$20 General Admission
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With his films, video installations and photographs, Anri Sala explores the borders of history and geography, as seen through the eyes of marginal characters, who become accidental actors in collective dramas. A mingling of personal stories and social surveys, Sala's works are existential explorations of intimate, interwoven narratives. Colored with sudden epiphanies and visions, the works reveal unexpected and overlooked fragments of reality. For his films, Sala has used different techniques and formats, experimenting with cinematic and video techniques in order to capture the end of dreams and the fall of ideologies, while also trying to describe private histories and small tragedies. “Long Sorrow” was produced by the Nicola Trussardi Foundation. Hanging from the façade of a building in the suburbs of Berlin (nicknamed 'the long sorrow' by its inhabitants) the American saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc deftly performs an animated sweeping improvisation imbued with a sense of mounting tension. Part social documentary and part eulogy for architectural visionaries, “Long Sorrow” is a freestyle fugue on feelings and beliefs. Along with “Long Sorrow”, Anri Sala has created an extensive and critically-acclaimed body of work: From the hesitation of the horse stopped at the edge of a highway in Tirana, to the portrait of a man lost among the arcades of Milan's Duomo; from the game of light and shadow of a crab chase, to the transformation of a cymbal into a stroboscopic light; from the quiet and melancholic landscapes of airports to old Luna-parks, Sala's works flow like animated, dream-like paintings. Like faded contemporary frescoes, they bring together voices and images that connect international politics with domestic traumas and private histories. Anri Sala was born in 1974, and lives and works in Berlin. He has had solo exhibitions in a number of international institutions including Museé de la Ville, Paris; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The Art Institute of Chicago; and Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam. Nominated for the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize (2002), and awarded the Golden Lion for the Young Artist Prize at the Venice Biennale (2001), Anri Sala has taken part in many collective exhibitions and biennials worldwide including three participations in the Venice Biennale (1999, 2001 and 2003), in addition to invitations to the Istanbul Biennial (2003), the Berlin Biennale (2001) and Manifesta (2000). He was short listed for this year's Preis2005 of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin (with John Bock, Monica Bonvicini and Angela Bulloch).
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$12 General Admission
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While touring Europe with Taylor, Murray met Albert Ayler, and wound up joining his band in 1964; through 1967, Murray appeared on most of the saxophonist's greatest free jazz sessions. He also worked with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and John Tchicai, and made his first albums as a leader with 1965's Sunny's Time Now (for Jihad) and 1966's Sunny Murray Quintet (for the seminal ESP), the latter of which helped him win Down Beat's New Star award. In 1968, Murray traveled to France, where he played with Archie Shepp and recorded as a leader for Affinity and BYG Actuel; returning to the U.S. in 1971, Murray settled in Philadelphia and formed a group called the Untouchable Factor, which he led off and on through varying lineups. Today, he resides in Paris and continues to perform and record regularly. Grounded in the Baptist spirituals of his youth followed by a musical upbringing in Philadelphia with the likes of John Coltrane and organist Jimmy Smith as mentors, tenor saxophonist Odean Pope is the bridge between hard bop and free. His contributions to jazz are of major historical significance and through his over two decade long fruitful association with drummer Max Roach, groundbreaking saxophone choir, trio and quartet work and educational outreach he has influenced generations of musicians. At the same time, Pope cannot be pigeonholed and he has managed to maintain his creativity by continuing to innovate and perfect his sound. He remains an incredibly busy and active musician with many recent releases in a variety of settings. These sessions showcase his saxophone choir, Locked & Loaded Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2006); his spiritual horn recorded au natural, Serenity (CIMPoL, 2007); an inventive tribute to Max Roach, To The Roach (CIMP, 2006); a deliciously funky hip hop jazz fusion, The Misled Children Meet Odean Pope (Porter, 2008); and an exciting trio date with drummer Sunny Murray and bassist Lee Smith, Plant Life (Porter, 2008). |
Philadelphia Art Alliance $12 General Admission
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The graceful skronk of AlasNoAxis is a unique sound. Though it is informed by the outer reaches of contemporary rock music and the cutting edge of electronic technology, AlasNoAxis's dynamic interplay and rhythmic drive bear the unmistakable mark of jazz virtuosity. Yet this is not exactly fusion. Jim Black's compositions resemble rigorously constructed rock songs much more than they do the sprawling openness one usually associates with fusion. And though improvisation proliferates, it never devolves into instrumental showpieces. Unlike other bands which have attempted jazz-rock, Alas No Axis is neither rock instrumentation and style applied to jazz structure, nor the opposite, but rather a fully realized synthesis of sound, structure, and technique. In Alas No Axis, Jim Black has reinvented jazz-rock from the ground up. The members of AlasNoAxis all have extensive experience in the borderlands between musical genres. They are among the most influential instrumentalists working today, having inspired legions of young musicians all over the world. Guitarist Hilmar Jensson and bassist Skúli Sverrisson are both key members of Iceland's burgeoning musical avant-garde. Jensson leads the collective Kitchen Motors and the trio Tyft and has recorded numerous solo cd's for the Bad Taste label. Sverrisson is one of the world's greatest virtuosos of the electric bass, and has worked extensively with artists ranging from fusion pioneer Allan Holdsworth to performance artist Laurie Anderson. Sverrisson is also widely regarded for his work in electro-acoustic music with Australian clarinetist Anthony Burr and his solo works on the Extreme label. Chris Speed is one of the leading saxophonists and clarinetists of his generation, and has worked with a who's who of today's foremost bandleaders, including Tim Berne, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, and John Zorn. At the core of Alas No Axis's revolutionary sound is the powerhouse percussion and sonic innovation of Jim Black. Having already expanded the language of jazz drumming, he is now radically reshaping the sound of jazz itself, reflecting today's advances in technology and advances in the sound and form of rock music. Much as artists like Radiohead and Björk have reworked popular music from within, Jim Black is reshaping jazz. Alas No Axis has set a new standard for creative music in the twenty first century, unafraid to explore the outer reaches of sound and virtuosity or the structured expression of songcraft. |
