Music
| 12 May 2026 | 01:05
Mavis Staples recording her most recent album, “Sad and Beautiful World.” (
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FOLC conductor Jonathan Heyward and saxophonist Jess Gillam. (
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Summer Stage event workers with sign paddles to guide you. (
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The four mighty men of Living Colour: Doug Wimbish, Will Calhoun, Corey Glover, Vernon Reid. (
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The mighty foursome of Living Colour. (
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City Parks Summer Stage
Central Park
www.cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage
As Fred Sanford famously exclaimed with numerous variations, “Oh, this is the big one!” That what was apt for a beloved Los Angeles junk dealer is equally applicable to City Parks Summer Stage is one of those happy accidents of history, especially in the program’s 40th anniversary year; one only wishes Redd Foxx were here to see it. (For Foxx’s greatest Manhattan role, see director Ossie Davis’ 1970 film version of Chester Himes’ “Cotton Comes to Harlem.”) Among this year’s Summer Stage highlights are a June 22 presentation of “New York Sings Yiddish: Passing the Torch to a New Generation” featuring: The Shvesters, YidLife Crisis, Yair Keydar, Riki Rose and more. On June 26, multidisciplinary icon Laurie Anderson performs “Republic of Love” with Sexmob, the long running jazz band of trumpeter Steven Bernstein. July 16 brings the mighty Mavis Staples and soul singer Brother Wallace to the stage. While the legendary Staples needs no introduction, Wallace, a church-raised former music teacher from West Point, Georgia, on the Peach State’s middle-western border with Alabama, will be a revelation to many. On September 2, Christian McBride and Mei Semones will play the gently sweaty music of Stan Getz and João Gilberto.
Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center,
212-501-3100
Because there are still people who’ll wear their beloved Mostly Mozart t-shirts until they’re more holes than garment, it’s worth highlighting that while the loss of one of Lincoln’s Center’s most beloved institutions is still felt, and lamentable, its successor, the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Cente (FOLC) is quite praiseworthy. “The Play of Fate” (July 22) and “Jubilation and Fanfare” (July 15) are fantastic, the former features violinst Alina Ibragimova in Mozart, Schubert and Schnittke, while latter has FOLC embracing Franz Haydn, Adolphus Hailstork, Richard Strauss and Ethel Smyth. Make no mistake, FOLC’s music director Jonathon Heyward is a terrific conductor and his band does him proud; would that both could fly their flags more boldly.
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
Tompkins Square and Marcus Garvey Parks
August 28-30
www.cityparksfoundation.org/charlieparker
Though it now falls under the City Parks Foundation aegis, the venerable Charlie Parker Jazz Festival represents such a remarkable—and important—cultural tradition, it merits appreciation on its own. Let’s start with its namesake, who was born August 29, 1920 in Kansas City, Kansas. By the early 1940s, through a combination of genius and hard work, lovingly nicknamed “Bird” (or “Yardbird”) had worked his way through the dominant big band sound to revolutionize all of jazz music. Bird’s brilliance overflowed into not just his own alto saxophone and improvisations, but any musician who heard him— and many non-musicians too. Listen to “Cherokee,” “Ko Ko,” the Town Hall Concert 1945, more. Parker can’t be equaled, transcended or outgrown; his rhythmic brilliance alone is astonishing, let alone his harmony, speed, emotion. Taken together, that’s why the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival exists, and is perhaps more important today than when many of Bird’s contemporaries were alive. Down by Tompkins Square Park, remember to pay homage to the Charlie Parker Residence at 151 Avenue B. Among this year’s performers are Ravi Coltrane and Joshua Redman. Over August 27-29, don’t miss WKCR’s annual Charlie Parker–Lester Young Birthday Broadcast.
The Rooftop at Pier 17
89 South Street
646-603-6063
Even as “Pick Up on South Street” admirers lament the demise of Pier 17’s neighbor, the deliciously designed but financially doomed Tin Building food hall by Jean-Georges, the concert venue is swinging from strength to strength. Though tickets are sold out, there’s might be ways to finagle a way to see Belle & Sebastian, the formerly twee, somewhat rickety Scottish indie-rockers turned resilient, rousing heroes, who’ll be down by the docks on May 22-23. Country rock fans will get their shrimp and grits fix with Nate Smith on May 28, while backpack rap devotees will be curious to hear what Lupe Fiasco sounds like twenty years on from “Food & Liquor” on June 10. Perhaps the oddest and most beloved rock band of twin sisters ever—that’s the Breeders of Kim and Kelley Deal—along with longtime bandmates Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson will make the East River resound on June 24. Those mourning the recent death of the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir will find solace with the Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra on June 25-26 and the always revivifying New Orleans sounds of Trombone Shorty on July 15. The Psychedelic Furs arrive, with the eerily youthful and still brilliant Living Colour opening, on August 15.
The Stone
The New School Glass Box Theater
55 W. 13th St.
For music and nothing but, it’s difficult to beat The Stone, though attendance of a show here brings with it a sense of community and history. Founder and artistic director John Zorn is the big name of course, but the venue in fact honors the husband-and-wife duo of Irving and Stephanie Stone, indomitable and beloved avant-garde jazz fans who were often a generation older than many of the performers supported. Irving died in 2004 at age 80; Stephanie in 2014, at age 93. In 2018, The Stone moved to its current location within the New School and hasn’t missed a beat, in whatever time signature or polyrhythm is most apt in the moment. Summer 2026 highlights include vocalist Sara Serpa (May 27-30); legendary percussionist Cyro Baptista (June 3-6); Yoona Kim, master of the Korean bowed zither called an ajeang (July 15-18); the mighty saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts (August 5-8).