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| Climate Force presents “Calling All Forces,” May 11th, 2013 Climate Force presents "Calling All Forces, " An Earth-Friendly Inter-Arts Jazz 'Party' to honor the Earth. May 11th, 2013, 6 p.m.-11 p.m. at Jack in Brooklyn. The Climate Force "Calling All Forces" event is designed as a call and response to nature.The night will carry forth messages of respect and reverence for our earth within a festive air. The evening is structured as an earth-friendly listening 'party' to support the development of awareness and environmental action within the inter-arts jazz community. Audience is invited to experience the dynamic energy of nature's forces through the work of cutting edge artists in free jazz, fusion-edged jazz, improvisational dance, and visual art. The Climate Force artists have come together to share a common love of the planet and in a creative act of safeguarding it from the current dangers to its vital systems. This "first annual" Climate Force inter-arts jazz event is produced by jazz vocalist and environmental advocate Katie Bull. Her intention is to contribute to the growing climate movement via the jazz and inter-arts communities by celebrating nature's beauty and raising awareness about the need for mitigation and adaptation solutions to global warming. Bull, influenced by protests she has joined to halt hydraulic "fracking" and the Keystone XL Pipeline, has booked artists who share environmental fervor. All Climate Force artists are creative forces to be reckoned with. They include (in order of appearance): Andrew Drury, experimental composer and percussionist (The Pipeline Solo: "Pipe Dreams"); The Ras Moshe Unit, an improvised "conduction" project (Ras Moshe, conductor/tenor and flute; Ratzo Harris, bass; Andrew Drury, drums; and Anders Nilsson, guitar); The Exposed Blues Duo consisting of the critically-acclaimed vocalist Fay Victor and the red hot Anders Nilsson, guitar (Best Vocal Album 2011 The New York City Jazz Record); and the Katie Bull Group Project, whose genre-defying album of original compositions, Freak Miracle, received a 2011 NARAS Grammy nomination consideration, (Katie Bull, vocals; Landon Knoblock, piano/electronics; Joe Fonda, bass; Deric Dickens, drums; and Jeff Lederer, tenor). At the close of the night, the acclaimed jazz-blues singer/composer Kevin Fitzgerald Burke (a veteran of the legendary Jon Hendricks' vocal group) will take the stage for a couple of final songs. Described by Stephen Holden of The New York Times as "a virtuoso scat improviser, " Burke has composed for the environmental movement the elegiac "Wandrin' the Gasland, " which is dedicated to the lives, lands, and communities destroyed by relentless and unthinking exploitation. Dancers Alex Romania & Amanda Hunt will improvise with Andrew Drury, and visual artists Robert Black, Fran Bull, and Aileen Gural will offer painting, photography, and talisman art that respond to nature's inherent life-giving energy, and that explores the dangers of defying Earth's natural balance. The relaxed, humorous, and sharp insight of environmental advocate Ted Cleary (also a writer, teacher, photographer, and songwriter) will bridge the sets with integrated thematic riffs and environmental updates. Cleary can also entertain questions. There will be volunteers from 350.org and other groups on site with literature and information about the latest actions and initiatives both local and national. Producer Bull's take on the current condition of our planet gives context for the event: "Psyche and weather are mirror reflections. Human psyche is collectively out of balance and this imbalance is manifesting in our planetary weather. We have over-identified with material objects. Our value system has constellated in global warming. The forces of nature are speaking to us through the howl of gale force winds and the roar of rising tides. The forces of nature are speaking to us in the silence of drying riverbeds and the tears of melting glaciers. We must call upon ourselves; call our inner forces, call ourselves to action, and heed nature's 'call'. There is still time to listen to nature and respond to this imbalance; the time is now." All artists involved in the Climate Force project have strong points of view about our planet's condition: Please also note the attached Musical Artists Statements & Biographies. Visit the visual artists websites to view their dedication to the earth & see their aesthetics, drawn from the natural world. This will be a memorable night in support of a rapidly growing climate movement that is deeply meaningful within the jazz inter-arts community and beyond. MUSIC – DANCE- VISUAL ART MUSIC: Andrew Drury - 6 pm - The Pipeline Solo, "Pipe Dreams" For Calling All Forces, Drury will present "Pipe Dreams, " a semi-autobiographical work-in-progress featuring solo drumming and percussion, improvised dance (by two dancers, Alex Romania and Amanda Hunt), and text. Pipe Dreams will muse upon the