Artists Studio: AACM Double Bill

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

TIME FACTOR: THURMAN BARKER QUINTET

Thurman Barker South Side Suite (2016)

Pandemic Fever (2019) Mr. Speed-str. (2022)

Thurman Barker percussion, marimba, xylophone

Noah Barker piano

James Emery guitar

Paavo Carey tenor sax, soprano saxophone, clarinet

ADEGOKE STEVE COLSON & IQUA COLSON’S UNITY TROUPE WITH SPECIAL GUESTS CHICO FREEMAN AND DOUGLAS R. EWART

This ensemble features two fellow AACM members—Earl Chico Freeman, celebrated part of the Freeman Family Jazz Dynasty, and extraordinary musician and craftsman Douglas R. Ewart. We have long, collaborative relationships with both of these artists. Chico is a college classmate, and we basically started our musical journey together. Once we joined the AACM, we worked frequently with Douglas in various settings—in fact, Iqua spent several years in the legendary Fred Anderson’s band working with Fred, Douglas, Hamid Drake, and George Lewis. Mark Helias joins us this evening on bass... his finesse and dynamism have been a large part of the success of some of our previous projects. And finally, always the perfect addition to our musical concepts is NEA Jazz Master—Jabali Billy Hart—bringing experience and brilliance! We are looking forward to this ensemble. The audience can expect a range of forms for voice and instrument.

Adegoke Steve Colson Sirens (2019)

A.S. Colson / I. Colson Sweet Soft Sound of Evening (1988) Unknown (1974)

Iqua Colson Atrocities (2022)

Adegoke Steve Colson piano

Iqua Colson vocals

Chico Freeman woodwinds

Douglas R. Ewart woodwinds

Mark Helias bass

Jabali Billy Hart drums

2023 ARTISTS STUDIO

IN THE RESTORED VETERANS ROOM

DOUBLE BILL: THURMAN BARKER / ADEGOKE STEVE COLSON & IQUA COLSON

saturday, april 22, 2023 at 7:00pm

Support for Park Avenue Armory’s artistic season has been generously provided by The Thompson Family Foundation, the Charina Endowment Fund, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, the Reed Foundation, Wescustogo Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support for this program is provided, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Front Cover: The Colson Unity Troupe No Reservation. Image includes (from left to right) Wallace McMillan, Dushun Mosley, Adegoke Steve Colson, Iqua Colson, and Reggie Willish. Photo by Isio Saba ca. 1980. Back Cover: Thurman Barker, Time Factor

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

THURMAN BARKER

Thurman Barker has a wealth of knowledge that has been built through countless incredible collaborations. A versatile drummer and percussionist, he has performed with singers Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, Bette Midler, and Vicki Carrin addition to classical groups like the Chicago Chamber Players and New York City Opera; however, his most notable musical experiences have been with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. A charter member of the group, Barker first appeared in AACM productions with Joseph Jarman’s pioneering ensembles. He then went on to record and perform with many members, including Dr. Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Claudine Myers, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill. After moving to New York in the late 1970s, Barker worked and recorded with jazz giants Sam Rivers and Cecil Taylor. He created Uptee Records in the early 1980s and released six recordings as a leader. Since 2016 Barker has written three pieces for chamber orchestra: South Side Suite, Pandemic Fever, and Mr. Speed-Str, which had its world premiere in Fall 2022. Thurman Barker, also a producer. He created his record company Uptee Productions, for which he has produced six albums. Selected recordings from that label include Voyage, Time Factor, and South Side Suite. Thurman Barker is a recipient of a 2022 NYSCA Award for Composition and is a Professor Emeritus of Bard College in Music and Jazz Studies.

ADEGOKE STEVE COLSON & IQUA COLSON

The projects of Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson span the past 47+ years since they met as piano majors at Northwestern University School of Music. Referred to as a “musical power couple” in The New York Times (2017), the Colsons’ work continues to reflect their activism and inspired artistic excellence. They began performing together while living in Chicago and became members of the AACM in the early 70s. Their critically acclaimed international performances

and recordings embrace tradition yet reveal a contemporary touch and personal interpretation uniquely their own. Their projects have featured modern innovators, Reggie Workman, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Malachi Favors, Anthony Davis, Andrew Cyrille, and Tyshawn Sorey, among many other musicians; and collaborations including master artists of other disciplines such as poet/activist Amiri Baraka, screenwriter/ playwright Richard Wesley, dancer Carmen de Lavallade, and artist Willie Cole. They co-own recording label Silver Sphinx, and their first release in 1980 later became part of Gilles Peterson’s 2009 compilation Freedom, Rhythm & Sound, which also featured several independent innovators including Maurice White, John Coltrane, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, and Mary Lou Williams and credited them all as the early roots of the “indie” movement.

