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Freedom of Sound returns!
At the first Freedom of Sound festival, we celebrated maverick multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy with more than 40 leading jazz musicians, dance, poetry, and the great Gunther Schuller. We debuted unheard Dolphy works, now housed in the Library of Congress.
This year, Freedom of Sound goes annual, at its new home: Glenfield Middle School. Montclair's arts-magnet middle school. The theme: percussion. Adventurous music from some of the world's most compelling jazz, international and experimental musicians. From jazz masters Andrew Cyrille, Billy Hart and Warren Smith, to avant-garde icon Susie Ibarra, young innovators Kalun Leung & Adam Vidiksis, the seriously percussive piano of DD Jackson...PLUS:
We induct Andrew Cyrille as Montclair's--and the nation's--first Jazz Laureate. A partnership with the Montclair Public Library.
A string-quartet tribute to Max Roach.
The audience "plays the room" in a conductive-paint installation.
A stunning exploration of polyrhythms with quartet, dancer, motion sensor, and audience participation.
We--the community--build and play The World's Largest Recyclable Drumkit. In Glenfield Park.
CHECK OUT THE LINEUP BELOW. Kids attend for FREE as long as the spots last, but they do need tickets.
FRIDAY, MAY 3
6pm Roof Deck
AFROCUBA BAND
Pre-concert salsa warmup on the second-floor roof deck with AfroCuba Band.
7pm Auditorium
ABDOU M'BOUP
Senegal-born percussionist M'Boup has performed with everyone from Pharaoh Sanders to Salif Keita and Talking Heads. And he can capture the room all by himself. Tonight, he performs solo on hand drums, kora, and vocals.
TURNING JEWELS INTO WATER
Brooklyn-based drummer/percussionist RAVISH MOMIN and percussionist/turntablist VAL JEANTY create mesmerizing, innovative electro-acoustic music that draws from India, North Africa, the Middle East, Haitian voodoo culture, and jazz improvisation. The future, now. A special bonus: Glenfield percussion students will workshop with them during the day and join them for part of the set.
YEYI (ADAM RUDOLPH & RALPH M. JONES)
"Percussion wizard" (DownBeat) Rudolph and woodwind/reed master Jones bring 45 years of collaboration to a transportive improvisational dialogue that employs everything from hand-drums (congas, djembe, tarija), frame drum, thumb pianos, gongs, and sinter to flutes, bass clarinet, tenor & soprano saxophones, hichiriki, bagpipes, and piano.
TOM CHIU & FRIENDS
A string-quartet tribute to the great Max Roach led by Tom Chiu, founder of the groundbreaking FLUX Quartet ("one of the most fearless and important new-music ensembles around" - San Francisco Chronicle) and Seed's Pheeroan akLaff, who will perform on a drumkit played by Max himself.
SUSIE IBARRA presents Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms
CLAUDIA ACUNA (vocals), YUKA HONDA (electronics), JAKE LANDAU (keyboards/guitars), IBARRA (drumset/percussion), SOULEYMANE BADOLO (choreographer, dance)
Drawing on deep knowledge of Asian and jazz percussive traditions, Ibarra and DreamTime Ensemble lead audiences on a journey into a mesmerizing musical environment of multi-layered sonic textures. Choreographer/dancer Badolo interacts with the music ensemble and custom-built motion capture technology in which the dancers movements trigger recorded sounds to create a live rhythmic composition. Ibarra conceives the musical structure of Fragility as a game piece in which the rules require performers and audience members to take turns conducting and shifting roles.
WARREN SMITH & SCOTT ROBINSON
Smith and Robinson have performed with everyone from Ella and Aretha to Miles and Mingus. Master percussionist Smith performs solo, then in a rare duo appearance (on Sun Ra's marimba!) with multi-multi-instrumentalist and "mad scientist of jazz," Scott Robinson.
SATURDAY, MAY 4
12pm Glenfield Park
INSTRUMENT BUILD
Join Seed Artists and YOUR NEIGHBORS for a community-build of The Worlds Largest Recyclable Drumkit. Public art. Kids, adults, musicians, non-musicians. Bring a couple bags of (clean!) recycling from home to contribute to the build. We'll supply the stuff to stick it together. It's simple: we build it, we play it. The build starts at noon
What to bring: metal cans with no sharp edges, sturdy plastic, small/medium cardboard boxes that boom when you hit them. For example: tuna/bean/soup/ cans; plastic mayo jars, yogurt containers, shampoo bottles; heavy cardboard tubes, sturdy milk cartons, small corrugated boxes...Just SHOW UP WITH YOUR STUFF! (No items that contained peanut-based products!)
If you want to help prep the site at 11am, please email us at info@seedartists.org.
5pm Planetarium
SAMIR CHATTERJEE
Tabla maser Samir Chatterjee performs under astral projections in the planetarium dome. A collaboration with Glenfield Science teacher Delia Maloy. Capacity of 50 audience members per 15-minute set.
PLAY THE ROOM Auditorium
At the same time, audience members can check out an interactive installation in the auditorium created by KALUN LEUNG & ADAM VIDIKSIS using conductive paint. Tap a surface
covered in conductive paint, trigger one of two dozen audio files collected by Glenfield students and Montclair community members.
6pm Auditorium
KALUN LEUNG & ADAM VIDIKSIS
Trombonist Leung and composer/percussionist Vidiksis create at the cutting edge. Not even we know what they will do. Except for this: As part of their performance, they will create a collective improvisation with audience members who play the conductive-paint installation.
DD JACKSON
Yes, the piano is a percussion instrument. Especially so in the hands of the brilliant and dynamic pianist/composer DD Jackson. Just ask Questlove of The Roots, who called Jackson "kinetic" and "one of the most incredible...musicians of his era."
JAZZ LAUREATE PRESENTATION
Seed Artists, the Montclair Public Library and Mayor Robert Jackson will induct ANDREW CYRILLE as Montclair's--and the world's--first Jazz Laureate. Jazz great OLIVER LAKE will contribute a special dedication. Cyrille will receive a physical award created by artist TOM NUSSBAUM.
ANDREW CYRILLE & BRANDON ROSS
Our new Laureate in the first of two duos. First, Cyrille is joined by one of the most enigmatic guitarists in jazz and improvised music, Brandon Ross. "If youve got a stringed instrument of any kind, let Brandon Ross play it: He's sure to coax out some kind of unnameable beauty." (The New York Times)
PHEEROAN AKLAFF: MAX ROACH TRIBUTE
Seed Artists founder PHEEROAN AKLAFF and the remarkable M.O.P Strings--ASKA KANEKO (violin, electric violin), TOMOKO AKABOSHI (viola), HILLIARD GREENE (double bass), MIHO HAZAMA (conductor)--perform a tribute to Max Roach. RALPH M. JONES joins the group to close the set.
ANDREW CYRILLE & BILLY HART
We close the festival with a musical conversation between two of the greatest living jazz drummers--both longtime Montclair residents. Cyrille and Hart have figured in a remarkable range of brilliant music over the past six decades, and they're still pushing boundaries and making that kit sing. Don't miss this.
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LocationGlenfield Middle School (View)
25 Maple Avenue
Montclair, NJ 07042
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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