JAZZ IN THE FLOWER DISTRICT W. Eugene Smith was a master photojournalist known for his gritty, unafraid photo essays. For four years starting in 1957, he resided at a loft building in New York's flower district, where jazz artists met for all night jam sessions. Among the regular attendees were Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus and Thelonius Monk, the latter of whom used the loft for rehearsing his famous ten-piece orchestra performance at Town Hall.

For the past few months, WNYC has been playing segments about the loft featuring interviews with players and attendees and rolling out never-before-heard recordings -- it turns out Smith secretly recorded thousands of hours of music, street noise and conversation. In addition to the WNYC segments, which you can stream here, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is displaying an exhibition of Smith's photographs along with even more of the recordings from now until May 22.

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts // 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan // 11a - 6p // free // more info // directions

AKRON AMERICA We'll always have a place in our hearts for Akron/Family, especially as long as they do things like their 'Woody Guthrie's America' project. The threesome have written a song inspired by Woody and a genuine love for the beautiful American landscape (to be fair, they also mention their love of the rest of the world's beauty on the project homepage), and they've invited anyone anywhere to do their own version of the song and send it to them. Once they get it, they post it on the site. The idea is that the song is never finished, that it develops with every new version, which is in perfect fitting with what seems to be A/F's overall musical mission: every show since the first time we saw them has been different and exciting. Tonight at Williamsburg Music Hall will certainly be no different.

Music Hall of Williamsburg // 66 N 6th St, Brooklyn // 9p // $12 in advance or $15 at the door // more info // directions

ANIMALS IN THE GUGGENHEIM Animal Collective have teamed up with visual artist Danny Perez to transform the Guggenheim into a psychedelic jungle. Tickets for the late show are sold out, but at the time of our writing this, there are still some left for the early show.

Guggenheim // 1071 5th Ave, Manhattan // 4.30p and 9p // $30 in advance // more info // directions

MUSIC TO VIEW PAINTINGS BY Bronzino was a master painter and draftsman from Florence in the 1500s. Part of the Mannerist movement, he studied under Pontormo, a revolutionary who broke form with the Renaissance's dedication to biological accuracy to develop something that was more elongated, dramatic and, in our opinion, beautiful. The Met is displaying a bunch of Bronzino's drawings in the museum now, and in conjunction, they're presenting a new Bruce Adolphe composition inspired by Bronzino. There's a podcast about the piece available for download here; it will be premiered at the museum tomorrow, March 6; and the exhibition is on view until April 18.

Metropolitan Museum of Art // 1000 5th Ave, Manhattan // 9.30a - 5.30p // suggested donation of $20 // more info // directions

MUNDANE HISTORY BAM hosts the first offshore version of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which highlights first-time or second-time directors from all over the world. They have an boast-worthy track record: Christopher Nolan, who made Memento and The Dark Knight, and Kelly Reichardt, who made Old Joy, are among past winners of the festival. The movie about which we're most excited is called Mundane History, a Thai film the festival calls an "ambitious, metaphysical family drama about an elusive father, a paralyzed son, and the male nurse hired to take care of him." The soundtrack is made up of Malaysian and Thai post-rock. Awesome.

BAM Rose Cinemas // 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn // 6.30p // $12 // more info // directions

note. Once you finish at BAM, grab a bite to eat at Roman's, and head up to Mister Saturday Night. We're back at home at 1142 Myrtle Ave with an open bar, solid music and our guest, Kompakt and Soul Jazz artist Matias Aguayo.

UP AND OUT Washed Out is just great. The young man from Georgia makes lovely, slow-beat music with, compounded and harmonized summertime synths and vocals. He's playing what we think is his first ever show in New York tonight.

Mercury Lounge // 217 E Houston St, Manhattan // 7p  // $12 // more info // directions