, Murray Biggs organized a production of the drama at Yale University. This is the second time Red Bull Theater has staged Sardanapalus, and the first time it has broadcast it virtually across the globe. The company’s first in-person performance of Byron’s play took place in 2012 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on 42nd Street in NYC.”
— Bill Marx
Jazz
Guitarist Peter Bernstein. Photo: courtesy of the artist
Peter Bernstein
November 1 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston
One of the finest jazz guitarists on the scene — in any style — Peter Bernstein hits Scullers with a superb band: pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Tyrone Allen, and drummer Joe Farnsworth.
“From Classical to Jazz”
November 1 at 7 p.m.
French Library, Boston
In terms of players, bassist Rick McLaughlin (of the Either/Orchestra and a gazillion other Boston-based outfits) and drummer Michael McKelvy hold down the jazz side, while pianist Antoine De Grolée and cellist Julie Sévilla Fraysse are flying in from France to handle the classical end of the spectrum. The program includes pieces by Debussy, Bach, Claude Bolling, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, and Harold Arlen, as well as originals by the band members, in arrangements for various combinations of the four instruments.
Chicago alto saxophonist Dave Rempis. Photo: courtesy of the artist
Construction Party
November 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.
This “longstanding quintet” of savvy progressive improvisers includes the Chicago alto saxophonist Dave Rempis with a Boston cohort: trumpeter Forbes Graham, pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, bassist Nate McBride, and drummer Luther Gray.
Ken Schaphorst Big Band and NEC Jazz Orchestra
November 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.
This two-fer allows you to catch Ken Schaphorst leading the jazz orchestra of the New England Conservatory (where he is co-chair of jazz studies) along with his own 17-piece big band, drawn from a whole slew of distinguished NEC alum and faculty. The NEC Jazz Orchestra will reprise some of the Charles Ives material from their recent school recital celebrating his 150th birthday, while the big band “will be reflecting on the state of the union with performances of Schaphorst’s ‘Take Back the Country’ and ‘Omega Man’ among others.”
Boston Symphony Orchestra: Duke Ellington Tribute
November 7 (7:30 p.m.) and November 9 (8 p.m.)
Symphony Hall, Boston
The BSO continues its exploration of Black composers and the classical-jazz connection with this all-Ellington program on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death. The pieces include “Three Black Kings,” “Night Creature,” “New World A-Coming,” and selections from his three Sacred Concerts. Gerald Clayton will be the featured soloist for “New World A-Coming” and Renese King will be the featured vocal soloist. Thomas Wilkins, the orchestra’s artistic partner for education and community engagement, will conduct. (A free performance at the Boston Basilica is sold out.)
Ben Wolfe Quartet
November 8 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston
In a week of excellent shows everywhere, Scullers alone could keep you busy almost every night (see Peter Bernstein, above, but also Cyrus Chestnut, Jon Cowherd, and Jesse Taitt), but we’re especially intrigued by this one, not just because of bassist and composer Ben Wolfe’s unfailing reliability to deliver the goods, but also because of the rapport he shares with the very fine saxophonist Nicole Glover on his latest, The Understated. Wolfe and Glover are joined by pianist Orrin Evans and drummer Aaron Kimmel.
The Joshua Redman Group: from left to right: Nazir Ebo, Gabrielle Cavassa, Joshua Redman, Paul Cornish, and Philip Norris. Photo: Sisi Kreft
Joshua Redman Group
November 8 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston
Joshua Redman’s Where Are We was one of the best jazz releases of 2023, traversing Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Count Basie, Charles Ives, Thelonious Monk, and other iconic American composers, sometimes in provocative mash-up arrangements, with unprecedented (for Redman) emotional power. He’s joined for this show by a different lineup than on that album — drummer Nazir Ebo, pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris — but retaining the all-important Gabrielle Cavassa, the first vocalist he’s worked with on one of his own albums.
Buenos Aires-born pianist and composer Pablo Ablanedo. Photo: L.T. Ventana
Pablo Ablanedo Octet(o)
November 9 at 4:45 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass
It’s been a while (the 2013 release of his excellent Recontradoble, to be exact) since we’ve heard from the Buenos Aires-born pianist and composer Pablo Ablanedo. But maybe that’s our own fault. He’s clearly been around, and he comes to the Lilypad for this date (and one on November 16) with his redoubtable Octet(o): flutist Fernando Brandão, trumpeter Dan Rosenthal, sax and clarinet man Todd Brunel, guitarist Eric Hofbauer, bassist Bruno Råberg, and drummer Gen Yoshimura.
Saxophonist and composer Walter Smith III. Photo: Travis Bailey
Walter Smith III
November 9 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.
At last year’s long-awaited reopening of the Regattabar, saxophonist and composer Walter Smith III’s band tore it up in two sold-out shows. (See Arts Fuse review.) Smith is back for another round, in support of his latest Blue Note release, the wryly titled three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not. Which in this case is slightly irrelevant, because Reuben (Rogers) isn’t even on this gig. But two other Houstonians from the album are: pianist Jason Moran and drummer Eric Harland, with the equally capable non-Houstonian Harish Raghavan in the bass chair.
— Jon Garelick
Author Events
Julie C. Dao with Hannah Reynolds — Brookline Booksmith
Now Comes the Mist
October 29 from 7-9 p.m.
Tickets are free or $26 with book
“Dracula’s Lucy Westenra like you’ve never seen her before: In this retelling from critically acclaimed author Julie C. Dao, the perfect woman bites back. The first book of a duology that retells Dracula from the point of view of Lucy Westenra, this gothic romance is perfect for fans of Penny Dreadful and Danielle L. Jensen.”
