Sometimes the cosmic concurrence of things just stuns me. The timing of this release could not have been more apt; a cycle complete, a rotation rapped. I took a walk and listened through the album the morning it came out. Its different hearing this music now that I’ve let go of it. Looking back on the place from which I wrote those songs, standing in the place I am now, brought me to some version of tears. I have so much love and care for who she was. I’m grateful for her faith in resilience, her courage to fall, and her belief that she’d rise again. There’s something very specific about this experience that is summed up in a shifting view of the past. I hope these songs resonate with you in some way or another.

I’m so grateful to everyone who worked on this album with me and helped bring the music to life both recorded and live. Nate Mendelsohn was my fearless and ever-inspiring co-producer, engineer, mixer, and played countless instruments across the tracks. His openness, generosity, and passion for the process made the making so fun. Stephen Becker played bass and lead guitar on most of the tracks. His precision and ideas add so much to the music. Jon Starks played drums wherever you hear drums. He’s the goat and its such a pleasure to play so many different kinds of music together; he nails it all. Adam Brisbin, Camila Ortiz, Shahzad Ismaily, Ben Cruz, and Benny Bock all added crucial elements to this record as well and I’m so eternally grateful for the sounds they contributed which truly brought the songs to life in a whole new way, from vocal harmonies to baritone guitar bends to synth sprays. My dear friends Rachel Andes and Wendy Eisenberg respectively took stunning photos and wrote gorgeous liner notes (which you can read on bandcamp). I’m also deeply appreciative of Eli Crews who mastered the album beautifully and Worm Records for making a home for the music and providing moral and technical support on the distribution end. I’m also full of endless gratitude for all the friends who lent ears along the way, whether it was to the songs as they evolved or to my gabbing.

I learned gobs while writing & recording Glass, both in the technical and emotional realms, but more on that later. For now I will leave you with some links to nice press that the music has received in the last few days, all due to the wonderful and tireless work of Steph Stewart. And of course, scroll down for recs and the gigs upcoming!

• A really lovely interview with Zara Hedderman for The Bad Arts where I talk about watching dogs at the park, making mixtapes, and the feeling of holding something for yourself before sharing it.

• Glass included in NPR New Music Friday album roundup

• Glass featured on Bandcamp Daily with a really nice interview with Michal Wieczorek where I talk about playing Gamelan music, Anne Carson, and the differences between songwriting and instrumental composition.

• Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express write-up where my voice is flatteringly and astoundingly compared to Aimee Mann’s, Jon is likened to Ringo, and Stephen to Paul.

What I’m listening to:

1. Hiding Places - The Secret To Good Living

2. Andrew Hill - Live at Montreux

3. fif - fif

4. Travesía - Ni un Minuto Más de Dolor

5. Liz Phair - whitechocolatespaceegg

What I’m reading:

1. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (reread)

2. On the Calculation of Volume: vol. IV by Solvej Balle

Upcoming August Shows:

8.5 duo songs with Stephen Becker at Threes Brewing - epic bill with Ian Davis Rock Band and Whait (Wendy & Mari)

8.7 Peter Apfelbaum Hieroglyphics Quartet at Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church in Harlem

8.8 solo style songs at Stone Circle - sharing the night with Stefani Bondari and Ruby Joanna

8.9 Ski Team at Ilegal Mezcal in Greenpoint

8.12 Group of Five (Spenser Naess, Josh Halper, Aidan Cafferty, Gabe Lee, and me) at Dada Bar

8.15 Tsons of Tsunami at Postcard Brewing in The Rockaways

8.16 Peter Apfelbaum Hieroglyphics Sextet at Brooklyn Museum Summer Jazz Series

8.23 Flute Choir at Life World for Gross World Music Fest

P.S. I have cassettes for sale on Bandcamp and I will mail them to you with a sweet little surprise included or you can snag one at an upcoming show! Stay tuned for info on September release show…

Much love,

N

The last few months have felt like the latter. The last few weeks even more so. Something about the summer’s arrival brings this swiftness like no other season. I notice the cyclical stillness/movement so much more since moving to the East Coast. The coming and the going mark time and, on a slightly less grand, but larger scale, the chapters are delineated by a backdrop of different apartments, mostly lasting no longer than eighteen months. I’m getting ready to transition to a new space and hoping this setting will stick for a few chapters to come. I’m ready to make a space feel like mine and to imagine my future within its walls. When I enter a new room I plan on hanging out in for a while I often find myself thinking about all the different feelings and life events I’ll experience there. I think about the music that will be written, the loss and the grief that will be felt, the wins and the dreams to be had. In a lot of ways this timing feels apt. Life is currently full of new projects, new people, and now a new home. Release, release, release. New lease.

Before I make this move, however, I have a very busy coming week to tell you about. Here’s what’s about to transpire:

6.18 I play my songs duo with Stephen Becker at The Greenhouse, a rooftop venue located at Los Depressos Recording Studio.

6.20 I play at The Stone for the first time with The Californians, a band made up of Simon Hanes, Fred Frith, Ches Smith, and myself.

6.21 I record trio with Fred Frith and Simon Hanes then play Simon’s Hurricane Salad music at Lifeworld.

6.22 I play trio with Fred and Simon at Lava Club.

6.23 I fly to SF for Gia Margaret Tour and play at The Chapel.

6.24 Glass single #2 comes out including a music video by Annie McCutchan that I’m very excited to share.

6.26 I play at Sid The Cat Auditorium in LA with Gia.

6.27 I play at Pappy & Harriets in Pioneertown with Gia.

I’m deeply looking forward to each one of these days ahead and feeling so grateful for the variety of music I get to play with this insane variety of amazing musicians!

In other news, my first single, ‘Noble Gas’ has been out for about two weeks and I so appreciate all the people who have taken the time to listen and share. It was named Song of the Day at Northern Transmissions and got a nice write up in Far Out Magazine. I had a nice conversation about the record with Jordan Michael which you can check out here. I can’t wait for you to hear the rest of the music very soon! You can pre-order Glass on Bandcamp.

Enjoy the sun, avoid the burn…

TTFN,

N

Every day on tour you wake up in a new place, open your eyes to a new room, wash your face at a new sink, take in new sounds, new smells. Every day you know you’ll reconvene with the same five people who have gone from strangers to constant companions in the course of a week. Every day you’ll drive, and that action - that forward motion - lends comfort. You’re all moving with a shared purpose towards a shared goal, a kind of insane practice: one that involves hauling several tons of gear in service of seventy five minutes of music only to break it all down, load it into the van, and do it all again tomorrow. But the ritual of it all and the effort collectively mustered and executed gives the music a reverent place to live, even in the grimy walls of a blackbox dive with its punched out greenroom bathroom door, its LED wall that costs extra, and its belching macho staff. You’re all moving with the sun in view, the reason clear, and a strange but steadfast semblance of routine. You know what you’ll be doing tomorrow and who you’ll be doing it with and you’ll continue building this tower together despite completely new surroundings, smells, and sounds. Dysregulation becomes your regulation and when you finally get home and wake up to your room it takes a few minutes to recognize where you are. A wash of sadness and anxiety pours through your bleary and stationary waking. The sense of singular purpose splinters into a log poorly axed with frayed pieces of wood flying, each one a responsibility or loose end you left behind when you joined the circus. But you know you must turn your attention from the road to the wood and begin sculpting. You know each splintered shard will eventually become smooth with your touch and your care. You know this because you’ve seen how attention and reverence can insulate and uplift the seemingly impossible and the objectively insane.

