Big Ears Festival

[BFrank]

On 9/28/2022 at 6:55 AM, kh1958 said:

The Festival seems to have added another venue, the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, which features a 2500 seat auditorium.

Huh - interesting. Who would they be having that needs such large venues?

[kh1958]

12 hours ago, BFrank said:

Huh - interesting. Who would they be having that needs such large venues?

Good question. Probably no one I will be seeing.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

A niggling doubt I had in the back of my mind from last year's festival statistics, with the greater attendance and larger number of acts, was that this festival would grow too big. And the fact that Ashley Capps no longer owns Bonnaroo and now solely has Big Ears, leads me to wonder if Bonnarroo was subsidising Big Ears, which allowed BE to have a smaller, weirder lineup. And now that Big Ears has only itself to subsidise, that growth in attendance numbers and the booking of more mainstream acts has become an economic imperative to keep it going.  I have a fear that the festival's growth in size and attendance will suppress what made it great in the first place, and the future is looking like a SXSW-in-Appalachia.  

Edited October 4, 2022 by Hoppy T. Frog
spelling

[BFrank]

On 10/4/2022 at 5:56 PM, Hoppy T. Frog said:

A niggling doubt I had in the back of my mind from last year's festival statistics, with the greater attendance and larger number of acts, was that this festival would grow too big. And the fact that Ashley Capps no longer owns Bonnaroo and now solely has Big Ears, leads me to wonder if Bonnarroo was subsidising Big Ears, which allowed BE to have a smaller, weirder lineup. And now that Big Ears has only itself to subsidise, that growth in attendance numbers and the booking of more mainstream acts has become an economic imperative to keep it going.  I have a fear that the festival's growth in size and attendance will suppress what made it great in the first place, and the future is looking like a SXSW-in-Appalachia.  

One difference is that Big Ears is a non-profit, so that's not as much of a goal. But I will always have concerns about the SXSW-ing of it. I went there for 10 years before it got completely out of hand and wasn't fun anymore. 

[kh1958]

As promised, we still have a lot to tell you about our plans for Big Ears 2023, and now’s the time. Throughout November we’ll be announcing nearly fifty new artists and special events to the programming scheduled for March 30th thru April 2nd. Each of our twice-weekly newsletters this month will be filled with exciting news, so be sure to stay up to date as the story unfolds.

· The Sun Ra Arkestra – Seventy years strong and vital as ever under the direction of 98-year-old saxophonist and maestro Marshall Allen, the Sun Ra Arkestra returns after an electrifying Big Ears appearance in 2016
 
· Beth Orton – The folk-electronica chanteuse brings her band in the wake of her new career-defining recording, Weather Alive
 
· Morton Subotnick – The legendary electronic music pioneer (Silver Apples of the Moon) will present new work
 
· Rude Ruth – Margaret Glaspy brings her collaboration with the Julian Lage Trio
 
· Kae Tempest – The British poet/novelist/playwright and spoken word artist will make an all-too-rare appearance in the USA
 
· Combo Chimbita – The NYC quartet brings their particular brand of Colombian psychedelic-heavy metal-soul-funk to Big Ears for the first time
 
· Bassekou Kouyate – Mali’s legendary ngoni master, at the same time traditional and endlessly innovative, brings his soulful band
 
· Danielle Ponder – The attorney-turned-explosive R&B/soul singer will perform on the heels of her critically acclaimed debut album
 
· Lesley Flanigan – The experimental musician will manipulate her homemade electronics in one of her unique, riveting performances
 

On 9/14/2022 at 3:51 PM, kh1958 said:

"world music is non existent unless I am missing something"

Sona Jobarteh is a kora player from Gambia, the first West African female kora griot and a cousin of Toumani Diabate.

Viinicius Cantuaria is a Brazilian guitarist/vocalist.

I haven't tallied the world music but this is about the same as usual, one or two such artists that interest me.

