Ensemble Newsletter · October 5, 2026
Marcus Gilmore brings an orchestra to the Vanguard, Papo Vázquez brings bomba jazz, and four Balanchines in a night
NYC picks, jazz and classical, updated weekly
Three picks for the week of October 5: a seven-piece band crammed onto the Vanguard's small stage for the full week, four decades of Afro-Puerto Rican jazz above Columbus Circle, and an all-Balanchine program at the Koch. One of the three runs all week, so a slow start costs you nothing. Here is where we would be.
Marcus Gilmore's New Orchestra — Village Vanguard
Gilmore is the drummer other drummers go to hear, and he has assembled seven players for a room that usually holds a quartet: Joel Ross on vibraphone, David Virelles on piano, Morgan Guerin on saxophone and EWI, Ekep Nkwelle singing. A band this size at the Vanguard is a statement about arrangement, not volume. Runs through Sunday.
Event details →Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours — Dizzy's Club
Vázquez spent four decades building the sound of Latin jazz next to Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, and the Fania All-Stars, and he plays trombone like someone who learned it in a horn section. His bomba jazz puts Afro-Puerto Rican rhythm at the center rather than the edges. One night, two sets.
Event details →New York City Ballet: All Balanchine I — David H. Koch Theater
Four works in one evening: La Sonnambula, Pithoprakta, The Unanswered Question from Ivesiana, and Theme and Variations. The Xenakis and the Ives are the strange ones and the reason to go, proof that Balanchine was willing to set steps to music nobody else would touch. Theme and Variations sends everyone home satisfied.
Event details →