For all who love books & music: First, a talk with 3 of the country's foremost music writers. Next, a concert with 2 exceptional guitarists.About this Event
We're thrilled to celebrate our bookstore birthday month with an evening devoted to writing and music. Come at 5 PM for a conversation with 3 music writers--Ben Ratliff, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, and Alex Abramovich--who have innumerable accolades (see bios below) and have written for publications like the New Yorker, the New York Times, the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, and Rolling Stone, among others. That's before we get to their many acclaimed books! You must come hear them discuss music together and answer your questions--it's going to be fantastic.
But wait, there's more! After the conversation, 2 outstanding jazz musicians will hold a tiny bookstore concert. Douglas Cuomo is an extraordinary talent. His full bio is below; his work that you likely know best is the theme song for Sex and the City, which he composed. Ken Wessel is also a preeminent guitarist and composer. Among many other achievements, he toured the world as the guitarist Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time Band for 12 years.
Please note: This event is free but please hold a seat for yourselves using the "Reserve a Spot" button here on Eventbrite.
BIOS, WRITERS
Ben Ratliff: Ben was jazz and pop critic for the New York Times from 1996-2016. He has written five books: Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening, which was longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award among other honors; Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty; The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music; Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, which was a finalist for National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism; and Jazz: A Critic’s Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings. He is the editor of Nik Cohn’s Corner Boy: Loiterings New and Old (publishing October 2026). He has also written for New York Review of Books, 4Columns, Pitchfork, npr.org, Slate, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Guardian, Village Voice, Coda, Granta, Bookforum, Jazz Times, and Wire.
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro: Joshua is a geographer and writer whose books include Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made; Names of New York: Discovering the City’s Past, Present, and Future Through Its Place-Names; and Island People: The Caribbean and the World. He was the co-creator, with Rebecca Solnit, of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, which in 2016 was awarded the Brendan Gill Prize from the Municipal Art Society. His work appears regularly in the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New York Times, among many other publications, and he is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities. Jelly-Schapiro teaches journalism at New York University and is director of publishing at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, where he hosts the popular Author Talks series and is coeditor in chief of Pioneer Works Broadcast.
Alex Abramovich: Alex's work appears in London Review of Books and the New Yorker. He teaches profile writing at New York University.
BIOS, MUSICIANS
Douglas Cuomo: Douglas has composed for the concert, operatic and theatrical stage, a well as for television and film. A professional guitarist while still in his teens, he alternated years of college – studying jazz, world music and ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and University of Miami–with years on the road playing in jazz, pop and funk bands. His chamber and orchestra works include: a raft, the sky, the wild sea, a concerto for the jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano, for The London Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Symphony; Seven Limbs for the Aizuri String Quartet and guitarist Nels Cline, which premiered as livestreams for UCLA Center for Performing Arts, Moss Arts Center and Aperio Music for the Americas; Black Diamond Express Train to Hell, a double concerto for cello and sampler, commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and The Orchestra of the Swan, premiered at Carnegie Hall; and so many more--please click here for the full list. His operatic works include: Savage Winter, produced by American Opera Projects, premiered at Pittsburgh Opera and at BAM's Next Wave Festival (2018); Doubt, with libretto by John Patrick Shanley, commissioned by Minnesota Opera (2013) with a cast that included Denyce Graves and Christine Brewer; and Arjuna's Dilemma, produced by The Music-Theatre Group and premiered at the BAM Next Wave Festival (2008), which became the first opera performed in Nepal with twelve performances in Kathmandu in 2016. Work for television and film includes themes for Sex and The City (HBO);NOW with Bill Moyers and Wide Angle (PBS); music for Homicide: Life On The Street (NBC) and others, over twenty documentary and feature films, and music for over a dozen Broadway plays. An Eventbrite post cannot possibly contain Douglas, or any of the folks featured at this event; please go to their sites for more!
Ken Wessel: Last but certainly not least, Ken is a versatile, sensitive and soulful guitarist and composer who has performed and recorded with musicians from various parts of the globe. He has performed in 27 countries at major jazz festivals, concert halls and in radio and television appearances. Ken worked with revolutionary jazz artist Ornette Coleman for over 12 years (1988-2000), touring the world as a member of Prime Time, Ornette’s groundbreaking ensemble. Ken can be heard on Ornette Coleman’s critically acclaimed Polygram/Verve CD, Tone Dialing. Performing “Skies of America,” Ornette Coleman’s seminal work for symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble. Ken has appeared with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. Ken can also be heard on Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen’s album Morph the Cat as a featured guitar soloist. He has worked with artists from different shades of the jazz spectrum, including John Abercrombie, David Liebman, Gloria Lynne, Arthur and Red Prysock, Karl Berger, Steve Gorn, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake, Steve Turre and Johnny Hartmann. Ken has a strong interest in world music, particularly with North Indian music, and he has performed with Debashish Bhattacharya, Karaikudi Mani, V.M. Bhatt, Samir Chatterjee and others. Wessel co-leads a trio with jazz tabla master Badal Roy and bassist Stomu Takeishi. Their CD, Daybreak, was included in JAZZIZ magazine’s Top 10 Critic’s Picks of 1998. As a U.S. Jazz Ambassador, Ken has toured South Asia and South America, visiting India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bengladesh and Venezuela in 2002-03. Ken is also an active composer and a dedicated jazz educator. For more details click here.
At Books & Cake we sell--drumroll please--books and cake, because we love them both. (We sell notebooks and puzzles and greeting cards, too.) Store owners Julie Sternberg and Eve Yohalem are authors who have written twelve books between them and read way too many to count. They love nothing more than talking books, which is why they hosted the Book Dreams podcast for more than three years. Please stop by to talk about books and enjoy a delicious slice of cake in person! We'll be so happy to see you.
Event venue
Books & Cake, 8 Anthony Street, Hillsdale, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.