The Very Best of NYC Music

Lez Zeppelin Unplugged, Metropolitan Klezmer, Toshi Reagon, Terese Genecco

New York City based all-girl cover band Lez Zeppelin for Lez Zeppelin Unplugged: Stripped Down & Strapped On at the Highline Ballroom Feb 8. Lez Zeppelin has gained worldwide acclaim for the musicianship, passion, and gender-bending audacity it brings to the music of Led Zeppelin. Founded in 2004 by guitarist Steph Paynes, the group didn’t take long to acquire a reputation for playing Zeppelin’s music with force beyond anyone’s expectations.

Brunch is publicly sanctioned daytime drinking. What could be better? Listening to Lea DeLaria while eating and drinking, that’s what. DeLaria brings her powerhouse voice to Joe’s Pub in Lea Delaria: Lea Sings, You Eat Jan 6 and 20. DeLaria will groove with standards and selected hits from her four Warner jazz CDs. It’s an elegant, funny and delicious way to spend a Sunday morning.

Following coast-to-coast national tours in 2012, Metropolitan Klezmer celebrates the New Year with the band’s biggest brunch show to date at the fabulous City Winery Jan 13. Named “one of the finest American klezmer bands” by the U.K.’s Songlines Magazine, Metropolitan Klezmer performs fresh repertoire and beloved favorites. Check out the irresistible 21st century genre-blenders like the ever-popular klezmer cumbia plus rollicking dance, ethereal trance, and Yiddish swing and tango.

American folk/blues musician Toshi Reagon returns to Joe’s Pub Jan 18-20. Calling to mind classic R&B artists like Stevie Wonder or Prince, and old school rock groups like Led Zeppelin, Reagon can take any style and make it her own with incredible ease. Despite (or because of) her genre-bending, she fits comfortably on a stage with any of the Lilith artists, at Carnegie Hall or in a dirty rock club. To truly understand how Reagon can seamlessly transcend all of these genres, you have to check her out live. This weekend she performs with her band Big Lovely and surprise guests including her mom, Bernice Johnson Reagon, who joins her for a special evening of sacred music.

On Jan 29 award-winning singer/bandleader Terese Genecco brings her eight-piece orchestra Little Big Band to the Cutting Room with a special guest star, Broadway/TV /film/jazz and comedy vet Lea DeLaria. The last time these two powerhouse performers hit the stage in the same show, the place went wild. It was an “event” along the lines of seeing The Rat Pack coming together for the first time on the Vegas stage! Four years later and concerts around the globe for both artists, they come together for one crazy evening of jazz.


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