Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s Riotous Ambition Trio’s expansive new project explores a ghastly corner of Oklahoma history
JazzTimes - 8/15/11 - by Geoffrey Himes
“The Race Riot Suite loosely follows the baroque suite form: There’s a series of dances, and each dance has a time signature and a gait that it follows. “Black Wall Street,” for example, evokes the bustling vitality of the Greenwood neighborhood before the riot with finger-snapping, syncopated 4/4 rhythms. “The Burning,” by contrast, conjures up the deliberate burning of the neighborhood (including the dropping of bombs from airplanes) with a brisk, jittery 3/4 pulse. In both cases, the music of the 1920s is suggested by devices borrowed from New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton and from Tulsa’s own Bob Wills. But those 90-year-old techniques often morph suddenly into the dissonance and harmolodic improvisation of modern jazz.”
“The music is filled with darkness, light, deep thought and inspiration all delivered with the inspiring playing of this airtight quartet of unique improvisers.”-JazzTimes
“And what of dear Brian Haas? What this performance cemented for me is his place as my personal favorite pianist alive. No hype, no bullshit. I’ve heard most of the major dudes working ivory today and there’s just nothing quite like Haas. I’ve grown tired of comparing him to the greats and during this set one felt his originality slosh all over them.” — Dennis Cook, Jambase
“Piano giant Brian Haas is taking the instrument deep into an explosive, exploratory future where genres blur and stylistic lines are not so much redrawn but re-imagined. Haas’ matchless originality and soul are as much a product of his unique upbringing as they are his process of self-discovery, and his vibrant energy and musical vitality are testament to his determination to remain true to his ideals.”—Keyboard Magazine
“Brian Haas blends touches of playful stride with spikey Cecil Taylor-isms and a dynamic Ahmad Jamal touch.”—Jazztimes
“Brian Haas paints with his fingers. In a flurry, his joyful digits add color to 88 black and white keys. He plays with the assured abandon of an artist in complete control of his craft.” — Keyboard Magazine
“Brian Haas can play with the finesse of Keith Jarret, but still get across to the ecstasy generation.”—New Orleans Gambit
“Haas solos and comps with a keen sense of post-bop, ragtime, and abstract styles.” — JazzIz
“Since folks adore (and perhaps even require) touchstones to “get” a contemporary player, I’ll offer this: Monk and Bud Powell wouldn’t kick this modernity-addled Jelly Roll Morton out of bed for eating crackers. Even those high-minded glosses don’t really do the trick. There’s too much hair and sweat on his stuff to make it work in hierarchical terms. He’s an original and remains the throbbing muscle pumping blood through JFJO’s arteries. If anything, he seems more possessed than ever to continue the Odyssey down its own path, finding fresh ways to combine accessibility with innovation, melody with dissembling, the past with the future, all coalescing in the present like a fog that remains but a moment yet drenches us good.” — Dennis Cook, Jambase
“A breadth and vision nearly untouched in modern jazz except by the likes of Wayne Shorter and Bill Frisell.” - Signal to Noise
Posted 7 months, 4 weeks ago at 1:29 pm. Add a comment
Wed. Sept. 14 - All Souls Church - Tulsa, OK
Fri. Sept. 16 - Crosstown Station - Kansas City, MO
Tues. Sept. 20 - Knotty Pine - Victor, ID
Thurs. Sept. 22 - White Rabbit - Seattle, WA
Fri. Sept. 23 - White Rabbit - Seattle, WA
Sat. Sept. 24 - Goodfoot - Portland, OR
Tues. Sept. 27 - Jambalaya - Arcata, CA
Wed. Sept. 28 - Moe’s Alley - Santa Cruz, CA
Thurs. Sept 29 - Beatnik Studios - Sacramento, CA
Fri. Sept 30 - Hopmonk - Sebastopol, CA
Sat. Oct. 1 - Boom Boom Room - San Francisco, CA
Wed. Oct. 5 - The Loft at UCSD - San Diego, CA
Thurs. Oct. 6 - The Mint - Los Angeles, CA
Thurs. Oct. 13 - Higher Ground - Burlington, VT
Fri. Oct. 14 - Lilly Pad - Boston, MA
Sat. Oct. 15 - Downright Music & Art - Collinsville, CT
Tues. Oct 18 - Jazz Standard - New York, NY
Wed. Oct 19 - Jazz Standard - New York, NY
Thurs. Oct. 20 - Lilly Pad - Boston, MA
Fri. Oct. 21 - The Falcon - Marlboro, NY
Sat. Oct. 22 - Tritone - Philadelphia, PA
Thurs. Oct. 27 - Tritone - Philadelphia, PA
Sat. Oct. 29 - Lilly Pad - Boston, MA
Thurs. Nov. 3 - New Earth Music Hall - Athens, GA
Fri. Nov. 4 - McGlohon Theatre at Spirit Square - Charlotte, NC
Fri. Nov. 11 - Five Spot - Atlanta, GA
Sun. Nov. 13 - Bear Creek Music Festival - Live Oak, FL
Fri. Nov. 18 - Northeastern State University - Tahlequah, OK
Posted 7 months, 4 weeks ago at 1:26 pm. Add a comment
“Race Riot Suite is the type of ambitious, big sonic manifesto that at the very least will make you miss albums, and at the most make you reconsider the music currently in your iPod. In short, it’s an important record.” - Westword
“…sounds like Duke Ellington under the direction of Tom Waits” -Westword
“Nearly all of Tulsa’s storied musical legacy was enveloped in this aural manifestation of the destruction - and rebirth - of culture, community and creative expression. Represented in Friday’s performance was free jazz, pop, rock, blues, Western Swing and bluegrass with piano, lap steel, double bass and a brass ensemble.
All of it was draped loosely in classical Baroque suite format and woven with a tapestry of influences, from Beethoven, Mahler and Mingus to contemporaries such as Animal Collective and Radiohead. ”
Inspired by possibly the worst race riot in American history, the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, it’s being told in the cultural language of the time that has survived - jazz.
The story is beautifully rendered, if not bittersweet, and is, at times, exceedingly painful.
But it’s also beautiful.
“It’s a celebration of Greenwood and a wonderful culture that could not be repressed. It certainly hasn’t been forgotten,” said composer Chris Combs.
The concert runs about an hour, with no intermission.
A nine-piece band will play the entire seven-part piece on the near-90th anniversary of the event that inspired the work.