William Egginton at the Harvard Science Center — Harvard Book Store
The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality
October 30 at 6 p.m.
Tickets are free or $34 with book
“Through fiction, science, and philosophy, the work of these three thinkers coalesced around the powerful, haunting fact that there is an irreconcilable difference between reality “out there” and reality as we experience it. Out of this profound truth comes a multitude of galvanizing ideas: the notion of selfhood, free will, and purpose in human life; the roots of morality, aesthetics, and reason; and the origins and nature of the cosmos itself.
As each of these thinkers shows, every one of us has an incomplete picture of the world. But it’s only as mortal, finite beings are we able to experience the world in its richness and breathtaking majesty. A soaring and lucid reflection on the lives and work of Borges, Heisenberg, and Kant, The Rigor of Angels movingly demonstrates that the mysteries of our place in the world may always loom over us—not as a threat, but as a reminder of our humble humanity.”
Mosab Abu Toha at Harvard Book Store
Forest of Noise: Poems
November 1 at 7 p.m.
Free
“Barely thirty years old, Mosab Abu Toha was already a well-known poet when the current siege of Gaza began. After the Israeli army bombed and destroyed his house, pulverizing a library he had painstakingly built for community use, he and his family fled for their safety. Not for the first time in their lives.
Somehow, amid the chaos, Abu Toha kept writing poems. These are those poems. Uncannily clear, direct, and beautifully tuned, they form one of the most astonishing works of art wrested from wartime. Here are directives for what to do in an air raid; here are lyrics about the poet’s wife, singing to his children to distract them. Huddled in the dark, Abu Toha remembers his grandfather’s oranges, his daughter’s joy in eating them.”
Sy Montgomery with Margery Eagan & Jim Braude — Brookline Booksmith
What the Chicken Knows
November 6 from 7- 8 p.m.
Tickets are $36
“For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery — whose The Soul of an Octopus was a National Book Award finalist — has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality (outgoing or shy, loud or quiet, reckless or cautious) and connects with Sy in her own way.
In this short, delightful book, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable creatures: only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run, and peck; relationships are important to them and the average chicken can recognize more than one hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least twenty-four distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all this, but for Sy what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about twenty percent more chickens on earth than people.”
Serene Khader –Porter Square Books
Faux Feminism: Why We Fall for White Feminism and How We Can Stop
November 7 at 7 p.m.
Free
“A feminist myth buster, Khader begins by deconstructing “faux feminisms.” Thought to be the pillars of good feminism, they may appeal to many but, in truth, leave most women behind. The book identifies these traps that white feminism lays for us all, asking readers to think critically about:
–The Freedom Myth: The overarching misconception that feminism is about personal freedom rather than collective equality
–The Individualism Myth: The pervasive idea that feminism aims to free individual women from social expectations
–The Culture Myth: The harmful misconception that “other” cultures restrict women’s liberation
–The Restriction Myth: The flawed belief that feminism is a fight against social restrictions
–The Judgment Myth: The fallacy of celebrating women’s choices without first interrogating the privileges afforded or denied to the women
In later chapters, Khader draws on global and intersectional feminist lessons of the past and present to imagine feminism’s future. She pays particular attention to women of color, especially those in the Global South. Khader recounts their cultural and political stories of building a more inclusive framework in their societies. These are the women, she argues, from whom today’s feminists can learn.”
Manan Ahmed Asif at Harvard Book Store
Disrupted City: Walking the Pathways of Memory and History in Lahore
November 8 at 7 p.m.
Free
“Over the centuries, the city has kept a firm grip on the imagination of travelers, poets, writers, and artists. More recently, it has been journalists who have been drawn to the city as a focal point for a nation that continues to grab international headlines. For this book, acclaimed historian Manan Ahmed Asif brings to life a diverse and vibrant world by walking the city again and again over the course of many years. Along the way he joins Sufi study circles and architects doing restoration in the medieval parts of Lahore and speaks with a broad range of storytellers and historians. To this Asif juxtaposes deep analysis of the city’s centuries-old literary culture, noting how it reverberates among the people of Lahore today.
To understand modern Pakistan requires understanding its cultural capital, and Disrupted City uses Lahore’s cosmopolitan past and its fractured present to provide a critical lens to challenge the grand narratives of the Pakistani nation-state and its national project of writing history.”
Aaron Mahnke in conversation with Christopher Golden – Porter Square Books
Cabinet of Curiosities
November 11 at 7 p.m.
Free
“The podcast, Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities, has delighted millions of listeners for years with tales of the wonderful, astounding, and downright bizarre people, places, and things throughout history. Now, in Cabinet of Curiosities the book, learn the fascinating story of the invention of the croissant in a country that was not France, and relive the adventures of a dog that stowed away and went to war, only to help capture a German spy. Along the way, readers will pass through the American state of Franklin, watch Abraham Lincoln’s son be rescued by his assassin’s brother, and learn how too many crash landings inspired one pilot to leave the airline industry and trek for the stars.
For the first time ever, Aaron has gathered scores of his favorites in print, and curated them into a beautiful, topical collection for devoted followers and new fans alike.”
Nigel Hamilton – Porter Square Books
Lincoln vs. Davis
November 12 at 7 p.m.
Free;
“From the New York Times bestselling presidential biographer comes the greatest untold story of the Civil War: how two American presidents faced off as the fate of the nation hung in the balance — and how Abraham Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as the last, best chance to save the Union. With a cast of unforgettable characters, from first ladies to fugitive coachmen to treasonous cabinet officials, Lincoln vs. Davis is a spellbinding dual biography from renowned presidential chronicler Nigel Hamilton: a saga that will surprise, touch, and enthrall.”
— Matt Hanson
