ARTS FOR ART PRESENTS
VISION FESTIVAL 25: BREAKING FREE, COMING HOME
JULY 22-31 in NYC
JULY 22-23, 29-30 @ PIONEER WORKS, BROOKLYN
JULY 24-25 & 31 @ THE CLEMENTE, LOWER EAST SIDE
IN-PERSON, OUTDOORS & LIVESTREAM
FEATURING WILLIAM PARKER, AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, ELDER ONES, JAIMIE BRANCH, FAY VICTOR, NICOLE MITCHELL, JAMES BLOOD ULMER, DAVID MURRAY, COOPER-MOORE, JAMES BRANDON LEWIS, A TRIBUTE TO MILFORD GRAVES W/ JOHN ZORN, ANDREW CYRILLE, & MANY MORE
MILFORD GRAVES & ANDREW CYRILLE @ VISION 24 – WATCH
AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS TRIO @ VISION HEALING SOUL, 2020 – WATCH
This year, Arts for Art proudly celebrates 25 years of a collective artistic vision. Vision Festival 25: Breaking Free, Coming Home will bring together the buoyant voices of hundreds of artists of various disciplines—Free Jazz, poetry, visual arts, conversations— to speak the message of hope and justice with unfettered creativity.
Since 1996, the Vision Festival has created and guaranteed a space for improvisation as a leading creative language, and has been named “one of New York’s most essential art events” by The New York Times.
One of the first in-person music festivals to return to New York City, Vision 25 will take place over seven nights, July 22-23 and 29-30 at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, and July 24-25 and 31 at The Clemente in the Lower East Side, and all events will be in-person, outdoors and livestreamed. Tickets are available now at Eventbrite.
The music lineup will feature Arts for Art co-chair WIlliam Parker, Amina Claudine Myers, Nicole Mitchell, jaimie branch, David Murray, James Blood Ulmer, Andrew Cyrille, Patricia Nicholson Parker, Ava Mendoza, a tribute the great Milford Graves with John Zorn, Andrille Cyrille, and many more. Full music schedule is below, and additional programming will be announced in the coming weeks.
In this spirit of abundant creativity, hope, and justice, AFA is honored to acknowledge the singular pianist, organist, composer, and singer Amina Claudine Myers for her lifetime of achievement. Ms. Myers comes from a background steeped in the blues and gospel, and is a founding member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (A.A.C.M.). She took the new freedom approach to her music making, yet stayed close to the roots of the music. She has mentored many young musicians around the globe, and especially for women, she has been a shining and all too rare example. She is an extraordinary artist who has added so much to the important tradition of African American extended musical forms.
“As live shows become safer, we’ll gather and share our creative visions to make space for a more compassionate world,” says Arts for Art founder, Patricia Nicholson Parker. “Vision’s message this year is about coming home to our strong self. Our home is within. The past year gave us time to listen to ourselves and now we are home.”
VISION 25 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
THURS, JULY 22 @ PIONEER WORKS
6:00pm Opening Healing Ceremony
William Parker – bass / Patricia Nicholson Parker – text, movement / Jean Carla Rodea – voice / Michael T.A. Thompson – drums
7:00pm Music for a Free World Septet
Dave Sewelson – baritone sax / Aquiles Navarro – trumpet / Steve Swell – trombone / Dave Hofstra – tuba / Ava Mendoza – guitar / William Parker – bass / Marvin “Bugalu” Smith – drums
8:00pm Cooper-Moore Solo
Cooper-Moore – piano
8:45pm Dave Burrell & Darius Jones Duo
Dave Burrell – piano / Darius Jones – alto saxophone
9:45pm Matthew Shipp String Trio
Matthew Shipp – piano / Mat Maneri – viola / William Parker – bass
FRI, JULY 23 @ PIONEER WORKS
Amina Claudine Myers Lifetime of Achievement Celebration
6:30pm The Amina Claudine Myers Voice Octet
7:30pm Poet Tyehimba Jess
8:00pm Generation IV
Amina Claudine Myers – voice, piano / Richarda Abrams – voice / Pyeng Threadgill – voice / Luna Threadgill-Moderbacher – voice
9:00pm Reflections: A Portrait of Amina Claudine Myers
Documentary film by Moon Lasso, produced by Arts for Art
9:30pm The Amina Claudine Myers Trio
