NOW plays a timely tribute to a jazz giant
d FOR BOTH cultural and sonic diversity, it’s going to be hard to top the 11-piece version of the NOW Orchestra that artistic director Lisa Cay Miller has assembled for the long-running ensemble’s next concert. Joining Miller on piano will be Taiwanese-canadian erhu virtuoso Lan Tung, Chinesecanadian zheng player Geling Jiang, Portuguese-born cellist Marina Hasselberg, recent Montreal transplant Joshua Zubot on violin, electronic musician Roxanne Nesbitt, and five pillars of the local improv scene in the form of trumpeter Bill Clark, bassist James Meger, guitarist Ron Samworth, saxophonist Graham Ord, and drummer Skye Brooks. If that’s not enough, they’ll be working with four guest artists: singer and composer Russell Wallace, of the Lil’wat Nation; saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, from Germany by way of Brooklyn; Seattle-based clarinetist James Falzone; and Indo-american singer and accordionist Kamala Sankaram.
Fittingly, they’re all convening at the Orpheum Annex this Friday to honour one of the most eclectic and accomplished musicians of the past century: Anthony Braxton, who turns 75 next year. Although best known as a free-jazz saxophonist, Braxton has also produced symphonic works, operas, and a large body of theoretical writings expanding on his Tri-centric System, a modular method of music construction that incorporates notated material, improvisation, and graphic scores.
“I know of no other contemporary composer who has created written music of such depth, diversity, and exceptional quality,” says Braxton’s frequent collaborator Taylor Ho Bynum, and Laubrock, who’s recently returned to North America after playing with Braxton in Stockholm and Paris, would undoubtedly agree with the great cornetist.
“Working with Anthony is always really mind-blowing, and it’s been incredibly eye-opening,” she says, on the line from her home. “There’s a certain sort of feeling of, like, openness to his music, and the way the music can be here in the moment. Even if it’s very composed, it’s really in the moment. And the sheer immensity of his output is inspiring—the way that he has so many musical systems that all fit into one.”
In Vancouver, Laubrock will be helping realize two of Braxton’s older scores for large ensemble, Composition No. 56 and No. 151, as well as presenting a work of her own. “We’re adjusting them to fit the ensemble,” she says of the Braxton compositions, adding that it shouldn’t be difficult to find room for Chinese strings or Lil’wat singing in the music. “The two pieces that we picked are actually pretty traditionally notated. So in terms of what there is to read, in terms of musical information, there’s nothing that adventurous. It’s more in the way the improvisation is sort of woven into the more classical kind of writing. That’s what we’ll work on.”
As for her own “Chance 2”, Laubrock says that it will reflect Braxton’s influence—but not necessarily in an audible way. “He’s just inspired me to think bigger, to think broader,” she explains. “And also to really think about your composition, think about what you are trying to do with it, in a way.”
Alexander Varty