Le Poisson Rouge is presenting a tribute to the arts world polymath John Lurie that will include four concerts of his music and two exhibitions of his visual art works. The films Mr. Lurie has appeared in (“Stranger Than Paradise,” “Desperately Seeking Susan” and “Sleepwalk,” among them) are not part of the tribute, but some of Mr. Lurie’s film music will figure into the concert programs.
The festival, “Strange & Beautiful: The Music and Art of John Lurie,” opens on Sept. 9, with the Ensemble LPR performing string quartet versions of Mr. Lurie’s music. Among the arrangers are musicians who were members of the Lounge Lizards, the experimental jazz band that Mr. Lurie and his brother Evan founded in 1978. The first of the two art exhibitions opens in Le Poisson Rouge’s gallery the same night, and runs through Nov. 30. The other show runs at the Cavin-Morris Gallery, Sept. 18 to Oct. 25.
The other concerts in the festival include Sex Mob’s program of Mr. Lurie’s film music and an overview of Mr. Lurie’s works by Greg Saunier’s Inner Greatness (Sept. 16); and a concert by Antibalas and Hellbent, focusing on Mr. Lurie’s music with the Lounge Lizards (Sept. 25).
Steven Bernstein, the trumpeter in the Lounge Lizards, is playing in several concerts in the series. Other member of the group, including the guitarist Marc Ribot, the drummers Calvin Weston and Billy Martin, the bassist Tony Garnier and the saxophonist Michael Blake, will be part of a huge roster of players on the closing program at Town Hall on Sept. 27. The program is devoted to music of the Lounge Lizards and the fictitious Marvin Pontiac, an African-Jewish musician that Mr. Lurie created for the 1999 album, “The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits.”