THURMAN South Side Suite and Program Notes Edlis Neeson BARKER AND Hecky Naw! Angles! Fri, Aug 30 Theater BEN LAMAR GAY SUMMER 2019

MUSEUM OFMUSEUM CONTEMPORARY ART ART CONTEMPORARY FROM THE CURATOR BEN LAMAR GAY BARKER AND THURMAN Celebrate What would it sound like to map the influences, choices, and experiments within an artist’s creative process? In 2017, wrote his first orchestral piece, an ode to the music black he grew up playing in Chicago, including with AACM founder . It’s also an homage to the long history of Chicago’s black communities and jazz music. Tonight, creativity Thurman shares some of the part-scored, part- Naw! Angles! Hecky South Side Suite and improvised result—South Side Suite—in quintet form. After his own recent homage to Abrams, “Muhal,” Ben LaMar Gay also embarks on a with music new format; his work-in-progress Hecky Naw! Angles! joins music, video, and choreography to reverently rearticulate the rhythmic structures of the popular music that shaped the Chicago and black social and line dances he grew up with. Together, these compositions connect across the history and future of music experimentation and across the city itself. Thurman has eagerly dance that awaited this Chicago homecoming, alongside a next-generation AACM artist like Ben. Some Fri, Aug 30 Program Notes “backyard barbecue knowledge,” as Ben calls it, transform will surely be shared tonight. Tonight concludes our series of performances, developed within the MCA’s New Works Initiative, that speak to and about Chicago, expecta– transform familiar forms into something new, and alter our expectations of what black

performance can be. Thank you for helping us Theater Edlis Neeson support performance that conscientiously engages tions. with this city’s artists, histories, and ideas. Tara Aisha Willis

Cover, clockwise from left: Rennie Harris, LIFTED. Photo: Nikki Carrara; Dahlak Brathwaite, Try/Step/Trip. Associate Curator, Performance & Public Practice Photo: Joan Osato; still from video of Ben LaMar Gay at Trans Musicales de Rennes 2018. Courtesy of the artist. SUPPORT FOR THIS MCA PROJECT Thurman Barker and Ben LaMar Gay ABOUT THE WORK The creation of Ben LaMar Gay’s Hecky South Side Suite and Hecky Naw! Angles! Naw! Angles! and this performance of Thurman Barker’s South Side Suite are supported Running time is 80 minutes with one intermission. “When I came up in the late 1950s and 60s, in part by the MCA’s New Works Initiative. the South Side was a thriving community with Lead support for the ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– MCA New Works a middle class and folks of color were buying Initiative is provided by Thurman Barker, Elizabeth A. Liebman. South Side Suite, 1st and 2nd Movements homes. . . . When I look at the history of it, well, Special thanks to Michael Byrd of the Chicago has always been a very rich musical Illinois Youth Center Chicago, Heidi Composition and drums Thurman Barker Mueller of the Illinois city since the 1920s. . . . South Side Suite [is] my Department of Juvenile Justice, and Frayne way of honoring [that history].” Lewis of the City of Clarinet Paavo Carey Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. Electric guitar Double bass Dean Torrey —Thurman Barker Piano Noah Barker “I’m thinking about line dances, with these Management Lucette Ostergren-Barker cats calling out the dance moves. You get lost in This performance of South Side Suite is dedicated to those callings and those words . . . the Black Muhal Richard Abrams. fiddler used to make those calls for everybody’s dance and these musicians used to travel. It’s INTERMISSION all connected.” ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Ben LaMar Gay, Hecky Naw! Angles! —Ben LaMar Gay Composition, cornet, Ben LaMar Gay vocals, synth, and diddley bow –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Violin and vocals Renée C. Baker For the full conversation with the artists, visit TheTRiiBE.com. Alto flute, bike wheel, Rob Frye and vocals Bass and vocals Katie Ernst Talking drum, gung gong, Carlos Pride and lap steel guitar Choreography and Raquel Monroe movement Video and projection Kim Alpert RELATED PROGRAMS ABOUT THE ARTISTS THURMAN BARKER PAAVO CAREY (Clarinet) is a South Side Suite celebrated saxophonist, flautist, AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator who has held versatility