 

Adding the great band from Mali, Bassekou Kouyate and N'goni Ba, to the line-up.

[BFrank]

Combo Chimbita: "Colombian psychedelic-heavy metal-soul-funk" 

Should be interesting!

[kh1958]

Today we announce eight more artists joining us for Big Ears 2023! There's still more to come this week and in the following weeks, and you can find the remaining weekend pass options here.     Check out these great artists and get ready for more Big Ears news on Thursday, next week, and all month long.

King Britt – The legendary DJ, producer, composer, educator, and Afrofuturism pioneer will present Moksha Black, joined by very special guests Seth Parker Woods and Joy Guidry. Wendy Eisenberg – A relative newcomer to the music scene, the improviser and songwriter incorporates guitar, pedals, the tenor banjo, the computer, the synthesizer, and their voice to create work that spans genres, from jazz to noise to avant-rock along with delicate, haunting songs.

Jake Xerxes Fussell – The gifted guitarist and singer is one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs. We welcome him to the festival after his participation in our outdoor multimedia collaboration with the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound, Suttree’s Knoxville, in July of 2021. James Brandon Lewis – One of the most exciting young jazz artists on the scene, the New York-based tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader makes his Big Ears debut with a powerful new trio that transcends traditions.

Anthony Coleman – The pianist and long-time denizen of the downtown New York scene  will treat Big Ears audiences to one of his solo piano performances, always filled with musical treasure. Ned Rothenberg Crossings Quartet – The gifted multi-reed and shakuhachi player returns to Big Ears with a new ensemble including guitarist Mary Halvorson, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara.

Larry & Joe – This virtuosic, exuberant duo of Venezuelan Llanera master Larry Bellorín and Grammy nominated-banjo player Joe Troop has been blowing away audiences at bluegrass and folk festivals all summer long. Gyan Riley – No stranger to Big Ears audiences, the guitarist returns to perform the work of John Zorn in a trio with Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, and will also present a concert of his own rich, wide-ranging work that effortlessly fuses his jazz, classical, improvisation, and folk influences.

[kh1958]

There have been some more additions showing up on the website, specifically Brandee Younger and Etran de L'Air.

So this year features the most African bands they have had at this festival in one year: Bassekou Kouyate, Amadou & Miriam, Sona Jobarteh, and Etran de L'Air.

[randyhersom]

Caroline Shaw sighting in today's Email.  Is this the year JSngry makes it?

View this email in your browser / Forward to a friend Cycles of Life and Song:  Expanding our partnership with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra The Blue Hour  A song cycle by Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider "Stunning" - NPR Big Ears’ orchestral programming, in partnership with The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, is taking a big leap this year with two unique days of presentations. An exclusive performance of The Blue Hour, a collaborative song cycle by five leading female composers – Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider – based on Carolyn Forché’s powerful poem “On Earth” and sung by Shara Nova, will have its first full performance since being released on Nonesuch Records a few weeks ago. The cycle was commissioned by the Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry. The music follows one woman’s journey through the space between life and death via thousands of hallucinatory and non-linear images. Exploring memories of childhood, of war, of love, and of loss, The Blue Hour amplifies the beauty, pain, and fragility of human life from a collective female perspective. The KSO will be joined by featured vocalist Shara Nova, familiar to many as My Brightest Diamond. Cycle of Life  Michael Schachter, composer Tessa Lark, violin soloist Tessa Lark returns to Knoxville for an encore performance of Michael Schachter's violin concerto Cycle of Life, which saw its world premiere in April 2022. Commissioned by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the concerto was inspired by “Cycle of Life: Within the Power of Dreams and the Wonder of Infinity,” a masterful glass-and-metal installation at the Knoxville Museum of Art by renowned artist Richard Jolley. During the work's evolution, Lark's involvement became a crucial element to Schachter's creative process, owing a great debt to her "uncommon combination of technical skill, stylistic versatility, and radical openness to discovery through collaboration." Tessa will also perform at Big Ears 2023 as part of Oak Ridge native Edgar Meyer's trio alongside Joshua Roman.   North American Premiere! Bill Frisell Trio with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra  Arrangements by Michael Gibbs Bill Frisell Trio (featuring Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston) will share the stage with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra to present the North American premiere of a symphonic reenvisioning of some of his most beloved repertoire as arranged by English composer Michael Gibbs – a veteran figure who specializes in creating orchestral and big band settings for jazz artists, deftly structuring space and dynamics for improvisers.   The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Aram Demirjian, winner of the 2020 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, will lead all three performances. "We at the Knoxville Symphony could not be more thrilled to be featured alongside so many amazing, forward-thinking collaborators and composers in an eclectic array of projects that speak to the heart of what both the Big Ears Festival and the KSO are all about," says Maestro Demirjian of this blossoming partnership. Learn more about The Blue Hour with this trailer from Nonesuch Records. Buy Your Passes Now!   Hi! You're receiving this email because you joined the Big Ears mailing list via our website, a ticket purchase, a contest, or other promotion. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list in the footer below.   Our mailing address is: Big Ears Festival / 501 West Main Street, P.O. Box 217 / Knoxville, TN  37901   Copyright © The Big Ears Festival, All rights reserved.

