Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
The Vision Festival, which was initiated by dancer and choreographer Patricia Nicholson Parker in 1996, has established itself as one of the world’s top festival of experimental music, free jazz/avant-garde jazz, art, film and dance. It is run under the tutelage of Arts For Art, Inc. (AFA).
Inspired by the 1984 and ’88 Sound Unity Festivals, it was a direct out growth of the Improvisers Collective 1994 and ’95. Every year this festival is held in New York City in June. Members of the board of directors include following people.
Every year the festival takes place in numerous New York venues. It usually consists of between thirty and sixty performances, spread out over a number of days. But this year the main venue is the Roulette in Brooklyn. During all the years the festival has encountered difficulty booking performance spaces, largely because of the Vision Festival’s rejection of commercial sponsors. Booking difficulties are often fixed by arts-foundation grants, however.
This year AFA dedicates an evening (June 13th) to honoring the achievements of one living artist whose music has inspired and influenced the world around him. This year Joe McPhee will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Arts For Art ‘s Mission statement
Arts For Art, Inc. is a not-for-profit, multi-cultural organization whose purpose is to build awareness and understanding of avantjazz and related expressive movements while encouraging a sense of community amongst artists and their audiences. Our principal activities are the presentation of innovative, creative music, dance, multi-media performances, spoken word, and the exhibition of visual arts and through educational efforts involve a new generation.
Avantjazz has gone world-wide, gaining audience and artists from all cultures. Thus our programming reflects the development of avantjazz into a multi-cultural music. From the beginning Arts for Art and the Vision Festival have carried a clear message of social awareness. The very institution of Arts For Art is an act of self-determination. AFA holds to the belief that art really moves people and that to move people is a powerful political act.
AVANT- JAZZ: A DEFINITION
Avantjazz is art that exhibits a disciplined disregard for traditional boundaries. While avantjazz is an outgrowth of African American musical forms, e.g. blues and jazz, it has made a break from the strict adherence to traditional forms. Avantjazz draws freely from any musical tradition in creating structures and frameworks for improvisation. It is also free to disregard musical conventions, as the artist sees fit. For example, the avantjazz musician has the creative freedom to incorporate music of Asian or African cultures, or may do away with conventional song forms or rhythmic structures. Some avantjazz artists focus on the blues in their work, while others refer to 20th century atonalism. But these tendancies are not true of all of their music. That is their freedom. It is not a freedom from melody or composition or rhythm. It is the freedom to choose any musical tradition or vocabulary as part of their palette. This aesthetic extends to all art forms presented by Arts for Art, as we inspire and help evolve art and thinking.
Monday June 11th, 2012
At Roulette 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn except Tuesday After Hours and Friday Afternoon Free Show
6:00PM – 7:00PM – Opening Invocation 2012
Fay Victor, Kyoko Kitamura – vocals
William Parker – bass
Hamid Drake, Gerald Cleaver – drums
7:00PM – 8:00PM – Kneebody / MoNoMe
Adam Benjamin – keyboards, Ben Wendel – sax
Kaveh Rastegar, Nate Wood – bass, Shane Endsley – trumpet
8:00PM – 9:00PM – Dunmall / Shipp / Morris / Cleaver
Paul Dunmall – reed
Matthew Shipp – piano
Joe Morris – bass
Gerald Cleaver – drums
9:00PM – 10:00PM – Sharp / Morris
Tracie Morris – poet
Elliott Sharp – guitar
