aRT — Jazz at The Other Side
June 21 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
About aRT
The trio known as aRT – akLaff, Robinson, Thayer – is a highly adventurous group of creative minds that has been performing new and startling music since 1988. aRT has appeared at jazz festivals, art galleries, and scientific conferences here and abroad, and has produced collaborative projects with sculptor Rob Fisher and choreographer LaRue Allen. aRT’s 1991 “Flying Carpet” multimedia performance at the Knitting Factory premiered a new, improvisational method of interactively intermixing art/performance video streams. This idea was expanded upon in 1996 for the Studio for Creative Inquiry in Pittsburgh, where their planetarium performance “Night of the Living Cell” combined imagery of cell life with real-time video feed of the performers – in 3D! “The result,” The Wall Street Journal reported at the time, “could become a new form of artistic experience.” In 1997, aRT was selected to be the closing act for the Sun Ra Festival in New York. In 2020, aRT performed in Philadelphia for the Institute of Contemporary Art’s exhibition on Milford Graves, with whom aRT had been working toward a collaborative music/science project. As Mr. Graves was not well enough to perform, he graciously provided a set of his TonoRhythmology/Sonification recordings – which he created by translating his own physiological data into musical sound — along with his blessing to incorporate them into the performance. This provided a means by which he could, in a way, be present and part of the music… an idea that aRT hopes to expand on in future performances. Most recently, aRT mounted a major multimedia concert event at Roulette, “Higher Powers,” in honor of painter Richard M. Powers’ 2021 centennial.
aRT:
Pheeroan akLaff is one of the most important drummer/percussionists in creative music. Since a very young age he has been a major contributor to the artform, working alongside giants such as Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Andrew Hill, Oliver Lake, Sam Rivers, Henry Threadgill and many more. Pheeroan’s music is steeped in powerful ritual and imagination, and through his organization Seed Artists he is finding new ways to present this music to the public.
Scott Robinson is an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist who has presented his music in nearly every corner of the globe, appearing on more than 275 recordings. He has worked with Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Maria Schneider, Chet Baker, Henry Grimes, Ella Fitzgerald, Anthony Braxton and many more. Scott’s ScienSonic Laboratories imprint has released more than a dozen adventurous and far-reaching albums, including Flow States with Milford Graves, Roscoe Mitchell and Marshall Allen. His quartet album Tenormore was named “Best New Release” in a 2019 JazzTimes poll.
Dr. Julian Thayer is currently Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science at UC Irvine. A Fulbright Fellow and winner of the Distinguished Scientist Award, he has produced more than 650 publications, and is ranked among the top .1% of most-cited researchers worldwide. His research on music and psycho-acoustics has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Psychology Today. An accomplished bassist, Jules has recorded with Geri Allen, Charlie Mariano, George Garzone and others.