December 1999

Brooklyn Academy of Music 1999 Next Wave Festival BAMcinematek Brooklyn Philharmonic 651 ARTS

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BAM Next Wave Festival sponsored by

PHILIP MORRIS ~lA6(8Ill COMPANIES INC Brooklyn Academy of Music Bruce C. Ratner Chairman of the Board

Karen Brooks Hopkins Joseph V. Melillo President Executive Producer

presents 'Party at the E'ndof Time: 1999 Live

Running time: BAM Opera House approximately two December II, 1999, at7:30 p.m. hours, with no December 12, 1999, at 7:30.p.m. intermission With Vernon Reid

Featuring BUal N'Dea Davenport Joan Osborne PM Dawn Rachid Toshi Reagon Marc Anthony Thompson Black Thought and special guests

Producer. Danny Kapilian

Special support provided -by MARTELL COGNAC, Mecca USA, VISE Magazine, and Philip Morris Companies Inc.

37 Producer's Notes It's never easy, but here's how it goes: It starts with an idea (born of so hip-hop outfit, a great family of musicians, without question a key element many varying inspirations and influencesl... fleshed out through many of where great music is going as we enter the future together. Vernon Reid is conversations with one or more key collaborators...discussed with one or one of our musical treasures. He is much, much more than a brilliant gui­ another appropriate festival, performing arts center, or other presenting tarist. He is a man of endless creativity, heart and soul in every project he organization...and brought to life through the confluence of musical talent gets involved with, from scoring modern dance to his own innovative record­ from the most diverse possible directions connecting together (frequently for ings. And Vernon is a band leader par excellence. the very first timel ... ultimately presenting a fresh entertainment experience to new audiences in special and unexpected ways. And now it is 1999. Is it? How did we get here? No matter. We're gonna party like it's the end of time tonight. A fantastic array of musical This celebration of music by The Artist Formerly Known As is just performers will step funkily from "1999" onto "International Lover." Ever about the most outlandish and fun gig I've ever had the opportunity to see one of your favorite performed live? It's rare, and really present. Right up front-thank you Joe Melillo for the chance to do this in an original trip when it's done right, with care given to every detail. I my favorite theater in the world. You know what they say about real know very well that all of you know every note of this music already, so estate... well, the same holds for show business. For me, BAM is the we've got to come up with something vital and new. That's the kind of phattest, baddest, most beautiful live-performance venue with the coolest tension I love. And guess what? You can bet the house that the folks on vibe absolutely anywhere. stage are having at/east as much fun as you are.

When I first got into Prince (as he was known then), his music was a Take this home, and call everyone who didn't make it down and say, "You're dream come true: the link between The Beatles and all the greatest not going to believe what you missed .... " and soul in the world. I was in heaven. And this guy could write songs l He knew everything about how to make a bridge or a riff or a groove or a cho­ Peace and Love for the New Millennium, rus transform a melody into a benchmark in your life. The sexy, funky Danny Kapilian Beatles! I couldn't get over him. He's gone through so many permutations in his amazing career, yet (like , Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell) P5-1 would like to again extend extra special thanks to Joseph Melillo, and retained the essence of what makes his music so relevant and great all to Vernon Reid and The Roots. And heartfelt thanks also go to Karen along the way. Brooks Hopkins, Alice Bernstein, Jeff Levine, and the entire staff of BAM for their unwavering support, and of course to all the fabulous guest performers A word about our "band." The Roots are a revelation. I consider it the most in this event. amazing gift that Rich Nichols and The Roots totally bought into doing this-and doing this at BAM-right from the start. They are a remarkable

