Vision Festival XV Talking Points

V I S I O N F E S T I V A L

THE CREATIVE OPTION - June 20 - 30, 2010

TALKING POINTS - 11 DAYS in 7 VENUES

1) On COMMUNITY

* June 21, 2010 FREE OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE

at Campos Plaza Playground (East 13th Street, btwn Ave B & Ave C)

On Sunday, June 20th, Vision Festival XV will officially open with a Free Outdoor Performance at Campos Plaza, a NYCHA Housing Development. This performance is an opportunity to give back to the kind of community that fostered some of NY's most innovative artists. The Little Huey band will perform a special concert for this event which will include youth from the community center. The character of Little Huey is based on a young artist growing up in the projects.

* - the creative option - or the corporate role

Arts For Art maintains a commitment to understand both what is at play in our diverse creative community and what can be done about the dispersion of this art scene as well as the new false equality made possible by new technologies and the internet. AFA has taken on the old megalith of the traditional jazz festival and AFA & the Vision Festival remain the clear creative option. Arts for Art is leading the way in building opportunities for uniting the spectrum of creative arts from an Afro-AvantJazz perspective. The Vision Festival is the best that the U.S. has to offer. It is the Festival that draws Europeans, who are interested in what is great, creative and innovative in post 60's jazz, to tourist in NYC. Arts for Art maintains its commitment to our innovative artistic communities by holding town meetings, panel discussions and creating new opportunities for artists to perform and come together.
At the festival this year there will be 3 Public Discussions:
- June 25 - Free Music and the Recording Industry of the Internet Age - panel discussion
- June 26 - Amiri Baraka Speaks on "Corporate Control of the Arts: Censorship & Commercialism”
- June 28 - The Economy's Effect on the Individual Artist - panel discussion

* Linking Communities:

The Drom, The Local 269, Clemente Soto Velez, Tribes, NYCHA & Campos Plaza

Arts for Art's mission is to broaden the scope of the innovative artists that we serve, and to continue to strengthen the overall community of innovative arts in New York. To this end, the Vision Festival is joining forces with venues and artistic centers of innovation that we might better serve the needs of innovative artists. Arts For Art's intent in partnering with these venues is to open up new performance opportunities for artists where artists can be adequately paid and to bring new audiences to these spaces, and expose new audiences to these artists. By bringing attention to what other arts organization are doing, we are strengthening ties within the Downtown innovative art communities. This is a big step for Arts for Art in forging partnerships in the Downtown innovative arts community.

* VISION FOR VISION BENEFIT - Festival Artists Give Back

On Wednesday, June 23rd, for the first night at the Abrons Art Center, musicians who have helped make this festival famous will perform a stellar night of music with all new bands in support of the Vision Festival as a platform for presenting the innovative music of the past 15 years. This evening represents the strength and support of the Downtown NYC avantjazz community.

Performances will include sets by: William Parker / Roy Campbell / Kidd Jordan / Jason Kao Hwang / Cooper-Moore / Hamid Drake / Matthew Shipp / Whit Dickey / Rob Brown

* College Bands Accessing the Past, Shaping the Future

One of the goals of the 15th annual Vision Festival is to re-energize the link between the communities that fostered the growth of America’s jazz music, to help ensure that they will be a part of it's future. This is why we are proud to feature the York College Blue Notes, the New School group “DuoDuoDuo”, and the Brooklyn College Jazz Band. Each group, in their own way, is committed to innovation. Under the direction of Tom Zlabinger, the York College Blue Notes bring a fresh perspective to modern jazz with some schooling by master trumpeter, Roy Campbell. “DuoDuoDuo”, a band comprised of students and alumni from the New School, express what it means to be a young innovator in today’s music scene. The Brooklyn College Jazz Band, under direction of Salim Washington will bring their brand of Brooklyn Jazz to downtown NYC. Having the opportunity to showcase these fresh, captivating bands is a major step in strengthening the communal bond between past, present, and future.

2) TRIBUTES

LIVING LEGENDS

* Muhal Richard Abrams - A LifeTime of Achievement

Each year, the Vision Festival honors the achievements of one living artist who has greatly influenced the world around them and paved the way for other innovators to move forward. On Thursday, June 24th, 2010 Arts For Art and The Vision Festival will celebrate a Lifetime of Achievement by the great Muhal Richard Abrams. Muhal will perform a solo work created specially for this event. It will be followed by Fred Anderson in a duo performance with Chad Taylor and a special performance by Joseph Jarman. Finally, Muhal will again take the stage, in a not to be missed performance with the Chicago bass player, Harrison Bankhead and sax player, Ari Brown. 