 

[BFrank]

2 hours ago, randyhersom said:

Caroline Shaw sighting in today's Email.  Is this the year JSngry makes it?

View this email in your browser / Forward to a friend Cycles of Life and Song:  Expanding our partnership with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra The Blue Hour  A song cycle by Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider "Stunning" - NPR Big Ears’ orchestral programming, in partnership with The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, is taking a big leap this year with two unique days of presentations. An exclusive performance of The Blue Hour, a collaborative song cycle by five leading female composers – Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, and Sarah Kirkland Snider – based on Carolyn Forché’s powerful poem “On Earth” and sung by Shara Nova, will have its first full performance since being released on Nonesuch Records a few weeks ago. The cycle was commissioned by the Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry. The music follows one woman’s journey through the space between life and death via thousands of hallucinatory and non-linear images. Exploring memories of childhood, of war, of love, and of loss, The Blue Hour amplifies the beauty, pain, and fragility of human life from a collective female perspective. The KSO will be joined by featured vocalist Shara Nova, familiar to many as My Brightest Diamond. Cycle of Life  Michael Schachter, composer Tessa Lark, violin soloist Tessa Lark returns to Knoxville for an encore performance of Michael Schachter's violin concerto Cycle of Life, which saw its world premiere in April 2022. Commissioned by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the concerto was inspired by “Cycle of Life: Within the Power of Dreams and the Wonder of Infinity,” a masterful glass-and-metal installation at the Knoxville Museum of Art by renowned artist Richard Jolley. During the work's evolution, Lark's involvement became a crucial element to Schachter's creative process, owing a great debt to her "uncommon combination of technical skill, stylistic versatility, and radical openness to discovery through collaboration." Tessa will also perform at Big Ears 2023 as part of Oak Ridge native Edgar Meyer's trio alongside Joshua Roman.   North American Premiere! Bill Frisell Trio with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra  Arrangements by Michael Gibbs Bill Frisell Trio (featuring Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston) will share the stage with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra to present the North American premiere of a symphonic reenvisioning of some of his most beloved repertoire as arranged by English composer Michael Gibbs – a veteran figure who specializes in creating orchestral and big band settings for jazz artists, deftly structuring space and dynamics for improvisers.   The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Aram Demirjian, winner of the 2020 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, will lead all three performances. "We at the Knoxville Symphony could not be more thrilled to be featured alongside so many amazing, forward-thinking collaborators and composers in an eclectic array of projects that speak to the heart of what both the Big Ears Festival and the KSO are all about," says Maestro Demirjian of this blossoming partnership. Learn more about The Blue Hour with this trailer from Nonesuch Records. Buy Your Passes Now!   Hi! You're receiving this email because you joined the Big Ears mailing list via our website, a ticket purchase, a contest, or other promotion. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list in the footer below.   Our mailing address is: Big Ears Festival / 501 West Main Street, P.O. Box 217 / Knoxville, TN  37901   Copyright © The Big Ears Festival, All rights reserved.