For the next month I’ll be back home whittling the log until heading to the west coast for part two!

A few upcoming gigs:

5/20 duo with Isaac Grossman on pedal steel at Bridge & Tunnel Brewing

5/21 full band songs (with Stephen Becker, Adam Brisbin, and Jon Starks) at Threes Brewing

6/6 Christina Galisatus band at Close Up

6/20 quartet with Simon Hanes, Fred Frith, and Ches Smith at The Stone

6/21 Simon Hanes’ Hurricane Salad at Lifeworld

6/22 trio with Simon Hanes & Fred Frith at Lava Club

Some tour highlights and recs:

1. Rosie Mae’s Alpaca Farm in North Georgia near Chattanooga, TN. If I ever go missing chances are I moved south and opened an alpaca farm. Extremely necessary tour stop.

2. Montrose Bird Sanctuary in Chicago - another much needed dose of animals and nature.

3. Txa Txa Club in Chicago - one of the most refreshing and interesting meals I’ve had in a while! I highly recommend going right after visiting Garfield Conservatory. It felt like eating the fern room but like, in a good way.

4. Carroll Dunham exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago

5. Random super nice and deserted rest stop somewhere near Pelham, SC with great bird and tree sounds, a little waterfall, and a perfectly sloped grassy hill to lie on and stretch the back out.

6. Intuit Art Museum in Chicago!!!

7. Post-tour sauna (gonna make this a regular ritual I think) - great way to reintegrate and relax the body. I went to this one under the train tracks in Chicago called Lost Language.

What I’ve been listening to:

1. Solex - Pick Up

2. Maggie Roche - Where Do I Come From

3. This Is Lorelei - Box for Buddy, Box for Star

4. Stephen Becker - Gravity Blanket

5. Goat (JP) - Joy In Fear

6. caroline - caroline 2

7. Good Sad Happy Bad - Shades

8. Stina Nordestam - And She Closed Her Eyes

What I’ve been reading:

1. Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles

2. On The Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle

3. Abundance by Annie Dillard

Keep your ears open for an announcement from the nora songs universe coming in two weeks!!

See you lovelies soon I hope,

N

Some things that saved me from the pit of despair this past month:

1. Solo drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains, southern compassion & the big sky.

2. Mucinex, Flonase & Honey (my new lawfirm).

3. Eliana Glass' album E and hearing her play this music in a church at Big Ears - just voice and piano - so intimate, so ancient.

4. Richard Dawson singing about anxiety in another church at Big Ears and then playing a Michael Hurley song on the same stage where I’d seen him play just weeks before he passed last year - a real feeling of continuum.

5. Gumby’s Junk/Pateka/Wendy show at Purgatory.

6. Feeling needed.

7. Living Torch by Kali Malone

8. The way my student says Albert Ayler like “Hybin Hybler”.

9. A few new releases from friends that are blowing my mind and making the world feel brighter: Body Sound by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl & Macie Stewart; Wendy Eisenberg by Wendy Eisenberg; Runoff by Otracami.

10. Spring.

What I read:

1. Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon

2. Dubliners by James Joyce

3. An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector

What I listened to:

1. Richard Dawson - End of the Middle and The Magic Bridge and 2020

2. Otracami - Runoff

3. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine and Bad Moon Rising

4. Lana Del Ray - Norman F*****g Rockwell

5. RCA Country Legends - The Bristol Sessions

A few films I watched:

1. Red Desert

2. (rewatched) The Favourite

3. Shoplifters and Monster (both Kore-eda)

4. A Woman Under the Influence

5. Local Hero

Last month I released a single entitled "Tether," from a piece I made with my dear friends and amazing dancers Corinne Lohner and Rachel Andes last spring. We’re working on ways to continue developing this piece but in the meantime I thought I’d share the music. Gabe Lee added some drums and I sampled Shahzad Ismaily moog magic from a separate session. Jonathan Bailey mastered.

In other news, I’m going on tour at the end of the month! I’ll be one third of the band bringing Gia Margaret’s new album Singing to life and we are playing in these cities:

In the meantime, here’s where I’m playing this April in NYC:

4/4 Tsons of Tsunami at Barbes

4/7 duo with Wendy Eisenberg at Singers

4/11 with Max Jaffe playing music from his new record You Want That Too at Public Records // also playing with Tsons of Tsunami on the same bill!

4/12 solo at Threes Brewing

4/15 songs band at Threes Brewing

4/23-25 Stacy Spence at St. Marks Church (this is a dance piece sponsored by Danspace that we will be in residency for all month - come check it out!)

I can’t wait to see you.

xo,

nora

The next few months are shaping up to be busy which feels only right as we emerge from this endless winter. Along with some shows in town I’ll be heading to Big Ears at the end of the month and excited to join a few friends for their sets including Jesse Harris Cosmo and Tsons of Tsunami. Last year at BE was hugely inspiring and this year suggests no less of an adventure. I’ll be there with all the woodwinds and stoked to add anything to anyone’s set!

________

A few thoughts, recs, etc:

1. I’m captivated by the world building and time turning of Joachim Trier. I saw Sentimental Value back in the fall and its been on my mind ever since. I recently saw two other films of his and once again am struck by how special it is to witness process across discrete works. I have yet to watch Reprise but I’ve seen the two other films in the Oslo Trilogy and I found it so compelling the way Trier creates almost parallel dimensions with each film starring many of the same actors playing similar roles, using the same cafes and houses, and ultimately touching on similar themes across the films. Its almost like each one features an alternate pathway Anders Danielsen Lie’s character could have taken in life.

2. Kate Bush in this Seiko watch commercial from Japan. Compliments to my friend Noah’s water bottle.

3. Now that the music part of my songs album is done I’m navigating the murky waters of release (more to come about this very soon!) and turning to friends with diverse talents to help me bring the project to life in a variety of mediums. Working with friends is such a rewarding and mind-opening experience. Every conversation about the music uncovers a new layer and deepens the meaning for me. I hope it will for you too. I’m excited to share this all with you very soon!