* Billy Bang Award for Excellence

Billy Bang will be honored with a special award for excellence to be given by the Vision community of artists. In turn, his own Vision Festival performance this year gives tribute to his long-time friend and mentor, Sirone. For over 40 years, his musical efforts have redefined the jazz violin. Billy’s intensely swinging and hard-edged tone has graced over two dozen albums by top names in a variety of musical genres, from the funk of Bootsy Collins and the groove of Ronald Shannon Jackson's “Decoding Society” to the intergalactic sound of Sun Ra. As a leader with more than 15 albums to his name, including his latest “Vietnam” series, Billy Bang is one of the most prolific and original members of the creative music scene.

FALLEN HEROES

* Rashied Ali Tributes

Rashied Ali's sudden departure was a terrible loss - so we respond with music.

On June 29th at the Abrons Art Center, AFA will present Rashied Ali's all star trio, By Any Means. Rashied's brother, Muhammed Ali, who has too rarely been heard since the '70s, will be taking Rashied's chair, playing with the inimitable Charles Gayle and William Parker. Closing out the Festival at the Abrons also on June 29th will be the All-Star - All-Drum Tribute to Rashied Ali. Under the direction of Hamid Drake it will bring together for the first time, Gerald Cleaver, Nasheet Waits, Michael Wimberly and the Lithuanian drummer, Vladimir Tarasov!

* Sirone Tributes

The loss of another legend of the bass, another great navigator of the music, could not pass unacknowledged. On Saturday June 26, the great sax legend, Charles Gayle, will lead the Bass Choir in honor of the late great bassist and friend, Sirone (Norris Jones). On Sunday June 27 Billy Bang, the reknowned violinist, will dedicate his performance to the Spirit of Sir One!

3)POINTS OF INTEREST

   * North / South --- In / Out Jazz

North / South Clarinet Ensemble, led by the NY/NJ Clarinet legend Perry Robinson and featuring legendary New Orleans-clarinetist, Dr. Michael White, in a stellar ensemble that includes Charles Eubanks, Ed Schuller and Bob Meyer. This Ensemble not only reaches north and south but shows mainstream artists in a far out trajectory that will confound preconceptions.

Touch The Earth was the great German + American free-jazz trio with Günter Baby Sommer / Wadada Leo Smith / and the late, great Peter Kowald of the 70's & 80's. This year the VF will premier Touch The Earth II featuring Gunter Baby Sommer & Wadada Leo Smith in their absolute prime.

* The European / American Phenomena

The Stone under the leadership of the French, Gypsy Queen of the bass, Joelle Leandre, will give their first New York appearance. This group brings together an extraordinary and incredibly diverse group of American improvisers, which all in all, features the best of the best.

* A Young Giant

Lafayette Gilchrist has not performed at the Vision Festival since 2006, when he performed on the same day as By Any Means (with Rashied Ali). Then Gilchrist was an emerging artist. Now he is well on his way to becoming a leading creative musician on the piano. You can still hear his DC roots in funk and hip-hop mixed with and channeling influences form Andrew Hill and David Murray! Hailing form Baltimore, Gilchrist's NYC appearances are way too few and far between. Gilchrist's Inside Out with Michael Formanek and Eric Kennedy features compositions by each member of the band.

* Closing Night Party @ Le Poisson Rouge

This is the closing night party for Vision XV

Akron/Xtended/Family featuring William Parker and Hamid Drake

The premier of the Akron/Xtended/Family featuring the rhythm team extraordinaire, William Parker and Hamid Drake. Reaking with Akron/Family's joyful sense of intension and under the extreme non-guidance of freeing avantjazz excess, utilizing new and shared material, they will take us on to unexplored spaces.

William Parker's Southern Satellites trips us to the islands of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic where we can bask in the soothing Latino sounds and rhythms shake it up with a little rock n roll guitar and infuse with the most soul full yet intense free jazz music. The Southern Satellites were a hit at the sold out Akron/Family performance the Bowery Ballroom in April 2009.