38 39 \/\[00', \/\/bo _

The Roots continue to infectiously groove to the Leon Gruenbaum playing his unique keyboard beat ofa vastly different drummer, as fashion invention, the Samchillian Tip Tip Ti trends, dance crazes, and groups old and new CheeePeeeee, which Reid calls "an instrument arrive and depart with relative quickness, and even stranger than its name." buck hip-hop conventions by not using a OJ or any sampling in their performances. With their Since the release of Mistaken Identity, Vernon fourth , things fall apart, the Philadelphia­ has toured with his other instrumental group, My based musicians, MC, and vocal manipulators Science Project (a more ambient version of steadfastly maintain their statesmen-like role as Masque), and has collaborated with choreogra­ one of hip:-hop's most consistently innovative out­ phers Bill T. Jones on Still/Here during BAM's fits.' Observing the musical maturation of Black 1994 Next Wave Festival and on Thought and The Roots' drummer ?uestlove Jazztrain at 651, An Arts Center (currently 651 (Ahmir Khalib Thompson)-who met while Arts), in 1998. He has produced records by attending Philadelphia's High School for the Resorte (a Mexican hard rock group) and the Performing Arts-and their compatriots: MC great African singer Salif Keita. Vernon Reid's Malik B., keyboardist Kamal, bassist Leonard most recent Next Wave Festival appearance was Hubbard, and human beat-box extraordinaire in 1996 with and fellow Bill Rahzel "The Godfather of Noyze" has been a joy­ Frisell in a show called Alternative . ful process for fans of the group's previous alchemies of lyrical wizardry, live instrumentation, N'Dea Davenport, former front-woman for Brand and recording-studio savvy. Their albums include New Heavies, made a big splash last summer 1993's Organix, 1994's Do You Want with her sultry eponymous solo album. Her sin­ More?!!!??!, and 1996's iIIadelph halflife. gle "Bring It On" and a bluesy cover of Neil Young's "Old Man" are two of its highlights. Born Vernon Reid is probably best known for his years in , she was a mainstream participant in leading the rock group , which he the Los Angeles rock and R&B scene in the founded in circa 1985 and piloted 1990s and is now based in New Orleans. She's through a remarkable ten-year career. Among the a state-of-the art, retro-soul diva and a master of highlights are a double-platinum-selling 1988 moody slow-burn funk. The multi-talented debut album, Vivid; its gold-certified 1990 suc­ Davenport (singer, songwriter, ) cessor, Time's Up; and two consecutive Grammy has collaborated with everyone from Natalie Awards in the category of Best Hard Rock Merchant to Malcolm McLaren. Her sound is a Performance. The group also opened the Rolling delicious mix of jazz, gospel, and rhythm and Stones' 1989 stadium tour and appeared on the . Davenport was a featured artist in BAM's first Lollapolooza tour in the summer of 1991 ~ 1999 Rhythm and Blues Festival at MetroTech Commons this past summer. Vernon's most recent album for Sony/550 Music was the primarily instrumental Mistaken Identity. Corey Glover was the lead singer and one-fourth Released in 1996, Mistaken Identity is a combi­ of the pioneering, Grammy-winning, platinum­ nation of rock and jazz, hip-hop and soul. The selling rock band Living Colour. As one of the release was recorded with his group Masque, band's founding members, Glover helped prove which includes clarinetist (and frequent BAM that, as one writer said, "not only could black artist) Don Byron, turntable wizard OJ Logic, guys kick out the jams, but that they could be bassist Hank Schroy, drummer Curtis Watts, and embraced by a vast expanse of fans." After four

