June 7-13, 2010

Articles from the week of June 7-13, 2010
June 7 Introduction to our New Blog
June 8 Barry Guy / Michel Gagné – Fixed Fragmented Fluid
June 9 Han Bennink
June 9 Globe Unity Orchestra
June 11 The WIde Alley

June 11, 2010 ... By Ken Pickering

The Wide Alley Video for "Da Dao Wu Wei / Nothingness is Great"

The Wide Alley Roundhouse Performance Centre - Wednesday, June 30 The major musical discovery of my visit to the Queensland Music Festival in Brisbane in July 2007 was The Wide Alley, a collaboration between musicians Vanessa Tomlinson, Erik Griswold (known as the Clocked Out Duo) and composer Zou Xiangping. The Wide Alley is wonderful, the most successful and inspired blending of contemporary music, jazz and traditional Chinese traditions that I’ve yet encountered and the project reflects their ongoing studies of Sichuan street music, folk music, and opera percussion. A 10 piece ensemble divided equally between Australian avant garde/jazz and Chinese traditional musicians, this project represents a cross cultural meeting that is innovative yet accessible.  A haunting other worldly and mysterious music that intoxicates the senses, the composers draw inspiration from Chengdu’s oldest neighbourhood know as The Wide Alley.

June 9, 2010 ... By Ken Pickering

Han Bennink Han's 65th b'day at the Bim. Check out his duet at 2:30 w/tap dancer Marije Nie Han & Guus Janssen		Han Bennink Han Bennink will be showcased in Vancouver over 4 days during the festival from June 28 through July 1. Performance Works – Bennink / de Joode / Houle / Grdina – June 28 Tom Lee Music Hall – Han Bennink (Workshop) – June 29 Roundhouse Performance Centre – Eric Boeren 4tet f. Han Bennink – June 29 The Ironworks – Plimley / de Joode / Bennink – June 30 Studio 700 – Bennink / Gratkowski / Plimley – July 1 Don’t miss this opportunity to listen to one of the most important artists in jazz. What to say about the Dutch master? Han Bennink – an icon of the global jazz scene, the man has been front row and center for what seems to be my entire adult life. From the early days in the 60’s backing up Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins in Amsterdam clubs, to Eric Dolphy’s “Last Date” (1964), ICP, Topography of the Lungs, New Acoustic Swing Duo, Brotzmann/van Hove/Bennink and we haven’t yet left the 60’s! My first encounter with the live Han was on that 1972 trip to Berlin. Life affirming – life altering. Besides his ongoing work with ICP and many other kindred spirits, I heard a mind- blowing Berlin performance by Gato Barbieri with Han behind the kit at the Berlin Philharmonie (and Ornette solo too!). So what can I say – only that I’ve been a life long fan of Han’s and feel blessed that we’ve established a friendship that has continued to evolve for some 25 years. One of the earliest collaborations that I arranged for Han was with Vancouver pianist, Paul Plimley (at Paul’s request) and that was just the beginning of a long journey in which Han had become a familiar sight at many editions of the festival (with Tobias Delius, ICP, Eric Boeren, Dave Douglas, Clusone Trio and plenty more). One of the sweetest musicians I know, Han never fails to give his all in a live performance. Although he is often cited for his on stage theatrics, the reality is that the sounds emanating from Han and his kit (and the floor/ladder/chair) are nearly ALWAYS in service of the music. Close your eyes and there is magic. The children always get it. Above all, Han Bennink is a consummate jazz drummer straight out of the Baby Dodds school of tub-thumpers. And he swings – like no one else. Primarily known as a musician, Han is also a very talented and internationally recognized visual artist (with various published works). Following 5 years of discussion, Han is responsible for our 25th anniversary festival image – a reconstruction of a Han Bennink original artwork (deconstructed instruments – for a Frances Marie Uitti CD package) that includes his own hand writing in the background.  A fitting image for our 25th anniversary festival. Click through to his Art and Drawings There’s a recent documentary (by Jellie Dekker) on Han’s life which is not to be missed, available from ICP – “Hazentijd”. Read more about Han

June 9, 2010 ... By Ken Pickering

Evan Parker, Manfred Schoof, Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky, Jean-Luc Capozzo Alexander (right) and I at the 2009 Festival Christoph Thewes solo 1970 w. Han Bennink, Brotzmann, Bailey etc. in Berlin

