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10/30/2019

Jeremy Carlstedt, Anders Nilsson, Brian Settles | November 3 Preview

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Jeremy Carlstedt, Vincent Chancey, Joe Fonda at the 2019 Vision Festival. By Ken Weiss.
Sound Escapes
Jeremy Carlstedt, Anders Nilsson, Brian Settles
​

November 3, 2019 3:00pm
The Clemente, Room 203
​107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002

​Free Admission


Drummer Jeremy Carlstedt presents his group Sound Escapes, with saxophonist Brian Settles and guitarist Anders Nilsson on November 3 at the Clemente. These free performances are a great opportunity to introduce friends and family to improvisation!

Read a review of the group's forthcoming album from the New York City Jazz Record below.

Jeremy Carlstedt, Brian Settles, Anders Nilsson, Sean Conly, Vincent Chancey at AFA's 2017 Evolving Series. By Don Mount.
Most of the free jazz scene is pretty raucous, populated by rambunctious players eager to break barriers and boundaries, which often include volume, consonance and decorum, as well as tempo and time. Drummer Jeremy Carlstedt’s approach to free jazz is more subtle and sonically refined. You have to perk up your ears even to hear some of these tracks, especially the often very sotto voce beginnings.

This is an ensemble where Danton Boller’s acoustic bass can be the loudest instrument in the mix. And although tenor saxophonist Brian Settles can shout and wail, he is more likely to murmur and purr. Central to the group’s sound is Anders Nilsson’s guitar, but it is rarely amped much or electronically enhanced, relying largely on the resonance of its steel strings. Carlstedt eschews flashy drum gestures, favoring stately rolling toms to crashing cymbals. With the exception of the roughly hot minute of driving uptempo free improv titled “A Walk in Astoria Park”, Sound Escapes offers a series of moods and sonic experiments in variation. Bird songs intrude on “Moments of Harmony”, ironically titled, while dynamics are explored in “Starting From Today”, from shimmering guitar descents to rummaging saxophone whiffles before volume builds to guitar clusters and fluttering saxophone over increasing rhythmic chatter.

​Two duets are highlights of this free jazz approach: “Duet (How Much Do You Change)”, between saxophone and drums, moves from a slow rumble and yearning tenor to a tense, speedy climax; and “The Preacher, The Teacher” has spare, finger-picked guitar creating patterns picked up and amplified by highly attuned drumming. One track, “Other Places”, suggests mid 20th century forays into free jazz by Sonny Rollins in Settles’ phrasing and the leader’s more vigorous drive. Closing the album is a surprise, an affectionately lyrical ballad/lullaby for Carlstedt’s infant daughter: “Lily’s Theme”. Her fetal heartbeats are heard earlier in his solo drum track “Baby Carlstedt”. - George Kanzler

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These free Sunday afternoon concerts are designed to give audience members an inside look into how performers approach improvisation.  The final 15 minutes of each performance encourage audience participation, building off of themes introduced by the artists.  Children are welcome and will be provided with simple drawing materials.
See The Full Schedule

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10/29/2019

Interview with Patricia Nicholson | November 19 Benefit

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Patricia Nicholson and William Parker
Patricia Nicholson and William Parker at the 2018 Vision Festival. Photo by Eva Kapanadze.
On November 19, 2019, Arts for Art celebrates our founder Patricia Nicholson's 70th birthday with an evening of all-star performances. Read an interview between Nicholson and bassist William Parker, excerpted from Parker's book, Conversations. Many of the hundreds of artists whom Nicholson has presented throughout her career will appear in performance on November 19. Learn about the early years which lead to Arts for Art and the Vision Festival and the motivation behind it all, below.

As told to William Parker
For one reason or another I was interested in organizing quite early on, I had a vision of myself when I was 25 - I just had this picture that came into my mind - of being part of a movement. I remember, maybe before the eighties, calling together a bunch of musicians talking to them about stuff, but nothing happened. Later, Peter Kowald came and started talking about organizing and I could relate to it. When you and Peter would talk, I was a part of the conversation. It was you, and Peter Kowald, and me. 
Patricia Nicholson and Peter Kowald 1996
Patricia Nicholson with bassist Peter Kowald by Marilyn Sontag
I thought, why isn't there any place for people to get together and play other music? There was nowhere to come together and exchange ideas, and present a more avant-jazz aesthetic, so I thought, well, let me do something about this.