THURMAN BARKER (Composition/ and diversification at the center of Audio description for this performance is Drums) is a world-renowned his efforts. For the past thirty years provided by Victor Cole. Headsets are available drummer and percussionist as well he has served students of all ages as a composer and professor. from New York to Maine and upon request at the box office. His professional career has spanned currently works in Massachusetts. decades and his talent is so Carey is now re-emerging onto the extensive that it encompasses and scene as an accomplished performer –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– crosses over into many musical genres who has been active in the jazz, including, but not limited to, jazz, pop, orchestra, Latin, rock, and POST-SHOW TALK blues, contemporary, and classical. world music styles. As a sideman, His percussion performances are Carey has recently joined the popular forces to be reckoned with that Boston-based Makanda Project Please stay after the performance for a brief cannot, and should not, be pigeon- where he plays alto, tenor, and holed by anything as limiting as a soprano saxophones, as well as flute conversation with Barker, Gay, and their label. He was the house drummer at and clarinet. Carey has performed the Shubert Theatre for ten years and/or recorded with the big bands collaborators, moderated by Tara Aisha Willis, and has played behind the likes of of James Jabbo Ware and the Me, Associate Curator, Performance & Public Bette Midler, Marvin Gaye, Billy We, and Them Orchestra, Tito Puente, Eckstine, Vikki Carr, and blues legend Lionel Hampton, Jaki Byard, and Practice. Mighty Joe Young. He was a many more. Jazz combos Carey has founding member of the Association performed with include Thurman for the Advancement of Creative Barker’s Time Factor, Steve Jordan’s –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Musicians (AACM) and is a member of Spot 5, Ted Curson’s Jazz Septet, the American Society of Composers, Walter Davis Jr. Quartet, Doc TUESDAYS ON THE TERRACE Authors and Publishers. He has five Cheatham, and more. Additionally, recordings under his own label, Carey has been a pit orchestra/ Tue, Aug 20 Uptee Productions, and has recorded production show musician for The as a sideman on fifty albums. Big Apple Circus, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Ray, The Fifth Dimension, and Summer Tuesdays come alive on the MCA’s Anne NOAH BARKER (Piano) hails from many regional and school musicals. Jeffersonville, New York, via New In 2019 Carey is set to release his and John Kern Terrace Garden with free music York City and currently resides in first solo album, ​Back To The City Life. highlighting artists from Chicago’s internationally Louisville, Kentucky. He is the son of avant-garde jazz drummer Thurman JAMES EMERY (Electric guitar) is a renowned jazz community. In advance of Barker. The younger Barker started virtuoso guitarist and composer and playing piano at age seven and has received international recognition tonight’s premiere, Ben LaMar Gay brought his began studying classical music and for his distinctive and highly original genre-defying sounds to the MCA’s backyard playing in churches at thirteen. approach to improvisation and He began studying jazz at fourteen, composition. Acclaimed as “one of for two sets. pursuing it at the University of the world’s finest guitarists” in All Louisville and finishing the graduate About Jazz, writer Glenn Astarita jazz performance program at State praised his “encyclopedic jazz vocab- University of New York, Purchase ulary as a technician and composer College, in May 2014. In school, [and his] staggering technical Barker found a serious interest in virtuosity [and] remarkable creative composing jazz, experimental, pop, spirit.” Emery has been active on the and electronic music. As an outlet international jazz and contemporary for his composition, Barker started music scene since 1975. He has Never Forever Records in 2013; it recorded twenty-six albums as a has three physical releases and leader or coleader and has performed numerous digital releases to date, his works in over twenty-five including You Are Here (2013), Men countries. His recordings have been Are Particles, Women Are Waves described as “innovative and (2014), Working For the Sun (2015), imaginative” and “utterly distinctive” Upstream Dreams (2015), Condition by the Penguin Guide to Jazz, which (2016), and In the Pouring Sun (2017). selected his orchestral recording Transformations for its edition titled CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Baker was involved in starting more RAQUEL MONROE, PHD Michael O’Grady ABOUT THE ARTISTS than twenty cutting-edge new (Choreography/Movement) has PRITZKER DIRECTOR music ensembles including the Mantra been an avid social dancer most of Madeleine Grynsztejn “The History of Jazz in the 1001 Best and visual arts including George Blue Free Orchestra (Chicago), her life, which led her to the JAMES W. ALSDORF Albums.” He has received inter- Lewis, Itiberê Zwarg, Onye Ozuzu, PEK’ Contemporary Project (Berlin), classroom to study concert dance CHIEF CURATOR and the Bleueblue Walkers/Bass forms. Ironically, this project brings Michael Darling national critical acclaim for his work Qudus Onikeku, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff –––––––––––––––––––– leading various ensemble formations Parker, Catherine Sullivan, Mike Kollektief. She has composed over her full circle back to social dance, PERFORMANCE and the groundbreaking String Trio Reed, Joshua Abrams, Celso Fonseca, two thousand traditionally notated as both an object of study and ASSOCIATE CURATOR of New York, which he cofounded in Tomeka Reid, The Black Monks of contemporary and classical works enjoyment. A Chicago resident for Tara Aisha Willis 1978. A Guggenheim Fellow, Emery Mississippi, Bixiga 70, and AACM. that range in genre from classical ten years, her first attempt at PRODUCING DIRECTOR has performed and recorded with His musical influences derive from to jazz. She has received commissions learning step five years ago exposed Kendall Karg , Steve Reich, his collection of experiences in all of from the Chicago Sinfonietta, Berlin her to the depth of urban line THEATER PRODUCTION , , the Americas and the gathered data International Brass, Joffrey Ballet dancing in the city, and this project MANAGER Klangforum Wien, the Human Arts channeled by technology and its Chamber Series, University of Chicago provides deeper access to Black Richard Norwood Ensemble, and others. As a composer, amplifying accessibility. Embracing Film Studies Center, Indiana University Chicago. Monroe is a performance ASSISTANT Black Film Center, and Brandeis scholar completing a monograph PRODUCTION he has written pieces for chamber international vision while remaining MANAGER groups, jazz ensembles, solo guitar, true to his roots, Gay’s creative University, among others. Baker is analyzing performances of Matt Sharp and symphony orchestra. output aligns with the honest notion the artistic consultant for the Chicago Black Power by black female cultural CURATORIAL that he only knows how to be a Symphony Orchestra’s African producers in popular culture. ASSISTANT DEAN TORREY (Double bass) was man from the South Side of Chicago. American Network among many Monroe performs with the Propelled Laura Paige Kyber born in Connecticut in 1992 and took other classically oriented organizations. Animals creating immersive, inter- COORDINATOR disciplinary performance installations. Anthony Williams up the bass at age eight. During KIM ALPERT (Video/Projection) –––––––––––––––––––– his college years he was a student of combines analog and digital tech- The Chicago Reader calls KATIE ERNST She is an associate professor of dance MCA TECHNICAL bassists Doug Weiss, Scott Colley, nologies, movement, music, and (Bass/Vocals) “one of the brightest and the Co-director of Academic PRODUCTION STAFF Lynn Seaton, Joe Sanders, and Bach interactivity to create sculptural and lights on the Chicago jazz scene.” The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at AUDIO ENGINEERS specialist Jeff Bradetich, as well as performance-based video systems. Chicago Tribune calls her “a versatile Columbia College Chicago. Sam Clapp pianist Hal Galper (who would go Alpert’s visual practice centers on young bassist who plays in far-flung Mati Johnson bands and sings with uncommon CARLOS PRIDE (Talking drum/Gung STAGE CREW on to hire Torrey for his own quartet). her humanism and inquisitions into Hanna Elliot Since moving to New York in 2014, psychology and spirituality— delicacy and authenticity.” Ernst’s gong/Lap steel guitar) grew up in a John Nichols