About Konceptions Music Series

Konceptions is a music series – now a podcast – that ran for ten years at Korzo Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. We are now looking for a new home!

The series is curated by award-winning musician, composer, and pianist James Carney and supported by his wife, Heidi Bayer.  For ten years, James and Heidi provided a musical experience where musicians are curated and cultivated, allowed and inspired to explore their music and their audience.

For inquiries email James Carney at jc@jamescarney.net.

More below:

The KONCEPTIONS jazz and improvised music series, established in 2005 as a nomadic, flexible entity. Pianist and composer James Carney, co-founder and curator, has presented hundreds of New York City’s most outstanding musicians, both established and emerging. Veteran luminaries of the NYC jazz scene such as Tim Berne, Fred Hersch, Ravi Coltrane and Matt Wilson share double-bills with exciting younger artists such as Jen Shyu, Kris Davis, and Matt Mitchell. The Konceptions Music Series has been called a “valuable Park Slope progressive-jazz showcase” by Time Out New York, who also listed konceptions as one of the top “100 things to do on NYC weeknights for $10 or less.”

The Story:

Says curator James Carney: “In 2005 I was walking past the Koze Lounge (now called Quarter Bar) on 5th Avenue in the South Slope. Koze hadn’t been open very long, and the  owner was standing outside. I asked him if they ever had live music, and he said “Yes, sometimes. Why? Are you a musician? Do you know other musicians that would want to play here? If you want a night I’m happy to give it a shot.” I couldn’t believe it; I had just moved here from LA, I was starting to get myself booked around town, and here I was being handed this random golden opportunity. We ended up only doing about 8 nights because he had to close the bar, but that short experience was so satisfying to me that I immediately found another venue nearby (Bar4 on 7th Avenue) that was fantastic. We were at Bar4 for 18 months, then we did short runs at the Douglass Street Music Collective and Biscuit in the north Slope. I took a break from the series for another 18 months and found I really missed the weekly ritual. Then, an acquaintance who was working at Korzo in 2009 told the owner about me, and after a couple of discussions we relaunched Konceptions in September 2009.”