The Angel City Jazz Festival | Oct. 2nd – 9th, 2010
2010 Angel City Jazz Festival — October 2nd through 9th
A Week of Six Exciting Events at Six Prestigious Venues
The 2010 Angel City Jazz Festival
— L.A.’s only non-commercial jazz and new-music festival — is a
weeklong celebration at six venues, combining music, film, art, dance,
poetry and food with two world premieres. Featured artists include The
John Abercrombie Quartet, Nels Cline’s DIRTY BABY, The Ravi Coltrane /
Ralph Alessi Quintet, Henry Grimes and Friends, Wadada Leo Smith’s
Golden Quartet with Vijay Iyer, Myra Melford’s Trio, The Sons of
Champignon (Tim Berne, Jim Black and Nels Cline) and many others. The
festival is produced by Angel City Arts in association with the L.A.
County Arts Commission, LACMA, CalArts, L.A. Filmforum,
Cryptogramophone Records and the Jazz Bakery. For more information
please visit angelcityjazz.com or call Rocco Somazzi at 323-573-2110.
Saturday,
October 2nd – 8:00 PM at Walt Disney Concert Hall’s REDCAT Theater —
Henry Grimes & Friends with Dwight Trible / John Beasley Duo. Henry
Grimes was an A-list jazz bassist in the ’50s and ’60s who worked with
everyone from Benny Goodman to Albert Ayler. Then he disappeared. For
almost 33 years he lived the life of a day laborer in Los Angeles. This
is Henry’s first major performance in L.A. since his re-emergence onto
the jazz scene in 2003. Henry’s friends performing this evening include
trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, woodwind player Vinny Golia, pianist Ben
Rosenbloom and drummer-percussionist Alex Cline. Expect some special
guests. Dwight Trible and John Beasley explore the outer reaches of
musical invention. Dwight Trible is a singer who has collaborated with
Pharoah Sanders, Charles Lloyd, Billy Childs and Horace Tapscott.
Pianist John Beasley is a prodigious performer and composer who has
worked with Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Freddie Hubbard, Bennie Maupin,
Christian McBride and James Brown. REDCAT is located at Walt Disney
Concert Hall, 631 W. Second St., L.A.; (213) 237-2800. Produced in
association with CalArts.
Sunday, October 3rd – 5:00 PM at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. The centerpiece of the festival is a daylong outdoor event with five of the world’s most creative jazz ensembles: Ravi Coltrane / Ralph Alessi Quintet, Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet with Vijay Iyer, Sons of Champignon, Vinny Golia Sextet and Kneebody.
Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, the Ford Amphitheatre is one of L.A.’s
hidden treasures — a glorious place to hear music with the entire
family. The Ford Amphitheatre is located at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East,
LA; (323) 461-3673. This event is produced in association with the L.A.
County Arts Commission. For Tickets: http://fordtheatres.org/en/events/details/id/113
Born
in NYC, the second son of John and Alice, Ravi was raised in L.A. and
studied at CalArts before moving back to New York, where he has worked
extensively with M-BASE guru Steve Coleman. In addition to leading his
own group, Ravi has recently performed with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah
Sanders, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea,
John McLaughlin, Michael Brecker, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Branford
Marsalis, Jacky Terrasson and many others. Joining him is frequent
collaborator and influential NYC-based trumpeter Ralph Alessi.
Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet with Vijay Iyer
Lauded
as “one of the most vital musicians on the planet” by Coda, Wadada Leo
Smith is one of the most visionary, boldly original and artistically
important figures in contemporary American jazz and free music, and one
of the great trumpet players of our time. As a composer, improviser,
performer, music theorist/writer and educator, Smith has devoted a
lifetime to navigating the emotional heart, spiritual soul, social
significance and physical structure of jazz, integrating free, composed
and world music to create new music of infinite possibility and nuance.