Amina Claudine Myers – piano, Hammond B3 / Jerome Harris – bass
Reggie Nicholson – drums
SAT, JULY 24 @ THE CLEMENTE, LA PLAZA OUTDOORS
5:00pm Creative Vision Youth Ensemble
6:00pm Composers Workshop Ensemble
Warren Smith – drums, percussion / Rod Williams – piano / Larry Roland – bass, poetry / James Zollar – trumpet / Patience Higgins – tenor sax / Don Slatoff – baritone sax / Lloyd Haber – drums, percussion
7:00pm ElectroFLUTTER
Fay Victor – voice, compositions / Nicole Mitchell – flute / Jamaaladeen Tacuma – bass guitar
8:00pm Morris / Smith
Tracie Morris – poetry / Cecilia Smith – vibes
8:30pm Joe Morris & Tomas Fujiwara
Joe Morris – guitar / Tomas Fujiwara – drums
9:30pm Tony Malaby’s Sabino Quartet
Tony Malaby – tenor, soprano saxophones / Ben Monder – guitar / Michael Formanek – bass / Tom Rainey – drums
SUN, JULY 25 @ THE CLEMENTE, LA PLAZA OUTDOORS
6:00pm Whit Dickey Trio
Whit Dickey – drums / Rob Brown – alto saxophone / Mat Maneri – viola
7:00pm Pheeroan akLaff Liberation Unit
Pheeroan akLaff – drums / Adegoke Steve Colson – piano / Michael Gregory Jackson – guitar
8:00pm Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner – poetry
9:00pm Third Landing
Ava Mendoza – guitar / Alexis Marcelo – keyboards / Luke Stewart – bass
Devin Brahja Waldman – horns / Ches Smith – drums / Abiodun Oyewole – spoken word
9:30pm James Blood Ulmer ODYSSEY
James Blood Ulmer – guitar / Charles Burnham – violin / Warren Benbow – drums
THURS, JULY 29 @ PIONEER WORKS
6:00pm Elder Ones
Amirtha Kidambi – voice, harmonium, synthesizer / Matt Nelson – soprano saxophone, effects / Eva Lawitts – bass, effects / Max Jaffe – drums, sensory percussion
7:00pm James Brandon Lewis Quartet
James Brandon Lewis – tenor saxophone / Aruán Ortiz – piano / Brad Jones – bass / Chad Taylor – drums
8:00pm Julie Ezelle Patton Rock Paper Twister
Julie Ezelle Patton – poetry / Janice Lowe – piano / Paul Van Curen – guitar / William Parker – bass / Nasheet Waits – drums / Special Guest – Vinie Burrows
8:45pm Mara Rosenbloom Presents Flyways
Mara Rosenbloom – piano / Anaïs Maviel – voice, surdo / Rashaan Carter – bass
9:45pm Trio 3 + Special Guest
Oliver Lake – alto saxophone / Reggie Workman – bass / Andrew Cyrille – drums + Special Guest – piano
FRI, JULY 30 @ PIONEER WORKS
6:00pm Brandon Lopez Trio
Brandon Lopez – bass / Gerald Cleaver – drums / Steve Baczkowski – woodwinds
7:00pm Ingrid Laubrock’s Monochromes
Jon Irabagon – saxophones / Ingrid Laubrock – saxophones
/ Zeena Parkins – harp / Tom Rainey – drums / performing with pre-recorded tapes
8:00pm fly or die
jaimie branch – trumpet, voice, percussion / Lester St. Louis – cello, voice, percussion / Jason Ajemian- bass / Chad Taylor – drums, mbira, voice
9:00pm Moten / Lopez / Cleaver
Fred Moten – poetry / Brandon Lopez – bass / Gerald Cleaver – drums
9:30pm David Murray Octet Revival
David Murray – tenor sax, compositions / Lakecia Benjamin – alto sax / Terry Greene II – trombone / Josh Evans – trumpet / Mingus Murray – guitar / David Bryant – piano / Dezron Douglas – bass / Russell Carter – drums
Commissioned by Chamber Music America
SAT, JULY 31 @ THE CLEMENTE, LA PLAZA OUTDOORS
Tribute to Milford Graves
6:00pm Andrew Cyrille
Andrew Cyrille – drum set
7:00pm Joe McPhee Octet Tribute to Milford Graves
Warren Smith – vibes / Jay Rosen – drums/ Brandon Lopez, Michael Bisio– bass
James Keepnews – guitar / Jason Kao Hwang, Rosie Hertlein – violin / Joseph McPhee – reeds, brass
8:00pm Shahzad Ismaily
Shahzad Ismaily – multiple instruments
8:15pm John Zorn
John Zorn – alto saxophone
8:30pm Tribute to Milford Graves
William Parker – bass / Lee Mixashawn Rozie – woodwinds / D.D. Jackson – piano / William Hooker – drums / Francisco Mela – drums
9:30pm Drum, Horn, and Dance Tribute to Milford Graves
# # #
In Person Tickets: Daily $65 | Full Pass $300 | VIP Pass $750
Streaming Tickets: Daily $15 | Full Pass $75 Available at: visionfestival.eventbrite.com
About Amina Claudine Myers