4. Word play can be so good or so bad (I think the title of this post is maybe an example of the latter, my apologies…). But really no one does it better than Ali Smith. If you need some redeeming word play read There But For The - brilliant, funny, weird.

5. Snowman carnage at Herbert von King.

   

You are what you listen to?

1. This set by Kali Malone

2. This song by Ruth Garbus (also all of Kleinmeister)

3. Booker Little - Booker Little and Friends

4. Jules Reidy - Ghost / Spirit

5. Eliane Radigue - Naldjorlak

6. Hamza El Din - Music of Nubia

You are what you read?

1. The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy

2. An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector

The gigs:

3.4 ns songs band at Cassette

3.7 Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics at Loove Labs

3.9 Gabi Hartmann at LPR

3.11 trio with Noah Garabedian & Eliza Salem at Close Up, 10:30pm

3.12 Ski Team at Red Couch Sessions, 2pm

3.12 Simon Hanes’ Hurricane Salad at Cassette

Big Love,

N

The next few months are getting busy and I’m excited to tell you about a few special things coming up:

- This Saturday, February 7, two cool and very different things will take place. First, I’ll be playing a short solo saxophone improvisation in response to Gregor Hildebrandt’s exhibition Blau im Gedächtnis (Blue in Memoriam) at the Perrotin Gallery as part of Seth Paris’ project documenting each improvisation on 1/4” tape from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The tapes will be 1 of 1 recordings available for sale as art objects at the museum store. You can read more about the exhibition and the project here. I’m very excited to explore the relationships between medium, silence, sound, and space. Performances will take place between 1-5pm and I will play at 2pm because…

- next I’ll be heading to Sultan Room to play saxophone and sing harmonies on Ski Team (Lucie Lozinskie’s) album release for Burnout/Boys. This is really good pop music and the band is top notch. Tommy Crane opens.

- The following week I’ll be playing the first gig of my thirties duo with Wendy Eisenberg at a house show in Ditmas Park on February 16. Jolee Go and Ebba also play. You can hit me up for the details or wander up and down Marlborough street till you hear the dulcet tones.

On the ears:

1. Brighde Chaimbeul - Sunwise

2. Cate Le Bon - Reward

3. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom

4. Lo Borges - Sonho Real

5. So Savoeun - So Savoeun

6. Kali Malone - Living Torch

The books:

1. The Wall - Marlen Haushofer

2. Arvo Part in Conversation - Arvo Part

3. Artful - Ali Smith

Gigs:

2/7 - solo saxophone at Perrotin Gallery, 2pm

2/7 - Ski Team album release show at Sultan Room

2/16 - duo with Wendy Eisenberg at house show

2/17 - trio with Chuck Roth & Eliza Salem at Downtown Music Gallery

2/19 - songs duo with Stephen Becker at Green Lung Studios

3/4 - songs band at Cassette

3/7 - Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics at Loove Labs Annex

3/11 - NS trio at Close Up, 10:30pm

3/12 - Simon Hanes’ Hurricane Salad + Horns at Cassette

There’s so much hype around thirty as this big life landmark and most of the time I think aging is pretty cool but I’ll admit its hard not to feel some pressures from the world about where I am at in my life, my career, my relationships, etc. BUT I am happy to report thirty is looking pretty good and the word is positive from the other side. I look forward to writing you next from across the threshold. Maybe then I’ll finally feel like an adult.

xoxo,

Nora

All in all 2025 felt deeply liminal. I felt in process and largely without product. The year felt like an ellipsis or like someone leaned on the space bar accidentally. There was a lot of forming and shaping. I spent a lot of time with myself. I danced a lot and this was good. I started climbing again then got injured, then started back up and got a lot stronger, then got injured again. I read many books and watched a lot of movies. A year of input; I think 2026 will be more about output.

A few things that felt particularly standout this past year in no particular order: I chopped off my hair and for the first time in my life made friends with my curls (huge); I finished my songs album, Glass, coming to your ears (and eyes) soon; I traveled to Berlin and spent special and inspiring time with friends and heroes; I made a piece for dance, sound, and quilt with Corinne and Rachel. I started learning the art of ~mixing~

I closed out 2025 with some stunning sunsets and a few really great shows in the Bay Area, including with a new trio composed of myself, Fred Frith, and Simon Hanes. We played two short and sweet shows, one on either side of the 2026 axis. It felt like a great way to usher in spontaneity, openness, and new connections at the threshold of a new year. I also got to share an incredibly sweet and special night playing my songs with Cory and Pele. Every time I get to play these songs (the ones that are on the aforementioned soon-to-be-released album) with new people I am able to see them in a different light, to reimagine their possibilities and in doing so revisit the feelings they hold in a fresh a way. Playing in a room full of people from many different parts of my life - including my middle school band teacher and my parents - a lot of feelings came to the surface I think this bubbling of emotion helped me connect to the core of the songs in a way I haven’t felt for a while.

Now I’ve reminisced and we’re onto the future. I’m ready to unfurl - to release the windup that was last year and let. her. rip.

Here’s what I’m currently reading:

1. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

2. Outline by Rachel Cusk

3. Artful by Ali Smith

Here’s what I’m listening to:

1. Fred Frith - Guitar Solos

2. Eiko Ishibashi - Antigone

3. Miles Davis & Milt Jackson - Quintet / Sextet

4. Devin Shaffer - Patience

5. Joanna Sternberg - I’ve Got Me

6. Kate Bush - Best of the Other Sides

7. E+E - Nativity Mix

8. Swap Babies - Furnished Man

Gigs this month and a few next:

1/11 Next Jazz Legacy Band at Winter Jazz Fest (Nublu)

1/17 Cassandra Jenkins at Stone Circle Theater

1/22 Tribute to Derick Bailey Improv Night at Roulette (curated by Wendy Eisenberg)

this band is wild:

Eliza Salem drums
Ryan Sawyer drums
Kate Gentile drums
Nora Stanley sax
Emmanuel Michael guitar
Charmaine Lee voice/electronics
Patrick Holmes clarinet
Anna Abondolo bass
Conner Simmons bass
Chuck Roth guitar
Mari Rubio violin and electronics
Wendy Eisenberg guitar

1/31 Tsons of Tsunami at Barbes

2/2 North Brooklyn Composer Performer Ensemble at The Woods led by Steve Long

2/7 Ski Team at Sultan Room for Lucie’s album release show!

xo,

N

Bonus film recommendation because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since seeing it last month: Sentimental Value. I also watched Oslo, August 31 (another by Joachim Trier) and thought it was stunning as well.

