# An eclectic, audacious program featuring Milford Graves, Jason Moran, Tyshawn Sorey, Nels Cline and many more hits Tennessee: Videos, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/03/28/an-eclectic-audacious-program-featuring-milford-graves-jason-moran-tyshawn-sorey-nels-cline-and-many-more-hits-tennessee-videos-photos/
- Published: 2018-03-28T11:13:12+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**At the Big Ears Festival when Nathan Bowles, banjo and bones player for the old-
time string band the Black Twig Pickers, enthusiastically shouts out Milford Graves,
the sage of avant-garde jazz percussion. “I got my wig flipped!” Bowles said of 
Graves’ solo set, which took place on the same stage just hours before. Flipping
wigs in this fashion is precisely the goal of the annual creative-music confab, 
which took place March 22-25 in about a dozen venues in downtown Knoxville, Tenn.**

Big Ears doesn’t just cater to diehards of any one musical form or discipline. It
finds commonalities between them, striving to cultivate a discerning public that
finds value and sustenance in music of many kinds. And so iconic jazz composers 
and improvisers appear under the same banner as bluegrass veterans, classical mavericks,
old-time folk primitivists, DJs and electronic sound sculptors. Film, prose and 
visual art have a role to play as well. There are artist interviews and panels, 
informal playing sessions and secret pop-up shows. There’s a superbly designed mobile
app that allows attendees to customize a schedule and receive alerts as things unfold.

[⌊Jenny Scheinman's Mischief & Mayhem (credit: Andy Feliu/courtesy of Big Ears)⌉⌊
Jenny Scheinman's Mischief & Mayhem (credit: Andy Feliu/courtesy of Big Ears)⌉[

**Jenny Scheinman’s Mischief & Mayhem (credit: Andy Feliu/courtesy of Big Ears)**

Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, Jason Moran, Tyshawn Sorey, Nels Cline,
Jenny Scheinman, Okkyung Lee, Marc Ribot and others appeared in more than one context.
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn played spirited banjo duos in the Tennessee Theatre(
about the size of the Beacon in New York, if not bigger). Singer/fiddler Sam Amidon
played a full set in the elegant, comfortable Bijou Theatre, and hosted a gathering
of amateur shape-note singers at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Author and critic 
Ben Ratliff, at the Scottish pub Boyd’s Jig and Reel, led a discussion with experimental
electronic artists Laurel Halo and Eli Keszler. Wander a bit and you’d discover 
something new.

It was striking to see the Jerry Douglas Band and the Tyshawn Sorey Trio play the
same room, a cavernous rock venue with high ceilings and no seats called the Mill&
Mine. Douglas, the eclectic Dobro master, cranked it up and went toe-to-toe with
guitar beast Mike Seal while sporting a “Resist” T-shirt (something he made a point
of mentioning). Sorey had fun with the room’s sonic potential as well, coaxing wide
dynamics from a huge field drum, among other tools in a sprawling drum-and-percussion
kit. Pianist Cory Smythe and bassist Chris Tordini responded in kind, with hushed
sensitivity and tremendous power in turn.

[⌊Peter Evans (credit: Jake Giles Netter/courtesy of Big Ears)⌉⌊Peter Evans (credit:
Jake Giles Netter/courtesy of Big Ears)⌉[

**Peter Evans (credit: Jake Giles Netter/courtesy of Big Ears)**

St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral proved ideal for unaccompanied sets from saxophone
legend Evan Parker and trumpet virtuoso Peter Evans. Parker’s playing brimmed with
cascading figures and circular breathing, but his soprano could also sound disarmingly
warm, allowing for space and reflection. (At one point he slipped into an extended
quote of John Coltrane’s “Miles’ Mode.”) Evans was more extreme, making bold use
of the microphone for loud and breathtakingly resonant effects.

Evans also joined Parker’s seven-piece ElectroAcoustic Ensemble in another sacred
space, the Church Street United Methodist Church. Craig Taborn began on piano as
Ikue Mori manipulated his sparse textures on her laptop, rendering them mysterious
and otherworldly. The piece was an hour of continual flux and heightened instability,
with arresting contributions from Ned Rothenberg on _shakuhachi_ and bass clarinet.

Taborn resurfaced that evening at the Bijou, with Roscoe Mitchell’s _Bells for the
South Side_ ensemble. Mitchell conducted and played three saxophones and piccolo.
The music was sprawling in scope but tightly controlled, with Sorey, Mike Reed and
Tani Tabbal playing separate episodes on drums before joining the full orchestra
in an all-out finale. (Sorey played piano as well.) The set was billed as “Roscoe
Mitchell Trios,” and that’s how it proceeded, mostly in units of three. Ches Smith’s
mallets, Hugh Ragin’s trumpet, James Fei’s sopranino saxophone and electronics and
Jaribu Shahid’s bass all shared time in the spotlight.

[⌊Roscoe Mitchell (credit: Eli Johnson/Courtesy of Big Ears)⌉⌊Roscoe Mitchell (credit:
Eli Johnson/Courtesy of Big Ears)⌉[

**Roscoe Mitchell (credit: Eli Johnson/courtesy of Big Ears)**

Earlier at the Bijou, which was filled to capacity, Milford Graves and pianist Jason
Moran united for an engaging duo set. Graves often intones vocal syllables and sounds
on the mic as he drums, and this can be infectious; it made perfect sense when Moran
grabbed a mic and began to vocalize along with him. The crowd demanded an encore,
and at the start there was a prolonged, almost awkward silence. A deep and inscrutable
musical gesture, perhaps? Not really: Graves was having a problem with his snare
drum stand, and a tech emerged onstage to help fix it. “I apologize,” Graves said,
and the house clapped appreciatively. Graves added: “No, I was talking to the drum.”

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