Brooklyn-based author Cisco Bradley presents his newest work “The Williamsburg Avant-Garde” in discussion with two musicians whose work helped to define that scene - saxophonist Jon Irabagon and drummer Weasel Walter. Following a discussion of the book, Irabagon and Walter will perform as a duo.

8:30 PM : BOOK LAUNCH & DISCUSSION

Cisco Bradley - author
Jon Irabagon - saxophones
Weasel Walter - drums

9:30 PM : IRABAGON/WALTER DUO

Jon Irabagon - saxophones
Weasel Walter - drums

ABOUT THE BOOK

In The Williamsburg Avant-Garde, Cisco Bradley chronicles the rise and fall of the underground music and art scene in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn between the late 1980s and the early 2010s. Building on the neighborhood's punk DIY approach and aesthetic, Williamsburg's free jazz, post-punk, and noise musicians and groups produced shows in a variety of unlicensed venues as well as in clubs and cafes. At the same time, pirate radio station free103point9 and music festivals made Williamsburg an epicenter of New York's experimental culture. In 2005, New York's rezoning act devastated the community as gentrification displaced its participants farther afield in Brooklyn, Queens, and beyond. With this portrait of Williamsburg, Bradley not only documents some of the most vital music of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, he offers thoughts on the formation, vibrancy, and life span of experimental music and art scenes everywhere.

Cisco Bradley is associate professor of history at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of three books including Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker and The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront.