Showing posts with label Chris Hills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Hills. Show all posts
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Saturday, August 03, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Master drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses to hold master class
Among
the four members of the legendary, pioneering jazz-fusion band The Free Spirits coming to Portland in August
to celebrate their friend and bandmate Jim Pepper is world-renowned master
drummer and educator Rakalam Bob Moses.
“Drummer,
composer, artist, poet, dancer, visionary, nature mystic (Rakalam) Bob Moses's life has been a continuous
quest for vision, spirit, compassion, growth, and mastery in a multiplicity of
art forms.”—New England Conservatory
Bob
will arrive in Portland in time to conduct a master class in doing what he does
(time and place and other details TBA) before taking the stage Friday and Saturday
evenings August 9 & 10 for the historic reunion concert of The Free
Spirits. And then he’s off to tour Australia and New Zealand.
This
will give you a sense of what you don’t want to miss:
Photo
by Andrew Hurlbut
“I can see two major
traditions or trains of thought colliding and merging in my music.
“One is the path of the
nature visionary; one who can travel without moving, to and through various
dimensions and planes of reality. In my life I have seen through the veils,
kissed butterflies, envisioned animated three-dimensional scenes and stepped into
those scenes, talked to and played with spirits of other worlds, past, present
and future. I have been a flower, a mountain, a raging river, a stone….
“The other tradition or
stream that I swim in is the Great River of African Music in all its manifestations:
the importance of clave’, groove, swing, rhythm, dance, hip-shaking, rhythm and
rhyme sublime, shadows and light by day, by night, Jazz, Funk, Rhythm and
Blues, Hip Hop, Rap, Reggae, Calypso, Zouk, Soukous, Samba, Afro-Cuban, Salsa
are all psychically if not geographically emanating from Africa….
“So the streams merge and
become one vast, deep, infinite music:
“Music
with groove but no walls
Music with
soul but no boundaries
Music with
roots but no ceilings
Music of
hope and love and humor”
--Rakalam Bob Moses, from When Elephants Dream of Music
–on Bob Moses’ When Elephants Dream of
Music:
"Bob Moses has now
emerged as the possessor of one of the grander imaginations in America's true
classical music. No orchestral composer of this scope, mellow wit, and freshly
distinctive range of colors has come along since Gil Evans."-Nat Hentoff, Modern
Recording and Music
“Bob Moses, composer, drummer, poet, artist,
conceptualizer, inspirer of people, has created a musical environment that is
balanced between discipline and freedom, compositional design and spontaneous
inspiration. A party with a purpose. This album is original, soulful, funny…and
very special. I hope a lot of people get as much enjoyment from it as I have”.
–Gil Evans
–on On Time Stood Still
"Leave it to Moses, a multi-directional
shamanistic groovilator, to put all the pieces together. On Time Stood
Still, another sprawling production of DeMille-ian scale, he seamlessly
blends Monk, funk, tap, hip hop, bebop, big band, blues, Bahia, Tanzania, and
the avant garde into one organic package while paying homage to the spirits of
Gil Evans, Charles Mingus, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Jaco Pastorius."-Bill Milkowski, Down
Beat
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JimPepperNativeArtsFestival
Website:
www.jimpepperfest.net
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
John-Carlos Perea remembers Jim Pepper
I was first introduced to the
music of Jim Pepper while studying for my undergraduate degree in Music at San
Francisco State University. At that time I was listening to John Coltrane and
also to pow-wow and Native American flute music. I knew there was a connection
there but I did not understand how to make that connection in my playing and in
my life.
I
spoke to saxophonist Francis Wong at that time about my interests and he loaned
me his copy of Pepper’s Dakota Song.
That loan led me to research Pepper’s discography and eventually to Pepper’s
performance of Coltrane’s “Naima” on Everything
is Everything featuring Chris Hills. Hearing Pepper play “Naima” helped me
finally make that connection between jazz and intertribal Native American
music, a connection that set me on my own career as an electric bassist, cedar
flutist, singer, and composer.
Pepper’s
music sets a precedent in jazz and Native American music for the way he crossed
back and forth between straight-ahead, fusion, avant garde, and many other
styles. When I listen to Pepper’s playing and composing I also hear bravery and
fearlessness. He understood the importance of “Witchi Tai To” as a peyote song
but he also saw the importance of rearranging it into the new song that
circulates globally today in so many different versions and styles. I feel
grateful to have learned these lessons from Jim Pepper and I am happy that the
Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival will provide a space to remember Jim Pepper and
to present new music inspired by him in the future.