 

It wouldn't be Big Ears without Caroline Shaw 😎

[Jason Bivins]

Or Frisell.

[BFrank]

12 hours ago, Jason Bivins said:

Or Frisell.

Or Halvorson.

[kh1958]

The lineup is now posted on a day by day basis.

https://bigearsfestival.org/events/?meta_date=20230330

 

[AllenLowe]

Wendy Eisenberg? And Xerxes Russell?  Looks like a nice fest, but why does all contemporary, non-jazz, in these festivals almost always sound like canned music and outsider music castoffs? I'm no improvised music snob, but a lot of this other music is starting to sound like the aural equivalent of processed food.

Edited December 6, 2022 by AllenLowe

[kh1958]

On 11/15/2022 at 11:19 AM, kh1958 said:

There have been some more additions showing up on the website, specifically Brandee Younger and Etran de L'Air.

So this year features the most African bands they have had at this festival in one year: Bassekou Kouyate, Amadou & Miriam, Sona Jobarteh, and Etran de L'Air.

Ufortunaterly, Amadou and Mariam have disappeared from the schedule.

On 10/3/2022 at 7:56 PM, Hoppy T. Frog said:

A niggling doubt I had in the back of my mind from last year's festival statistics, with the greater attendance and larger number of acts, was that this festival would grow too big. And the fact that Ashley Capps no longer owns Bonnaroo and now solely has Big Ears, leads me to wonder if Bonnarroo was subsidising Big Ears, which allowed BE to have a smaller, weirder lineup. And now that Big Ears has only itself to subsidise, that growth in attendance numbers and the booking of more mainstream acts has become an economic imperative to keep it going.  I have a fear that the festival's growth in size and attendance will suppress what made it great in the first place, and the future is looking like a SXSW-in-Appalachia.  

They are a section 501(c)(3) organization and here is their annual report which sets out their sources of funding and expenses.

https://bigearsfestival.org/2022-annual-report/

2022 income: $3.3M, if which $1.4M was from tickets and $1.3M from Government grants (including COVID relief).

2022 expenses: $2.5M ($2M programming expenses).

Edited December 29, 2022 by kh1958

[kh1958]

WADADA LEO SMITH: PURPLE KIKUYU QUARTET

We are excited to announce the return of Wadada Leo Smith, who will be joining us to celebrate Ten Years of Big Ears with his Purple Kikuyu Quartet. He last graced our stages in 2019 and also appeared alongside Vijay Iyer at the 2016 festival.  One of the most creative composers and trumpeters in jazz for over half a century, Smith, at 81 years old, has finally attained the legendary status he deserves. As explained and illustrated in DownBeat, Smith has created his own musical language, Ankhrasmation, and his colorful scores are exhibited in galleries as paintings. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2013 for his masterwork about the Civil Rights Movement, Ten Freedom Summers, Smith was the JazzTimesArtist of the Year in 2016 as well as a recipient of the coveted Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Perhaps the only artist in history to be featured on the cover of DownBeat twice in less than a year, he received a trifecta of awards in 2017 from that prestigious publication: Artist, Trumpeter, and Album of the Year, for his Cuneiform album America’s National Parks. His Purple Kikuyu Quartet will feature Pheeroan Aklaff on drums, Ashley Walters on cello, and Erika Dohi on piano.  Our friend Rob Rushin-Knopf recently wrote a superb feature covering Smith's 50+ year career in music that is equally informative for readers new to his work in creative music as well as long-time fans.  Salvation South: Wadada Leo Smith Invites You to Listen TRIO IMAGINATION  Trio Imagination is the new trio of drummer Andrew Cyrille, bassist Reggie Workman, and Cuban pianist David Virelles, which formed after Oliver Lake retired from performing in early 2020, breaking up TRIO 3, his longtime trio with Andrew and Reggie. The Bang on a Can Festival in New York City asked who else they might want to play with, and Reggie and Andrew both named David. The trio exudes a profusion of chemistry and stage presence.  Individually their credentials are off the charts: Andrew has played with everyone from Coleman Hawkins to Mary Lou Williams to Cecil Taylor, and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vision Festival in New York City last year. He returns to Big Ears after his two magnificent duo encounters, with Ambrose Akinmusire and Marc Ribot, at the 2022 festival. Reggie, who in his youth played bass with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and John Coltrane, was recently named an NEA Jazz Master. David, still in his 30’s, has already recorded and played with some of the most creative musicians in jazz, including Henry Threadgill, Chris Potter, Steve Coleman, and Ravi Coltrane, and he was named a Piano Rising Star by DownBeat in 2017. His 2022 album Nuna dives deep into his continued interest in exploring the rich, varied, rhythmically charged music of his native Cuba.