Here’s a grid of some records that were particularly important to me this year:

Some highlights:

Titanic - Hagen

.michael. - Puddle

Maalem Houssam Guinia - Dead of Night

ML Buch - Skinned

Ellen Arkbro - For Organ and Brass

Some new old discoveries for me:

Scott Walker - Tilt

Igor Stravinsky - “Elegy for Solo Viola” (from Primary Shapes by Simone Libralon)

Stina Nordenstam - This is Stina Nordenstam and Dynamite

Chris Weisman - Maya Properties

Kate Bush - Lionheart

Other notables:

1. I am now a big fan of candying citrus and would like to get better at keeping the slices intact so they look a little prettier. But even raggedy the burst of color and the mix of sweet/bitter/sour is so satisfying!

2. We had a little cocktail party and I made these almond cookies that I used to make during lockdown a lot but now I have a stand mixer at my disposal and the texture really next level.

3. Saw a DJ set by Miss Parker last weekend at Paragon and they snuck in “Hyperballad,” gradually fading everything else out until it was just Bjork belting and then dropped back in and looped “safe up here with you.” I lost my shit. It felt semi-religious.

4. Taking hot baths.

5. Reading a borrowed book is such an intimate experience for me, especially if they’ve jotted notes in the margins or circled passages. Its like seeing a very private corner of their world and getting to be there with them.

6. This remix of Hildegard by Garmarna.

7. Los Thuthanaka!! I’m so glad this album (raw, unmastered, experimental, not on streaming) is reaching ears and getting much deserved attention. I’m hoping this is an indicator of good things to come for independent, experimental, queer musicians, especially those not from/based in the US or Europe.

8. When I don’t have time or energy to go to the climbing gym I’ve been whacking tennis balls against the wall at the park down the block. It’s surprisingly good exercise, a great release when anxious/upset, and the sonic rhythm of the ball hitting the wall, the ground, and my racket is so deeply satisfying

9. A grapefruit for breakfast.

10. Taking a class as an adult and on your own schedule because grades don’t exist/matter.

    

A few exciting shows to close out the year:

12/4 (NYC) - Last Sprat show of the year! We’ll be sharing the bill with my favorite Schimscheimer Family Trio at Lava Club (secret venue in downtown bk, rsvp here), 8pm

12/13 (NYC) - trio with Gabe Lee and Jay Craan for It’s In The Garage (a fundraiser and pop-up art exhibition benefitting Palestine) at Goose Garage in Greenpoint, 6:30pm

12/28 (BERKELEY) - first of two trio shows with Fred Frith and Simon Hanes, this one is at Tom’s Place in Berkeley, 7:30pm

12/29 (BERKELEY) - playing songs+ with Benny Bock and Cory Todd at 2727 California St. Giulia will also play songs from their new album out tomorrow!

1/1 (SF) - second Frith/Stanley/Hanes show at Adobe Books in the mission. New years day matinee! I’m told there will be pancakes and I can assure you there WILL be weird sounds.

A bientot,

n

Did you see the sky over New York last night? The sunset was one of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen in this city. It truly felt like some divine light painting a sky of color with morning on one side and night on the other. Various other incredible things happened too. My friend who works at the farmers market spotted three (3) notable celebrities during their shift. I heard a really great impro set by Lucrecia Dalt and Aaron Dilloway, moments of which felt ecstatically magical. I also saw so many good trash ghosts, including a cow balloon floating low across the Bowery. Oh, and we elected a democratic socialist mayor. The sky is a sign. Some new hope has entered the room, people.

By the way, there are some cool things coming up led by myself and others. Tonight I’ll play as part of a 60+ person ensemble for Steve Long’s series at St. Michael’s Church. I think this might be a divine amount of sound in a really beautiful space and if you find yourself on the UWS you should come.

Tomorrow 11/6, 7pm at Harbor Studios in Red Hook I play a set of songs. There will also be a set by Ski Team (Lucie Lozinski) and we might even mix things up a bit. It will be cozy and this is a good excuse to go to Red Hook and then to Paul Spring Night at Sunny’s after.

I’m very excited for the next Sprat show, which is less than a month away on Dec 4, because we will be sharing the night with Schimscheimer Family Trio, one of my favorite bands of all time and a rare treat to hear in NYC. The show will be at the mega secret, tiny venue Lava Club so send me a message if you want to come and I will get you the RSVP link.

Here’s a little clip from the expanded nora songs band at the Owl last month!

Music lately:

1. Juana Molina - DOGA

2. Lucrecia Dalt - ¡Ay!

3. Lucy Railton - Blue Veil

4. Asa-Chang & Junray - Hana

5. Water From Your Eyes - It’s A Beautiful Place

6. Smerz - Big city life EDITS

7. Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override

8. Rosa Anschutz - Sabbatical

Books lately:

1. The Wall - Marlen Haushofer

2. The New Yorker

3. I’ve been in a deep film era and been reading a little less the last few months but I’m ready to swing back so send me recs!

Gigs upcoming:

11/6 - Steve Long Large Ensemble at St. Michael’s, 8pm

11/7 - ns songs at Harbor Studios, 7pm

11/12 - Judee Sill Tribute Show at Jalopy Theater, 7pm

11/15 - Tsons of Tsunami at Barbes, 8pm

12/4 - Sprat at Lava Club, 8pm

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

~nora

Books, music, films, moments of note:

1. I’ve been working through Mike Leigh’s film catalogue this past month. I mentioned this last post with Ali Smith’s books but once again I’ll say it: I love immersing myself in a voice - experiencing it from all angles and hearing it in dialogue with itself and the world as it changes throughout an artist’s career. Some favorites include Life Is Sweet, Meantime, and High Hopes.

2. The Importance of Being Iceland by Eileen Myles

3. Hagen by Titanic - the soundtrack to my Berlin bike rides and my favorite new music in a long time.

4. “Elegy for Solo Viola, K 072” by Igor Stravinsky

5. Stina Nordenstam’s cover of “Purple Rain”

6. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

7. Turkish breakfast

8. being serious and goofy at the same time

9. walking to the beach from the CPH airport for an early morning dip between flights - if only every layover were like this one

10. ORGANS

Gigs:

10.2 - Sprat at St. Michael’s Church (99th & Broadway), 7pm

10.5 - Sprat at Threes Brewing (Gowanus), 8pm

10.22 - Trio w/ Simon Hanes & Matt Bent at Sisters, 8pm

10.24 - Gamelan Dharma Swara at Stone Circle Theatre (last gamelan show for now)

10.29 - ns songs band at Owl Music Parlor opening for Wilder Maker album release! 8pm

Sending love,

N

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Its here and then its gone. The air is full of winged creatures. I ride my bike fast to catch a breeze to cut the heat. I’m floating through moments of emptiness and moments of fullness.

I think my New York season five is about to begin. Some main characters from earlier seasons have become recurring characters in season four. Some recurring characters have become main characters. And most recently we’ve seen an abundance of resurrection plots with returning characters particularly from season one and three. The seasons don’t line up exactly with the four years that count my time in this crazy city but somehow there have still been four distinct seasons. I guess the cycle of the year is more biological than arbitrary. Nod if you agree.

