DON’T MISS NU MU FESTIVAL’S SCINTILLATING MUSICAL EXPERIMENTATION & EXPRESSION THIS WEEKEND AND NEXT, INCLUDING THIS SUNDAY’S VT PREMIERE OF NY TIMES ‘CRITICS PICK’ FILM ‘FIRE MUSIC’!
Enjoy the performances surrounded by 40 outstanding and ethereal jazz portraits by Mary LaRose in an intimate and welcoming cabaret/gallery setting. All shows suggested donation, pay as you can.
FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 7pm
‘GLORY HOLE’ Saxophonists with a Vision — saxophonists Jeff Lederer and Jon Irabagon stoke a jazz blaze with this conceptual piece that always plays to rave reviews. $15 suggested donation, pay as you can.
SATURDAY AUGUST 20, 7 to 11 pm
‘ENCOUNTERS’ features intimate collaborations with Paul Austerlitz, Haitian legend Ayizan Sanon, Erik Plaks, Aron Namenwirth, Ben James, Zach Swanson and more hosted by John Loggia in a cabaret-like setting with refreshments and food. $15 suggested donation, pay as you can.
SUNDAY AUGUST 21
SUNDAY SOUNDS, 1-2 PM: Enjoy the spontaneous interplay of improvised music and motion in a soothing gallery setting at 118 Elliot with ‘Sunday Sounds’ at 1pm to 2pm this Sunday, August 21 led by musician and music ethnologist Paul Austerlitz for Voudu, African, Caribbean threads guided by participants’ free movement, yoga (there will be a silent leader for inspiration), and meditation as you wish. Bring a mat, some blankets provided, suggested donation $10 but pay as you can.
VT PREMIERE OF “FIRE MUSIC” 6 – 7:15 PM, film NY Times calls “an impassioned case for free jazz” (NY Times review BELOW). Co-produced by 118 Elliot’s John Loggia, the film is a must-see for any jazz aficionado featuring fabulous archival footage of Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman and other pioneers ‘central to the evolution of jazz as America’s most innovative art form’. Excellent sound and good ventilation, $10 suggested donation, but pay as you can.CRITIC’S PICK
‘Fire Music’ Review: An Impassioned Case for Free Jazz
The beautiful souls that created free jazz — including Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry and Carla Bley — light up this new documentary from Tom Surgal
By Glenn Kenny
Sept. 9, 2021
Fire MusicNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Tom SurgalDocumentary1h 28m
One default reaction to the musical form called “free jazz” — Ornette Coleman’s phrase for this improvised, experimental style of jazz — has long been that it’s “not music.” This concise but cogent documentary directed by Tom Surgal is crammed with exhilarating sounds, moving reminiscences and stimulating arguments that it is not just music, but vital music.
Gary Giddins, a critic who’s equally at home explicating Bing Crosby as Cecil Taylor, points out at the film’s beginning that someone playing the blues on a porch can make their phrases 12 bars or 14 bars or whatever at will. In group playing, certain agreements have to be met.
One basis of free jazz is to approach ensemble playing without conventional agreements. Hence, Coleman’s practically leaderless double quartet approach on the 1961 “Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation” album. Much consideration is also given here to Coleman’s break with bebop in insisting one could improvise without chords. His playing sounded out of tune to traditional jazz musicians not yet conversant with microtones. This sounds a little dry, but the movie is anything but. Among other highlights are incredibly well-curated archival footage and contemporary interviews that allow the viewer to briefly commune with some beautiful souls, including Coleman, Sam Rivers, John Coltrane, Rashied Ali, Don Cherry, Carla Bley. “Whatever he did was the right thing to do,” Bley, now 85, says of Cherry, who died in 1995….
See full Times piece at: ‘Fire Music’ Review: An Impassioned Case for Free Jazz – The New York Times
NU MU’S THRILLING RAP-UP IS NEXT WEEKEND
AUGUST 25 – 28, HERE’S A TASTE, SEE FULL LINEUP:
https://118elliot.com/event/nu-mu-
THURS AUG 25 – ANNA PATTON LEADS COMMUNITY IMPROV 7PM
FRIDAY AUG 26 – JEFF LEDERER, AVERY SHARP AND MARY LAROSE 7PM
SAT AUG 27 – JOHN LOGGIA, BONNIE KANE, RAS MOSCHE AND OTHERS!
SUN AUG 28 – 1PM SUNDAY SOUNDS IMPROV AND MOVEMENT WITH BONNIE KANE ON FLUTE, RAS MOSCHE
118 ELLIOT, 118 ELLIOT STREET, BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT 05301
CALL: 917 239 8743 FOR MORE INFORMATION! FULLY ADA ACCESSIBLE.