Pianist, vocalist, poet, and actor Amina Claudine Myers will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award on July 23, 2021 at Vision Festival 25. Born in Blackwell, Arkansas, Amina Claudine Myers’ career in music began in her preteens. Throughout high school she directed church choirs, singing, and playing gospel and rhythm and blues. After moving to Chicago in May 1966, Ms. Myers became one of the founding members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), composing new works for voice and instruments and carving out a unique path unrestricted by any one genre.
Amina’s first recording was with fellow AACM artist, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, and she continued to develop her unique sound, performing and recording with Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie and Henry Threadgill. Over the decades she has been recording and collaborating with Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, James Blood Ulmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and other well known artists.
She has recorded 11 albums under her leadership. Her recording career combines her gospel and blues inspirations with an improviser’s freedom and includes classic albums like The Circle of Time, Amina Claudine Myers Salutes Bessie Smith and her latest solo piano and voice effort Sama Rou (Songs From My Soul).
Relocating to New York City in 1976, Ms Myer’s further developed her work involving voice choirs, voice and instrumental ensemble, and a robust exploration of the pipe organ. Her compositions include large-scale works for orchestra and choir, and collaborations with writer Ntozake Shange and choreographer Dianne McIntyre.
About Arts For Art
Since its inception in 1996, the nonprofit Arts for Art (AFA) and its founder and Artistic Director Patricia Nicholson Parker have advocated for human rights and justice, and in support of free jazz improvised music and art. Witnessing the conclusion of the loft scene and the spread of neo-conservatism in the established jazz world AFA stood strong, maintaining a focus on the African American artists who created free jazz while embracing the diverse multicultural power of the art.
FreeJazz is recognized for its variety of highly developed and personalized improvisational languages. AFA works to preserve the legacy of FreeJazz through its multi-arts programming, as well as ensuring the vital future for the improvised arts through their reimagining by new generations of artists. AFA works to ensure that future through music education and mentoring programs offered free to those in need.
A History of the Vision Festival
In 1996 the First Annual Vision Festival took place at The Learning Alliance on Lafayette Street near Houston Street in NYC. The idea was to bring together luminaries from the different avant-garde music scenes and, for the first time since the Sound Unity Festivals in the mid ‘80s, celebrate the important African American leaders of the music. Featuring artist Milford Graves, that first Vision Festival was unique in its multi-arts focus featuring poets such as Amiri Baraka, dancers such as Rod Rogers, and visual artists such as Jeff Schlanger, in collaboration with the music.
Each year the Vision Festival also brought attention to issues of social justice by curating panel discussions, such as “Decolonizing the Music: Reclaiming the Power of Creative Music in Communities of Color” and “How Funding Affects Creative Choices.”
In the current political and cultural climate, Arts for Art’s credo is felt more strongly than ever – using powerful music and art as expressions of commitment to life and justice. Past festival titles have included “A Vision Against Violence,” “Avant Jazz For Peace,” “Studies in Freedom,” “The Revolution Continues,” “The Creative Option,” and “Take a Stand.”
The Vision Festival continues to honor and amplify the careers of legendary artists who are too often under-appreciated, such as Fred Anderson, Kidd Jordan, Bill Dixon, Sam Rivers, Connie Crothers, and many others.
This 25th Vision Festival recognizes two titanic figures in Amina Claudine Myers, and Milford Graves, who died in February 2021, and who had previously performed in 12 iterations of the festival.