A Jam Session for Troubling Times (World Premiere – 2020) Choreography: Jamar Roberts Music: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie Interview by: Max Roach Costume design: Jamar Roberts and Corin Wright Lighting design: Roya Abab Directed and Produced by: Emily Kikta and Peter Walker
Acclaimed Ailey dancer and Resident Choreographer Jamar Roberts will be contributing to the centennial (dubbed Bird100) of Charlie “Bird” Parker with a premiere inspired by the revolutionary saxophonist and composer. Alvin Ailey is famous for having said that “dance came from the people, and it should always be delivered back to the people.” In this upbeat, quirky, and accessible work, Resident Choreographer Jamar Roberts holds fast to that mission. During the centennial year of the birth of jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie “Bird” Parker, at a time in our world rife with chaos and uncertainty, A Jam Session for Troubling Times uses the energy, nuance, and virtuosity of the ‘bebop’ sound as a vehicle to lift our spirits and demonstrate that we are stronger than our circumstances. Jazz has provided the soundtrack to his other works for the Company, including Members Don’t Get Weary (2017) and Ode, last year’s powerful meditation on the beauty and delicacy of life in a time of growing gun violence.
Jamar Roberts Miami native Jamar Roberts graduated from the New World School of the Arts after beginning his studies at the Dance Empire of Miami, where he continues to teach and mentor students each year. He received a fellowship to The Ailey School before becoming a member of Ailey II, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2002. Mr. Roberts starred in Moonlight x Ailey, a short dance film (choreographed by Artistic Director Robert Battle) that pays homage to the Oscar-winning film Moonlight. Dance Magazine featured Mr. Roberts as one of “25 to Watch” in 2007 and on the cover in 2013. He performed at The White House in 2010, and as a guest star on So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In 2015 Mr. Roberts won Outstanding Performer at the prestigious New York Dance and Performance
“Bessie” Awards and was a guest star with London’s Royal Ballet. Prior to being appointed as Ailey’s AAADT’s Resident first-ever Resident Choreographer, he made his Ailey II choreographic debut with Gêmeos (2015), and Choreographer Jamar Roberts. his Ailey Company debut with Members Don’t Get Weary (2017). Photo by Andrew Eccles.
Roberts most recent commissions include Cooped for the Guggenheim’s Works & Process, a dance film inspired by statistics showing disproportionate amount of black and brown bodies being affected by the COVID-19 crisis; In Memory, a dance film for the March on Washington Film Festival in honor of the late Congressman John Lewis; ‘Morani/Mungu’ for New York City Center’s Virtual Fall For Dance Festival; and an upcoming commission for New York City Ballet’s Festival of New Choreography.
Charlie “Bird” Parker Born in Kansas City, Kansas on April 29, 1920, Parker cut his musical teeth hanging out in the alleyways behind the nightclubs lining 12th Street in Kansas City, Missouri where Count Basie, Lester Young, Mary Lou Williams and other jazz legends engaged in marathon jam sessions. During his short life, Parker changed the course of music. Like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, he was a pioneering composer and improviser who ushered in a new era of jazz and influenced subsequent generations of musicians, writers and artists. Charlie Parker at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, 1947. Photo by William P. Gottlieb In 1942, Parker moved to New York with the McShann band where they opened at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Parker became a star soloist at the Savoy. Nightly broadcasts from the Savoy attracted a throng of young musicians who crowded the stage to hear Parker in person. After-hours, Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and other modernists pioneered bebop–a revolution in jazz. After working together in the bands of Earl Hines and Billie Eckstine, Parker and Gillespie formed a small group that introduced bebop to the West Coast. During the early 1950s, he received numerous awards and accolades from the press. He toured extensively and recorded for a number of labels. His devoted followers often recorded him on the bandstand.
Bursting with fresh ideas and virtuosity, Parker’s solos and compositions have inspired musicians and composers across a broad spectrum of music, ranging from Moondog, a contemporary composer and street musician, to the rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Parker’s brilliance and charisma also inspired dancers, poets, writers, filmmakers and visual artists. Clint Eastwood paid homage to Parker’s tortured genius with his film Bird. In 1984, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company celebrated Parker with For ‘Bird’ – With Love. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat honored Parker with many artworks including Charles the First. In 2015, an opera based on his life Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD made its debut at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Parker’s vast influence continues today with hip-hop artists and other kindred musical spirits sampling his music, confirming that BIRD LIVES!
Emily Kikta and Peter Walker Emily Kikta has been a dancer with New York City Ballet since 2010. She is a 2019 Virginia B. Toulmin Fellow at NYU. Peter Walker is a soloist dancer with New York City Ballet and has created two original choreographic works on the company. In 2019, they founded kw creative, a production company focused on capturing dance on camera. kw creative has made films for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sotheby’s, Janie Taylor, New Chamber Ballet and Ballet Collective. kw creative was a recipient of a 2020 residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. Emily Kikta. Photo by Paul Kolnik. Peter Walker. Photo by Erin Baiano.
A Jam Session for Troubling Times Music Credit Information
Max Roach Interview, Meeting Bird / Cherokee 1943 Used by arrangement with The Orchard Music, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
“Dizzy Atmosphere” by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, from the album Diz N’ Bird at Carnegie Hall. Used by arrangement with Universal Music Publishing Group and Blue Note Records, a division of Universal Music Group
“Cubano-Be, Cubano-Bop” by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, written by Dizzy Gillespie and George Russell, from the album Diz N’ Bird at Carnegie Hall. Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer Music Publishing, Inc. and Blue Note Records, a division of Universal Music Group