VISION FESTIVAL XIV
Special by THE NEW TIMES HOLLER!
From the Music and Arts Desk by
© Amir Bey, 2009
June 20
All photos by Amir Bey, 2009 (c)
|
On Tuesday, June 9, Vision Festival XIV opened with bright moments of music, dance, poetry, and art. This year's venue was held at Abrons Art Center, with its excellent stage and galleries, and for the last day, June 15, at The Angel Orensanz Foundation.
|
VISION FESTIVAL'S OPENING NIGHT
BILL COLE'S UNTEMPERED ENSEMBLE: Bill Cole, double rds, Joseph Daley, tb, Shayna Dulberger, b, Warren Smith, d, Atticus Cole, perc, Althea Sully Cole, vo. Installation by Jorgo Schafer
|
This year's Lifetime of Acheivement dedication was given to Marshall Allen. To see a photo montage of Marshall taken at Vision, click here.
Mac users who may have problems with this video's .wmv file can download
Flip Mac
COMET MARSHALL ALLEN
|
|
So many bright moments! I dug Douglas R. Ewart and Inventions "Dawn", with Shaku Joseph Jarman, fl, a/sx, words, Amiri Baraka, words, Douglas R. Ewart, words, perc, voc, J.D. Paran, fl,cl, and b/sx, Donald Smith, P, and Thurman Barker d, vbs.
The music, poetry, - so much good wording! The spirit of Douglas's music and this ensemble was uplifting. Douglas spinning large tops onstage at the end of the concert was a gas!
|
|
DOUGLAS EWART AND AMIRI BARAKA
|
I hadn't heard Joseph Jarman in a while, and his reading with Amiri was strong. |
JOSEPH JARMAN
|
At one point there was a Malachi moment - Joseph was playing chimes and Thurman Barker got on the vibes, and it felt to me like Malachi Favors and Joseph from the Art Ensemble days.
I mentioned that to Thurman afterwards, and he said, "...Malachi left a heavy legacy". |
THURMAN BARKER
|
I enjoyed drummer William Hooker's Silent Film/Live Music Project, a presentation of "Symbol of the Unconquered" (1920) by African American film maker Oscar Micheaux,
who felt compelled to address the racist attitudes of his times, such as the assertions of D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation. This was a restored film, almost forgotten, and is a window for racial identity conflicts then. The music gave a dynamic energy to the story, probably more apropos to the film than music of that era might have been, yet likewise didn't match the melodramatic style of the film.
Very briefly, "Symbol" is about a mulatto woman whose black grandfather, a prospector, left her property that local cutthroats want to take from her. A black neighbor who appears to be mixed race also, befriends and protects her against night riders. Later, after the night riders are vanquished (how that happened is on a lost reel), oil is found on his property and he becomes a wealthy business man.
The hero was secretly in love with the heroine, but as it turns out was afraid to pronounce his love because he thought she was white. She fears that he wouldn't want her because she's black (she thought he was white too?!) and the story ends happily. I noticed that in this film Micheaux also indulged in the stereotypes of the time;
the heroes were mulatto, and the darker characters were shufflin' grinnin' types who played subordinate roles to whites and to the lighter hued blacks.
Anyway I thought the film made some important points for that time, and Micheaux's dedication to taking on Hollywood, offering a healthier point of view for blacks, is appreciated and he left some powerful documents.
|
|
Here is a photo and video montage of three conductors, stills from Butch Morris's (right) Conduction® No. 187, Erotic Eulogy, and videos of Marshall Allen's Special Set
(actually he's leading the band), and his direction of The Sun Ra Arkestra, followed by Jason Kao Hwang's conducting a 25 + member string ensemble, Spontaneous River. Please check this out.
Mac users who may have problems with this video's .wmv file can download
Flip Mac
|
CONDUCTIONERS
|
Here is an exclusive HOLLER! interview with Patricia on the eve of the festival. She discusses the upcoming festival's music, art, funding issues, and arts education; 6'47".
INTERVIEW.
Mac users who may have problems with this video's .wmv file can download
Flip Mac
PATRICIA NICHOLSON PARKER
Vision Festival Organizer
|
|
There were many nights of extraordinary music from William Parker, but my favorite W.P. moment at the festival was his giving away instruments - or selling them at generous
give away-prices at a quiet area near the balcony from a table that was loaded with all kinds of horns from around the world.
|
BASSIST WILLIAM PARKER
|
Aside from the music, there were the installations of Jorge Schafer, and the paintings of Alan Bolle, Jeff Schangler's perennial music Witness®, and Preet Srivastava.