John Betsch remembers Jim Pepper
“We met the summer of 1966 at a jam
session in NYC with Chris Hills and a couple of others whose names escape me,
and I was stunned by his sound and spirit. He was complaining about his chops
and that special horn that I eventually took to Selmer for repairs, beginning
their special relationship, and which is now in the Smithsonian National Museum
of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
“We remet in 1981 at a festival in
Austria when he was with Don Cherry and I was with Archie Shepp, Mal Waldron
and Santi Debriano, who became key players in our lives later. We realized we
were neighbors in Park Slope and thus began our close association, playing
together in the Park and at the home of Gordon Lee where Jim was staying.
“When we both moved to Brooklyn our
friendship continued to grow and at his and Caren's apartment I met Pura Fe
among others. When I moved to Europe in 1985, invited by trombonist Marty Cook,
Marty and I began bringing Jim over for tours a year or so afterward.
“Through the Munich associations
with ENJA and TUTU Records things began to take shape with tours and recordings
with first Marty's quartet with Jim's Portland friend Essiet Essiet, then with Ed
Schuller on bass, and later the quartet with Ed and Mal Waldron, Santi and Kirk
Lightsey, Claudine Francois with whom I was living near Paris and finally guitarist
Bill Bickford.
“The Mal Waldron--Ed Schuller band
literally made people cry: three different people came to me after gigs and
said, "I was crying and didn't know why".
“My personal high water mark was a
gig in a club near Vienna where Jim finally relocated: when we did the songs
from the ‘Comin and Goin’ recording, everybody in the club sang all of the
words. I will never forget the look on Jim's face when he turned around and
looked at me with a ‘Do you believe this shit?!?!’ look on his face.
“When I developed a tumor on my
right shoulder bone and Jim's lymphoma forced us into being on chemo at the
same time, we decided to phone each other every Monday morning and talk about
our experiences. We called each other "the brothers we never had"
because of both having sisters as siblings and our musical and personal
relationship remains the most special of my life.” – John Betsch, June 21, 2013,
Paris, France.
Hear this great band
here: Jim Pepper, Mal Waldron, Ed Schuller, John Betsch:
Friday, May 24, 2013
I'm Gonna Be Free - Rare Jim Pepper - The Free Spirits Live - on KBOO 90.7FM
Tune into KBOO 90.7FM this Saturday May 25 2:00-3:30pm
PST for an hour and a half of rare Jim Pepper audio tracks, Jim PepperFest 2013
updates and more on The Motif’s
show.
Live streaming here: http://kboo.fm/content/themotifreimagineajazzsensibilityon052513
The
Free Spirits
We will start the show with
tracks from the recently-released cd The Free Spirits Live at The Scene,
NYC, 1967…. Pioneering jazz/rock mayhem…I’m
Gonna Be Free, for the rest of my days….
What Larry Coryell, Rakalam
Bob Moses, Chris Hills, Columbus Chip Baker and the late Jim Pepper were up to
on February 22, 1967….
And what we are planning for
August 7-10, 2013 at the Parkrose HS Performing Arts Center in Portland, Oregon….
Mark your calendars….
The Motif: Re-Imagine a Jazz Sensibility
Post modern representations of improvisation,
across dramatic modes, and re-imagined spaces of diverse music genre, hosted
by The Motif, aka Yugen Kelsaw.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Rakalam Bob Moses -- When Elephants Dream of Music
On Rakalam Bob Moses of The Free Spirits
By Sean Aaron Cruz
Portland, Oregon—
“Drummer,
composer, artist, poet, dancer, visionary, nature mystic (Rakalam) Bob Moses's life has been a continuous
quest for vision, spirit, compassion, growth, and mastery in a multiplicity of
art forms.”—New England Conservatory
Among the four members of the legendary, pioneering jazz-fusion band The Free Spirits coming to Portland in August
to celebrate their friend and bandmate Jim Pepper is world-renowned master
drummer and educator Rakalam Bob Moses.
Photo by Andrew
Hurlbut
Born in New York City, Bob Moses began his career as a teenager performing
with the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk. In 1965, Bob Moses, guitarist Larry
Coryell, bassist Chris Hills, guitarist Columbus Chip Baker and Jim Pepper
formed The Free Spirits.
The Free Spirits jazz-rocked New
York City in 1965-67, releasing just one LP, Out of Sight and Sound, before parting, each taking his own path,
and now more than four decades later reuniting in the neighborhood where Jim
Pepper first picked up his saxophone.
Jim
PepperFest 2013: Rise of the Free Spirits
The Jim Pepper Native Arts
Festival
Parkrose
HS Performing Arts Center, Portland, Oregon
August
7-10, 2013
“I can see two major traditions or trains of
thought colliding and merging in my music.