creative projects include a Dorothy musical home on the South Side of –––––––––––––––––––– Torrey has quickly distinguished understanding and translating the HOUSE MANAGEMENT himself as one of the leading voices impact of visual language to create Parker poetry project, Little Words, Chicago where his passion for music ASSOCIATES which premiered in 2014 at the began with a guitar and a pair Phill Cabeen on bass of his generation, having meaning and peace. Alpert uses Cameron Heinze been tapped for sideman work by synthesis, feedback, and found Kennedy Center in Washington DC, of bongos. As a teenager he studied Jill Perez a duo of folk/hymns/improvised drums with Fred White of Earth, –––––––––––––––––––– veteran creatives such as NEA Jazz footage to weave dream tapestries BOX OFFICE MANAGER Master Muhal Richard Abrams, AACM both recorded and improvised. A music with clarinetist James Falzone Wind & Fire and Famoudou Don Casey VanWormer percussionist/composer Thurman significant part of Alpert’s performed called Wayfaring, and an indie jazz Move of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. ASSISTANT MANAGER Barker, Rodney Green, Francisco Mela, work is in collaboration with trio Twin Talk, which recently Getting his professional start in Phongtorn Phongluantum and Dizzy Gillespie alum Ed Cherry; improvisational musicians, blending released their third studio album on Chicago’s blues and jazz clubs, Pride COORDINATOR as well as contemporaries closer to pre-rendered content with live PEOPLE, a streaming music platform has shared the stage with J. W. Molly Laemle his own age like Tivon Pennicott, visualizations. She performs in collab- created by members of Bon Iver Williams, Valerie Wellington, the VISITOR SERVICES Micah Thomas, Immanuel Wilkins, orative and cross-disciplinary works and The National. late Lefty Dizz, and Buddy Guy. ASSISTANT Joel Ross, Adam O’Farril, Jure Pukl, such as Mike Reed’s Flesh and In the early 1980s Pride was a Julia Kriegel and the widely acclaimed Onyx Bone, The Instigation Orchestra, ROB FRYE (Alto flute/Bike wheel/ member of the Imports Etc. record ASSOCIATES Vocals) is a multi-instrumentalist pool along with Frankie Knuckles Cynthia Appleby Collective, among others. and her own project Scan Lines. Her Malcolm Evans interactive room, Bodyphonic, a living in Chicago since 2006. In 2010 who taught him to splice tape and Graham Feyl he initiated Flux Bikes, a project create remixes, leading him into the Emily Gallaugher gesture-driven instrument and long- Cagla Gillis BEN LAMAR GAY itudinal sound visualizer, is on that travels on two wheels throughout world of dance music. As a student Charlotte Gruman the United States and abroad, at the American Conservatory of Sue Reon Kim Hecky Naw! Angles! permanent display at the National Miguel Limon ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Music Center of Canada. amplifying bike-tire beats through a Music, Pride studied with Ghanaian Charle Luckett solar-powered sound system. His master drummer, Midawo Gideon Peyton Lynch Alexandria McGurk BEN LAMAR GAY (Composition/ RENÉE BAKER (Violin/Vocals) is a recording and touring for the last Foli, who introduced him to the Janelle Miller several years with jazz, rock, and Talking Drum. Pride founded his own Maria Morales Concept/Performer) is a composer recontextualist, a sonic concepts Veronica Murashige and cornetist who moves com- artist, and a violinist. She is the founder experimental groups has been com- ensemble, Rhythm Testament, and Jill Perez plemented by three seasons has performed professionally with Michael Rogerson ponents of sound, color, and space of the internationally acclaimed Jen Rymont through folkloric filters to produce Chicago Modern Orchestra Project conducting bird surveys for the Institute many artists, including Talking Drum Grace Wellin brilliant electroacoustic collages. (CMOP), and for twenty-three years for Bird Populations in California master Rasaki Aladokun (King Sunny Lisa West The Chicago native’s true technique she was the principal violinist of the and four summers working for the Ade), saxophonist Ari Brown, Taylor Wisham Chicago Park District’s Inferno N’Dea Davenport of the Brand New Program notes is giving life to an idea while Chicago Sinfonietta. Baker layers compiled by Laura exploring and expanding on the term movement and film