At that time, there was a place called Context Studios run by Ed Montgomery, and I started an  organization called the Improvisers Collective that had weekly performances at Context. There were 45 musicians, four dancers, some visual artists, and poets in the collective.
 
There were performances every Wednesday. The first set featured one musician, the second was an open improvisation led by the leader of the first set. It was a lot of fun and exciting.  It felt like we were building energy around the music, but by the end of the second year it felt like the audience had stopped building. We were hanging out together and we talked about what was happening and what wasn't happening. I had been sending out fifty press releases every week and a hundred flyers. But the audience just wasn't building.
Improvisers Collective 1994 Flyer
Early Improvisors Collective flyer by Patricia Nicholson.
So I organized Arts for Art and the Vision Festival. It did come out of our conversations and the need to bring attention to this wonderful music that was being so overlooked. All of the great music that had been happening with the Improvisers Collective just wasn't getting noticed, so we had to do something that would get the audience's attention. I was thinking about the Sound Unity Festival, which also had gotten almost no press, but I figured having done the Improvisers Collective for two years would help the festival. It laid the groundwork for the Vision Festival, which is what I ended up calling it. I believe that everyone has a vision, and they have more than one, especially artists. Visions are our inspiration, our highest moments, and the Vision Festival brings together all of these wonderful, bright visions that leave people inspired. I also feel that putting yourself on the line as an artist is similar to putting yourself on the line as a human being, standing up for what you believe. So I always try to create opportunities where people can make the link between great art and some sense of social responsibility.

The Vision Festival is an artist-run festival - that was really important.  There has always been a group of artists who have been involved in various aspects of the Vision Festival, especially in helping choose the artists.
 
I wanted the Vision Festival to become a place where you bring together all that's wonderful, to get to hear artists and great groups, artists of all ages, poets and dancers, so that you can get a sense of the scope of what is possible. In a sense it would be a kind of ideal zone. And there you are together with your whole community. To make the festival happen takes a tremendous amount of people to run it each day, and all of them are important. You bring all of these unique elements together and you get to hang out with each other, in a place where everyone is given respect. We are all together and we are having a wonderful time. The festival creates the opportunity. The heart of the Vision Festival music is New York-specific with New York's particular intense and spiritual connections. But even though this New York music is the core of the Vision festival, we don't believe that it's the only thing. It's about coming together. That's why we bring people from all over the United States and Europe. It's about bringing people together and making sure no one is left out.
Patricia Nicholson and William Parker 2001
Patricia Nicholson and William Parker at the 2001 Vision Festival. Photo by Michael Wilderman.

November 19 Arts for Art Benefit
November 19, 6pm
The Clemente, Flamboyan Theater
​107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002
Arts For Art is proud to present a celebration and benefit honoring dancer-choreographer Patricia Nicholson, the founder and guiding light of Arts For Art and the Vision Festival, on the occasion of her 70th birthday. The evening will include performances and artwork from some of the hundreds of artists she has supported over the years, as well as catered food and fine wine.
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10/22/2019

William Hooker, Daniel Carter, William Parker | October 27 Preview

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William Hooker
William Hooker, Daniel Carter, William Parker
Searching for the Holy Ghost


October 27, 2019 3:00pm
The Clemente, Room 203
​107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002

​Free Admission


Our free Sunday afternoon series begins with drummer William Hooker, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, and bassist William Parker.  Come out and spend your Sunday afternoon with three master musicians.  These free performances are a great opportunity to introduce friends and family to improvisation!

Read more on William Hooker below.

