Mutual Mentorship for Musicians M³ Festival NYC 2026

The fifth annual M3 Festival took place at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY, on Saturday, November, 7th 2026. M3 – or Mutual Mentorship for Musicians– co-founded by musicians Sara Serpa and Jen Shyu, presented a night of groundbreaking and exciting performances from the likes of Terri Lyne Carrington, Theo Bleckmann, Martha Redbone, William Parker, Marta Sanchez, and several others.

The night began with a duo performance from William Parker on dosun ngoni, shakuhachi, drone, and bells, and Patricia Nicholson, who danced, spoke, and sang. As Parker crafted marvelous soundscapes with his bells (which he played with his feet) and various wind/plucked instruments, Nicholson moved as if she were a leaf forced from its branch by the wind. Parker and Nicholson settled into a harmony of sound and movement that evoked images like poetry. The night was off to a perfect start. Next up was a quartet featuring Alexandria DeWalt pulling triple duty on flute, vocals, and piano, Mama Dee on guitar and vocals, Kweku Aggrey on double bass, and Marcus Grant on drums. The group performed two brilliant pieces separated by a fabulous, tasteful drum interlude by Grant. An extended moment of simultaneous flute and vocal improvisation from DeWalt and Dee, respectively, was absolutely a highlight of their set and the night as a whole. Coco Elysses and Summer Kodama (Empty Melon) then took the stage and began with a beautiful ballad sung and played by Kodama. Elysses, with her various electronics, then performed a mesmerizing kalimba solo, after which she picked up her Diddley Bow – a fascinating stringed instrument with a rectangular body, no doubt named/styled after Bo Diddley’s legendary guitar – and Kodama joined in on double bass, along with Allan Mednard on drums and Marta Sanchez on piano. Elysses brilliantly used a wah-wah pedal with her kalimba and Diddley Bow, which made this rock-and-roll fan very, very happy. The wha-party didn’t stop after their set, though, as Martha Redbone’s group was next and featured Charlie Burnham, who paired his violin with a wah pedal to great effect. Redbone’s performance – which also featured Aaron Whitby on piano – was just tremendous. Three poems – one by William Blake, one by Bell Hooks, and one original- were used as lyrical content for some of the best, most interesting, most moving folk music I have ever heard. I could have listened to this group for hours. Alas, there was a lot more music to hear that night.

After a very brief intermission, Marta Sanchez, pianist, and her trio consisting of Ele Howell on drums and Rashaan Carter on bass, took the stage. Through rhythmic dynamism, captivating interplay, and the perfect level of inter-instrumentalist contrast, the group exemplified the very best of what a contemporary piano trio has to offer. Melissa Almaguer, Ge Linna, and Caroline Davis – on hydrophone and tap dance, voice and sampler, and saxophone, respectively – then took the stage for a performance of Remember Water. The piece explored the music that occurs when we interact with earthly materials such as air, water, and wood. What music happens when a human hand touches water? Or when we move air through brass or our voice? Or when metal drags against wood? What happens when we stretch and manipulate those sounds? Remember Water answered all those questions with grace and intensity. Next up was a group featuring Chanelle Ignant on guitar and Unma Allinar on Caixa de Folia and pandeiro, as well as Carmen Quill on bass and Vitor Goncalves on piano. Their textures played beautifully off of each other, as each instrument seemed to create a universe where the other three could live. In fact, there was so much room that even when the audience was invited to sing and clap along, it seemed to sit naturally within the song. The final act of the middle lineup of the night was vocalist and electronic guru Theo Bleckmann, whose solo performance based on a Zohran Mamdani speech was among the most rattling musical moments I’ve ever experienced.

Pianist/vocalist Paige Brown and cellist/loop-ist/vocalist Carolina Borja-Marroquin’s La Aranera kicked off the night’s third and final lineup. The two powerhouse artists beautifully melded their worlds, creating a “liminal realm stretching from Bogotá to Arkansas, where boundaries dissolve, and artistic expression knows no limits,” as the program states. I’d typically refrain from referring to the program, but it sums up their incredible performance perfectly. The penultimate group consisted of Yuhan Su on vibraphone, Noa Fort on vocals, Stephan Crump on bass, and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. Evoking the post-bop of the late-60s without being derivative, the group achieved the effortless cause and effect found in the best improvised music. Each instrument seemed to act as another’s source of resonance.

To close the night, the great Terri Lyne Carrington took the stage with her group consisting of Miranda Agnew on trumpet, Morgan Guerin on tenor saxophone, and Devon Gates on bass. Carrington, as with all the greats, led a group of exemplary young musicians who are all sure to have fantastic, lifelong careers in music. As you might expect, their set was otherworldly, inspiring beyond words, and really lit a fire under everyone’s you-know-whats.

Overall, M3 Festival 2026 was a wonderfully varied, inspiring, and dynamic night of music. At multiple points during the night, M3 cofounders Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa were referred to as “medicine women,” a title they undoubtedly have earned. Through organizing these artists in this way, Shyu and Serpa have created a healing force for the universe, and a much-needed one at that. May M3 continue to make the world a better place.