Spoleto Review: Jazz and Black joy in the festival's second week
Poet aja monet, Vijay Iyer Trio and Ambrose Akinmusire
On Monday, June 2, the Wells Fargo Jazz Series collided in collaboration with the Front Row series, giving way for a command performance by poet aja monet ahead of her book release Florida Water. She was accompanied by a trio of contemporary jazz all-stars at the historic Dock Street Theatre, including Vijay Iyer on piano and Rhodes electric pianio; Burniss Travis on acoustic and electric bass; and the inimitable Terri Lyne Carrington on drums.
The cozy venue was a divine match for the revolutionary spirit, whose direct delivery in speaking truth to power anointed the stage that she filled magnificently. Her affable approach was a balm for those “who may not have exactly known what they were going to hear,” she said in her gracious welcome to the crowd.
The surrealist blues poet’s voice was dressed in a bouquet of flowers on her music stand, a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh adorning her mic stand, and a single white billowing flower perched on her mic clip. Her butter-hued A-line skirt was embroidered with the very Black-bodied figures for which she wailed. These not-so-subtle visual cues of resistance, identity, pride, and solidarity only magnified her personal message of collective liberation being inextricably intertwined.
The band set the tone for a program of ten poems, while monet undulated between every groove and crevice of the music, wafting through daggers of truth and grief with her impassioned, resonant voice. From “Unhurt” she offered the antidote to an aching world, ending “You will love and it will unhurt us all.”
As she launched into the chaotic intro of “The Devil You Know” while shaking her whole body, monet exalted “Praise the people, I said, praise the people!” She reminded listeners that “the revolution is not a spectator sport; silence is a noise, too.” She closed a poignant, heartrending show with “Black Joy,” proclaiming, “Joy has always been, and always will be, justice.” Amen, aja, amen.
Vijay Iyer Trio
The next night, pianist Vijay Iyer moved from a backing role to bandleader with his own trio at the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre. Aficionados were pining to experience this iteration of these top-tier jazz musicians, none of which are strangers to Spoleto, including Linda May Han Oh on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums.
Iyer greeted the audience with an anecdote from a conversation with his uncle in Mumbai asking him “What makes something jazz?” While his literal answer half-jokingly indicated that “it depends on who’s paying,” referring to title sponsors and associated programming, his artistic response was a well-seasoned performance that swung between repose, reflection, and discovery.
Remnants of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” were a grounding force between wide-ranging improvisational expression and the “secret door” transitions that only this touring ensemble could know. The theater itself, along with the sound reinforcement, were not doing any favors for these exemplary musicians, whose talent pierced through any inauspicious muddiness.
Linda May Han Oh’s solos cut through the wash of sound like a hurricane rips the shore. Her contrasting physicality and soothing sway were a constant dance bridging each moment together. Tyshawn Sorey’s humble genius on his modified drum kit was always just enough. His dynamic range was what drove this trio to instinctively find each other and make way for an offshoot journey, be it by way of two measures of a single Gerri Allen tune or in Thelonious Monk’s angular “Work.” Iyer’s gift lies in his sensibility, discerning between the tension of landing and taking off. His bandmates willfully followed.
Vijay Iyer’s original composition, "Kite (for Refaat Alareer),” was an especially poignant selection, inspired by Palestinian poet and activist Refaat Alareer, who was killed on December 6, 2023 by an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, along with his brother, sister, and four of his nephews. His poem “If I Must Die” begins, “If I must die, you must live to tell my story, to sell my things, to buy a piece of cloth, and some strings.”
The conjuring of the makings of a white kite, accompanied by the interpretation by this ensemble, offer a glimmer of hope in a dark reality still. Iyer’s call for compassion to close his set is a testament to his conscious awareness and embodied responsibility as an artist to continue the work of creating, improvising, and flying.
Ambrose Akinmusire
The 49th edition of Spoleto Festival USA’s jazz series ended just as it had begun, with a single artist, alone with his instrument. This year, two artists-in-residence had the opportunity to explore an amalgamation of ensemble and programmatic discovery in multiple settings over various days. Phillip Golub welcomed festival goers by easing them into the jazz series on solo piano at the College of Charleston’s Recital Hall. A little over two weeks later, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire took the reins.
Akinmusire, a native of Oakland, Ca., born to a Nigerian father and Mississippian mother, performed four distinct programs, each with its unique personnel over three days. One of his compositions, “Join,” was also included in the José Limón Dance Company’s enthralling program in the previous week. Opening night of Akinmusire’s performance run at Dock Street Theatre was reserved for his quartet and trio treatments, the latter Trefoil offering a more esoteric, avant garde performance featuring musicians elsewhere on the festival program, including pianist Sullivan Fortner and drummer Tyshawn Sorey.
The following evening, for Program III: honey from a winter’s stone, he recreated selections from his debut album release earlier this year on the Nonesuch label. The stage was shared evenly, split between a funky jazz quartet and the PUBLICQuartet - one composed of strings. Akinmursire led the entire ensemble from the jazz side on trumpet and effects, with Sam Harris on piano, Reggie Washington on electric bass, and Justin Brown on drums. Spoken word artist Koyaki united them all with his electrifying energy and dextrous delivery, asserting his role downstage with an early palpable lyric “finding myself in my skin falling deeper.”
Watching Akinmusire lead and let, listen and lean in, was the Black joy monet was referring to, and what makes his music so ingenious. His influences are identifiable, but his voice is all his own. His extraordinary brew is pure poetry - emotive, complex, and full of soul. He successfully blends and bends between genre, time, and space, leaving the listener utterly engrossed in his creative concoctions.
To bookend the festival’s jazz series, Ambrose Akinmusire musically hugged listeners adieu from a late afternoon sun-drenched Circular Congregational Church with his reverent tone oozing from his trumpet through the stained glass windows. He was a full orchestra in a single horn. “The voice you hear is her,” he said, referencing his mother, Cora, who recently passed away in February of this year and for whom he dedicated his first album, and befittingly, this Spoleto closing solo concert.
From his opening long tones to his circular breathing and half-valve technique, to his uninhibited grunts, growls and moans, Akimusire was spiritually spellbinding. His sonic treatments were both tender and tough, transcendental for an enraptured audience. With a simple “thank you” and bow, he left the altar to a standing ovation. It was a satiating “amen” to bide the time until next year.
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