William Hooker with Dave Ross and Eriq Robinson at the 2018 Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series. By Don Mount.
William Hooker developed his idiosyncratic drumming style across a diverse array of experiences. Raised in Connecticut, he came up through the gospel tradition, going on to study political science, sociology, and history, all while feeding an insatiable appetite to hear and learn as many musical styles as he could.  According to William, at no one point did he become a musician, he had always been one.
​

Hooker began refining his free jazz chops in the seventies as an important player in the New York loft scene. As a bandleader, he has fielded ensembles with artists like Billy Bang, David Ware, William Parker, Thurston Moore, Zeena Parkins and many more. His original productions seamlessly incorporate dance, video, text, and other multimedia. In his words, Hooker is not willing to accept the role of the drums as 'a rhythm section.' He challenges the established stigma around the drums, by presenting them upfront of the band, and exploring and presenting all the characteristics of his instrument.

"When I play, I always try to go outside of me being here as a human. I try to go someplace where a sound is inanimate and unseeable; to deal with those tools that it takes to create the unseen."

Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
These free Sunday afternoon concerts are designed to give audience members an inside look into how performers approach improvisation.  The final 15 minutes of each performance encourage audience participation, building off of themes introduced by the artists.  Children are welcome and will be provided with simple drawing materials.
See the Full Schedule

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10/21/2019

Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon

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Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
Free Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon

Sundays, October 27 - December 15
The Clemente, Room 203
107 Suffolk St, New York, NY 10002
These free Sunday afternoon concerts are designed to give audience members an inside look into how performers approach improvisation.  The final 15 minutes of each performance encourage audience participation, building off of themes introduced by the artists.  Children are welcome and will be provided with simple drawing materials.
Free Admission, Donations Appreciated
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Sunday October 27
3:00 WDW
Searching for the Holy Ghost

William Hooker - drums
Daniel Carter - reeds, horns
William Parker - bass
William Hooker

Jeremy Carlstedt
Sunday November 3
3:00 Sound Escapes
Jeremy Carlstedt - drums
Anders Nilsson - guitar
Brian Settles - tenor sax

Sunday November 10
3:00 Mara Rosenbloom's Flyways
Mara Rosenbloom - piano
Anais Maviel - voice, percussion
Ken Filiano - bass
Mara Rosenbloom

Yoni Kretzmer
Sunday November 17
3:00 Yoni Kretzmer Trio
Yoni Kretzmer - tenor sax
Shanir Blumenkranz - bass
Randy Peterson - drums

Sunday November 24
3:00 Atomic Pigeons
Sana Nagano - violin, compositions
Keisuke Matsuno - guitar
Tyler Luppi - bass
Paolo Cantarella - drums
Sana Nagano

Andrew Lamb
Sunday December 1
3:00 Andrew Lamb
Andrew Lamb - tenor sax
Hilliard Greene - bass
Marvin Bugalu Smith - drums

Sunday December 8
3:00 Visionary Youth Orchestra
Visionary Youth Orchestra

Fay Victor
Sunday December 15
3:00 Fay Victor & Gerald Cleaver
Fay Victor - voice
Gerald Cleaver - drums

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10/16/2019

October 20 at Weeksville: Preview

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Multi-instrumentalist Mixashawn will lead a trio with Pheeroan akLaff and William Parker.

Tracie Morris | Mixashawn Trio
October 20, 2019 4:00pm
Weeksville Heritage Center, 158 Buffalo Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11213

Our partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center in Central Brooklyn concludes with sound poet Tracie Morris and multi-instrumentalist Mixashawn's trio with Pheeroan akLaff and William Parker.

Click the button to buy tickets, and read below for more on these artists.​
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4:00pm Tracie Morris
Tracie Morris and Elliott Sharp performing at the 2012 Vision Festival. By Don Mount.
Innovative sound poet Tracie Morris returns to Weeksville for a performance of her signature vocal poetics.  In her poetry, Morris transforms and complicates subjects of abuse, power, and the body through repetition and accretive adjustments or substitutions, creating an intimate, dynamic space for readers and listeners.  Don't miss this one-of-a-kind performance artist on this Sunday afternoon.  

Check out the above video of Tracie Morris with guitarist Elliott Sharp at the 2012 Vision Festival.