Ok I’m gearing up for some travel in the next few weeks. First a quick dash to the capital for the DC Jazz Fest with the Next Jazz Legacy band, back for two days, then off to Berlin for two weeks! As much as I love my life here I’m so craving some time in another city and really looking forward to seeing some dear friends. I’m also going to play two sets - one at West Germany on September 10 duo with Gabriel Zucker and another at a house concert series in Prenzlauerberg on September 13 duo (+ maybe special guests?) with Claire Dickson. I’ve got a healthy bit of time there so send over your Berlin recs for food, music, art, nature, etc! You already know I’m hitting the playground museum day one…

Things I’ve enjoyed recently:

1. Margo Guryan - 27 Demos

2. Flatbread pizzas - the perfect summer lunch, using lots of veggies from our CSA baked/toasted on a naan flatbread. I’ve used hummus, labneh, pesto, and hummus as different bases. I think labneh with roasted tomato won.

3. Chris Weisman - Maya Properties (“Double Bill” is a perfect song)

4. Sitting on a balcony above the East River in a rainstorm watching Brooklyn disappear across the river in a haze of falling water and its thunder wash out the din of cars and city noise.

5. Wendy Eisenberg/Trevor Dunn/Ryan Sawyer playing standards at Bacaro.

6. Paul Simon - “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” and “Night Game” (perfect songs)

7. Lionheart Lionheart Lionheart Lionheart Lionheart Lionheart Lionheart Lionheart!!!! - This record is hits and only hits. How am I so late to understanding this? Shoutout to Priya for putting me right.

8. Keeping secrets.

9. Still House Plants show at Nightclub 101.

10. Like by Ali Smith - After reading her later works first its very cool to go back to her first novel. I love seeing how voices develop over time and character concepts morph across books.

Gigs:

8/30 - Next Jazz Legacy band at DC Jazz Fest on Union Stage

9/10 - duo with Gabriel Zucker at West Germany (BERLIN)

9/13 - duo with Claire Dickson in Prenzlauerberg - dm for address (BERLIN)

9/21 - Sprat at Lava Club - dm for info, this one’s sorta secret!

9/22 - quintet with Michael Coleman, Chris Morrissey, Kenny Wollesen, Pele Greenberg at Close Up

See you in one place or another!

xoxo,

N

My first songs album is being mixed right now and the reality of releasing it is starting to set in. This project very much feels like a time capsule of a year of immense personal change for me: reckoning with self, identity, friendship, love, moving, music… But with so much growth also comes the question of relevance and I keep wondering if I’m still going to feel connected to this music when it finally hits your ears. Many of these songs were private practices in processing that I never planned to do anything with and the approaching reality of releasing them feels often daunting and sometimes terrifying. I don’t feel now the way I did when many of these songs were written. That said, I’ve put so much of myself into this project over the past year and the album in itself feels like a really important symbol of a few different facets of change.

Gigs (I’m a little late getting this out so I’m including some past shows for posterity):

8/4 - trio with Michael Coleman & Jon Starks (+ special guest Ben Goldberg) at Filthy Diamond

8/9 - Sprat at Hot Pot Palace (BOSTON)

8/10 - Sprat at Owl Music Parlor

8/11 - trio with Jay Craan & Connor Parks at Filthy Diamond

8/13 - Team Players Big Band at Ibeam

8/15 - Gamelan Dharma Swara at Bryant Park

8/16 - with John Andrews & The Yawns at Trans Pecos

8/30 - Next Jazz Legacy at DC Jazz Fest

xoxo

nora

I feel like there’s a marked difference in how I can engage when someone asks a more concrete question such as “what have you been up to?”. “How are you?” feels so incredibly complex and open ended and I never know how to respond. If you are a close friend of mine rest assured I will tell you how I really am but in encounters with newer friends and acquaintances (when it seems this question is most often broached - grasping for social straws) my answer always feels empty, such a dead end to the conversation. On the other hand, “what have you been up to?” I can do something with. I can most often answer truthfully and these answer will lead to other questions which lead to a conversation. Small talk can be hard for me but I also recognize the small happinesses that come from these mundane interactions, these tiny connections, and strive to be better at valuing them.

Some things I’m enjoying at the moment:

1. Sam Gendel’s Live at Union Station.

2. João Bosco’s Comissão de Frente. The pad synth on this track is so tasty!

3. Lots of Pavement lately.

4. Maalem Houssam Gania’s Dead of Night.

5. In an effort to better structure my freewheeling summer days devoid of a teaching schedule I have started using Todoist to organize my tasks and feel more productive. Three days in and I think it is helping!

6. This Frankie Cosmos song has been chronically stuck in my head. The drum/bass breakdown in the second section is so insanely groove. Whole album is great.

7. Really enjoyed Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day.

8. Cold soba with spicy peanut sauce, cucumber, bell pepper, soft boiled egg. Also cucumber yogurt salad with lemon juice&zest, garlic, shallot, cayenne, and cilantro.

9. Anne Carson’s Anthropology of Water in the Plainwater collection.

10. I am so sorry to admit that I am deeply and totally addicted to those little ginger immunity shots they sell for $5 at the deli. I’ve been getting so many that I’ve started making a fire water situation at home. Ginger (boiled in water and also raw grated), cayenne, turmeric, honey, lemon juice blended. I’m legitimately convinced this tonic has kept me healthy and cold-free for the past eight months.

Gigs of July future:

7/5 Trio with Yvonne Rogers and Eliza Salem at Nublu

7/10 Solo songs set on a roof in crown heights

7/12 Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics at Nublu

7/14 Full band songs set with Stephen Becker, Izzy Oram-Brown, and Jon Starks at Sleepwalk for Levee Wolf’s release show!

7/19 Snock Night: Celebrating Michael Hurley at Owl Music Parlor with many sweet musicians

7/30 Sprat (trio with Priya Carlberg and Travis Bliss) at Close Up

See ya around!

[xoxo]

Nora

A few recommendations:

1. This essay by goofball legend and music magician Adam Schatz (aka Landlady). I played some saxophone on his new album amid a cast of incredible musicians - out tomorrow, check it!

2. This substack from my dear friend Gabe whose writing and conversation elucidates questions I didn’t even know I had.

3. This album of new works for automated pipe organ from Aggregate Festival. I will be in Berlin at the festival in September if anyone nearby wants to join!

