nc.la at Noon 2 Midnight
As luck would have it, at least three of our writers independently ended up at the LA Phil Noon 2 Midnight marathon festival last weekend, and a fourth (Violet Dream) performed as part of the Isaura Quartet (my favorite complete set of the day). Huge congrats to Violet, and here are some of our highlights:
Richard An: Vicki Ray has known and worked with Annea Lockwood for decades, and it is perhaps due to that familiarity that produces an intense, fiery performance of Lockwood’s Jitterbug, with a skillful combination of intention and ease. Wesley Sumpter was once a Resident Fellow at the LA Phil and now performs regularly with the orchestra as a de-facto member of the percussion section; at scarcely 30 years old, Sumpter steps up to the task of matching up with these two fixtures of new music in Lockwood and Ray. A luxurious field recording of natural sounds provide a bed of material on top of which Ray and Sumpter are free to trade gestures. A masterful performance, and my favorite of the roughly 6 hour span that I was present.
Jack Herscowitz: Among the highlights of the day was saxophonist, composer, and producer Josh Johnson’s solo set for saxophone and electronics, Unusual Object: which shares the same name as his most recent solo album. Johnson’s prodigious playing and pedalboard mastery commanded the attention of the entire lobby, stopping departing concert goers (from the recently finished Doug Aitken, Lightscape premiere) dead in their tracks. The smile and awe painted on my face throughout Johnson’s set is a testament to the magic that everyone in that room surely felt. And that delicious harmonizer pedal…
Anuj Bhutani: I’ve wanted to see Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra for a long time, and seeing them close out the main stage felt like the perfect first experience, as their very presence on the stage felt poetic after the day’s programming. From the very first solo to the riotous ending with the entire audience clapping along with the on-stage dancers, PAPA had the audience totally enraptured.