Empty Cage Quartet "Free Jazz from the Sanctuary"

The Empty Cage Quartet, recorded live on September 20, 2008 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, N.Y., has been consistently praised as one of the most powerful and original new jazz groups to emerge from the American West Coast. For over a decade they (Jason Mears, alto saxophone; Kris Tiner, trumpet; Ivan Johnson, double bass; Paul Kikuchi, drums, percussion) have explored new ways to integrate a diverse mix of musical influences, from traditional forms to contemporary experimental practices. The result is a continually evolving, multidimensional approach to jazz and new music performance, improvisational acuity, and compositional craft that Amazing Sounds Magazine has described as an “urban folk music of the future.”
"Free Jazz from the Sanctuary" is a 13-part series of jazz performance videos featuring some of the world's most talented improvisers performing a wide spectrum of music in the genre broadly known as free jazz. These uncompromising and inventive musicians create new languages and expressive forms, with an aesthetic and conceptual edge that challenges listeners to look at the world anew.
Like freedom itself, free jazz as a term defies definition. The name most likely comes from Ornette Coleman's 1961 album "Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation." This music celebrates the individual voice and collective action-and, like anyone exploring the limits of freedom, the musicians who play it sometimes find themselves on the edge of what is commercially, culturally and politically acceptable. But they endure… and their quest continues!
The featured musicians in this series of videos are:
• The Thirteenth Assembly (Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson, Jessica Pavone)
• Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (Kahil El'Zabar, Ernest Dawkins, Corey Wilkes)
• Fay Victor Ensemble (Ken Filiano, Anders Nilsson, Michael TA Thompson, Fay Victor)
• From Between Trio (Michel Doneda, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jack Wright)
• Michael Vlatkovich Quartet (Christopher Garcia, Jonathan Golove, David Mott, Michael Vlatkovich)
• Sax Soup Poetry and Voice (Joe Giardullo, Pierre Joris, Nicole Peyrafitte)
• Trio Tarana (Sam Bardfeld, Ravish Momin, Brian Prunka)
• The Ras Ensemble (Clif Jackson, Dave Miller, Ras Moshe, Tor Yochai Snyder)
• William Hooker
• Empty Cage Quartet (Ivan Johnson, Paul Kikuchi, Jason Mears, Kris Tiner)
• Weasel Walter Trio (Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Weasel Walter)
• Splatto Festival Chorus (Dave Barrett, Michael Bisio, Ed Mann, Todd Reynolds)
• Amiri Baraka and Rob Brown
The concerts were recorded live between 2007-2009 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media, a historic former church in North Troy.
"Free Jazz from the Sanctuary" was made possible in part with support from the New York State Council on the Arts Presenting Program and the NYS Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors when investigations into the practice of “payola” or “pay for play” by major recording and broadcasting companies were resolved. These settlements stipulated that funds paid by the music businesses should benefit the residents of New York State through music education and appreciation programs.
Media Alliance, a non-profit advocate for the media arts, operates The Sanctuary for Independent Media. It’s a place where politically engaged interdisciplinary artists experiment with aesthetic form and challenging content. In this sanctuary, the overarching goal is to shed light on media arts’ vital role in the process of building a democratic society.
www.MediaSanctuary.org