projections to Mobile Recording Studio. The Hideout Heavies, George Clinton, Meshell Paige Kyber Americana. Inspired by the vibrant create surrealist sonic theatre. She is has call him “a constant collaborator Ndgeocello, The Indigo Girls, Sinead experimental music scene of Chicago, a member of the world-renowned [who] is able to give a unique voice O’Connor, Natalie Merchant, and and a three-year residency in Brazil, AACM, and has performed to critical in a variety of ensembles.” Talib Kweli. Gay collaborates with some influential acclaim in Berlin, Poland, London, figures in the world of music, dance, Scotland, France, and Vietnam. ACCESSIBILITY UPCOMING PERFORMANCES INFORMATION Select performances include open-captioning, Dinner and a Show sign-interpretation, –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– listening devices, or Sat–Sun, Sep 14–15 and 21–22, are relaxed sensory. Please call Noon, 3 pm, 7 pm, and 8 pm 312-397-4010 in advance to reserve seats and THE STOREFRONT PROJECT inclusive services. What happens when you ask six artists to make shows from scratch, with no rulebook or script, performed back-to-back in spaces across the city? Over two weekends, directors Dado

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How do we share space with others? How does architecture influence how we move? Choreographer Kim Brandt brings performance out of the theater and into the museum with a critical mass of dancers from Chicago and New York that navigates movement scores amidst visitors. Featuring live sound by composer Nate Wooley. Restaurant and Bar at the MCA marisolchicago.com SUPPORT FOR MCA ABOUT ENACT ABOUT MCA PERFORMANCES PERFORMANCES As an internationally renowned Lead support for the MCA performances are institution devoted to contemporary 2019–20 season is provided supported by Enact, a group culture, the Museum of Contemporary by Elizabeth A. Liebman. of MCA donors dedicated Art Chicago is committed to to supporting the museum’s presenting the most thought- provoking visual and performing Generous support is renowned performance arts of our time. The MCA provided by Lois and programs. commissions and presents theater, Steve Eisen and The Eisen dance, and music by leading artists Family Foundation, Ginger Join today for opportunities from Chicago and around the world, holding performances in Farley and Bob Shapiro, to meet artists and gain spaces throughout the museum, the Martha Struthers Farley behind-the-scenes access including the three-hundred and Donald C. Farley Jr. alongside MCA curators—all seat Edlis Neeson Theater. Family Foundation, Susan while providing vital support. The MCA’s groundbreaking Manning and Doug Doetsch, performances are an integral part Ock Ju Noh, Sharon* and Circle Donor membership of the museum’s cutting edge, Lee Oberlander, and Carol is required to join Enact. multidisciplinary programming. Prins and John Hart/The Enact donations begin at Along with exhibitions and public programs, MCA performances Jessica Fund. $1,000 annually. For more welcome visitors to experience the information on benefits work and ideas of living artists Additional support is or how to join, contact us and find their own civic voices. provided by Ms. Shawn at [email protected] PARKING M. Donnelley and Dr. or 312-397-4044. Validate your ticket at the coat Christopher M. Kelly, check for $12 parking in the MCA Nicholas and Nancy garage (220 E Chicago Ave) and Giampietro, Anne L. Kaplan, FOUNDATION SEASON the Bernardin garage (747 N Wabash Ave). The $12 parking is and D. Elizabeth Price SPONSOR limited to six hours on the date of and Lou Yecies. performance. The MCA is a proud LOST AND FOUND To inquire about a lost item, call member of the Museums in the museum at 312-280-2660. the Park and receives major Unclaimed articles are held for support from the Chicago thirty days. Park District. SEATING Please switch off all noisemaking HOTEL SPONSOR devices while you are in the theater. *Enact Chair as of March 2019 Patrons are seated at the management’s discretion. Food and open beverage containers are not allowed in the seating area. REPRODUCTION Unauthorized recording and reproduction of a performance are prohibited. GENERAL INFORMATION 312-280-2660 BOX OFFICE 312-397-4010 VOLUNTEER FOR PERFORMANCES 312-397-4072 [email protected]

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