40 Billboard-charted albums, the group disbanded in Joan Osborne was born in Anchorage, Kentucky, 1995. Almost immediately, Corey began laying and moved to New York to attend film school. the foundation for his first solo CD, Hymns. "I Her early self-released recordings got the atten­ always wanted to do rock stuff and I did. But I've tion of Mercury Records, who released Relish in always wanted to be a loveman and sort of split 1995. Powered by the success of the mega-hit the difference. I think I've done that with this One of Us, the album achieved triple-platinum album and with this band." status and gained seven Grammy nominations. After the smoke cleared (and the hyper-adulation Angelique Kidjo is simply unlike any other musi­ of VH1 and , etc., subsided), cian in today's contemporary music world. Over Osborne was still focused and grounded enough the course of four albums for Mango, the vocalist to make a pilgrimage to India to study Qawwali from Benin, West Africa, has single-mindedly cre­ singing, an adventure that led to an invitation to ated a bridge that unites the rhythms and spirits study with the late master of that tradition, of Africa with the grooves and vibes of the New Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn. World's African diaspora, masterfully taking it to places where few world music artist have gone PM Dawn is comprised of brothers Prince Be before. Her collaborations with other artists (Attrell Cordes) and OJ Minute Mix (Jarrett include a guest vocalist appearance on Cordes). Hailing from New Jersey, they come 's acclaimed 1999 album from a highly musical family. They were influ­ Traveling Miles. With the release of Kidjo's new enced by 1960s pop and duly incorporated har­ album Oremi, recorded in New York and South monies in their work, hence the later tag, Daisy Africa, Kidjo climbs to an even higher level of Age Soul. After signing to the Gee Street label, global pop. Oremi features Roots drummer ?uest­ they took the name PM Dawn, indicating the love on one of its tracks. transition from dark to light. A debut single, 1I0de to a Forgetful Mind," was released in January Coati Mundi is a founding member of the Grammy­ 1991 and was followed by IIA Watcher's Point of nominated musical group Dr. Buzzard's Original View," which broke the U.K. charts and intro­ Savannah Band and of the critically acclaimed duced their melodic hip-hop to a larger audience. group Kid Creole & the Coconuts. He has worked as Their song "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" hit num­ a producer, composer, arranger, and performer with ber one on Billboard's pop, R&B, and dance various national and international artists, including charts. Showing off their musical breadth, PM Madonna, Wyclef Jean, Tito Puente, Chrissie Dawn participated in an all-star tribute to Joni Hynde, Grace Jones, Ruben Blades, Vernon Reid, Mitchell this past summer at Central Park's , and Buster Poindexter. Mundi was SummerStage. the musical director of the Latin Connection concert at 651 Arts and has performed with his own Rachid slides between rock, funk, and R&B, ensemble at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among proudly displaying the influence of The Artist. His other venues in New York. In addition to composing album Prototype combines driving music with for film and television, Mundi has worked as an punk-poet lyrics. actor in film and television, including Who's That Girl?, He Got Game, Girl Six, and Miami Vice. He Toshi Reagon makes truly unique guitar and also served as music supervisor on Miramax's 54 vocal-based music that reflects both her family and produced various tracks for that film as well as heritage (her parents were founding members the soundtrack album on Tommy Boy Records. of both the SNCC Freedom Singers and Sweet

40A Honey in the Rock) and her predilection for. Black Thought (Tariq Trotter), a foundi.og mem­ rock, blues, and folk styles. Her rivettngvoice ber of The Roots, has been rhyming for 16 years, and stunning playing serve as a virtual com­ starting in hjs youth in Philadelphia. He is influ­ pendium of sounds, ranging from the tradition­ enced by "all the old cats" of soul, funk, and al African-American folk forms she' was weaned jazz. Black Thought says of ·his process of writing on at hom"e, to the more contemporary~ro.oves rhymes aoo making albums, "I do it all kinda of reggae and rap, to the heavy histrionics of ways. Sometimes I get a beat and write a rnyme rock groups like. K~ss and . to a specific beat, but other times I write a rhyme just to the ·beat that's in my head and I'll put it to Carl Hancock Rux melds poetry and music a beat after tl:lefact." into what the New York Post describes""as a "dizzying oral artistry...a torrent of paperbag Danny KapHian (producer) is an ·independent poetry and post-modern Hip-Bop music...." music. consultant, programmer, and producer for Rux has colfaborated with a variety afartists, BAM. His programs and concerts for. BAM inciuding Vernon Reid, Mark Batson, Toshi include Party at the End of Time: 1999 Live, the Reagon, and Nona Hendryx. He has performed BAM Rhythm.and Blues Festival at.Metrotech,. on world stages with the Alvin Ailey· American the annual Martin LtJther King. Day concert, and Dance Theater, the Urban Bush Women, and a variety -of other ,music. events. He began work Movin' Spirits Dance Theater. On Rux Revue, with BAM in 1986, working with Twyla Tharp his debut CO, Rux uses his potent pen and lyrF and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. In 1989 he was cal baritone voice to cajole, challenge, and line producer for,the New Music America Festival seduce hjs listeners, while hIs eight;;;piece band and for BAM's presentation of Lou Reed and (including three vocalists) explores a hybrid of John Cale's Songs For 'Orella. From 1995 to post-modern soul, trance, rock, hip-hop, exper­ 1998 he produced Oon Byron's Jazz: The Next imental jazz, and folk-blues. Wave series.