Tracie Morris - poetry

5:00pm Mixashawn Trio
Mixashawn with his Afro-Algonquin Trio performing at the 2018 Vision Festival.
Multi-instrumentalist Mixashawn Rozie has established a system of "Hemispheric Principles" to inform and guide his artform, known as "Wave Art": an approach to music making encompassing the sonic, aquatic, percussive and harmonic.  Mixashawn's practice begins from the point of an Indigenous artist, and is informed by ancient cultural principles, maritime arts, and historical written and oral data.  For this performance he is joined by drummer Pheeroan akLaff and bassist William Parker.

Check out Mixashawn's Afro-Algonquin trio from the 2018 Vision Festival.

Mixashawn - tenor, soprano sax, voice, mandolin / Pheeroan akLaff - drums / William Parker - bass

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Building on their 2018 collaboration, Arts for Art returns to Weeksville Heritage Center to bring the contemporary sound of free jazz which, like Weeksville Heritage Center, was first birthed in black communities during the Civil Rights era. AFA and Weeksville have partnered together to ensure that New York’s jazz history is not only respected, but extended into the future and in the service of the neighborhood and communities who helped birth it. ​
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10/16/2019

October 19 at Weeksville: Preview

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William Parker performs at Weeksville Heritage Center
William Parker will perform solo and with a quartet. Photo by Ian Douglas.

Fred Moten | William Parker Solo & Quartet
October 19, 2019 7:30pm
Weeksville Heritage Center, 158 Buffalo Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11213

Our partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center in Central Brooklyn continues with poet Fred Moten and bassist William Parker performing solo and with Daniel Carter, Val Jeanty, and Patricia Nicholson.

Click the button to buy tickets, and read below for more on these artists.​
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7:30pm Fred Moten
Fred Moten reading at the 2017 Vision Festival.
We’ve been proud to have celebrated poet, critical theorist, and author Fred Moten contribute greatly to AFA as both a performer and board member for the past few years, reading his groundbreaking poetry, presenting  academic keynotes, and collaborating with William Parker on several occasions. At Weeksville, hear Moten shed light on the black radical tradition through his unaccompanied poetry.

Check out the above video of Fred Moten reading at the 2017 Vision Festival.

Fred Moten - poetry

8:00pm William Parker Solo & Quartet
William Parker with the ensemble What It Is, featuring Patricia Nicholson, Devin Waldman, James Brandon Lewis, and TA Thompson at AFA's Evolving series, 2018. By Don Mount
Multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter was the first musician with whom bassist William Parker performed when he committed himself to music in 1970.  Through their decades long artistic relationship they still manage to surprise and excite with new approaches to music making. This quartet finds Parker and Carter joined by a relative newcomer, electronic percussionist Val Jeanty, and their stalwart longtime collaborator, dancer and poet Patricia Nicholson.  Before the quartet performance, Parker will perform a short solo set.   

Check out William Parker's What It Is ensemble from our 2018 Evolving series in the video above.

William Parker - bass / Daniel Carter - reeds / Val Jeanty - percussion / Patricia Nicholson - dance, text

Arts for Art at Weeksville
Building on their 2018 collaboration, Arts for Art returns to Weeksville Heritage Center to bring the contemporary sound of free jazz which, like Weeksville Heritage Center, was first birthed in black communities during the Civil Rights era. AFA and Weeksville have partnered together to ensure that New York’s jazz history is not only respected, but extended into the future and in the service of the neighborhood and communities who helped birth it. ​
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10/15/2019

October 18 at Weeksville: Preview

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Gerald Cleaver Trio at Weeksville Brooklyn
Drummer Gerald Cleaver will lead a trio with bassist Brandon Lopez and guitarist Brandon Seabrook. Photo by Eva Kapanadze.

David Mills | Gerald Cleaver Trio
October 18, 2019 7:30pm
Weeksville Heritage Center, 158 Buffalo Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11213

The first day of our partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center in Central Brooklyn features poet David Mills and the trio of Gerald Cleaver, Brandon Lopez, and Brandon Seabrook.

Click the button to buy tickets, and read below for more from these artists.​
Purchase Tickets

7:30pm David Mills
David Mills reading at AFA's Evolving series in 2016. By Don Mount
David Mills' art lies at the intersection of poetry and theater.  For three years, he resided in Langston Hughes' landmark home, authoring a one-man dramatic interpretation of Hughes' poetry and short stories.  We are excited to welcome Mills to open our series at Weeksville to share another energetic, insightful, and often hilarious reading.  

