Blackstar New York Performances

David Bowie’s *Blackstar* was made quietly in New York City and released in January 2016, days before his death. Built around a small circle of downtown players, it folds jazz harmony and improviser’s time into song forms, with guitarist Ben Monder among the key contributors heard in tonight’s Barbès context. The album also carries material tied to Bowie’s stage work *Lazarus*, extending his late-career dialogue with the city’s theater and club scenes. One clear takeaway is how New York’s working musicians shape the record’s unsettled, nocturnal tone.