Mark Anthony-Thompson released two solo This year he produced two speciat' live events in albums under his own name befure bec-oming New York. On- June 22 was the JVC Jazz majordomo of Chocolate Genius, a musical col­ Festival's Kind Of Blue At 40, an all-star jazz eel:­ lective including-Abe Laboriel Jr., Mar-c Ribot, ebration of the Miles Davis album on its 40th arld and Chris Wood (of anniversary. That show sold out at Symphony Medeski, Martin, and Wood), whose album Space, was recorded for national broadcast on Black Music (V2) was released to much notori­ NPR's Jazz Set, and will tour if.) 2000. On July 1 ety in 1998. His distinct voice and songs :ha,ve was Joni's Jazz, a benefit concert In Central Park been compared to Tom Waits, and Village Voice for the SummerStage series. The event featured scribe Greg~te famously dubbed him "the live performances of music by Joni Mitchell from black Peter Gabriel." He was awarded an Obie her COUR and spark through Mingus period, and a 1997 Drama Desk nomination ·for Sound including a performance of her complete 1976 Design for his work on A Huey R· Newton album Hejira. Bandleader Vernon Reid led an Story. This production is currently on national ensemble featuring Ravi Coltrane, Joe Jackson, tour and was recently presented at the BAM Don Byron, and Graham Haynes, 3tong with H'arvey Theater by 651 Arts. guest singers Chaka Khan, Duncan Sheik, Toshi

40S' (continued on page 73) Reagon, Jane Siberry, Jon Hendricks and Annie Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, Ringo Starr, Ron Ross, PM Dawn, Eric Andersen, and others. Joni Sexsmith, and others performing Nilsson's songs). Mitchell attended and joined onstage for the encore. The New York Times review called Joni's He was the house sound engineer for The Apollo Jazz a "landmark event." ,Party at the End of Theater in Harlem and has toured with Ornette Time: 1999 Live is tYle third in an ad-hoc series Coleman, Shonen Knife, Tony Bennett, Roberta of interpretive performances of famous albums. Flack, the Jim Carroll Band, Steve Forbert, and George Benson with The Count Basie Orchestra. Danny has worked. as a producer and production He was a talent coordinator for the manager for the Lincoln Genter Festival, Jazz at Ha~1 of Fame Awards from 1986-98, and since Lincoln Center, Festival Productions, and numer­ 1992 was producer of 's In ous other presenters and venues. He was associ­ Their Own Words songwriter series on national ate producer on Don Byron's albums Nu tours and at music festivals and conferences in Blaxploitation (Blue Note), and Bug Music Cannes, Newport, Austin, and New Orleans. He (Nonesuch); co-produced the two-volume Benny taught and lectured on music for six years at the Carter Songl:x:Jok (featuring Joe Williams, Diana New School For Social Research. Krall, Jon Hendricks, Dianne Reeves, Peggy Lee, Shirley Horn, and other vocalists interpreting Carter Danny's path has led from The Bronx all the way tunes); and was executive producer of For The to Brooklyn (a longer journey than one realizes), Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson (featuring via numerous stops around many parts of the new recordings of Randy Newman, Aimee Mann, gtobe. So much more to come....

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