Check out the above video of David Mills reading at AFA's 2016 Evolving series.

David Mills - poetry

8:00pm Gerald Cleaver Trio
Gerald Cleaver with Brandon Lopez, David Virelles, and Chris Potter from Vision Festival 2018. By Don Mount
Drummer Gerald Cleaver will lead a trio with his frequent collaborators, bassist Brandon Lopez and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.  Cleaver and Lopez have proven to be a particularly versatile tandem, delivering many standout sets over the past few years of AFA programs. At the last two Vision Festivals they have performed together in a quartet with pianist David Virelles and saxophonist Chris Potter, and in an interdisciplinary ensemble with poets Fred Moten and Edwin Torres.  Throw guitarist Brandon Seabrook into the mix, who shares deep history with both players - including in Cleaver's popular Black Host band - and this ensemble's potential for wildly inventive improvisation is unmatched. 

Check out the quartet performance with Cleaver, Lopez, Virelles, and Potter in the video above.

Gerald Cleaver - drums / Brandon Lopez - bass / Brandon Seabrook - guitar

Arts for Art at Weeksville Brooklyn
Building on their 2018 collaboration, Arts for Art returns to Weeksville Heritage Center to bring the contemporary sound of free jazz which, like Weeksville Heritage Center, was first birthed in black communities during the Civil Rights era. AFA and Weeksville have partnered together to ensure that New York’s jazz history is not only respected, but extended into the future and in the service of the neighborhood and communities who helped birth it. 
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10/10/2019

Patricia Nicholson 70th Birthday Celebration and AFA Benefit | Press Release

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Patricia Nicholson Arts for Art
Celebrating Patricia Nicholson
A 70th Birthday Night of Performances
​

Tuesday November 19, 6-11pm

The Clemente
107 Suffolk St, NYC 10002
Purchase Tickets

Arts For Art is proud to announce a celebration and benefit honoring dancer-choreographer Patricia Nicholson, the founder and guiding light of Arts For Art (AFA) and The Vision Festival, on the occasion of her 70th birthday. The evening will include performances and artwork from some of the hundreds of artists she has supported over the years, as well as catered food and fine wine. As we enter Arts For Art’s 25th year of programming, now is the time to shine a spotlight on a dedicated artist and programmer who has helped shaped the cultural landscape of her community, the city of New York, and the world.

The community to which Patricia Nicholson has devoted her life is rallying together in celebration. After an hour of food, wine, and conviviality, the event will feature musical performances by her long-time partner in art and life William Parker, as well as Cooper-Moore, Dave Burrell, Oliver Lake, John Zorn, Fay Victor, Matthew Shipp, Ingrid Laubrock, Darius Jones, Rob Brown, James Brandon Lewis, William Hooker, Ava Mendoza, Lisa Sokolov, Val Jeanty, Daniel Carter, Ellen Christi and many more.  Dancers performing include K.J. Holmes, Yoshiko Chuma, Jason Jordan, Douglas Dunn, Miriam Parker.  Poets reading include Bob Holman, Patricia Spears Jones, and Tracie Morris.  Visual artists displaying their work include William Mazza, Jo Wood Brown, Jeff Schlanger, and Katy Martin.  
​
At the heart of the evening will be honoree Patricia Nicholson, performing with her projects Revolution/Resurrection, What It Is, and BLUE, plus a grand finale featuring a multi-disciplinary performance by over 20 members of the AFA community.

This celebration will raise funds to support Arts for Art’s programs, artist fees, and staff growth; the evening also kicks off the annual Artists and Friends fundraising campaign. The goal is to raise the funds to keep AFA going and make it stronger. For Patricia Nicholson, the uncompromised creative arts are essential to creating a world worth living in.
 
Patricia Nicholson’s dance is steeped in the free jazz aesthetic and an attention to spiritual and social responsibility. Beginning with the belief that dance is the visual manifestation of sound and energy, Nicholson has developed a singular practice, drawing from both traditional and unconventional techniques to create an eclectic yet intuitive approach to movement and composition.