4. The film Certain Women by Kelly Reichardt - bleak but powerful. I’m a sucker for Kristen Stewart ok sue me.

5. Broccolini cooked in butter and miso. So simple, so good.

6. Mid-day sun interludes in Herbie Von King.

Last night was the one year anniversary party for Close Up, a space that has become a pillar of the creative jazz scene here in a very short time. It was a truly epic night that felt like the stuff of lore for years to come. Hanging and playing with musicians spanning the wide stylistic geography of the scene got me thinking about community and just how important these spaces are for the music and for the culture. As we brace for the closure later this year of a key Brooklyn venue that has been a lifeline for so many songwriters and cross-genre projects for many years I’ve been talking to friends about what comes next. This feels like a pivotal time in the scene and one in which ensuring the future existence of spaces like The Owl and Close Up is necessary for the health of the music and the community.

A little theory:

At the Close Up party I played in a big band for the first time in almost ten years. I had a realization while playing those crazy inner voice lines of a second alto Basie chart that musicians who grew up playing alto 2 and tenor 2 parts (arguably the weirdest, most idiosyncratic roles in the big band) develop a different sense of harmony and phrasing. While they’re often put on those parts because they didn’t make first chair my theory is that they go on to be possibly more whacky and individual musicians because their ears are filled with all the leftover notes and nutty leaps that sound offbeat by themselves but are really the meat of the section. I’d be curious if this theory resonates with anyone else… I’m guessing Ornette, Dolphy, Ayler, Mark Turner maybe played some second chair in their days…

What I’m listening to:

Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas

Lippard Arkbro Lindwall - How do I know if my cat likes me

Moontype - I Let the Wind Push Down On Me

Mark Fell & Gábor Lázár - The Neurobiology of Moral Decision Making

Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream

Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal

What I’m reading:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

Ways of Seeing by John Berger

Gigs:

6/13 & 6/14 - Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics at Loove Labs Annex

6/21 - Gamelan Dharma Swara at Fort Greene Park for Make Music NY

6/28 - John Andrews & The Yawns at TV Eye

6/29 - Snack Mix (w/ Sarah Pedinotti, Jeremy Gustin, Adam Brisbin, Eivind Opsvik, Wendy Eisenberg & Mauro Refosco aka crazy band) at Umbra

6/29 - Theodoore at Nightclub 101 - sharing le bill with Moontype who’s new record is amazing!!

7/5 - trio w/ Yvonne Rogers & Eliza Salem at Nublu

7/12 - Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics at Nublu

7/14 - songs band at Sleepwalk for sweet Levee Wolf’s release show - with Stephen Becker, Izzy Oram-Brown and Jon Starks!!

7/30 - Sprat at Close Up

xoxo,

Nora

A few weeks ago I rode my bike to Governor’s Island and found myself in a sea of Hasids flooding the ferry and circumnavigating the island on rented rickshaws. I’m used to walking through Williamsburg and feeling like I just dropped into 18th century Poland but this was a whole new level of surreal. I later found out this was not simply a random coincidence of simultaneous recreation but actually the result of a tradition I didn’t know existed: the obligation of the Jewish people to cross a body of water during passover to honor the journey of their ancestors through the parted Red Sea and out of Egypt. I’m not a religious person but I did grow up celebrating Passover and I’m reminded that the tradition marks a period of transition between enslavement and emancipation. I’m thinking a lot about all the levels of enslavement today in the US and abroad. I’m hoping with all my heart for the liberation of the Palestinian people, the liberation of immigrants, of trans people, of folks who are blinded by power, hatred, and fear that lead them to cause unthinkable harms.

On the subject of boats, I’ve gotten into watching Below Deck (don’t judge me ok). A very different version of boat life and one I do not covet but all the same it is making me miss the summers I used to spend on the bay, a nostalgia that often hits around this time of year. Does anyone in NYC have a sailing connect?

One particularly grounding outlet I’ve found as the season shifts warmer has been my yard. This is the first time I’ve had an outdoor space since moving to Brooklyn and it is a game changer I tell you. I’ve been sticking my hands in soil almost every day (dodging plethora of glass shards and likely soaking up gallons of chemicals), basking in warm air and sun. I’ve never had a propensity for horticulture and while I don’t murder plants, they don’t seem to particularly thrive under my care. But I’m looking forward to seeing things grow.

What I’m listening to:

Deerhoof - Noble and Godlike in Ruin

MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

Luke Bergman - Songs on Pedal Steel

Morton Feldman - Feldman: For Philip Guston

Adrianne Lenker - Live at Revolution Hall (“I Do Love You” on repeat ok)

What I’m reading:

The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli

Cuentos Completos by Roberto Bolaño (attempting the spanish very slowly)

Every Man For Himself and God Against All by Werner Herzog

(I’m not an audiobook guy normally but I’ve been listening to Herzog read this one and it is truly an experience. The other day I was singing Bach chorales with some friends and we got talking about the Herzog film about Gesualdo which led me down a mini-Renaissance rabbit hole. As I’m writing this I’m listening to Josquin motets and just now the construction outside my window started rhythmically beating exactly with the music. Everything is listening. End of thought.)

And now, appropriately, a photo from a dance show I scored in a church last weekend:

Gigs of May:

5/14 - Next Jazz Legacy ‘25 Cohort plays The Jazz Gallery, sets at 7:30 and 9:30pm. Tix here. This lineup is crazy: DoYeon Kim, April May Webb, Carmen Quill, Brenda Navarrete Guzman, Chanelle Ignant, Melissa Almaguer, and Alex Ridout!

5/18 - Gamelan Dharma Swara at Stone Circle Theatre

5/21, 5/22 & 5/23 - Hand In Hand at The Tank, 7pm. Tix here

5/24 - ns songs band at Owl Music Parlor with sets from Nicomo and Little Clifford as well, 8pm. My band rocks because it consists of Stephen Becker, Adam Brisbin, and Jon Starks.

5/28 - ns solo saxophone at Rabbit Hole

5/29 - Sprat at Cassette, 8pm

Hope to see you out there!

N <3

I don’t have many words for the experience of the past few days spent at Big Ears. I will say I felt a level of saturation, immersion, and exhaustion that made me understand, perhaps for the first time in a real real way, how much music can open and bring people together. I’ve been finding it really challenging in the midst of current events to believe that creating art has any bearing of importance in comparison to some other heroic professions. But this weekend, in a setting where everything was brought to the surface, I found myself moved not just by the music but by the presence of the people around me in a way that restored faith in the Pursuit and its Powers. I witnessed musicians using their platform to acknowledge and challenge our current reality in ways that felt genuine and earnest, not blind and insulated. I’m left with a deep sense of gratitude for being able to do what I do and be around so many mind blowingly inspiring artists.

Now I’m sitting on the sixteenth floor of an apartment where I’m petsitting a very funny miniature cat and looking out at the looming metal of the Lower East Side being swallowed by a thick haze that makes the city seem as if its moving in slow motion. I’m listening to the film music of Bernard Hermann (appropriately eerie) and thinking about Michael Hurley. Although I only started putting on MH records of my own volition a few years ago, my dad used to sing me his songs as a kid, particularly “Jocko’s Lament”. I feel so deeply lucky to have gotten to see MH play at Big Ears just days before he passed last week. Both of his sets felt incredibly special and I will hold those memories tight.