Globe Unity Orchestra Roundhouse Performance Centre – Sunday, June 27 As festival co-founder and artistic director, I had a transformative experience in the late 60’s (while still in high school) upon my first encounter with the music of Globe Unity (their first MPS/Saba) disc recorded in 1966. Previous exposure to contemporary American jazz – Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor; late 60’s rock of the Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Jefferson Airplane, Soft Machine had set the listening stage for a young man with a curious, insatiable appetite for new music. Globe Unity was my initial experience with the new improvised music emanating from Europe and made a great impression. The result was a lifelong commitment to the music (jazz and impro and all it’s global permutations – 360 degrees)) and an early realization that the music had become a global phenomenon.  An early visit to the Berlin Jazz Festival and the Total Music Meeting (in 1972) cemented that commitment upon hearing Barry Guy’s London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Peter Brotzmann, Edward Vesala, Han Bennink, Fred van Hove, Gunter Christmann and most of the important improvisers of the period, many of whom were involved with various editions of Alexander von Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra. It’s now over 40 years since the orchestra’s inception and it really has been a lifelong dream to bring Globe Unity to Vancouver and Canada. I think we can safely say that we are now entering GU’s late period and it was evident that the window was closing on any opportunity to bring them over. This tour represents their 4th visit to North America (the 3 previous all in the USA including a legendary late '87 performance in Chicago) in almost 20 years, and their first ever to Canada (performing at the Suoni de Popolo Festival in Montreal and the Ottawa Jazz Festival), taking over 2 years of preparation. Coordinated by Ken Pickering, Rainbow Robert and GU manager Erhard Hessling. We could say this is a very important and momentous occasion! Aside from the main GU performance, there’ll be spin off and collaborative performances by GU members; for example, Schlippenbach Trio, Gerd Dudeck, Evan Parker/Torsten Muller/Paul Lovens and much more.Thanks to the Goethe-Institut/Toronto and the Canada Council for the Arts. More artist links: Axel Dörner Bauer Thewes Cappozzo Walsdorff Lytton   Schlippenbach / Guy / Homburger More reading: Article in Misterioso Page on EFI

 June 8, 2010 ... By Ken Pickering/Rainbow Robert

Michel Gagné (top) and Barry Guy (bottom) Click the FFF image above to view the Fixed Fragmented Fluid teaser video for a taste of the performance

Barry Guy / Michel Gagné – Fixed Fragmented Fluid Roundhouse Performance Centre – Opening night – June 25 British composer/bassist Barry Guy has held a prominent role in the creative music scene since the late 60’s.  Early work with Evan Parker, Howard Riley, John Stevens, Derek Bailey and Paul Rutherford set the stage for his loftier ambitions as epitomized by the innovative large ensemble; London Jazz Composers Orchestra (Ode / 1972) and a landmark performance (that I was fortunate to hear) at the Berlin Jazz Festival of that year. It was around 1990 that I struck up a friendship with Barry and Maya Homburger (on a shuttle bus to the Victoriaville festival) and Barry quips that he got a gig with us (LJCO) as a result of priming me with a rare vinyl copy of the box set of Ode (out of print for years at the time – now available as a CD reissue on Intakt). Maybe it’s true! The following year LJCO performed amazing concerts in Vancouver, Chicago (for John Corbett) and Victoriaville and I was fortunate to attend our presentation in Vancouver as well as the Victoriaville concert. Great memories. Over the years Barry has performed often in Vancouver in all kinds of formations (Parker/Guy/Lytton, Iskra 1903, NOW Orchestra, Marilyn Crispell, Mats Gustafsson,  Paul Plimley etc) and was artist in residence at VCMI in 2008. Then things got very interesting after we facilitated a meeting (during VCMI) between Michel Gagné and Barry Guy. Award winning Quebeçois animator Michel Gagné is internationally recognized as a visionary who produces groundbreaking work in the world of visual art. Backtracking a year, the initial concept for this project arose when animator Michel Gagné (encouraged by Rainbow Robert) witnessed a performance by the Paul Plimley Trio at the VIJF in 2007. Inspired by the Plimley’s real-life animated virtuosity, Gagné thought it would be exciting to create a new work that featured Plimley’s music along with an abstract animated score. Gagné and Plimley discussed the possibilities and that resulted in Michel’s animation of a short duo piece from Sensology (Barry Guy / Paul Plimley on Maya). This led to a discussion of a larger more ambitious idea, bringing the compositional skills of Barry Guy into the picture to develop a work that would represent a classic collision of art forms that could perhaps bring the relationship between jazz and animation into a futuristic framework where the music and imagery interact with each other in a whole new way. With everyone on side, the result was a 25th anniversary, groundbreaking commission “Fixed Fragmented Fluid” for Barry Guy and Michel Gagné. The animation will be revolutionary from a technical perspective, processed though new keyboard driven platforms (developed by Gagné) which will enable the visuals to be improvised in real time in the context of Barry’s graphic score and a 7 piece international chamber ensemble (Evan Parker, Peter Evans, Maya Homburger, Paul Plimley, Peggy Lee, Lucas Niggli and Barry Guy). Gratitude to Arts Partners in Creative Development, Canada Council for the Arts and Pro Helvetia for their assistance in realizing this project. "Combining animation and music is particularly significant for me because of my ongoing research into graphic scores and performance. Here will be the opportunity to prepare musical structures that will generate and respond to the moving image." - Barry Guy "I am truly excited at the potential of this commission which would combine several areas of artistry that have been my life’s passion. I believe this project, which unites improvisational jazz music and animated images in a unique way, will benefit all artists involved through active participation in the creation of a truly groundbreaking work." - Michel Gagné In addition to FFF, Barry will be involved in 3 additional performances:  1. duos with Alex Schlippenbach and Maya Homburger; 2.trios with Maya Homburger and Francois Houle and 3. with Paul Plimley and Lucas Niggli.

