Big Ears

This is remarkable.  Something needs to be said about this - this cannot go by without comment.  A four-day music festival in Knoxville, Tennessee featuring Algiers and Godspeed You! Black Emperor?  The two bands who both can rightfully claim the title of The Only Band That Matters? That, plus Four Tet and Suuns?  Nels Cline, Lucius, Jenny Hval, and Laurel Halo?  Count me in!

But wait, there's more!  The lineup includes Alice Coltrane, which is truly remarkable considering she passed away 10 years ago.  Actually, I'm pretty sure that The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda will be a performance of sacred Hindu music by members of her ashram, maybe with some tape of her vocals. Still remarkable, nonetheless.

Talk about eclectic - I've been a fan of banjo maestro Bela Fleck since at least 1990 and the festival will feature performances by Fleck playing his unique brand of bluegrass-jazz fusion with his wife Abigail Washington as well as with the chamber ensemble Brooklyn Rider, and a performance by Washington with Wu Fei (whoever that is).  More new music or modern classical or whatever you want to call it will be provided by the Bang On A Can Allstars, the Knoxville Chamber Orchestra, and the extraordinary singer Diamanda Galas. Medeski Martin & Wood will be there to lay down their funk-based groove, and more jazz will be provided by the Rova Saxophone Quartet.  And look - there's folk musician Sam Amidon!  And Steve Gunn!  Arto Lindsey's in the lineup too, to do whatever it is he wants to do at that moment.

Perhaps the most remarkable name in the lineup, though (I could just go on and on just reading off all the names above) is that of Roscoe Mitchell.  Roscoe was a founding member of The Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and has remained one of the key figures in avant-garde jazz ever since.  I've been on an Art Ensemble kick ever since hearing a sample of theirs open Kelsey Lu's set at The Earl a month or so ago, and now I've got a chance to hear one of the few remaining members live and in concert (Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors have sadly passed, and the other reedman from the Ensemble, Joseph Jarman, is now a Shinshu Buddhist priest).  I'm not sure how long either of us will remain on this planet and if our paths will ever cross again, so of course I have to go.

Here's Roscoe performing one of his compositions with The Art Ensemble Of Chicago on their live LP Bap-tizum, recorded at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival at Otis Spann Memorial Field, Ann Arbor, Michigan on September 9, 1972.  I've probably bought this album two or three different times since the late 1970s, replacing damaged or worn out copies with new versions bought at used record stores and even from street vendors. It's essential listening, and a terrific showcase for Roscoe.

The Big Ears lineup hits all the right buttons for all of the unusual music I've learned to enjoy over the years, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know who else but me would even be interested in this, so I pretty much have to go.  Another reason to attend is to discover if a community of people actually exists that likes the same weird shit as I do, so I went ahead and bought the full VIP Sonic Explorer Weekend Pass that gives access to all the performances and venues for all four days of the festival, that guarantees entrance at all seated venues, provides premium viewing areas at all seated venues, priority entrance at all venues, advance notification of secret shows, a Sunday Brunch experience, a private Q&A cocktail hour with the Big Ears Managing Director, an exclusive VIP concert performance, and even a commemorative gift package.  Expensive, to be sure, but this really does look to be a once-in-a lifetime experience, so how could I not?