{"id":1747,"date":"2015-02-15T13:31:27","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T18:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1747"},"modified":"2019-09-12T15:32:25","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T19:32:25","slug":"new-frequencies-fest-in-sf-community-jazz-beyond-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2015\/02\/new-frequencies-fest-in-sf-community-jazz-beyond-jazz.html","title":{"rendered":"New Frequencies fest in SF: community jazz-beyond-jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"angelique<\/a>

Angelique Kidjo, photo by Myles Boisen<\/p><\/div>\n

Inexhaustible Angelique Kidjo\u00c2\u00a0singing her ya-yas out about serious issues amid an onstage throng\u00c2\u00a0— the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco at noon on a Saturday reviving Cuban conga with free-styling\u00c2\u00a0dancers — women prominent among\u00c2\u00a0the fervently\u00c2\u00a0unfettered improvisers and daring composers leading ace ensembles. \u00c2\u00a0The New Frequencies festival<\/a>: Jazz@YBCA (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)<\/strong> put this all out last week for a multi-generational Bay Area audience that embraced\u00c2\u00a0edgy, energized\u00c2\u00a0now<\/em> music that crossed most\u00c2\u00a0genre boundaries.<\/p>\n

Subtitled “Jazz in the present tense” the New Frequencies performers — 15 separate acts\u00c2\u00a0from Wed., Feb 4 through Sat the 8th (kickoff: drummer Scott Amendola<\/a>‘s electric string band<\/strong> with guitarists Nels Cline and Jeff Parker, fiddler Jenny Scheinman and bassist John Shifflett was at Duende restaurant in Oakland) — represented the aesthetic\u00c2\u00a0vision of YBCA’s artist-in-residence pianist Myra Melford,\u00c2\u00a0who curated it in conjunction\u00c2\u00a0with YCBA’S associate director of\u00c2\u00a0performing\u00c2\u00a0arts\u00c2\u00a0Isabel\u00c2\u00a0Yrigoyen.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"myra<\/a>

Myra Melford, photo by Myles Boisen<\/p><\/div>\n

Their emphasis was on excellence, originality and expressivity. A sense of community pervaded most of the concerts — especially Kidjo’s<\/strong><\/a>, which youthful ticketholders took as an opportunity to jump and shake in support of her urgent\u00c2\u00a0singing and patter demanding\u00c2\u00a0female education, freedom from sexual mutilation and forced marriages; John Calloway<\/strong> keeping the clav\u00c3\u00a9 for the high school age salseros<\/a> and amateur movers\u00c2\u00a0(admission fee: 50 cents) just there for fun, and Henry Threadgill’s Double-Up sextet<\/a>,<\/strong> which many notable locals musicians and aficionados attended, knowing he’s seldom booked in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

I believe\u00c2\u00a0Melford is\u00c2\u00a0one of the most remarkable, imaginative and devoted artists\u00c2\u00a0currently creating in any musical field or discipline, but disclosure: I’m working on an audience engagement project with her, funded\u00c2\u00a0in part by the\u00c2\u00a0Doris<\/span> Duke Performing Artist Awards program<\/strong><\/a>. That said, I’ve followed her\u00c2\u00a0music closely for 30 years, and my views are informed by observation, personal reaction and analysis rather than compensation. If you suspect\u00c2\u00a0otherwise, you may stop believing what you read here.<\/p>\n

\"jenny<\/a>

Jenny Scheinman, photo by Myles Boisen<\/p><\/div>\n

Besides curating the fest,\u00c2\u00a0Melford performed four times, including\u00c2\u00a0two tunes on harmonium with Northern California-based fiddler and wry singer-songwriter Scheinman<\/strong><\/a>. She made substantial contributions (including explosive solos) to\u00c2\u00a0conceptual saxophonist\u00c2\u00a0Matana Roberts heritage-diving collage\u00c2\u00a0Coin Coin<\/a><\/strong> and clarinetist Ben Goldberg’s orchestral, poetic Orphic Machine; she brought her exemplary, expansive keyboard techniques — precise fingering of darting single note runs; rhythmic forearm block-punctuations; tense passages at quiet dynamics; fast and witty responsiveness, sustained melodic lyricism — to a masterfully spontaneous interactive trio with flutist Nicole Mitchell<\/strong> <\/a>(a star at tunefulness and unusual timbres) and bassist Joelle Leandre <\/a><\/strong>(strong and propulsive, bowing and<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0plucking).<\/p>\n