There was also interesting improvised dancing, Between the Lines led by Jason Jordan, with Jason, Mariko Kumanomido, Shaw Scantleberry, often accompanied by musicians such as Clif Jackson, Jessica Jones, and Sabir Mateen.
In the Experimental theater there were several visual presentations and collaborations with musicians, Lili White had a video installation and there was a collaborative project between visual artist Jo Wood Brown, Rob Brown, and Jody Henenfeld. A photo exhibit of the works of Jacques Bisceglia and Michael Wilderman was featured in one of Henry Street's galleries. The photographer Jamuse from Rome was also on hand, one of many photographers who creatively document the Vision Festival. Here are portraits and images from some of those activities.
|
Abron's stage design and lighting was great for Jorgo Schafer's installation, "Standing at the Bottom of the Totem Pole", a series of what look like brightly
painted giant kites that formed stationary mobiles.
|
JORGO SCHAFER
|
What I call Jorgo's "sail-kite-mobiles". They were ink on rice paper that was tied to thin wood dowls. Jorgo had been to China and observed the use of rice paper constructed in similar ways. His mobiles ranged from colorful to black/white/gray as this one.
|
One of Jorgo Schafer's installations
|
Alan at Orensanz, the Vision's Finale
|
ALAN BOLLE
|
Of this painting he says, "Here I am improvising with tone line and texture to capture musicians in spontaneous improvisation."
|
Alan's rendering of Butch Morris's conduction of a chorus of poets and string ensemble "Conduction® No. 187, Erotic Eulogy". Photo courtesy of the artist.
|
Photographer Jamuse's muse is Jazz. For a look at the evolution of her work and her inspiration from Jazz, please visit the September HOLLER!
interview with her.
|
JAMUSE
|
Hey y'all, Jeff paints simultaneously ambidextrously!
About his work he says: The musicWitness® Vision, (1975-2009+), attempts
to pictographically embody contemporary improvised music in real time,
and fuse each musician’s stance with their instruments
into the colors & rhythms of their collective musical interaction in space.
All performance images are conceived as potentially connected together,
forming one long unrolling scroll-song of live creative community energy.
musicWitness® two-handed works are painted with acrylic colors
into pen & ink structural nets.
|
JEFF SCHLANGER, musical Witness®
|
Jeff says about the title The 3 November Call:
"Joe McPhee mentioned that November 3rd is the birthday
of both Joe McPhee & Henry Grimes.
& The Call was Grimes’ first recording as a leader." Photo courtesy of the artist.
|
THE 3 NOVEMBER CALL, by Jeff Schangler.
|
Preet performs live jazz with her paintbrush. Preet, born in India and raised in Chicago, is both inspired by the live performance and a part of the performance.
While her brush strokes with each moment, her canvas captures the experience of rhythm and melody conversing with form and color.
|
PREET SRIVASTAVA
|
This painting is from a March 2009 concert of Billy's. Photo courtesy of the artist.
|
BILLY BANG IN CONCERT BY PREET SRIVASTAVA
|
Dance in unexpected places at Vision
|
Jason Jordan's Between The Lines
|
|
Jason Jordan's Between The Lines
|
Musicians: Clif Jackson on bass, Jessica Jones, Tenor
|
Jason Jordan's Between The Lines
|
There were several collaborations between poets and musicians at Vision. Here is poet David Budbill's
The Fire of Compassion/Meaning of Jazz' in words and music,
with William Parker on bass, donso n'goni, and Hamid Drake, drums.
|
POETRY AT VISION
|
|
PANEL DISCUSSION
|
Yeah, that's right! The Easter Bunny was so concerned about the state of the arts that he felt compelled to sit down with Amiri Baraka and tell folks what he thought about it.
This year's theme was Art and Politics and the Politics of Art - Past, Present, Future. Some of the participants shown here are Amiri Baraka, Paul Nagle, Patricia Parker,
Nick Ruechel, Nathalie Mattheiem (moderator), Jason Gross, Jo Wood Brown, Cooper Moore, Easter Bunny.
|
|
|
|
|
|