Iqua won recognition by Billboard Magazine as a lyricist with the media placing her in the company of vocalists Abbey Lincoln, Sarah Vaughan, and Jeanne Lee over the years. Iqua consults regularly and has received awards for projects that use the arts as catalyst for educational and/or social change. She successfully worked with her team and acclaimed actress Cicely Tyson to design and build the Cicely L. Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts Campus and Performing Arts Center. Ade is a decorated composer having received several commissions from entities including American Composer’s Forum, Meet the Composer, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, National Endowment for the Arts, and Absolute Jazz for National Lost Jazz Shrines project—which supported arranging, orchestrating and conducting the music of stride master Willie “The Lion” Smith. He was inducted into the East Orange, New Jersey Hall of Fame (2018), joining distinguished individuals from his hometown like Dionne Warwick, John Amos, Whitney Houston, and Naughty by Nature. Ade’s Suite Harlem, commissioned through South Arts Jazz Road supported by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, premiered in New York City June 2022. Some of his over 200 works for small ensemble

have also been recorded by other pivotal artists such as bassist Richard Davis, trumpeter/composer Hannibal, and Trio Three with Oliver Lake. He stays involved in Arts Education working as Artist in Residence in Jazz for NJ Performing Arts Center, and as a Professor in Bloomfield College Creative Arts Division, which he helped found over 30 years ago. Ade recently received a 2022 commission from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University; the completed piece will be premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble..

CHICO FREEMAN

Heralded as one of the most important saxophonists of our time, composer and producer, Chico Freeman has perfected an immediately recognizable approach to music and composition, blending what he has experienced from his past and providing fluidity into a future of infinite musical possibilities.

As part of the Freeman family legacy of Chicago; his father, legendary NEA Jazz Master and a Northwestern honorary PhD recipient, saxophonist Von Freeman, Chico Freeman has amassed a diverse résumé of performing. His collegiate studies in Advanced Composition and Theory at Northwestern University led him to teach composition at the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) Music School, and while attaining his Masters in Composition and Theory at Governor State University. He studied composition with NEA Jazz Master Muhal Richard Abrams.

DOUGLAS R. EWART

The polymathic Douglas R. Ewart has been honored for his work as a composer, improvising multi-instrumentalist, conceptual artist, sculptor, mask and instrument designer, builder and more. As an educator, Ewart bridges his kaleidoscopic activities with a vision that opposes today’s divided world by culture-fusing works that aim to restore the wholeness of communities and their members, and to emphasize the

reality of the world’s interdependence. From Kingston, Jamaica, Ewart immigrated to Chicago in 1963. There he studied with the master musicians of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians—an organization he later served as chairman, at different intervals from1979-1987 and into the millennium. He also studied music at VanderCook College of Music, and electronic music at Governors State University. Ewart is the founder of Arawak Records, is the leader of ensembles such as the Nyahbingi Drum Choir, Quasar, Clarinet Choir, and Douglas R. Ewart & Inventions. He is a designer and creator of instruments and kinetic sonic sculptures that have been exhibited in venues such as Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago. Crepuscule, his vast periodic conceptual work, is collectively actualized by scores of musicians, dancers, visual artists, poets, capoeira, puppeteers, martial artists, activists, the honoring of elders and more. Ewart’s honors include a US Japan Creative Arts Fellowship, a Bush Artists Fellowship, and an Outstanding Artist Award granted by a former Chicago Mayor, Harold Washington. He is a Professor Emeritus at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago.

PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Peggy Abrams, Richarda Abrams, Thurman Barker, Adegoke Steve Colson, Iqua Colson, George Lewis, Amina

Claudine Myers, Reggie Nicholson, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, and Chico Freeman The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians New York City Chapter

Leonard Jones Archival Footage

Kirrin Tubo Stage Manager

Sascha von Oertzen Audio Engineer

John Rosenberg Audio Recording

Steinway & Sons

armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE MUSICIANS

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), one of the oldest musicians’ associations in the United States, was co-founded in 1965 in Chicago by Dr. Muhal Richard Abrams, Jodie Christian, Kelan Phil Cohran, and Steve McCall. The AACM New York City Chapter, Inc. was established in 1983 by Dr. Abrams and other AACM members who relocated from Chicago to New York to further their musical endeavors. The Chapter functions as an ensemble of composers and performers whose mission is to present concerts that feature world premieres composed by AACM members. Membership demographics are predominately African American and includes members from a range of backgrounds.