\"myra<\/a>

Melford, Mitchell, Leandre, photo by Myles Boisen<\/p><\/div>\n

But this festival was not<\/em> about Melford\u00c2\u00a0herself. My big\u00c2\u00a0discovery was bassist-composer Lisa\u00c2\u00a0Mezzacappa’s avantNOIR project<\/strong>, previewed\u00c2\u00a0as four 15-to-20 minute pieces jauntily\u00c2\u00a0and cinematically evoking (as well as fed by) the crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett and Paul Auster. The\u00c2\u00a0score\u00c2\u00a0was fast-paced and kaleidoscopic, Mingus-like; the ensemble (percussionist William Winant and synthesist Tim Perkis joining\u00c2\u00a0her quartet Bait and Switch) hurtled from one written episode to another but gave each turn its jazz-essential immediacy, as if the music were freshly imagined. avantNOIR speaks directly to my delights, as I recognized specific scenes in The Maltese Falcon<\/em> (book<\/a> and<\/em> movie<\/a>) which the composition portrayed, and found it refreshing to hear Perkis’ boldly atonal squiggles\/swirls\/sirens afforded\u00c2\u00a0space in a “jazz” context. Mezzacappa played a bass line\u00c2\u00a0suggestive of Dolphy’s “Hat and Beard<\/a>,” too. I want to hear it again! Here’s some video <\/a>. .<\/p>\n

\"orphic<\/a>

Ben Goldberg, Ron Miles, Rob Suddruth, Nels Cline, photo by Myles Boisen<\/p><\/div>\n

Ben<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/a>Goldberg’s Orphic Machine<\/a>,<\/strong> with a cd release imminent, similarly embraced through-composed arrangements and open improvised passages, at one point building to a New Orleans-style collectively improvised climax. In demeanor Goldberg is thoughtful and virtuosic, yet his clarinet retains\u00c2\u00a0rawnesss. Wisely\u00c2\u00a0casting a\u00c2\u00a0front line with Ron Miles’ trumpet\u00c2\u00a0and Rob Suddruth on tenor sax, plus Kenny Wolleson on vibes, Melford\u00c2\u00a0piano,\u00c2\u00a0Nels Cline guitar, Trevor Dunn bass, Ches Smith drums, he introduced\u00c2\u00a0song-sculpted settings inspired by\u00c2\u00a0“speculative poetics” of\u00c2\u00a0the late Allen Grossman<\/a>. As\u00c2\u00a0sung by Carla Kihlstedt, who also played violin, this repertoire had an air of wry yet luxorious\u00c2\u00a0inquiry, recalling to me some spirit\u00c2\u00a0of Carla Bley and Paul Haines’ long ago collaboration Escalator Over the Hill<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Further: Pianist<\/strong> Satoko Fujii <\/a>and her trumpeter partner<\/strong> Kappa Maki, exploring dissonant\u00c2\u00a0clusters, brass blurts and pure tones; drummer Rudy Royston<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0303’s sophisticated<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0post-bop\/pre-electric Miles sextet (soloists Jon Irabagon, tenor; Niles Felder, guitar; Sam Harris, piano, trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis, and two basses: Mimi Jones and Yasushi Nakamura); the trio Grex<\/strong><\/a> (billed as an “art-rock\/post-jazz trio” — leader Karl Evangelista into Hendrix) and the Elliott Smith Hour<\/strong><\/a>, for which Roger Kim arranged movements from Brahms’ Third Symphony for his guitar and banjo, cello, bass clarinet\/alto flute and two violins.<\/p>\n

\"yerba\"<\/a>

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts – Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0is\u00c2\u00a0a comfortable, flexible multi-arts space comprising\u00c2\u00a0a large auditorium\u00c2\u00a0designed mostly\u00c2\u00a0for theater and dance; a gym-sized\u00c2\u00a0“forum” that could be set with chairs or not as appropriate, and classroom\/exhibition spaces. It has seldom ventured into music as nominally radical as New Frequencies intended to be. So it must have been heartened by the evident interests of a sizable crowd for generally adventurous programming. Although a healthy coterie of progressive and experimental musicians lives here, they long like artists everywhere for more opportunities to perform locally. The other regular concentration of such programming, though coming more from the contemporary “classical” and maverick composition side, is the annual Other Minds festival<\/a>. It runs March 6 through 8, at SFJazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

howardmandel.com<\/a>
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Inexhaustible Angelique Kidjo\u00c2\u00a0singing her ya-yas out about serious issues amid an onstage throng\u00c2\u00a0— the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco at noon on a Saturday reviving Cuban conga with free-styling\u00c2\u00a0dancers — women prominent among\u00c2\u00a0the fervently\u00c2\u00a0unfettered improvisers and daring composers leading ace ensembles. \u00c2\u00a0The New Frequencies festival: Jazz@YBCA (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/angelique-closer-with-fans.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-sb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":886,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/04\/intl-jazz-day-as-it-happens-unesco-concerts-live-streamed.html","url_meta":{"origin":1747,"position":0},"title":"Int’l Jazz Day as it happens: UNESCO concerts live-streamed","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A sunrise concert \u00c2\u00a0in New Orleans' Congo Square, from which jazz arose,\u00c2\u00a0in celebration of UNESCO's International Jazz Day (spearheaded by Herbie Hancock), is being streamed as I write (Dr. Michael White took the last solo, over the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) at Jazzday.com\u00c2\u00a0and at the Thelonious Monk Institute website. 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