[BFrank]

14 hours ago, kh1958 said:

WADADA LEO SMITH: PURPLE KIKUYU QUARTET

We are excited to announce the return of Wadada Leo Smith, who will be joining us to celebrate Ten Years of Big Ears with his Purple Kikuyu Quartet. He last graced our stages in 2019 and also appeared alongside Vijay Iyer at the 2016 festival.  One of the most creative composers and trumpeters in jazz for over half a century, Smith, at 81 years old, has finally attained the legendary status he deserves. As explained and illustrated in DownBeat, Smith has created his own musical language, Ankhrasmation, and his colorful scores are exhibited in galleries as paintings. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2013 for his masterwork about the Civil Rights Movement, Ten Freedom Summers, Smith was the JazzTimesArtist of the Year in 2016 as well as a recipient of the coveted Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Perhaps the only artist in history to be featured on the cover of DownBeat twice in less than a year, he received a trifecta of awards in 2017 from that prestigious publication: Artist, Trumpeter, and Album of the Year, for his Cuneiform album America’s National Parks. His Purple Kikuyu Quartet will feature Pheeroan Aklaff on drums, Ashley Walters on cello, and Erika Dohi on piano.  Our friend Rob Rushin-Knopf recently wrote a superb feature covering Smith's 50+ year career in music that is equally informative for readers new to his work in creative music as well as long-time fans.  Salvation South: Wadada Leo Smith Invites You to Listen TRIO IMAGINATION  Trio Imagination is the new trio of drummer Andrew Cyrille, bassist Reggie Workman, and Cuban pianist David Virelles, which formed after Oliver Lake retired from performing in early 2020, breaking up TRIO 3, his longtime trio with Andrew and Reggie. The Bang on a Can Festival in New York City asked who else they might want to play with, and Reggie and Andrew both named David. The trio exudes a profusion of chemistry and stage presence.  Individually their credentials are off the charts: Andrew has played with everyone from Coleman Hawkins to Mary Lou Williams to Cecil Taylor, and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vision Festival in New York City last year. He returns to Big Ears after his two magnificent duo encounters, with Ambrose Akinmusire and Marc Ribot, at the 2022 festival. Reggie, who in his youth played bass with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and John Coltrane, was recently named an NEA Jazz Master. David, still in his 30’s, has already recorded and played with some of the most creative musicians in jazz, including Henry Threadgill, Chris Potter, Steve Coleman, and Ravi Coltrane, and he was named a Piano Rising Star by DownBeat in 2017. His 2022 album Nuna dives deep into his continued interest in exploring the rich, varied, rhythmically charged music of his native Cuba.

Definitely looking forward to BOTH of those shows.

Saw Wadada there in 2019 ...

[kh1958]

Exploding Star Orchestra has been added to the line-up.