landscapes of Cascadia, legacies of colonialism, the evolving cultural landscape of the US since the 1970s—all against a background of dire ramifications posed by the prospect of the Keystone XL pipeline, extraction of petroleum from Canadian tar sands, nuclear energy, and global warming. www.andrewdrury.com Ras Moshe Unit – 7 p.m. – The Ras Moshe Unit is comprised of veteran free-jazz improvisers who, under the leadership and conduction of Ras Moshe, find order in chaos, and chaos in order, spontaneously. Their improvised sessions are often soundscapes that invoke the forces of nature, landscapes, cosmic places, and local places. The soundscapes represent the confluence of machine, human, animal, and natural life. Improvisation embodies a process of true collective creation and therefore manifests Ras's dedication to equality. Appearing at the Stone, the Evolving Music Series, and many other venues throughout the city including on his own Music Now! Series at the Brecht Forum, the Ras Moshe Unit has cultivated a remarkable synchronicity of impulse, flow, and unity. www.myspace.com/rasmoshe, https://www.facebook.com/ratzo.harris, www.andersnilssonguitar.com, www.andrewdrury.com The Exposed Blues Duo - 8 p.m. - is a collaboration between guitarist Anders Nilsson and Fay Victor that has become an improvising blues duo using true blues, blues based material and all the wails and flails they can muster. With pieces ranging from the Rev. Gary Davis, Leroy Carr, Jimi Hendrix, Herbie Nichols and Memphis Slim alongside free improvisation and original tunes. In December 2007the Exposed Blues DUO was invited to perform at the Winter Nights festival in Marseille, France run by GRIM, an improvising collective based there. THE BLUES was the theme that year, where the Exposed Blues Duo was born with an electrifying set - the packed house wouldn't go home after four encores! The Exposed Blues DUO released BARE in 2010 receiving rave reviews in the New York Times, Time Out New York and continuing to been perform around New York City at venues such as the 55 Bar, the Brecht Forum, The Stone, The Local 269, Barbes and DROM. The Exposed Blues DUO also invites esteemed guests to join, featuring prominent musicians such as cellist Tomas Ulrich, electric bassist Tim Dahl, alto saxophonists Darius Jones and Roy Nathanson. "Accomplished vocal modernist Fay Victor manages to deconstruct the tradition of jazz song without pretension or tedium—quite a high-wire feat, if you ask us."–Time Out New York THE KATIE BULL GROUP PROJECT - 9 p.m. Bull’s set will preview music from her next album, recorded in April and set for release in 2014 - All Hot Bodies Radiate. The title is drawn from Irish physicist John Tyndall’s 1859 discovery of how the atmosphere operates, a discovery that led to the first revelation of a “natural greenhouse gas effect.” The title has a double meaning as well: “The amount that hot bodies radiate is a function of their temperature,” writes political journalist Elizabeth Kolbert in her book, Field Notes from A Climate Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change (Bloomsbury Press 2006). Says Bull, “All hot bodies radiate. The same could be said about love.” All Hot Bodies Radiate is a collection of Bull’s new love songs, thread through with earth imagery, and the love of nature. www.katiebull.com, www.landonknoblock.com, www.joefonda.com, www.dericdickens.com, www.littleimusic.com DANCE Alex Romania and Amanda Hunt will improvise with Andrew Drury in Drury’s Pipeline Solo, “Pipe Dreams”. Alex Romania - Alex is a Brooklyn-based performer & artist. He recently presented a dance installation about presence, which he created and performed with Amanda Hunt at the Glasshouse in Brooklyn. Alex has performed in pieces by Simone Forti and Steve Paxton. He is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch where he trained at various studios including the Atlantic Studio, where his voice mentor was Katie Bull. He is happy to be creating multimedia work, and to be employing presence techniques. Find Alex on Facebook. Amanda Hunt –Amanda is a Brooklyn-based performer. She recently choreographed for the “Reality Show” in Abu Dhabi under the direction of Liz Swados, and presented an original collaboration at The Glasshouse called “If I Were.” Amanda is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch where she trained at various studios including the Atlantic Studio. Her voice mentor at Atlantic was Katie Bull. She employs dance, theater, and performance presence practices. Find Amanda on FB. VISUAL ART Visual artists will explore the forces of nature and the impact of human nature. Their works will be hung on the walls that surround the playing space at JACK. Talismans made of turquoise on string will be available for sale; all proceeds will be gifted to 350.org. Please visit the artists’ websites for their bios and galleries. FRAN BULL - paintings (Sophia Serie write your comments about the article :: © 2013 Jazz News :: home page |