“One is the path of the nature visionary;
one who can travel without moving, to and through various dimensions and planes
of reality. In my life I have seen through the veils, kissed butterflies,
envisioned animated three-dimensional scenes and stepped into those scenes,
talked to and played with spirits of other worlds, past, present and future. I
have been a flower, a mountain, a raging river, a stone….
“The other tradition or stream that I swim
in is the Great River of African Music in all its manifestations: the importance
of clave’, groove, swing, rhythm, dance, hip-shaking, rhythm and rhyme sublime,
shadows and light by day, by night, Jazz, Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Hip Hop, Rap,
Reggae, Calypso, Zouk, Soukous, Samba, Afro-Cuban, Salsa are all psychically if
not geographically emanating from Africa….
“So the streams merge and become one vast, deep,
infinite music:
“Music with groove
but no walls
Music with soul
but no boundaries
Music with roots
but no ceilings
Music of hope and
love and humor”
--Rakalam
Bob Moses, from When Elephants Dream of
Music
Trevor, from When Elephants Dream
of Music
–on Bob Moses’ When Elephants Dream of Music:
"Bob Moses
has now emerged as the possessor of one of the grander imaginations in
America's true classical music. No orchestral composer of this scope, mellow
wit, and freshly distinctive range of colors has come along since Gil
Evans."-Nat Hentoff, Modern Recording and Music
“Bob Moses, composer, drummer, poet, artist, conceptualizer, inspirer of
people, has created a musical environment that is balanced, between discipline
and freedom, compositional design and spontaneous inspiration. A party with a
purpose. This album is original, soulful, funny…and very special. I hope a lot
of people get as much enjoyment from it as I have”. –Gil Evans
–on On Time Stood Still
"Leave it to Moses, a multi-directional shamanistic groovilator, to
put all the pieces together. On Time Stood Still, another sprawling
production of DeMille-ian scale. He seamlessly blends Monk, funk, tap, hip hop,
bebop, big band, blues, Bahia, Tanzania, and the avant garde into one organic
package while paying homage to the spirits of Gil Evans, Charles Mingus,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Jaco Pastorius."-Bill Milkowski, Down
Beat
~~~~~~~~~
This article was written while the author was listening to and under the
influence of When Elephants Dream of
Music.
The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival is a project of the Oregon Cultural
Heritage Commission and its partners:
The Regional Arts & Culture Council
Parkrose Neighborhood Association
Parkrose School District
Russellville Grange
Travel Portland
Save the dates: The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival Aug 7-10, 2013
Save
the dates:
Jim
PepperFest 2013: Rise of the Free Spirits
The Jim Pepper Native Arts
Festival
Parkrose HS
Performing Arts Center, Portland, Oregon
August 7-10,
2013
A project of the Oregon Cultural
Heritage Commission and its partners
Monday, April 01, 2013
RACC Opportunity Grant kicks off Jim PepperFest 2013 fundraising
The Regional Arts & Culture Commission (RACC) has
awarded a $10,000 Opportunity Grant to the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission
(OCHC) in support of Jim PepperFest 2013: The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival.
A message from OCHC President David Milholland just arrived,
announcing:
“Today
we opened a letter that stated: “Congratulations! It is my pleasure to inform
you that the Regional Arts & Culture Council is awarding funds for your
Special Opportunity Grant proposal. Your award amount for this cycle in 2012-13
is $10,000 based on the review panel scoring as approved by the RACC
Board of Directors.” These are the first funds formally committed for our Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival this
August 7-10 at Parkrose High School
“More
news in the near future on this groundbreaking cultural event.
“Please
visit our website – www.ochcom.org/events.html – which details six
April, 2013
events in celebration of OCHC’s 25th birthday this spring. All are
free and each reflects our longstanding Mission Statement:
The Oregon
celebrates, and commemorates contributions to
Oregon’s diverse literary and cultural legacy,
raising awareness through publications and
other media, memorials, and public events.
“May your own spring be fruitful.
Thanks for your support and interest these many years.”
Cordially, David Milholland – OCHC
President
The Regional Arts and Culture Council serves Multnomah, Clackamas
and Washington counties.
RACC Vision, Mission
Vision
To enrich community life
by working with partners to create an environment in which the arts and culture
of the region flourish and prosper.
Through vision, leadership
and service the Regional Arts & Culture Council works to integrate arts and
culture in all aspects of community life.
Core Values
We value freedom of
artistic and cultural expression as a fundamental human right.
We value a diversity of artistic and cultural experiences.
We value a diversity of artistic and cultural experiences.
We value a community in
which everyone can participate in arts and culture.
We value a community that celebrates and supports its artists, and its arts and cultural organizations.
We value a community that celebrates and supports its artists, and its arts and cultural organizations.
We value arts and culture
as key elements in creating desirable places to live, work and visit
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