My ears are very tired and still quite small (physically) but…

Here are some things I’m listening to these days:

Mabbe Fratti - Se Ve Desde Aquí and Sentir Que No Sabes

Michael Hurley - Ida Con Snock

Dirty Projectors - Song of the Earth

Scott Walker - Tilt

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru - Souvenirs

Here’s what I’m reading:

The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams

Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

Remember a few months ago when I said I had something exciting to announce? Well, the news has dropped and I can finally tell you that I was awarded a fellowship from New Music USA’s Next Jazz Legacy program. I’m beyond excited to receive this support, this vote of confidence, and the coming year of experiences learning from mentors (Tyshawn Sorey and Ellen Arkbro!!) as well as a really incredible cohort of fellow awardees. We are scheduled to play our first show at the Jazz Gallery on May 14th. You can read the full press release here.

Also…

For the past month or so I’ve been working on a piece with choreographers/dancers Corinne Lohner and Rachel Andes that will premiere later this month (details below). Along with sound and movement we are also creating a very large quilt/garment of sorts that will make an appearance. Here are some thematic images that might entice you to come to the show and see for yourself what we are cooking up.

Here are the gigs:

4/2 - with Spencer Hoefert, Jared Craan, and Gabe Lee at Sisters for Lo-Fi Oyster Co. pop-up, 8pm & 9:30pm

4/3 - with Henry Fraser & Jon Starks leading the session at Close Up, 10pm

4/9 - double duty playing with Chris Morrissey band and Kendra McKinley solo at Mirador in Kingston, NY, 7pm

4/26 - em.body presents Uprooted with Rachel Andes and Corinne Lohner (I score dance) at Stone Circle Theatre, 7pm - tickets here (hmu for discount code!)

K, see you soon!

Nora

Wow it is already mid-march. I have been so good about writing promptly but this time the monthly post got away from me and here we are. I will never stress myself about writing one of these though because each substack has been and hopefully will continue to be a moment of breath and stock-taking rather than some obligation imposed on myself by myself.

With the onset of spring comes the feeling of possibility, the rejuvenation of the smile, and the brightening of my friends faces - much needed light amidst astonishing and trying times.

Since we last spoke I have been spending lots of time in the studio working on a new record which is about 85% done; I’ve been creating and rehearsing music for a collaborative dance / sound project with some new friends who I’m very grateful to be working with (more on that below); I played three shows with a new trio called Sprat which goes into the studio to record next week; AND I joined the climbing gym and am getting #swole.

What I’m listening to:

1. Katy Pinke - Strange Behavior

2. Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures

3. Arthur Russell - Tower of Meaning

4. Ellen Arkbro / Caterina Barbieri / Kali Malone - XKatedral Volume III

5. Or Best Offer - Center

What I’m reading:

1. The Destruction of Palestine is the Destruction of the Earth - Andreas Malm

2. The Quick and the Dead - Joy Williams

3. Tokyo Ueno Station - Yū Miri

Musical happenings in the coming months:

Fri 3/14 - Sprat at Wah Center in Williamsburg - ridiculous bill including Sinonó, Joanna Mattrey, Zosha Warpeha, and others.

Sat 3/22 - Corinne Lohner + NS at Cutelab (dm me for address) - public debut of this improvised music/movement project on yet another great bill with David Leon, Ledah Finck, and Zosha. Video clip of some WIP beyond the paywall for subscribers!

Fri 3/28 - Cassandra Jenkins at The Point for Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN - so deeply excited to play in this amazing lineup and to catch many many shows!

Wed 4/2 - 4tet style with Spencer Hoefert, Jared Craan, and Gabe Lee for Lo-Fi Oyster Pop-Up at Sisters - come slurp, sip, and savor sounds!

Sat 4/26 - sound installation/performance with Corinne Lohner and Rachel Andes (dance/choregraphy) for Uprooted showcase at Stone Circle Theater in Ridgewood - this piece is in the early stages of creation still but I can confidently say that working with Corinne and Rachel is so rewarding and expansive and I hope you can come witness this piece because it will undoubtedly be special!

Ok, that’s enough for now. Be well, my friends!

with love,

Nora

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While January sucked in many ways it was a really good reading month. I finished an incredible book by Ali Smith called Hotel World that I will be thinking about for a while to come. I’m a little obsessed with Ali Smith from her confidence to write thirty six pages without any punctuation to her totally dry and utterly down to earth humor delivered with Scottish twang on the albeit short of great BBC Book Club podcast (I still loved it for the sound effects and accents despite the admittedly maladroit questions and unfulfilled potential to really talk about the book.)

I also joined the bandwagon and read I Who Have Never Known Men because three different people talked to me about it in the span of twenty four hours and I took that as a sign. I wasn’t sold at first but by the end I was pretty hooked. It left a lot of questions and I love that. Makes me think about David Lynch and how my favorite artists give agency to the audience by revealing less.

Now I’m finally reading The Argonauts and it is so good. Maggie Nelson is brilliant and so cool and I feel like I’m coming to this one at just the right time. There’s a section where she talks about hearing Anne Carson lecture on the concept of “leaving a space empty so that God can rush in.” I’m not a religious person per se but the idea of leaving space for something beyond words or beyond sound or beyond color resonates and I think this is just what Harpman and Lynch (at times) did so well. Here’s another snippet from Nelson which hits the nail on the absolute head:

“[quoting Molly Haskell] ‘Where does it fit into the taxonomy of life crises when one person’s liberation is another’s loss?’ … In case her question is not rhetorical, I’d suggest the following answer: pretty damn low.”

Other things I have discovered recently:

1. I love kiwis (the fruit)!

2. Hot yoga feels incredible on a 17 degree winter day.

3. This winter I am really feeling the biological instinct to go inward, to hibernate, to eat a lot. Does this mean I am more human than last year?

4. “Fish Friday” at Acme Fish Market in Greenpoint is a game changer with wholesale smoked salmon sold by the pound. I ate salmon in every meal last week. I think I’m very strong and healthy now but I may need to take a week off.

5. A new bakery opened up near my house and they make the most incredible butter croissants which can shift a whole day.

What I’m listening to:

Robert Stillman - Time of Waves

FKA Twigs - Eusexua

Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley

Ellen McIlwaine - Honky Tonk Angel

Locate S, 1 - Healing Contest

Susan Alcorn - The Heart Sutra, “O Sacrum Convivium”

Upcoming giggles:

2/2 - Chris Morrissey @ The Broadway

2/7 - solo (saxophone) @ Property Is Theft with Ezra Feinberg and Sam Cohen

2/8 - solo (saxophone) @ The Avalon with Ezra Feinberg and Sam Cohen/Stuart Bogie

2/12 - solo (songs!) AND Ski Team @ Threes Brewing, 8pm

2/22 - Sprat @ Mudhouse for Pleaser tape release show!

