Like so many jazz festivals this year, New York’s avant-garde Vision Festival was canceled due to the pandemic. But its organizers, Arts for Art, didn’t give up on 2020 entirely. This week, a reimagined version of the fest will take place both live and online. Vision Festival: Healing Soul, as it’s being billed, will begin Thursday, October 8 with a livestream solo performance by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, followed by a series of events from Friday, October 9 through Monday, October 12 that will be both livestreamed and held in front of an outdoor audience. Participating artists include Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Amina Claudine Myers, and William Parker; a full schedule is below.
All outdoor events will take place at La Plaza at the Clemente on New York’s Lower East Side (a.k.a. a parking lot on Norfolk Street, north of Delancey). The outdoor Vision Festival will be limited-capacity, socially distanced, and in compliance with all CDC and New York City guidelines. Daily outdoor tickets are $75, and virtual tickets are $15. Both are available here.
The full-fledged Vision Festival plans to return in 2021.
VISION FESTIVAL: HEALING SOUL
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8
VIRTUAL
7:00pm ET
Wadada Leo Smith – solo trumpet, solo piano
8:00pm
Jazz Responds to Humanity in Crisis, In and Outside the Jazz Community
A roundtable discussion (on Zoom) with William Parker, Amirtha Kidambi, Fay Victor, Gerald Cleaver, Arturo O’Farrill, and JD Allen, moderated by Patricia Parker
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9
LIVE
Outdoors in La Plaza at the Clemente, 114 Norfolk St., NYC
5:00pm ET
The Healing Force
Patricia Nicholson – text, movement voice
Voices: Ellen Christi, Jean Carla Rodea, Amirtha Kidambi, Andrea Wolper / Ava Mendoza – guitar / Val Jeanty – electronics, percussion
6:00pm
Afro-Algonquin Trio
Lee Mixashawn Rozie – voice, sax, banjo / Rick Rozie – bass / Royal Hartigan – drums
7:00pm
Oliver Lake Organ Quartet
Oliver Lake – sax / Jared Gold – organ / Freddie Hendrix – trumpet / Chris Beck – drums
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
LIVE Outdoors in La Plaza at the Clemente, 114 Norfolk St., NYC
1:00pm ET
Children’s Music Is Mine Workshop (free)
4:00pm
OPEN SPACE
Hamid Drake – drums / Brandon Lopez – bass / James Brandon Lewis – sax / Alexis Marcelo – keyboards
5:00pm
Fay Victor Mutations for Justice
Fay Victor – voice, composition / Mazz Swift – violin / Chris Williams – trumpet / Luke Stewart – bass / Jason Nazary – drums
6:00pm
Amina Claudine Myers Trio
Amina Claudine Myers – keyboards / Jerome Harris – bass, voice / Reggie Nicholson – drums
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
LIVE
Outdoors in La Plaza at the Clemente, 114 Norfolk St., NYC
1:00pm ET
Children’s Music Is Mine Workshop (free)
4:00pm
Andrew Cyrille Quartet
David Virelles – piano / Bill Frisell -guitar / Ben Street – bass / Andrew Cyrille – drums
5:30pm
POET Tyehimba Jess
6:00pm
Gerald Cleaver Black Host
Cooper-Moore – keyboards / Darius Jones – sax / Brandon Seabrook – guitar / Brandon Lopez – bass / Gerald Cleaver – drums
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12
LIVE
Outdoors in La Plaza at the Clemente, 114 Norfolk St., NYC
4:00pm ET
David Murray Trio with Luke Stewart – bass / Ronnie Burrage – drums
5:30pm
POET Latasha Diggs
6:00pm
William Parker’s In Order to Survive Quintet
Rob Brown – alto sax / James Brandon Lewis – tenor sax / Cooper-Moore – keyboards / Hamid Drake – drums
