#4595, New Music From Chicago
Sample some of the exciting new music coming out of Chicago from Ben LaMar Gay, Nicole Mitchell, Angel Bat Dawid, Jeff Parker, and Makaya McCraven, and their many musical connections.
Hear work from polymathic composer Ben LaMar Gay, who plays cornet, keyboards, flutes, and percussion, with drummer Tommaso Moretti, tubist Matthew Davis, and woodwind player Rob Frye. From his record, Open Arms to Open Us, where he enlists composer/vocalist/clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid, cellist Tomeka Reid, and the vocalists of the band OHMME, among many others, hear "Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You."
Hear Chicago drummer, composer, and organic beat scientist Makaya McCraven from his reimagining of Gil Scott-Heron’s I'm New Here, called We’re New Again. Guitarist Jeff Parker and harpist Brandee Younger also feature on this 2020 album. Listen also to work from versatile New York harpist Brandee Younger, whose latest two-part single, “Unrest” reflects upon recent sociopolitical turbulence with perhaps a hint of Debussy. Then, there’s music by multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and Jeff Parker, perhaps best-known as a longtime guitarist of the “post-rock” godfathers Tortoise. Hear from his front porch record of intimate guitar improvisations, Forfolks.
Listen to music by composer, flutist, and bandleader Nicole Mitchell and her Black Earth Ensemble which features Japanese shakuhachi flute, and was inspired by the sci-fi writings of Afrofuturist author Octavia E. Butler. There’s also music by Chicago-based sound & visual artist Damon Locks and his 15-piece Black Monument Ensemble featuring Angel Bat Dawid on clarinets, recorded at the Garfield Park Botanical Conservatory on the West Side of Chicago. And more. – Caryn Havlik
Program #4595, New Music From Chicago (First Aired 2/17/2022)
ARTIST: Jeff Parker
WORK: Fusion Swirl [1:00]
RECORDING: Suite for Max Brown
SOURCE: Int. Anthem / Nonesuch
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Brandee Younger
WORK: Unrest I [5:07]
RECORDING: Unrest
SOURCE: Impulse! Records
INFO: https://brandeeyounger.lnk.to/Unrest
ARTIST: Makaya McCraven
WORK: I'm New Here (Gil Scott-Heron) [4:14]
RECORDING: We're New Again
SOURCE: XL Recordings
INFO: https://xl.ffm.to/werenewagain
ARTIST: Jeff Parker
WORK: Fusion Swirl [5:33]
RECORDING: Suite for Max Brown
SOURCE: Int. Anthem / Nonesuch
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Ben LaMar Gay
WORK: Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You [3:28]
RECORDING: Open Arms to Open Us
SOURCE: International Anthem
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble
WORK: Which I Believe It Will [3:05]
RECORDING: Where Future Unfolds
SOURCE: International Anthem Records
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Nicole Mitchell
WORK: Nicole Mitchell: Mandorla Island [10:23]
RECORDING: Mandorla Awakening II Emerging Worlds
SOURCE: FPE Records
INFO: fperecs.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Jaimie Branch
WORK: simple silver surfer [5:40]
RECORDING: FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise
SOURCE: International Anthem
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Brandee Younger
WORK: Unrest II [4:07]
RECORDING: Unrest
SOURCE: Impulse! Records
INFO: https://brandeeyounger.lnk.to/Unrest
ARTIST: Jeff Parker
WORK: Four Folks [5:35]
RECORDING: Forfolks
SOURCE: Int. Anthem / Nonesuch
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com