3/9 - Sprat @ Close Up, sets at 7:30 and 9pm

3/22 - Corinne Lohner/Nora Stanley @ CuteLabs

3/28 - Cassandra Jenkins @ Big Ears Festival (knoxville, TN)

February is a month of solo sets AND my birthday (which also feels a little like a solo set). I played a warm up at the Tradesman last week and the full set is now on youtube which you can view here if you feel so inclined!

Also, in an effort to do less instagram look out for more from me here! I’ll be making an exciting announcement at the end of February…

Till then… hug a friend, kiss a cutie ~

<3 Nora

Now for a little reflection… 2024 was a HUGE year in so many ways both personally and musically.

There are a lot of things that scare me pretty intensely right now but also so many things I’m deeply excited about. I’m in perpetual gratitude to my friends, family, and collaborators (you are probably at least one of those three I’d guess…) who make the insane feel a little more sane, the impossible a little more possible.

Here be some standouts from the past year (in no particular order).

1. played my first show of song songs. scary as all heck and also i want to do more of it! put me on your bill in 2025!

2. toured in Europe with Chris Morrissey.

3. crocheted two scarves.

4. was one fourth of a dream team woodwind quartet backing up Caroline Rose on a mini-tour of the northeast.

5. started working at a wine shop.

6. got better at recording myself and tracked woodwinds for various projects as well as some new music of my own.

7. read many good books, some ok books, no bad books.

8. had zero bike accidents.

9. did a residency with the gamelan upstate. excited to dive into this piece in the new year!

10. started two new collaborations I’m excited to debut very soon: Sprat, a trio with Priya Carlberg and Travis Bliss; and a duo with incredible dancer Corinne Lohner (sneak peak below)

Favorite (new) MUSIC I listened to:

Kim Gordon - The Collective

Astrid Sonne - Great Doubt

Still House Plants - If I Don’t Make It, I Love U

Naima Bock - Below A Massive Dark Land

Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future

youbet - Way To Be

Allegra Krieger - Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine

Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown

ETA IVtet - The Way Out of Easy

Happy Apple - New York CD

Claire Dickson - The Beholder

Earthflower, Ruth Garbus, Sam Gendel - Earth Flower

Favorite BOOKS I read:

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

Glass, Irony & God by Anne Carson

Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other by Danielle Dutton

Bluets by Maggie Nelson

Taking Care by Joy Williams

Second Place by Rachel Cusk

Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata

January/February gigs coming up:

Sat 1/4 - my quartet (Yvonne Rogers, Henry Fraser, and Jon Starks) plays Close Up, sets at 8 & 10pm

Sat 1/11 - playing with Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics for Winter Jazz Fest at Loove Labs Annex, 11pm

Sun 2/2 - playing with Chris Morrissey at The Broadway on a bill with Birthday Ass and Market (three of my favorite Brooklyn bands ofc)

Fri 2/7 - solo saxophone at Property Is Theft

Sat 2/8 - solo saxophone at The Avalon Lounge

Wishing you all a saucy & sweet & silly new year. love you!

~Nora

The end of the year is rolling right in and as always I feel a little caught off guard by the spinning of time, even if this zone is a fairly arbitrary marker of it. This year I’m staying in New York for the holidays - this will be my first away from California. I’m feeling some different ways about it but mostly I’m excited to experience something new and catch some quieter, more solitary time after a pretty jam packed fall.

November was crazy busy and December is shaping up to be almost empty of gigs. Its weird how the ebb and flow works and it can be difficult sometimes to see the big picture when the month-to-month is so different. But I’m feeling gratitude to have time to focus on some of the recording and writing projects that have been on the back burner. In fact, I’m including a demo from one of those projects below the paywall. I feel a little weird about the paid subscriber thing but I’m going to give it a go since making a record is not cheap and I want to challenge myself to share work in progress more.

I’m also working on some new concepts for my quartet which will be playing its next show at Close Up on January 4th. First gig of the new year! Mark thy calendars!

Next week I’ll be playing as part of Gamelan Dharma Swara for its Fall Frequencies show at Stone Circle Theatre in Ridgewood. That’s on December 8th at 1:30pm. Matt Moran and Lubo Smilnov will open with a Balkan set. They are incredible, you do not want to miss it! Here’s the link to tickets.

Some things I’m looking forward to next year if you (like me) are excited and would like to get a jump on it:

Jan 4 - NS Quartet (NS, Yvonne Rogers, Henry Fraser & Jon Starks) at Close Up.

Jan 11 - Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics at Winter Jazz Fest (Loove Labs Annex in Williamsburg)

Feb 8 - NS solo at Avalon Lounge (in Catskill) - sharing the bill with Ezra Feinberg and Slow Fawn.

Mar 27 - Cassandra Jenkins at Big Ears Festival (Knoxville, TN) - will be there the whole weekend with all the woodwinds and pedals if any friends need/want/crave some o dat on a set!!

Some things peaking my interest at the moment:

1. this podcast (?) audio collage by Cecile McLorin-Salvant which I find so deeply relatable. She talks about intuition and feelings of obligation, guilt, shame around creative work. I’ve definitely also made a new years resolution to have a year-of-nothing-but-charlie-parker only to fail miserably three days in. It’s nice to hear these candid thoughts from an incredible artist as I am learning to listen to intuition more.

2. Danielle Dutton’s book Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other. This blew my mind, it was sooo good! Hybrid-style writing - some essay, some narrative, some poetry. I particularly love her thoughts on translation and fiction based on visual art. It also got me back into reading this:

3. New and Selected Stories by Cristina Rivera Garza

4. New Yorker Fiction podcast - been tearing through episodes while doing laundry or cleaning the house. Feels like all the best parts of college with smarter people and no pressure to participate socratically (something that often hindered my actual engagement with the material). Some standout episodes: Teju Cole reads Anne Carson, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain reads Roberto Bolaño, and Ben Lerner reads Julio Cortázar.

5. The pork/ricotta meatballs and butternut squash/carrot/leek soup I made last week. Very into making large amounts and freezing for quick meals. How have I only just begun doing this?!

What I’m listening to:

1. Anna Butterss - Mighty Vertebrate

2. Ruth Garbus - Rendezvous with Rama

3. Rotary Connection - Songs

4. Diane Cluck - Oh Vanille / Ova Nil

5. Andy Shauf - Satan / Jacob Rose

Stay warm out there!

~Nora

( demo below for paid subscribers <3 )

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