Nicholson's dance and poetry are featured through her active projects: What It Is, co-led with William Parker and featuring James Brandon Lewis, Melanie Dyer, Devin Waldman, and Gerald Cleaver; Revolution/Resurrection, with TA Thompson, Jason Hwang, and William Mazza; BLUE with William Mazza, and Val Jeanty; and Hope Cries for Justice, duos and trios with William Parker and Hamid Drake.

Patricia Nicholson has been writing and publicly sharing her poetry since childhood. Though she gives occasional readings, Nicholson's poems are most often tied to performance, whether serving as a written score for dancers or accompanying, rather than guiding, creative movement.

There is choreography to Nicholson's approach to programming as well. She curates evenings with a deliberate arc, while also emphasizing a dynamic flow and messaging. Her goal is to design nights that create a complete experience and engage audiences in active, and creative, witnessing.

Nicholson's widest-reaching influence has perhaps been in her capacity as an artistic and community organizer. In 1981, Ms. Nicholson choreographed and organized A Thousand Cranes Peace Opera, with 1,000 children performing in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza for the opening of the Special Sessions on Disarmament; in the mid and late-1980s, she responded to a lack of visibility for free jazz by helping to organize the Sound Unity Festivals. In 1994, Nicholson brought together fifty artists to form The Improvisors Collective, whose highlights over the next two years included weekly events at Context Studios, 28 Ave A. Following that success, Nicholson founded Arts For Art and the Vision Festival in 1996 to promote and advocate for free jazz, raising awareness through this notable and uncommonly visible platform. Since, AFA has grown to be a movement annually supporting hundreds of artists working with the free jazz aesthetic.
​
After decades of creative production, programming, and organization, Nicholson’s focus is on developing strategies for the future: how to better the world in which we live; how to inspire, grow, and build a diverse community of uncompromising artists and audiences; and, most immediately, how to build a sustainable structure for AFA that will outlive her service and serve as a fitting legacy, one steeped in the ideals of artistic excellence and community responsibility she holds most dear. In her own words, “This is my 70th birthday; there is both a community to sustain, and the creative expression of my own art, yet to be shared. I am humbled by the collective creativity waiting to be expressed.”
 
About Arts for Art
 
Founded in 1996, Arts For Art (AFA) is a New York City based tax-exempt organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of FreeJazz - an American indigenous art form in which improvisation is principle. FreeJazz embodies music, dance, poetry, and visual arts. It is recognized for its variety of highly developed and personalized improvisational languages. AFA works not only to preserve the legacy of FreeJazz, but also to ensure a vital future through its re-imagination by new generations of artists. Spearheaded by the internationally renowned Vision Festival, AFA's programming brings together multiple generations of vibrant, diverse and highly skilled artists. To further our goals of diversity and accessibility, we foster education initiatives and produce events that build community amongst artists and audiences.
 
Facebook: facebook.com/artsforart
Twitter: twitter.com/artsforart
Instagram: instagram.com/artsforart
 
Press Contact
 
For more information please contact Sean Madigan at sean@artsforart.org
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10/9/2019

October 13 at El Taller: Preview

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Joe McPhee
Joe McPhee will perform in duo with drummer Jay Rosen.

Papoleto Melendez | Joe McPhee & Jay Rosen | Laubrock, Dunston, Mela
October 13, 2019 4:00pm
El Taller Latino Americano

The final day of our annual partnership with El Taller in East Harlem features poet Papoleto Melendez, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee and drummer Jay Rosen, and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, leading a new trio with bassist Nick Dunston and drummer Francisco Mela.

Click the button to buy tickets, and read below for more from these artists.​
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4:00pm Papoleto Melendez
Papoleto Melendez
Nuyorican poet and El Barrio mainstay Papoleto Melendez returns to read his poetry at El Taller, in the PS 109 building where he also serves as poet-in-residence.  Papoleto's poetry has become tradition during our partnerships at El Taller, and we are glad to have him back. If you haven't seen him yet, don't miss out!