Sons of Champignon – Tim Berne, Nels Cline & Jim Black
Formerly
known as BBC, the ironically named Sons of Champignon is an improvising
trio comprising three of the most influential instrumentalists of our
time: saxophonist Tim Berne, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Jim
Black. Described by Black as “rocking acoustic/electronic improv,” The
Sons of Champignon will light it up with committed freewheeling
improvisations.
Vinny Golia Sextet
The
recordings of multi-woodwind performer Golia have been consistently
picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly “ten
best” lists. As a composer, Vinny Golia fuses the rich heritage of
jazz, contemporary classical and world music into his own unique
compositions. As a bandleader, Golia has presented his music to concert
audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and
the United States.
Kneebody
Kneebody
flies above the label zone, crafting postmodern instrumental music that
jukes convention and genre. If the group’s intricate compositions had
to be filed away in a record bin, chances are they would rest in the
jazz corner, but the Los Angeles/NYC quintet touches on post-rock,
classical and avant-garde forms as often as it flirts with swing. Last
year’s Low Electrical Worker found the band stretching out in odd meters
with equally odd instruments, getting loud, having a blast — and maybe
even reinventing music a little in the process.
Monday,
October 4th – 7:00 & 9:00 PM at Royal/T in Culver City — Music,
Dance, Food & Improvisation with Myra Melford Trio, Oguri, bassist Mark Dresser and Chef Paul Canales. This
benefit for Angel City Arts features Myra Melford’s Trio with Stomu
Takeishi and Alex Cline, Japanese butoh dancer Oguri, bassist Mark
Dresser and Chef Paul Canales of Oliveto Restaurant. Taste food inspired
by music, which is simultaneously interpreted in dance. Enjoy a
four-course meal with wine and music. There will also be an art auction
with proceeds donated to Angel City Arts. Royal/T, 8910 Washington Blvd,
Culver City – (310) 559-6300
Thursday, October 7th – 7:30 PM at LACMA’s Bing Theater – DIRTY BABY: Nels Cline, Ed Ruscha and David Breskin. Experience
the world premiere of Nels Cline & David Breskin’s visionary
recontextualization of legendary L.A. artist Ed Ruscha’s “censor strip”
paintings. DIRTY BABY is the gloriously unruly mutt born of a
synaesthetic mating of pictures, music and poetry. For this special
event based on their new book, Cline leads two prestigious ensembles in a
performance of his compositions, Breskin reads his ghazals, and
Ruscha’s Silhouettes and Cityscapes are projected for good measure.
Afterward, Ed, Nels and db sign DIRTY BABY. LACMA – Bing Theater – 5905
Wilshire Blvd.; (323) 857-6000. Produced in association with LACMA and
Cryptogramophone Records.
Friday,
October 8th – 8:00 PM at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater in Hollywood —
Creative Music & Film: World premiere of The Reach of Resonance,
plus a solo piano set by Motoko Honda. A chainsaw orchestra, a
singing dog, a man who chews on amplified glass, a string quartet
written for barbed-wire fences, a woman who creates counterpoint from
dot-matrix printers — these are a few of the creative endeavors
explored by filmmaker Steven Elkins. A Q&A with the filmmaker
follows. Motoko Honda is a pianist/ composer/ improviser who creates
structured improvisations intended to extend beyond rhythm, melody and
harmony to affect the skin, organs and minds of the listener. Barnsdall
Gallery Theater – 4800 Hollywood Blvd.; (323) 644-6272. Produced in
association with L.A. Filmforum.
Saturday, October 9th – 8:00 & 9:30 PM – Musicians Institute Theater in Hollywood – The John Abercrombie Quartet. Throughout
a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John
Abercrombie has established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar.
Favoring unusual sounds and nontraditional ensembles, Abercrombie is a
restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while
pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony. Performing in Abercrombie’s
quartet are violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer
Joey Baron. Musicians Institute Theater – 6752 Hollywood Blvd.; (310)
271-9039. Produced in association with the Jazz Bakery.