Date: February 2, 2013
Location: the Cooper Union Foundation Building
Text by Dawoud Kringle
On a moderately cold Cooper Union’s Great Hall was packed with everyone who is connected with the NYC jazz and poetry scene to pay tribute to the late master poet Jayne Cortez.
Text by Matt Cole
The world lost an outstanding and original musician yesterday when conductor, composer, cornetist, educator, and writer Lawrence “Butch” Morris passed away a few weeks shy of his 66th birthday. Morris got his start as a cornetist in the ’70s, playing with saxophonist David Murray, and others, but is best known for his conductions, live conducted improvisations of often large ensembles, in which he created compositions in real time by directing musicians (and/or poets) with a set of several dozen hand signs and gestures. Morris developed this system (which he has described as an exploration of the overlapping space between improvisation and composition) as an outgrowth of an attempt to devise a more flexible musical notation.
Over a 25+ year span, Morris taught and conducted over 5,000 musicians in 200 or so conductions in New York, Europe, South America, and Asia; often the concerts followed intensive workshops. Morris also wrote about his conduction and musical philosophy in a complex, information-rich style that reminds me of none other than R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome. In addition, Morris had, from time to time, some ongoing projects which included the Chorus of Poets, the Lucky Cheng Orchestra, and the Nublu Orchestra.
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Being myself an Iranian I’ve been always looking for Iranian or American-Iranian musicians living and playing here in the States. Iranian musicians who either don’t play the LA type of “Iranian Pop music” nor Persian classical music, but a kind of music which is contemporary and original. One of them I found out is the Iranian-American composer, saxophonist, theorist and educator Hafez Modirzadeh who lives and teaches in LA. Unfortunately since coming to New York I haven’t have the chance to meet him. In fact I missed two of his New York concerts in the last two years due to my own music commitments.
The first time I heard of Modirzadeh was about ten years ago, when I still lived in Tokyo. A Japanese jazz journalist surprised me with a cassette of Modirzadeh’s music which sounded “oriental jazzy,” very cool and original. I was impressed by what I heard. At that time I didn’t understand what he was playing. Today I know: he played “chromodal” which is a a cross-cultural musical concept and music style, developed from his own American jazz and Iranian dastgah heritages.
But I liked his music and the tone of his tenor sax. Last spring with the release of my CD SoSaLa Nu World Trash I used this occasion to mail Modirzadeh and introduce myself. He responded to my mail shortly writing:
Text by Dawoud Kringle
Madison Square Garden, on the cold, rainy night of November 27th, 2012, Thousands filled every inch of the venue, and hundreds more stood outside and in Time Square, gathered around the enormous video screens and speakers that, after months of haggling with Mayor Bloomberg, were permitted to be set up. Major networks, live internet streaming throughout the world, and the unprecedented use of 3D hologram imaging simulcast live in Paris, London, Tokyo, Moscow, Dubai, and the Mayan ruins in Chichin Itzu, Mexicio carried the event. Millions waited with anticipation for what promised to be a defining musical moment.
On that night, the world celebrated the 70th birthday of one of the greatest musicians of our age, Jimi Hendrix.