Papoleto Melendez - poetry

5:00pm Joe McPhee & Jay Rosen
Joe McPhee and Joe Rosen at AFA's Evolving series in 2017. By Don Mount.
Vision Festival Lifetime Achievement honoree and free jazz legend Joe McPhee will perform in duo with longtime collaborator, drummer Jay Rosen. McPhee and Rosen first connected through the ensemble Trio X, also featuring bassist Dominic Duval, which debuted at the 1998 Vision Festival.  Although McPhee is no stranger to the duo, this is a rare opportunity to see him one-on-one with his longtime battery mate Rosen. 

Check out McPhee and Rosen in the above video in a tribute performance to Duval at AFA's Evolving series.

Joe McPhee - saxophones / Jay Rosen - drums

6:00pm Laubrock / Dunston / Mela
Ingrid Laubrock, Brandon Lopez, Francisco Mela at AFA's In Gardens series, 2018. By Don Mount.
Finally, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock will present an exciting trio featuring bassist Nick Dunston and drummer Francisco Mela.  Ingrid has put together consistently excellent ensembles for AFA events over the past few years, so expect the same level of freely improvised synchronicity to close out the series at El Taller.  

Ingrid Laubrock - tenor saxophone / Nick Dunston - bass / Francisco Mela - drums

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For the 4th consecutive year, Arts for Art partners with El Taller Latino Americano to present a program of creative music in East Harlem.  This series serves to amplify both organizations' missions by assembling a diverse group of artists and audiences as part of a continued effort to bridge East Harlem and the Lower East Side. To fulfill this goal, the programming emphasizes African-American and Latinx artists working within the free tradition of improvised music.
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10/8/2019

October 12 at El Taller: Preview

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James Brandon Lewis Trio
James Brandon Lewis Trio will perform on Saturday at El Taller.

Laubrock/Lopez/Rainey/Seabrook | Tony Malaby Quartet | James Brandon Lewis Trio
October 12, 2019 7pm
El Taller Latino Americano

The second day of our annual partnership with El Taller in East Harlem features the James Brandon Lewis Trio, Tony Malaby Quartet, and the collective ensemble of Ingrid Laubrock, Brandon Lopez, Tom Rainey, and Brandon Seabrook.

Click the button to buy tickets, and read below for more from these artists.​

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7:00pm Laubrock/Lopez/Rainey/Seabrook
Laubrock/Lopez/Rainey/Seabrook at Three's Brewing. Video by Don Mount
Opening the evening is the collective of saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Brandon Lopez, drummer Tom Rainey, and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.  These four improvisers have performed many times at AFA events before, but never in this combination.     

Check out the above video of the group at Three's Brewing.

Ingrid Laubrock - saxophone / Brandon Lopez - bass / Tom Rainey - drums / Brandon Seabrook - guitar

8:00pm Tony Malaby Quartet
Tony Malaby, William Parker, Billy Mintz, Marc Hannaford at AFA's Evolving Series, 2018. By Don Mount.
Tony Malaby will then present his quartet with bassist William Parker, pianist Leo Genovese, and drummer Billy Mintz.  The members of the hardworking saxophonist's free improvising quartet bring collective decades of experience in countless improvised musical settings, so expect the best from these four musicians. 

Check them out in the video above from last year's Evolving series at the Clemente.

Tony Malaby - saxophone / William Parker - bass / Leo Genovese - piano / Billy Mintz - drums

9:00pm James Brandon Lewis Trio
James Brandon Lewis Trio at AFA's Evolving Series, 2016. By Don Mount.
Performing last is saxophonist James Brandon Lewis' trio with bassist Luke Stewart and drummer Warren Trae Crudup. The group has become one of the marquee ensembles leading a new wave in creative music, and are individually some of the most in demand musicians on the scene.  Don't miss these three together.  

James Brandon Lewis - tenor saxophone / Luke Stewart - bass / Warren Trae Crudup - drums

Arts for Art at El Taller
For the 4th consecutive year, Arts for Art partners with El Taller Latino Americano to present a program of creative music in East Harlem.  This series serves to amplify both organizations' missions by assembling a diverse group of artists and audiences as part of a continued effort to bridge East Harlem and the Lower East Side. To fulfill this goal, the programming emphasizes African-American and Latinx artists working within the free tradition of improvised music.
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