Monday, March 18, 2024

Hip-Hop Met Fats Waller in LA!

jason moran
Jason Moran

*Los Angeles, CA  – Jason Moran, MacArthur “genius” Fellow and Artistic Advisor for Jazz at the Kennedy Center, brought his deeply researched knowledge of Fats Waller and his music to a performance that fully embodied the legendary Harlem pianist and singer at VPAC/Valley Performing Arts Center this past Tuesday. Rolling Stone calls Moran “the most provocative thinker in current jazz.”

The Washington Post wrote of Moran’s Fats Waller Dance Party shows, “The band largely reshapes Waller’s tunes for a hip-hop ear — often by seizing on hidden beats or fleeting riffs from the original recordings and turning them into the foundation for new renditions. That happens some on the record, but things go in more varied directions, too.”

Moran explains: “Dance has been a part of society for a long time. So some of the rhythms that come out in these songs, I’ve always felt they weren’t new. They were rhythms that were already embedded in Fats Waller’s music, except that I just decided to clip them out and make them a focal point.”

Moran’s Fats Waller, Dance Party, which he created with Me’shell Ndegeocello, was commissioned by the Harlem Stage as part of its first Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival. The show paid tribute both to the spirit of Waller and to a club he played in Harlem, Small’s. At its premiere, the New York Times observed “the show felt both site-specific and spur of the moment. The band geared itself toward dancing and sounded easygoing its first time out.”

Rolling Stone says, “Jason Moran [is] shaping up to be the most provocative thinker in current jazz.”

Moran will be touring Europe this spring with saxophonist Charles Lloyd.

Jason Moran channels Fats Waller
Jason Moran channels Fats Waller=

About Jason Moran

Since his formidable emergence on the music scene in the late 90s, jazz pianist Jason Moran has proven more than his brilliance as a performer. The Blue Note Records recording artist has established himself as a risk-taker and innovator of new directions for jazz as a whole.

In almost every category that matters – improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and experimentation – Moran, and his group The Bandwagon – with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits – have challenged the status quo, and earned the reputation as “the future of jazz.”

Frequently influenced by the wider world of art as his muse, Moran has found inspiration in edgy 20th century painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat (check out “JAMO Meets SAMO” from Soundtrack to Human Motion, as well as his ongoing series of “Gangsterism” compositions);

Egon Schiele (whose painting “Facing Left” provided the eponymous title to Moran’s second album); and Robert Rauschenberg, whose chaotic refinement inspired Moran’s third album Black Stars, featuring the legendary Sam Rivers.

Music education still plays a central role in Moran’s life. He is on the piano faculty at Manhattan School of Music. He has been lecturer/instructor at Yale University, Dartmouth University, University of Pennsylvania, Eastman School of Music, The Kennedy Center, The New School, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Banff Center for The Arts, Denmarks’ Vallekilde Jazz Camp, Skidmore and Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Moran has performed and/or recorded with artists Cassandra Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland, Marian McPartland, Don Byron, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, Von Freeman, Andrew Hill (duo), Uri Caine (duo), Bunky Green, Sam Rivers, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Chris Potter, Jenny Scheinman, Christian McBride, and Stefon Harris.

His ongoing visionary collaborations in the art world have brought him additional fans and respect. Moran’s music is in the collections of both the MOMA and Whitney Museum of American Art. He scored a ballet for renowned Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, as well as scoring video works for contemporary American artists Glenn Ligon and Kara Walker. Moran also has worked with pivotal visual/performance artists Joan Jonas and Adrian Piper. A future collaboration with Grammy-nominated neo-soul artist Meshell Ndegeocello – a dance party centered on the music of Fats Waller – will premiere in 2011.

Moran lives in New York City with his wife, mezzo soprano Alicia Hall Moran, and their twin toddlers.

SELECT REVIEWS

Although he has the facility to play with breathtaking fleetness, his uniqueness traces to his refusal to be locked into predictable, bebop-based patterns.

—The Los Angeles Times

Moran is like no other pianist at work. His improvisations are dynamic, eruptive, keyed to the compositions at hand.

Village Voice

When Jason Moran performs with his trio, Bandwagon, these days, he engages in a ritual that befits one of the most independent minds now working in jazz.

The New York Times

Of course, countless other jazz musicians have tried to reinvent eras past, including the elliptical 1960s, with varying degrees of success. But it’s Moran’s writing, the bane of so many a young pyrotechnic lions, that separates him.

Newsweek

…Moran has earned nearly unanimous acclaim, demonstrating with wit and imagination the triumphs possible in jazz…

—JAZZ by Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux

About Valley Performing Arts Center

The Valley Performing Arts Center’s 2015-16 Season signals a new era for the five-year old premiere event venue.  Under the leadership of Executive Director Thor Steingraber, VPAC expands its programming to include new and original work, and outstanding multi-disciplinary performances. Located on the campus of California State University Northridge, VPAC’s season offers a vibrant and diverse performance program of nearly 50 classical and popular music, dance, theater, family and international events that will serve to establish VPAC as the intellectual and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley and further establish itself as one of the top arts companies in Southern California.  The award-winning 1,700-seat theatre was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers and was recently cited by the LA Times as “a growing hub for live music, dance, drama and other cultural events.”

We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!

YOU MAY LIKE

SEARCH

- Advertisement -

TRENDING