Victoriaville Return: Recalling Bill Dixon

Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville

Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada

Festival des Musiques de Creation du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean

Sagueney, Quebec, Canada

Later this week, I will return to the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.  I will make the long drive north, following the same path we took two years ago with Bill Dixon.  So many memories are wrapped up in this trip, and I welcome the opportunity for the particular sort of meditation that a long drive alone affords.

I will be joining Michel Cote and his Maikotron Unit for two performances.  I first met Michel through Bill Dixon, when Michel joined us at the 2007 Vision Festival for the performance that became 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur.

Images of Bill Dixon at FIMAV 2010 by Stephen Haynes

Improvisations VII: New Music at Real Art Ways

Improvisations VII

April 26, 2012

Real Art Ways

Hartford, CT

I first heard Kyoko Kitamura at Firehouse 12, performing with Taylor Ho Bynum's Spider Monkey Strings.  She made/makes an instant and indelible impression with her work.  Rick Rozie is a local hero, and chairs the principal bass position with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.  Years ago, he co-led the Afro-Algonquin with his brother Mixashawn.  At the time, Rick toured regularly with Anthony Davis in Episteme, and recorded with folks such as James Newton and Muhal Richard Abrams.  It is not often that we are able to see Rick in a creative context.  I'd wanted to draw Rick into our series for some time.

The music we created together was distinct from anything we've done so far.  The combination of Kyoko's voice, the language she uses and her approach to sound and narrative, alongside Rick's measured approach was dynamic in more ways than one.

I have asked Kyoko to return to Connecticut in June.  I will be presenting music for/with dance at Rachel Bernsen's New Haven studio, The Big Room, as part of the Take Your Time series.  Tubaist Ben Stapp and Joe Morris will join Kyoko, dancer Olivia Iliano-Davis and me.  We will share the evening with the wonderful Charlie Burnham and dancer Emily Coates.

 

Images of Improvisations VII by Byron Dean

Improvisations VI: New Music at Real Art Ways

Improvisations VI

March 3, 2012

Real Art Ways

Hartford, CT

Early last month, we convened another installation of Improvisations, our ongoing series at Real Art Ways.  We were joined by Chris Cretella and Nigel Taylor.  I had never heard either musician before we played.  Chris lives in New Haven, and had been up to see some of our concerts.  Nigel drove down from Boston.

Chris and Nigel played in a duo setting.  In fact, this duo - Joint Raker - is a going concern and the work they have put in together showed.  Joe Morris and I played in duo next, something we have been doing for quite a few years in various contexts and I never tire of this setting.  Joe generates and weaves form and is a steady delight to work with.

We finished the evening with a foursome, two guitars and two trumpets.

 

Images of Improvisations VI by Maurice Robertson

Improvisations V: New Music at Real Art Ways

Improvisations V

February 12, 2012

Real Art Ways

Hartford, CT

Several weeks ago, five improvisers  came together on a chilly Sunday afternoon to make some music together.  We ended up working in a large gallery space at Real Art Ways that was open between shows. Joe invited his Wildlife quartet - Petr Cancura, Jim Hobbs and Luther Gray - to join us.  We had a wonderful audience, as we always do these days.  Petr's wife and daughter where there, and I'd often see them dancing to the music when I looked up to see what was happening in the audience.

Wildlife played a quartet piece, I built a trio with the horns and then another trio with Joe and Luther.  At a point I pulled Petr into this.  The entire afternoon was a steady exploration of sound and shape grounded in tempo.  Repeat after me, "there's no place like home, there's no place like home."

Images of Improvisations V by Lyn Horton and Rob Miller

Improvisation Conversation on WNPR

A Conversation on Improvisation

Where We Live/WNPR

Hartford, CT

I was recently invited to join John Dankosky on his radio show, Where We Live, to discuss the notion of Improvisation.  The invitation was a response to the Improvisations series that I curate with Joe Morris at Real Art Ways.  When I spoke with the producers of the show, I suggested that we avoid the obvious and not fill the studio with musicians.  Instead, we invited an improvising choreographer - Rachel Bernsen - an improvising actor and a chef. 

We had a delightful time together, and it quickly became clear that more time was needed for the conversation, and that several topics raised during the course of our talk should have their own show.  This was the first time that I have been on air at WNPR since I moved to Hartford twenty years ago.  I hope to return to the studio soon to continue/extend the dance. 

Listen to the podcast of our conversation here.

Image of Stephen Haynes from Improvisations V by Maurice Robertson

Improvisations IV: New Music at Real Art Ways

Improvisations IV

January 12, 2012

Real Art Ways

Hartford, CT

At times it is hard to believe the way that each new event in our series seems to get better.  The work together at Real Art Ways has proved to be such an unfolding, such a gift. 

So it was last month when Joe Morris and I gathered together with Sara Schonbeck and Michael Evans.  I had played once, years ago, at Firehouse 12 with Michael, in an ensemble of Joe's.  Sara and I sit together in Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra.  This was the first time we had worked together in this configuration, and the first time for me hearing Sara really stretch out.  And stretch out she did!  We so rarely get to hear the bassoon in an improvising context, playing in the same manner and with the same authority that one expects from the saxophone.  Sara wove long, hard-swinging lines and played with deep lyricism across the full range of her instrument.  

And then there was Micheal.  The best way for me to describe what he brought would be to say that he proved to be an authentic trickster, a shaman of sound.  Our improvisation took on a real air of ritual as the evening progressed. At a point, Micheal moved away from the drum kit and began to dance, striking a long rope laden with small cymbals.  The spirits most surely were in the room!

Images of Improvisations IV by Maurice Robertson