Concert Thu Jul 09 2015

MCA Opens "The Freedom Principle" with Examples of Musical Freedom

By Chris Sienko

Wadsworth Jarrell, New Orleans-style group photo in painter Wadsworth Jarrell's backyard, c. 1968/printed 2015. Courtesy of George Lewis.

This Saturday, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), 220 E. Chicago Ave., will open their major summer exhibit, an art and music celebration titled The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art & Music, 1965 To Now. Focusing primarily on avant-garde jazz and experimental music organization the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and visual arts group African Commune of Bad Radical Artists (AfriCOBRA), the exhibit promises to be a garden of challenging delights for ear and eye alike.

The exhibit will feature music and art from, among others, AACM-founder, pianist, and painter Muhal Richard Abrams; Art Ensemble of Chicago bandleader Roscoe Mitchell; and AfriCOBRA cofounders Jeff Donaldson, Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell, Barbara Jones-Hogu, and Gerald Williams, including album art, posters, graphic notated scores, and sheet music. In addition, contemporary artists such as Terry Adkins, Nick Cave, Renée Green, Rashid Johnson, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Cauleen Smith, and Stan Douglas will be featured, serving as a bridge that, to quote the Art Ensemble of Chicago's motto, will explore "Great black music -- ancient to future."

With the opening of the event on Saturday, MCA will feature a day of free concerts, workshops, and events that are open to all Illinois residents. The day begins at noon and runs until 9:30pm.

Noon-1pm
Unveiling and Talk: Douglas R. Ewart, George Lewis, and Douglas Repetto, Rio Negro II
AACM members Douglas Ewart and George Lewis -- the latter the author of the monumental AACM history book, A Force Stronger Than Itself -- unveil their invention, a combination artwork and musical instrument, which will be performed for the audience. Evoking the sound and style of indigenous Brazillians (the location of the Rio Negro, where the device gets its name) while also computer sound files (created by Lewis, an early adopter of computer processes in jazz and free improv) of environmental sounds. Limited attendance due to the size and fragility of the device, so arrive early or you may not get to see.

1-4pm
Chad Kouri, Jazz Movement Studies

Chad Kouri documents and creates graphic notation (pictorial and unconcentional forms of sheet music) and will guide guests in creating their own graphic notations based on musical events happening throughout the day.

2:30-4pm
Reid Duo

Cellist/composer Tomeka Reid and double bassist Silvia Bolognesi (2/3rds of the experimental string trio Hear In Now) will give an improvised performance with their iconic instruments. Both performers should be household names for Chicago free improv fans, but the performance should help expose Reid's great structured improvisation work to a new, non club-going audience.

5:30-7pm
Mike Reed's People, Places & Things

Drummer Mike Reed, bassist Jason Roebke, tenor saxophonist Tim Haldeman, and alto saxophonist Greg Ward swing like hell and can evoke Ornette Coleman's early classic quartets, but can travel way, way out, too, with curled, knotted solos and bracing shifts and tone and genre. Check youtube for dozens of great examples of their live performances.

There is also a ticketed event later that evening for Douglas Ewart's clarinet choir, performing A Tribute to Malachi Favors Maghostut. More information can be found here. All else above is free and open to all Illinois residents.