[Jason Bivins]

Seems like we should be getting the daily schedules soon. FOMO Fest rides again!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

On 1/17/2023 at 9:20 AM, kh1958 said:

WADADA LEO SMITH: PURPLE KIKUYU QUARTET

We are excited to announce the return of Wadada Leo Smith, who will be joining us to celebrate Ten Years of Big Ears with his Purple Kikuyu Quartet. He last graced our stages in 2019 and also appeared alongside Vijay Iyer at the 2016 festival.  One of the most creative composers and trumpeters in jazz for over half a century, Smith, at 81 years old, has finally attained the legendary status he deserves. As explained and illustrated in DownBeat, Smith has created his own musical language, Ankhrasmation, and his colorful scores are exhibited in galleries as paintings. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2013 for his masterwork about the Civil Rights Movement, Ten Freedom Summers, Smith was the JazzTimesArtist of the Year in 2016 as well as a recipient of the coveted Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Perhaps the only artist in history to be featured on the cover of DownBeat twice in less than a year, he received a trifecta of awards in 2017 from that prestigious publication: Artist, Trumpeter, and Album of the Year, for his Cuneiform album America’s National Parks. His Purple Kikuyu Quartet will feature Pheeroan Aklaff on drums, Ashley Walters on cello, and Erika Dohi on piano.  Our friend Rob Rushin-Knopf recently wrote a superb feature covering Smith's 50+ year career in music that is equally informative for readers new to his work in creative music as well as long-time fans.  Salvation South: Wadada Leo Smith Invites You to Listen TRIO IMAGINATION  Trio Imagination is the new trio of drummer Andrew Cyrille, bassist Reggie Workman, and Cuban pianist David Virelles, which formed after Oliver Lake retired from performing in early 2020, breaking up TRIO 3, his longtime trio with Andrew and Reggie. The Bang on a Can Festival in New York City asked who else they might want to play with, and Reggie and Andrew both named David. The trio exudes a profusion of chemistry and stage presence.  Individually their credentials are off the charts: Andrew has played with everyone from Coleman Hawkins to Mary Lou Williams to Cecil Taylor, and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vision Festival in New York City last year. He returns to Big Ears after his two magnificent duo encounters, with Ambrose Akinmusire and Marc Ribot, at the 2022 festival. Reggie, who in his youth played bass with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and John Coltrane, was recently named an NEA Jazz Master. David, still in his 30’s, has already recorded and played with some of the most creative musicians in jazz, including Henry Threadgill, Chris Potter, Steve Coleman, and Ravi Coltrane, and he was named a Piano Rising Star by DownBeat in 2017. His 2022 album Nuna dives deep into his continued interest in exploring the rich, varied, rhythmically charged music of his native Cuba.

I didn't know that Oliver Lake retired. That's a bit of a bummer... but then again, he should be able to retire like anyone else. I'm just glad I got to see him perform several times. Trio 3 was blast to see/hear up on a stage.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Regretting not signing up for this year, now, but I was glad to go to last year's Vision Fest to get my Wadada Leo Smith fix.  I am disappointed that Mary Halvorson won't be doing Amaryllis and Belladonna anywhere else in the US soon. 

[kh1958]

1 hour ago, Hoppy T. Frog said:

Regretting not signing up for this year, now, but I was glad to go to last year's Vision Fest to get my Wadada Leo Smith fix.  I am disappointed that Mary Halvorson won't be doing Amaryllis and Belladonna anywhere else in the US soon. 

Big Ears has not sold out yet. You can still buy a 4 day general admission pass.

[kh1958]

On 2/7/2023 at 9:46 AM, Jason Bivins said:

Seems like we should be getting the daily schedules soon. FOMO Fest rides again!

This morning's email says the schedule comes out next week.

[Jason Bivins]

Yes! Excited as always, although hard choices will be made.

[BFrank]

14 hours ago, Jason Bivins said:

Yes! Excited as always, although hard choices will be made.

VERY hard choices! 😎