Resist x Improvise: An Evening for Roscoe Mitchell

About

Human Time Machine:
Brian Adler – Musical Director, Percussion
Jeremy Smith – Alto Percussion
Elizabeth Pupo-Walker – Tenor Percussion
Ned Haweeli – Soprano Percussion
Anna Wray – Bass Percussion

With Special Guests:
Jesse Neuman – Laptop, Samples, Trumpet
Michael Lofton – Baritone Voice
Crockett Doob – Film/Video/Projection
Red Wierenga – Piano

The program includes the following, among other compositions:

“Sunrise on an Ice Moon” *
Solo Vibraphone by Roscoe Mitchell
* World Premiere, Performed by Anna Wray

“dim,” “this is,” and “because it’s” by Roscoe Mitchell **
Scored for baritone and piano
Performed by Michael Lofton and Red Wierenga

Roscoe Mitchell is an American composer, improviser, and performer of avant-garde jazz and new classical music. Social justice has, and continues to be, central to his practice of 70+ years. He has inspired a new generation of artists to follow him. For this performance, Anna Wray, Michael Lofton, and Brian Adler and the Human Time Machine, join forces with electronics and visuals to explore Mitchell’s work and the injustice being done to the African American community.

Rising artist Anna Wray’s newest chapter has her returning to her roots to New York after earning a BA and MFA in California. Her time on the West Coast provided her with multiple opportunities to improvise and perform with top artists such as William Winant, Zeena Parkins, Roscoe Mitchell, Steven Schick, Julia Wolfe, Christian Wolff, among others. Anna’s primary focus is to embark on a creative collaboration process with composers, musicians, dancers, theatre groups, and artists on the cutting edge of experimental music and experimental art. While she is an artist of diverse talents, it is her percussion performance, described by the San Francisco Gate as “beguiling”, that is her greatest passion.

Baritone Michael Lofton’s work encompasses all genres of music including classical, opera, jazz and music theater at venues as diverse as the Chicago Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera and the Actors Studio. He is overjoyed to collaborate with Anna whom he’s had the pleasure of knowing since her childhood.

Brian Shankar Adler is a prolific drummer, percussionist and composer from Brooklyn, NY. Critics have noted his earthy sound palette, his complex compositional design, his forward thinking rhythmic concepts and his melodic nature. As a leader, Adler has released eight records with (Shankar), Helium Music Project, Four Across, and Prana Trio. He has worked with Bash the Trash, Bombay Rickey, La Bomba de Tiempo, Chelsea Clinton, Sheila Jordan, Guillermo Klein, Kamala Sankaram, and Elizabeth Swados. www.brianadler.com

The Human Time Machine is a group of master drummers and sound-smiths that venture down the chironomical rabbit hole of improvised rhythmic manipulation. Put in other words, the group uses hand signals to shape rhythms in real time, resulting in music that is innovative, primal, riveting, danceable and inspired by various world traditions. The Human Time Machine is the brain child of Brian Adler who formed the ensemble through a month long residency at Barbès. With a core group of five members, HTM has collaborated with: Jonathan Goldberger (Red Baraat/John Zorn), Matt Moran (Nate Wooley, Claudia Quintet), Jesse Stiles (Meredith Monk/ Merce Cunningham) as well as others.