Monthly Archives: June 2011

Vision Festival #16 – June 5th through 11th, 2011

Arts For Art presents the 16th annual Vision Festival, New York City’s multidisciplinary celebration of avant-garde jazz music, dance, poetry and art, held for its third year at Abrons Art Center on the Lower East Side.

This year’s highlight is the TRIBUTE TO A LIVING LEGEND: Peter Brotzmann – Celebrating 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 Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 Arts For Art and The Vision Festival will celebrate a Lifetime of Achievement by Peter Brotzmann. This great improviser was one of the first practitioners of the Free Jazz movement in Europe. Brotzmann has programmed his own evening in such a way that it would reflect his ongoing pursuit of musical innovation. This 70 year old artist is not interested in looking back – only in looking forward and being as creative as possible in the present time.

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Interview: Augmented Reality – an instrumental collaboration that fuses east, west, north and south.

Text and interview by William Harvey

Colour photos by Megan Shumate

Photo by Ana Koleva

On Tuesday, May 24th I had the opportunity to see a performance of an exciting new trio, Augmented Reality, as they performed at the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village to promote the release of their new self titled album. Pianist Roy Assaf, drummer Ronen Itzik, (both from Israel), and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder are all monster players and rising stars in the New York jazz scene. The house was packed for both sets and the chemistry between the musicians was undeniable as they performed a diverse repertoire of mainly Assaf and Itzik’s own originals. After the concert I had the opportunity to ask Ronen a few questions about the project.

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