vision festival 2024, day 6 @ roulette, brooklyn, jun 23 - matana roberts / thollem mcdonas + ac villa / isaiah collier / watershed continuum / sun ra arkestra
photography by © Clara Pereira / text by Filipe Freitas
Day 6 of Vision Festival was very special for several reasons. I was excited to see a few great artists in concert whom I had never seen before, in addition to the birthday celebration of the Sun Ra Arkestra’s maestro Marshall Allen, who turned 100 on May 25th.
matana roberts: coin coin chapetr 5
The evening started with the exceptional saxophonist, composer, and visual artist Matana Roberts, who captivated the audience with a ritualistic incantation from her most recent work, Coin Coin Chapter 5: In the Garden. The supple bass-less band comprised two dynamic and complementary drummers, Ryan Sawyer and Mike Pride, clarinetist Stuart Bogie, saxophonist Darius Jones, trumpeter and bass clarinetist Matt Lavelle, and the imaginative pianist Cory Smythe. Prompting the audience to help them sing the note G as a meditative drone, Roberts embarked on a unique journey of relevant spoken word, marching fluxes with piercing tin whistles atop, focused saxophone expressions, interesting extended piano techniques as part of the accompaniment, and vocal shouts and screams of liberation and protest. It was a trancelike, powerful performance delivered in an impressive crescendo, leaving no one indifferent.
thollem mcdonas / ac villa
Pianist Thollem McDonas and video artist AC Villa brought their joint work to the stage. The idea for this project resulted from McDonas’ latest album with guitarist Nels Cline. He began on acoustic piano, stepping on both abstract and accessible sonic territories, often delineating melodic and harmonic paths with avant-garde and modern classical elements. Switching to the Wavestate, the pianist created spectral and hazy atmospheres, blurring the line between the real and the surreal with the help of several samples and effects. Although this particular section felt too long in duration, the concert ended on a high note with his return to the grand piano.
isaiah collier & the chosen few
Vibrant up-and-coming saxophonist Isaiah Collier and his ever-changing muscular trio The Chosen Few - here featuring bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Warren Trae Crudup - were super inspired, rewarding the audience with another moment of glory. A tenor saxophone riff over a blistering 3/4 rhythm gradually climbed to heaven both in pitch and intensity. After exploring with arco, Reeves imposed a reiterative pizzicato figure with multiple percussion threads in the background. Collier switched to soprano, channeling the energy of Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” through his effusive side-stepping soloing. The energy was limitless, and the trio delved into a minor modal mood, then Latin terrain, before culminating with a feel-good, emphatic blues.
watershed continuum
The quartet Watershed Continuum followed, spreading free jazz dynamics that, feeling so natural, seemed easier than it really was. The quartet consists of saxophonist Rob Brown, trombonist Steve Swell, pianist Alexis Marcelo, and drummer Whit Dickey. The frontline kinetics ebbed and flowed over Marcelo’s tension-filled cluster chords and complex textures. Competence and tenacity characterized this session.
sun ra arkestra celebrates marshall allen’s 100th birthday
The most anticipated concert of the night was the Sun Ra Arkestra and its legendary 100-year-old leader, the maestro saxophonist Marshall Allen. Disseminating contagious energy, vocalist Tara Middleton kept reporting “Destination Unknown” from this Afrofuturistic 18-piece spaceship, but everyone knew where this sublime voyage around the sun would take us. With Allen squeaking on the alto saxophone and playing the EVI with sympathetic intuition, the band’s direction was entrusted to Knoel Scott, who kept toggling between alto sax and percussion. Despite the sound issues at the beginning, when soloists couldn’t make themselves heard, people in the audience danced to hits such as “Queer Notions”, “Angels and Demons at Play”, “Sometimes I’m Happy”, and a soulful rendition of “Stranger in Paradise”, here propelled. by a delightful Cuban rhythm. A memorable spectacle - marking another excellent Vision Festival - and a wonderful celebration for Allen, who has been with the Arkestra for 66 years.