10:00PM – 11:00PM – Mark Dresser Quintet
Rudresh Mahanthappa – alto sax
Mark Dresser – bass
Michael Dessen – trombone
Denman Maroney – piano
Michael Sarin – drums
Tuesday June 12th, 2012
AUM Fidelity 15th Anniversary Celebration
8:00PM – 9:00PM – Farmers by Nature
Craig Taborn – piano
William Parker – bass
Gerald Cleaver – drums
9:00PM – 10:00PM – Darius Jones Quartet
Darius Jones – alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell – piano
Trevor Dunn – bass
Ches Smith – drums
10:00PM – 11:00PM – William Parker / In Order To Survive
Cooper-Moore – piano
Lewis Barnes – trumpet
Rob Brown – alto saxophone
William Parker – bass & compositions
Hamid Drake – drums
AFTER HOURS at Clemente Soto Velez 107 Suffolk St. Manhattan
12:00AM – 1:00AM – Sound Band / led by Jemeel Moondoc
Zak Sherzad – sax, didgeridoo
Ras Moshe – sax, flute
Matt Lavelle – alto clarinet, trumpet
David Moss, Max Johnson – bass
Nicole Federici – viola
Tom Zlabinger – trombone /guitar
Tor Snyder– guitar, harmonica
Tiffany Chang – drums
Wednesday June 13th, 2012
Joe McPhee – A LifeTime of Achievement
7:00PM – 8:30PM – Joe McPhee / ANGELS, DEVILS AND HAINTS II
(Playing in THE GARDENS OF HARLEM – a tribute to Clifford Thornton)
4 basses – Dominic Duval, Michael Bisio, Hilliard Greene, William Parker
4 horns – Steve Swell, Roy Campbell, Joe Giardullo, Joe McPhee
1 violin – Rosie Hertlein
2 percussionist – Warren Smith, Jay Rosen
8:30PM – 9:30PM – Sonny Simmons Ensemble
Sonny Simmons – alto sax, english horn
William Parker – bass
Thomas Bellier – electric guitar
Warren Smith – drums
9:30PM – 10:00PM – Jason Jordan / KnocKnock Dance Co.
music – Joe McPhee
Dancers – So Young An, Darion Smith, Misei Daimaru, Jason Jordan
10:00PM – 11:00PM – The Thing + Joe McPhee
Joe McPhee – sax & trumpet
Mats Gustaffson – tenor baritone
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten – bass
Paal Nilssen-Love – drums
Thursday June 14th, 2012
5:00PM – 7:00PM – Panel – Free Jazz / Free Music – Why Then / Why Now
moderator Scott Currie
Dave Burrell, Hamiet Bluiett, Wadada Leo Smith, Elliott Sharp, Howard Mandel
7:00PM – 8:30PM – ETERNAL UNITY
Dave Burrell – piano
Sabir Mateen – reeds
William Parker – bass
William Hooker – drums
8:30PM – 9:30PM – Dangerous Women / Moving Sound
Patricia Nicholson – dance/words
Connie Crothers – piano
9:30PM – 10:30PM – Ivo Perelman Trio
Whit Dickey – drums
Ivo Perelman – sax
Michael Bisio – bass
10:30PM – 11:30PM – Hamid Drake Ensemble
Jeff Parker – guitar
Jeb Bishop – trombone
Pasquale Mira – vibes
Joshua Abrams – bass
Hamid Drake – drums
Friday June 15th, 2012
at Rutgers Housing / Basketball Court, 200 Madison Street near Pike
3:30PM – 4:30PM – POETS SPEAK / TRIBES GATHERING
Peace Poets /Luke Nephew, Frank Lopez, Emanuel Candelario, Frantz Jerome
Tribes Poets /Edwin Torres, Latasha Diggs, Sheila Maldonado
4:30PM – 5:00PM – Music Is Mine
Youth from ‘Music Is Mine’ directed by Jean Carla Rodea
Guest Stars:
William Parker bass,reeds
Cooper-Moore – percussion, diddley bow
Hamid Drake – drums
5:00PM – 6:00PM – The Mystery Ensemble
Kidd Jordan – sax
Jean Carla Rodea – vocals
William Parker – bass
Cooper-Moore – didleybow
Hamid Drake – drums
At Roulette
7:00PM – 8:00PM – Sheila Jordan & Jay Clayton / Bebop to Freebop
Jack Wilkins – guitar
Cameron Brown – bass
8:00PM – 8:30PM – Yoshiko Chuma – Intersections
Yoshiko Chuma – Dance
Akihito Obama – shakuhachi
Roy Campbell – trumpet
8:30PM – 9:30PM – Roy Campbell / Ehran Elisha
Roy Campbell – trumpet
Ehran Elisha – drums
9:30PM – 10:30PM – Henry Grimes / Wadada Leo Smith
Henry Grimes – bass, violin
Wadada Leo Smith – trumpet
10:30PM – 11:30PM – Pheeroan akLaff / Dear Freedom Suite
Jun Miyake – saxophones, flutes
Angelica Sanchez – keyboards, voice
Santi Debriano – bass violin, electric guitar
Pheeroan akLaff – percussion, mixed media
Special Guest Amiri Baraka – words
Saturday June 16th, 2012
3:00PM – 5:00PM – The Next Generation – T.I.M.E.