June 7, 2010 ... By Ken Pickering

At the Montréal Jazz Festival office in front of their Jazz wall.

Introduction to our New Blog Over the past 25 years, the festival has become well known for an ongoing comprehensive program of jazz and related music (from ragtime to no-time as we used to say back in the day). With this in mind, the blog’s primary focus will be to shine the spotlight on our core creative music programs including the Roundhouse Innovation Series. These are the programs that set the festival apart; the collaborations, the risk taking artists from important jazz and creative music scenes around the world – countries such as France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland, all over Europe, Australia and beyond. The key to our burgeoning international notoriety has been our 25 year commitment to a vibrant creative music program that has featured Canadian and international artists as diverse as Steve Lacy, Sun Ra, Paul Plimley, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Peggy Lee, Dedication Orchestra, London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Evan Parker, John Korsrud, The Thing, Atomic, George Lewis, Francois Houle, Tim Berne, NOW Orchestra, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, ICP Orchestra, Lori Freedman, Marilyn Crispell, Benoit Delbecq, Louis Sclavis, Jean Derome, Joelle Leandre, Italian Instabile Orchestra and John Butcher. As one of North America’s largest jazz events, by and large the top tier artists or so- called “big names” of the festival are well publicized through traditional media outlets. Clearly, in so many ways the festival’s “big names” only represent the very obvious and visible tip of the iceberg with much of the artistic depth of the festival contained within our program of creative music from locales further afield. So the challenge we face with the reality of such a large festival program, is how to get the word out to listeners that would potentially be interested in this work and part of the answer is the blog’s focus. The Jazz Festival philosophy is all about inclusiveness, openness and sharing our enthusiasm with musicians and fans. The programming vision has never been predicated on one narrow ideological point of view, but has always focused on vital issues in contemporary jazz and improvised music. While clearly inclusive of the jazz tradition, our programs do embrace jazz as a global art form and prioritize the exploration of new territory as exemplified by free improvisation, cross-cultural hybrids, contemporary composition and electronic innovations. Part of my commitment to our “creative vision” as artistic director has been to take a leading role in researching jazz and creative music artists around the world through ongoing attendance at festivals and conferences. Through our (myself and Manager of Artistic Programming, Rainbow Robert) extensive travels to the world’s creative music hot spots to attend conferences, festivals and key showcase events, time and time again we hear the refrain from musicians and presenters alike that our festival is universally recognized by critics, aficionados, presenters and musicians as one of the most important programs of international jazz and improvised music in existence. Our goal is to sustain a programming vision that strikes a meaningful balance between tradition and risk-taking innovation, portraying jazz that’s “inclusive and diverse”, of the highest artistic standards of excellence that truly defines what a creative adventurous jazz festival should be in the 21st century.