Amina Figarova’s ‘September Suite’ a highlight
Creators of jazz and other new music in New York are a resolute bunch, determined to make the best of circumstances that are tough even in the best of times. Immediately after the World Trade Center towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, local musicians I know reacted to the shocking incidents like second responders. They took it upon themselves to soothe, to reflect, to heal if possible, and by all means to go on and urge others to do the same.
When the Blue Note Jazz Club in the Village—just beyond the disaster zone—re-opened four days after the attacks, I heard Cameroonian electric bassist and singer Richard Bona lead an ensemble there with an impressively quiet message of warmth and hope. Pianist Myra Melford, a good friend, told me about her duet gig with reeds specialist Marty Ehrlich at the Knitting Factory, very close to ground zero: “The vibe was that we had come together as a community, musicians and audience alike. The atmosphere was charged with the power of music and had an especially sacred quality.”
Amina Figarova. Photo by Robert Beck.
Musicians, of course, know their art brings people together but is generally more significant as symbolic expression than shield or weapon. They couldn’t restore the towers or change history, but they could go deeper into themselves to connect with core beliefs and bring forth their faith in the values of individuality and originality, the practice of freedom and the will to experiment. So the decade that followed has been marked by jazz and new music makers’ determination not to be deterred from what the Taliban and Tea Party alike may consider marginal activities, if not outright affronts to God’s dominion. Whether the city suffers attacks from abroad, natural disasters or economic collapses caused by the financial services sector that thrives in our midst, the minds of composers and the bands of improvisers play on.
So though few musicians in the wake of the Bush era’s early calamities set their sights on reverse jihad, many produced works out of the dramas they experienced or observed. One such was pianist-composer Amina Figarova. Born in Azerbaijan and educated at the Baku Conservatory, in the late ’80s she had converted to jazz, moved to the Netherlands, studied at Boston’s Berklee College and met and married Belgian flutist Bart Platteau. Over the course of 20 years the couple established their international concert and recording careers; last spring they moved from Rotterdam to Astoria. On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Figarova’s sextet with Platteau performed the New York premiere of her September Suite at the Metropolitan Room. It was a resonant event.
Figarova was visiting friends in Brooklyn on Sept. 11, and was so disturbed by the destruction she awoke to that she refused to watch the endless video replays. However, a little later a BBC documentary caught her attention with its story of a 9/11 widow and her daughter struggling with the WTC death of their husband/father. Viewing their trials as a passage through stages of grief, Amina sat at her piano and conjured the dark bass line of “Numb,” the first of her suite’s nine movements. She likens that theme to pure evil.
Actually, Figarova is incapable of composing or performing music that evokes evil, violence or ugliness—she and Platteau live in a world where beauty is measured with purposeful nuance. In September Suite, her flute-tenor sax-trumpet front line, crisp piano comping and probing or delicate solos with bass-drum support depict tension unto strife, sorrow met with compassion, denial running its brisk course, the bittersweet solace of memories, the urge for revenge but no unleashing of rage, attempts at reconstruction, the enduring pain of loss, tentative recovery of life’s promise and arrival of new maturity. The suite is not programmatic; it can be listened to and enjoyed without reference to 9/11. But the fact of that day is part of it, not to be dismissed or forgotten. September Suite on record returns to where it began, with “Numb” reprised in only slightly recast (sadder? wiser?) form.
And so it is for the ongoing life of new music in New York City. We play and/or listen without hurt and fear haunting every moment, but always at least subliminally aware of the world’s troubles, dangers and unpredictability. We cling to our defenses, real or assumed, and music is one of the best of them. While people are engaged with music, it’s unimaginable they simultaneously hate. When the spontaneous joys of jazz or exploratory efforts of accomplished innovators reach us, we’re transported to our finer instincts and want to be joined there by everyone.
Consequently, we find exciting potential in the new season. The opening of adventurous music and dance presenter Roulette’s new home, a 650-seat theater on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, is emblematic. Genius mavericks including Anthony Braxton, Morton Subotnick, Sally Silver, George E. Lewis, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, John Zorn, Henry Threadgill, Simone Forti, Elliott Sharp, Lisa Moore, Wadada Leo Smith and Adam Rudolph will now try to draw the larger audiences Roulette deserves across the river from its longstanding downtown precincts.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center schedule strikes a different tone. Maybe because Wynton Marsalis is turning 50, autumn at the Rose Theater starts on September with revered elders, the saxophonist Jimmy Heath and vocalist Jon Hendricks. Then stars of the past and present up’n’comers—alto saxists Phil Woods and Grace Kelly, composer Gerald Wilson with his guitarist son Anthony and the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra—are paired in a Generations in Jazz series at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.
JALC is emphasizing jazz’s Hispanic elements in 2011-12, but so is Symphony Space, where Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra will stage three ambitious programs of classics and commissions to mark its 10th anniversary. Dig that: the same year the Twin Towers went down, a big band was born. In the 21st century, jazz orchestras performing original repertoire are regarded as an endangered species. No one told Arturo O’Farrill. Talk about resolve.
JAZZ
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival: Postponed due to Hurricane Irene, the SummerStage festival features Kenny Werner, James Carter, Tia Fuller & The Gerald Clayton Trio. Richard Rogers Amphitheater, Marcus Garvey Park, Madison Ave. betw. E. 120th & E. 124th Sts., summerstage.org; 6–10, free.
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola: Joe Chambers & his orchestra perform “Moving Pictures” & other works. Ends Sept. 18, Broadway at 60th St., 212-258-9595, jalc.org.
Ella Lounge: Always stylish Dandy Wellington & the Made to Measure Band perform modern jazz, swing, pop & more, with inventive new takes on classic tunes. Every Thurs., 9 Ave. A, 212-777-2230, ellalounge.com; 8, free.
Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall: Jimmy Heath, Jon Hendricks, Kevin Burke, Aria Hendricks, Michelle Hendricks, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves & Sachal Vasandani perform for the opening night of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Sept. 24, Broadway at 60th St., 212-258-9800, jalc.org; 8, $30+.
