Vision Festival Healing Soul: Streaming October 8 – 12, 2020 

Source: ARTS FOR ART.

Thursday, October 8
Streaming Online from Firehouse 12

7pm EDT
​Wadada Leo Smith Solo
Wadada Leo Smith – trumpet, piano

Wadada Leo Smith, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser is one of the most acclaimed creative artists of his times, both for his music and his writings. Smith’s solo creative music practice has been evolving since the beginning of his career, with 2017’s Solo: Reflections And Meditations on Monk being his most recent solo recording.

8pm EDT
Panel Discussion on Jazz and Protest
Panelists include Amirtha Kidambi, Russell Hall, JD Allen, Gerald Cleaver, Jean Carla Rodea, Andrea Wolper, William Parker, and Lee Mixashawn Rozie

Friday, October 9
Streaming Online from the Clemente

5pm EDT
The Healing Force
​Patricia Nicholson – text, movement
Ellen Christi – voice
Jean Carla Rodea – voice
Amirtha Kidambi – voice
Andrea Wolper – voice
Ava Mendoza – guitar
Val Jeanty – percussion

6pm EDT
Afro-Algonquin Trio
Lee Mixashawn Rozie – reeds, mandolin, voice
Rick Rozie – bass
​Royal Hartigan – drums

Afro-Algonquin began in the 1970s with the intent to celebrate the fusion of Afro-American and Indigenous music of the Americas. Today, the concept has expanded to embrace full the Atlantic World (the Americas, Africa, Europe and the various fusions of these cultures overtime). Resulting in Indigenous to Bebop, Conga to Funk, Ragtime to notime, and music that freely spans styles and labels driven by the inner pulse of creativity that we call jazz.

7pm EDT
Oliver Lake Organ Quartet
Oliver Lake – alto sax
Jared Gold – organ
Freddie Hendrix – trumpet
Chris Beck – drums

Legendary composer, multi-instrumentalist, painter, and poet Oliver Lake presents his unconventional organ quartet – exploring freebop, funk, jazz and avant-musical conversations.

Saturday, October 10
​Streaming Online from the Clemente

4pm EDT
Open Space
Hamid Drake – drums
James Brandon Lewis – tenor saxophone
Brandon Lopez – bass
Alexis Marcelo – piano

As one of the most versatile drummers in modern music, Hamid Drake has been the backbone to countless ensembles. Here is a rare opportunity to hear a group of his own formation, bringing the Chicago percussionist together with three of NYC’s most exciting improvisers.

5pm EDT
Fay Victor’s Mutations for Justice
Fay Victor – voice, compositions
Mazz Swift – violin
​Chris Williams – trumpet
Luke Stewart – bass
Jason Nazary – drums

Mutations for Justice are a series of small composition mantras or ‘memes’ out of the need to articulate political ideas in a minimalist repetitive framework further developed through improvisation. Chanting and utilizing protest music as a mutable entity to change how we see. These pieces will mingle with a fantastic group of improvisors adding their personal spin on the Mutations.

6pm EDT
Amina Claudine Myers Trio
Amina Claudine Myers – piano, organ, voice
Jerome Harris – bass, voice
​Reggie Nicholson – drums

Amina Claudine Myers comes from a background steeped in the blues and gospel. She was a founding member of the AACM, and took the new freedom approach to making music, while staying close to her roots. Her trio with Jerome Harris and Reggie Nicholson has been one of the mainstays of her 50+ years in creative music.

Sunday, October 11
Streaming Online from the Clemente

4pm EDT
Andrew Cyrille Quartet
Bill Frisell – guitar
David Virelles – piano
Ben Street – bass
Andrew Cyrille – drums

Renowned drummer Andrew Cyrille, 2019 Vision Festival Lifetime Achievement award honoree, leads his all-star quartet featuring guitar luminary Bill Frisell, one of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music; highly in-demand bassist Ben Street; and renowned Cuban-born pianist David Virelles.

5:30pm EDT
Tyehimba Jess
​Tyehimba Jess – poetry

Tyehimba Jess is the author of two books of poetry, Leadbelly and Olio. Olio won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The Midland Society Author’s Award in Poetry, and received an Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

6pm EDT
Black Host
Gerald Cleaver – drums
Darius Jones – alto sax
Brandon Seabrook – guitar
Cooper-Moore – piano
​Brandon Lopez – bass

Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host brings forth original compositions that blend modern jazz, free music, psych, post-punk and electrified noise with painstaking detail and heady abandon. A reverb-drenched and incisive stew of rhapsodic piano, searing alto and fractured guitar over rhythms that are alternately chunky and airy, rendered with a tremendous live energy.

Monday, October 12
​Streaming Online from the Clemente

4pm EDT
David Murray Trio
David Murray – tenor sax, bass clarinet
Luke Stewart – bass
Ronnie Burrage – drums

One of the greatest tenor sax and bass clarinet players of his generation, David Murray has performed in ensembles of all sizes, from the fabled World Saxophone Quartet to his own Octets and Big Bands. Here her presents a new trio configuration, with bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Ronnie Burrage.

5:30pm EDT
LaTasha Diggs
LaTasha Diggs – poetry

A writer, vocalist, and sound artist, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs is the author of TwERK (Belladonna, 2013); three chapbooks which include Ichi-Ban and Ni-Ban (MOH Press), Manuel is destroying my bathroom (Belladonna Press), and the album, Televisíon.

6pm EDT
In Order to Survive Quintet
William Parker – bass
Rob Brown – alto sax
​James Brandon Lewis – tenor sax
Cooper-Moore – piano
Hamid Drake – drums

The music of In Order To Survive is deeply rooted in the concept of vision. In this music I hear the history, the mystery and the now, all existing and vanishing at the same time. Everything is kept together by the undertow of this luminous lyricism that is ever present. The main force in playing this music is having the ability to feel the pain of all who suffer. To feel it as if it were happening to us; not resting until it ceases to be. Making sure that each sound that comes from your instrument is directed and filled with the strongest truth that exists.