AACM artists have developed a body of work that has achieved lasting significance across borders of musical genre and geography, playing a critical role in the ever-evolving process of music creation and its vital influence throughout the world. The organization’s mission is designed to produce concerts and to bring new music to diverse audiences; to create an atmosphere conducive to artistic endeavors for the artistically inclined by maintaining a workshop for the sole purpose of bringing musicians together; and to stimulate spiritual growth in creative artists through participation in programs, concerts, and recitals. AACM concert programs encompass all forms of original music, including gospel, blues, jazz, classical, folk, electronic music,

and the uncategorizable, performed by a diverse ensemble of talented musicians whose musical experiences span the globe.

The AACM has nurtured and brought to fruition many accomplished composers/performers, including Amina Claudine Myers, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Threadgill, Thurman Barker, Frank Gordon, Adegoke Steve Colson, Iqua Colson, Chico Freeman, George Lewis, Leonard E. Jones, Reggie Nicholson, Peggy Abrams, Richarda Abrams, and posthumously Dr. Muhal Richard Abrams, Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Kalaparusha Ahra Difda, Lester Bowie, Steve McCall, Fred Anderson, John Stubblefield, and Fred Hopkins. AACM members have gained international recognition as accomplished musicians and composers, many of whom have been invited by renowned orchestras throughout the world to perform their music. They have received numerous awards for their contributions to the music community, and continue to interact with and teach young aspiring musicians, as well as establishing creative music programs in universities. In 2019, Chamber Music America honored the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians with the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award. Chamber Music America’s highest honor, this award has been presented annually since 1980 to those who have made lasting, significant contributions in the field of music.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS STUDIO

Launched in March 2016 alongside the inauguration of the revitalized Veterans Room, the Artists Studio is curated by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Jason Moran and serves as a space for artists to experiment, collaborate, create, and push the boundaries of their craft.

The 2023 Artists Studio season spotlights the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Inc. (AACM). For nearly 60 years, this revolutionary collective of artists, musicians, and creators from a range of backgrounds have been blending art forms and pushing boundaries. Their body of work has achieved lasting significance across borders of musical genre and geography and plays a critical role in the ever-evolving process of music creation. They bring their unmistakable energy and boundless creativity to the Armory for a series of performances of newly composed works, workshops and open rehearsals, lectures and panels, exhibitions of historic artifacts and photographic surveys, and engagements with students from the Armory’s arts education programs. This in-depth residency of collaborative artists beautifully mirrors the cooperative spirit of the young artisans and designers present at the Veterans Room’s inception while showcasing where these groundbreakers reside creatively in the current moment and their innovative journey forward.

Previous Artists Studio programs have featured performances by: jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran; Dutch contemporary composer Louis Andriessen and pianist Jason Moran; American composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros and noted author, director, and dream specialist IONE; pianist and composer Conrad Tao and multifaceted percussionist, instrumentalist, and composer Tyshawn Sorey; seminal drummer and acupuncturist Milford Graves and drummer and musician Deantoni Parks; artist Lucy Raven; groundbreaking sound designer Ryan Trecartin with his primary collaborator Lizzie Fitch, music producer and DJ Ashland Mines (aka Total Freedom), and composer/producer Aaron David Ross; acoustic ensemble Dawn of Midi; composer Ryuichi Sakamoto; tenor Lawrence Brownlee with pianists Myra Huang and Jason Moran; multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome; vocalist Dominique Eade and pianist Ran Blake with composer Kavita Shah; experimental composer Alvin Curran; internationally renowned composer, saxophonist, sound experimentalist, and mixed-media practitioner Matana Roberts; pioneer of experimental music Charlemagne Palestine; art icon and DJ Juliana Huxtable; composer and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell; experimental composer, improviser, and performer Miya Masaoka; My Barbarian collective founders Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade; cutting edge visual artist Rosa Barba; Dominican accordionist Krency Garcia (El Prodigio); the late trumpeter jaimie branch and visual artist Carol Szymanski; pioneer of performance and video art Joan Jonas; and conceptual artist, writer, and performer, Rodney McMillian.

NEXT IN THE SERIES

The AACM: Power Stronger Than Itself, A Talk by George E. Lewis

November 18 at 3pm

The Reggie Nicholson Percussion Concept

November 18 at 7pm