Celebrating the Big Ears Festival

(and a lament)

There are many jazz festivals in America. There are many blues, classical, and bluegrass festivals. But there is only one Big Ears Festival. It stands out because it stands for everything— all of the above and more, including music from around the world. You can find just about any music imaginable there. I got to play 3 sets there this year.

It is one of the only music events I’ve ever been to where I feel at home. Why? I want to try to describe this in a way that will be useful to the non-musician and musician alike.

Big Ears, more than any festival in the world, defines “American music.” For me, anyway. I know…those are two big words, “American… music.” What do I mean by that? American music is a great river, many streams feed it, some from black music, some Caucasian music, some from Latin music, even Native American music, and increasingly from music from all over the world. The result is a sum that is the envy of the world. It has inspired millions. Charley Patton swam in this river, Bill Monroe, too—as does Stevie Wonder and Terry Riley. It’s not a rivulet from a single source, but a great river from multiple sources. I swim in that river. I’m incapable of staying in one of the streams for long. This is the river that is under threat by the current administration. What I look for in music is this abundance whose most profound achievement results in subtle, or ecstatic, or uproarious mystery. It’s surprisingly rare. Often, I feel as if I’m living inside a trope or a genre when I hear music. In the big river you hardly know where you are. You’re lost in the current. It’s a beautiful feeling, there’s something bigger than any single conversation going on. It’s a Milky Way of sound rather than a single planet.

Years ago John Zorn pointed out that there is no name for the music that he plays. Nor for mine, I’d add. It’s not like we need one. And yet…we are often homeless except at a place like Big Ears. Well, not John Zorn per se, but the many of us who share his boundless enthusiasms who are, shall we say, less known.

Yes, the phrase “American music” is insubstantial and vague, and surely open to jingoism. But… I struggle for the words to describe the depth of what I’m talking about.

Let’s take one of the events at Big Ears that moved me the most: Meshell Ndegocello’s James Baldwin Project. I wept after this performance it was so deep. There is no way to pigeonhole it. It defined the big river. First of all, the lyrics are transcendent, mostly coming from one of our great American writers. The musicianship was extraordinary. There wasn’t a single extra note in these arrangements, rather a deep, slow conversation, punctuated by silence. The music was rather simple harmonically which allowed a sort of trance state to exist, with hypnotic but never predictable rhythms. Meshell’s voice is wonderful. But Justin Hicks, who shares the vocals, is possibly the most extraordinary singer I have ever heard. One note from this fellow is like a double rainbow. The keyboardist was a master of orchestration and color. Chris Bruce played spare, clear guitar that spoke more to me than the flurries of notes heard elsewhere in the festival. This music has meaning and a message. But you’re never pounded by the message. It’s subtle, it's delivered with sugar, which makes it penetrate even deeper into your core. There’s nothing forced about the music, it takes its time, it explores, blues, funk, jazz, singer-songwriter, and never settles on one of them. It was majestic and mature.

Of note also:

Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins group with three singers— this was my first time hearing Immanuel. What a powerful idea this is, he used the singers brilliantly, deploying his massive chops as a kind of counterweight to the simplicity of the vocals. Brilliant rhythm section playing, too. And a chef onstage!

Terry Riley’s latest string quartet was performed beautifully by Mivos with the inimitable Claire Chase on flute. It was written as Terry approaches his 90^th year! It’s called the Holy Lift Off. Is there a better title for a piece? Terry defines the Big Ears model. He is a national treasure. And they played in a church. So perfect. A wonderful ambience, so intimate.

Jamaladeen!

Banjoist Bela Fleck’s latest project with harpist Edmar Castaneda and drummer Antonio Sanchez blew my mind. Apparently Bela is capable of anything. Each of his successive projects works incredibly well and is quite different from the last. He has a core, a center, but he branches off wildly in variegated directions, embracing the whole of humanity as his own, and giving back as if his life depended on it. Sometimes the sheer virtuosity from these players is a bit overwhelming. But it was all deployed with astute musicality. Bela must’ve been dropped from some kind of planet that the rest of us need a secret passport for. I just don’t see how he does it.

What are you going to call this? It’s not “jazz.” It’s polyglot.

This idea about us being a polyglot nation is an endangered idea right now. I’m not going to start raving about the mess we’re in. That’s for others to do. But I will say this.

We, my fellow artists, BIG EARS, are an antidote. The beauty, the love, the unity we strive to create stands against warring factions, vicious backbiting, infantile sloganeering, draconian grandstanding, bilious billionaires, and medieval rhetoric that seeks to whitewash our past. If you want to feel better about life, if you want your spirit cleansed, visit Knoxville next March.

Everywhere I went I felt love. My own performances, which I have not described in this dispatch, were met with great enthusiasm. Of particular note were “first time” duos between 5 guitar players on an Alt Guitar Summit program. Mary Halvorson with Nels Cline, Wendy Eisenberg with Gregory Uhlmann, etc. (More on my favorite thing, guitar duos, below.)

I would walk down the street and have people stop me and tell me how much they appreciated me. I saw old friends and had impactful, amusing conversations. I must’ve hugged 20 people. Everyone who works at the Festival is wonderful to deal with. The whole thing is like some sort of glowing ritual that comes and goes like a dream. You always want more when it’s done.

Nate Mercereau, Jerome Harris, me, Brandon Seabrook

I’ll repeat what I said last year. Why is this the only festival of its kind? I’ve been living from the artistic viewpoint I describe above since I was a teenager. I believed in this model before I could even articulate the model itself. I’ve been waiting for the world to catch up. And yet we still are divided into silos. We’re still enduring gatekeepers. We’re still relegated to genre, to skin color, to religions, to genders. Music is its own identity. In the great river, none of this exists. We all know the great river. It exists inside all of us.

I celebrate the big river. I’m grateful to Big Ears. I would like to see the rest of the world transform itself in the way that it has over this four-day miracle of art.

And finally…

Here’s a video of some of my Free Country set w/ Darol Anger, Greg Tardy, Gary Versace, Rudy Royston, Stephan Crump, Evelyn Jack. It’s our last number, Shady Grove, so we’re HITTING. It’s my i-phone so, forgive the audio.

And (really finally)

If you love guitar duos (as I do) please consider checking out my new double album of duos, classical and jazz, “Guitar Talk Vol. 2. It releases April 18. You can check it out here: