Jeremy Cunningham’s The Weather Up There | Ars Nova Workshop
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Jeremy Cunningham’s The Weather Up There

with Ben LaMar Gay / Chad Taylor Duo

January 13, 2019

Please join us for the Philadelphia premeire of Jeremy Cunningham’s The Weather Up There, plus a very special duo set from Ben LaMar Gay and Chad Taylor.

In 2017, Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs awarded Jeremy Cunningham an artist grant for his forthcoming album “The Weather Up There,” which addresses the tragedy of losing his younger brother Andrew in a home invasion robbery in 2008. Working closely with Jeff Parker and Paul Bryan, this new work confronts gun violence and examines the acute ripple effect on several people’s lives through the lens of memory, response, and collage. Cunningham includes regular collaborators Ben LeMar Gay, Jaimie Branch, Dustin Laurenzi, and Matt Ulery, in addition to a drum choir comprised of mentors and colleagues Mike Reed, Makaya McCraven, and Mikel Patrick Avery. The album also includes interviews from family members, and close friends, as well as recent poetry surrounding the experience of loss and the effect of gun violence. These musical compositions come to life live through an immersive experience, which includes many of the same artists, along with an accompanying visual tapestry comprised of original content shot on location in Cincinnati, and performed live by experimental video artist Kim Alpert. Cunningham has also paired with EveryTown For Gun Safety, a non-profit that shares his passion for enacting common sense gun laws.

Since moving to Chicago in 2009, Cunningham has performed with an impressive roster of luminaries such as Von Freeman, Chris Foreman, Jeff Parker, Mike Allemana, Marquis Hill, and Nick Mazzarella. He can be heard on Marquis Hill’s albums “New Gospel” and “Sounds of the City,” as well as Nick Mazzarella’s Meridian Trio recording “Triangulum.” In addition to performing in clubs and festivals throughout Chicago, Cunningham also appears throughout the United States with various projects. He has toured internationally with IsWhat?!, the Moshier/Lebrun Collective, and Paul Giallorenzo’s GitGo.

Ben LaMar Gay
Ben LaMar Gay

One of the most prolific collaborators in Chicago’s creative music community, Ben LaMar Gay makes active contributions to Theaster Gates’s Black Monks of Mississippi, Nicole Mitchell’s EarthSeed, Mike Reed’s Flesh & Bone, Matthew Lux’s Communication Arts Quartet, Joshua Abrams’s Natural Information Society, Bitchin Bajas & many more. He’s a default descendent and a long-time participant in the AACM (i.e. the legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). Beyond being the brains behind Bottle Tree – the future funk suite released by International Anthem in April of 2017 that was named “#1 Best Album of the Year” by London’s EZH Magazine (c/o founder Tina Edwards) and on NPR’s Sound Opinions (c/o producer Ayana Contreras) – he was a core component of Makaya McCraven’s Highly Rare and a cornet cameo on Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die (both of which were included in the New York Times’s “Best Albums of 2017”). Suffices to say, Ben LaMar Gay is nearly omnipresent in the current zeitgeist of progressive jazz sounds sprouting from Chicago.


Cover: Jeremy Cunningham
Sunday, January 13
xxx8:00pm

Category

  • Performance

Program Info

Featuring

Jeremy Cunningham’s The Weather Up There

  • Jeff Parker – guitar
  • Dustin Laurenzi – saxophone + electronics
  • Mike King – piano
  • Paul Bryan – bass
  • Jeremy Cunningham – drums

Ben LaMar Gay / Chad Taylor Duo

  • Ben LaMar Gay – cornet + electronics
  • Chad Taylor – drums/percussion + electronics

Venue

Boot & Saddle
Philadelphia, PA