Tom Zlabinger, York College Creative Ensemble
Nicole Federici, Sonic Smithy
Claire Daly, Litchfield Jazz Combo
Jeff Lederer, Brooklyn Frontiers High School
Kidd Jordan leads all 50 students in Albert Ayler’s Universal Indians
7:00PM – 7:30PM – OH, Solo
Rachel Bernsen – Dance
7:30PM – 8:30PM – Steve Swell QUINTET
Steve Swell – trombone
Rob Brown – alto
Chris Forbes – piano
Hill Greene – bass
Michael T.A. Thompson – drums
8:30PM – 9:30PM – PREMIERE
Joelle Leandre – bass
Nicole Mitchell – flute
Thomas Buckner – voice
9:30PM – 10:30PM – TRIO 3
Reggie Workman – bass
Andrew Cyrille – drums
Oliver Lake – sax
10:30PM – 11:30PM – Jason Kao Hwang / BURNING BRIDGE
Jason Hwang – violin
Taylor Ho Bynum – cornet, flugelhorn
Ken Filiano – string bass
Andrew Drury – drum set
Wang Guowei – erhu
Joe Daley – tuba
Sun Li – pipa
Steve Swell – trombone
Burning Bridge by Jason Kao Hwang has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2009 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Sunday June 17th, 2012
Closing Night
4:00PM – 6:00PM – Panel – Freedom for Sale (Poets & Prophets)
Mike Burke moderator (producer Democracy Now)
Amiri Baraka (author, activist), Ewuare X Osayande (author, activist)
George Shulman (author, educator) Luke Nephew, (poet ,activist)
Patricia Parker (organizer, poet, dancer)
6:00PM – 7:00PM – Ingrid Laubrock / ANTI-HOUSE
Ingrid Laubrock – saxophone
Mary Halvorson – guitar
Kris Davis – piano
John Hebert – bass
Tom Rainey – drums
7:00PM – 8:00PM – BURNT SUGAR the ARKESTRA CHAMBER / Holy Ghost And Fire
Greg “Ionman” Tate – conduction, guitar, laptop
Lisala, Abby Dobson – vocals
Mikel Banks – vocals, conduction, freak-a-phone
Lewis “Flip” Barnes Jr. – trumpet
Micah Gaugh – alto sax
V. Jeffery Smith, Avram Fefer – tenor sax
“Moist” Paula Henderson – bari sax
Dave “Smoota” Smith- trombone
Andre Lassalle, Ben Tyree – guitar
Bruce Mack – vocals/keyboards
Jason DiMatteo – acoustic bass
Jared Michael Nickerson – electric bass
LaFrae Sci – drums
8:00PM – 8:30PM – Jason Jordan / Breaking
8:30PM – 9:30PM – Rob Brown / Daniel Levin
Rob Brown – alto sax
Daniel Levin – cello
9:30PM – 10:30PM – Kidd Jordan Quintet 2012
Kidd Jordan – alto
Charles Gayle – tenor, piano
J.D. Parron – sax
William Parker – bass
Hamid Drake – drums
