VIsion festival 2024 - DAY 3 @ roulette, brooklyn, new york, jun 20 - JEN SHYU: FERTILE LAND, FERTILE BODY / INGRID LAUBROCK: LILITH / DARIUS JONES QUINTET / JAMES BLOOD ULMER’S BLACK ROCK TRIO
photography by © Clara Pereira / text by Filipe Freitas
Arts for Art’s Vision Festival 2024 kicked off on Tuesday, June 18, celebrating bassist William Parker, the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. For decades, Parker has been a key figure in the downtown New York free jazz scene, leading fantastic combos and providing incredible support as a sideman for numerous bandleaders that share a similar spirit and vision.
jen shyu: fertile land, fertile body
On Thursday, we headed to Roulette in Brooklyn for the festival’s third day. It started with multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu’s performance of the first movement of “Fertile Land, Fertile Body”, her new multilingual ritual drama centered on the intertwining of climate change and barrenness. Shy led an all-female ensemble featuring Layale Chaker on violin and vocals, Martha Redbone on vocals and percussion, Maeve Gilchrist on Celtic harp, and Devon Gates on bass and vocals. They moved through the audience to the stage, echoing the opening chant - all members using their voices - and supporting it with heartbeat-emulated handclapping. The Eastern enchantment of the music transported the audience to ethereal and spiritual realms, peaking with a song of solidarity for both East Timor and Gaza. Subsequently, droning sounds sustained Chaker’s quarter-tone-inbued vocal work, in an Arabic classical lament whose eclectic, exotic instrumentation felt at once solidified and unconcernedly free.
ingrid laubrock: lilith
Following this, the inventive saxophonist/composer Ingrid Laubrock helmed her sophisticated group Lilith, featuring talented musicians of a younger generation: trumpeter David Adewumi, pianist Yvonne Rogers, accordionist Adam Matlock, bassist Eva Lawitts, and drummer Henry Mermer.
The tasteful piece they presented seemed through-composed, amassing extremely well articulated parts to form a coherent whole. The modernistic instrumentation worked in perfection, the improvisations were invigorating, and the groovy motions produced by the rhythm section served as a vehicle for agile interactions between the coiling saxophone and the piercing trumpet. An energizing breath of fresh air invaded the room.
darius jones quintet
The next very anticipated concert featured the quintet of powerhouse saxophonist Darius Jones, who wrote all the music to embody his love of all sounds and aspects of creativity. On stage with him were audacious cellist Christopher Hoffmann, boisterous guitarist Nick Saia, pragmatic bassist Liani Matteo, and the hectic drummer Jason Nazary. Exquisitely textured, “Sketch #3” opened the proceedings with vivd exchanges between Jones and Hoffmann, a master in shifting figures. A swinging piece followed, carrying unison melodies atop, leading to “In My Way”, where fragmented phrases and staccato articulations emerged over a steady yet sweltering groove. The show ended with Jones emphasizing on beautiful melody.
james blood ulmer’s black rock trio
The last show of the night was reserved for the legendary 84-year-old guitarist James Blood Ulmer, whose unique approach to Delta blues and jazz-funk comes with an avant-garde twist. His jarring staccato chords and gravelly voice found support in the in-the-pocket rhythms of bassist Mark Peterson and drummer G. Calvin Weston. Guitarist Vernon Reid, from the rock band Living Colour, was in the audience and played one blues while Ulmer listened with curiosity. Despite some occasional not-a-big-deal disjunction, the audience seemed pleasantly entertained.