Big Ears Festival

[BFrank]

Looks like I was at some of the shows already mentioned. This was my best Big Ears yet. Saw many EXCELLENT performances - some expected and many that were NOT.

Some favorites were: Attacca Quartet, mssv, Taborn Trio, Cyrille w/Akinmusire, Patty Smith Band, Myra Melford & Snowy Egret and ALL of Sunday except for dePlume and Frisell (who spent too much time noodling and playing with electronics)

THURSDAY
Kronos Quartet + So Percussion, Caroline Shaw, Shodekeh
75 Dollar Bill
Attacca Quartet
Bill Callahan
mssv (Mike Baggetta, Mike Watt, Stephen Hodges)

FRIDAY 
Conversation: Ann Powers w/Joe Henry, Jason Moran
Craig Taborn Trio w/Tomeka Reid, Chez Smith
Harriet Tubman
Jeff Parker & New Breed w/Makaya McCraven, Josh Johnson, Paul Bryant
Andrew Cyrille w/Akinmusire
Patti Smith Band
Kim Gordon (15 minutes)
Mdou Moctar

SATURDAY
Nikki Giovanni
Myra Melford & Snowy Egret 
Caroline Shaw/Attacca Quartet
Meredith Monk w/Bang on a Can All-Stars, Theo Bleckman 
Val Jenty
Circuit des Yeux
Annette Peacock

SUNDAY
Alabaster dePlume
Miguel Zenon & Spektral Quartet
Bill Frisell Trio w/Brian Blade, Thomas Morgan 
Odean Pope & Immanuel Wilkins w/Kresten Osgood, drums
Bang on a Can All Stars (Terry Riley's Autodreamographical Tales)
John Zorn New Electric Masada w/Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, John Medeski, Brian Marsella, Trevor Dunn, Kenny Wollesen, Ches Smith, Kenny Grohowski

[JSngry]

Attacca Quartet is a great band (uh...string quartet...I'm calling almost everybody a "band" these days)! Do you remember what they played?

[BFrank]

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

Attacca Quartet is a great band (uh...string quartet...I'm calling almost everybody a "band" these days)! Do you remember what they played?

I don't remember exactly, but I saw them twice. First was their own show which included a drummer, so probably pieces from Real Life. The other show was a collaboration with Caroline Shaw. Everything was composed by her and she sang some pieces, too.

[JSngry]

Caroline Shaw is also wonderful! Definitely fresh.

[BFrank]

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

Caroline Shaw is also wonderful! Definitely fresh.

Yes - and she had multiple shows at the festival

[kh1958]

Attendance figures for 2022 Big Ears:

"The festival tracked an average of 5,000 ticketed attendees each day in 2022, which Capps said was roughly 2,000 more per day than in 2019. 

Throughout the 2022 weekend, nearly 22,000 daily tickets were utilized, the study estimated. A weekend passholder could be counted up to four times in that figure, Capps said. That figure does not include attendees who enjoyed the free, non-ticketed programming like parades. "

[BFrank]

46 minutes ago, kh1958 said:

Attendance figures for 2022 Big Ears:

"The festival tracked an average of 5,000 ticketed attendees each day in 2022, which Capps said was roughly 2,000 more per day than in 2019. 

Throughout the 2022 weekend, nearly 22,000 daily tickets were utilized, the study estimated. A weekend passholder could be counted up to four times in that figure, Capps said. That figure does not include attendees who enjoyed the free, non-ticketed programming like parades. "

Can't wait until next March!

[kh1958]

I'm ready for 2023. Plane ticket and hotel are booked.

[BFrank]

11 hours ago, kh1958 said:

I'm ready for 2023. Plane ticket and hotel are booked.

Hotel booked, but holding off on the plane to see if fares drop in the next few months

[kh1958]

9 hours ago, BFrank said:

Hotel booked, but holding off on the plane to see if fares drop in the next few months

The fare prices were expensive but I was able to get an Advantage miles ticket for less than the normal mileage charge, so I booked it.

Edited August 8, 2022 by kh1958

[kh1958]

2023 LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT SEPTEMBER 12

Mark your calendar!  We’re excited to start unveiling the program for Big Ears 2023 on Monday, September 12.   Big Ears 2023 will mark “Ten Years of Big Ears” and we’re planning a celebration worthy of the occasion. Our official on-sale starts Wednesday, September 14, but we’re offering two special pre-sales for our donors and previous pass purchasers: Monday, September 12: Early access for Big Ears supporters who have given at the Voyager Level or above ($100+) between September 14, 2021 and September 11, 2022. Tuesday, September 13: Early access for past Big Ears Festival pass purchasers Purchase codes will be delivered to pre-sale participants via email the night of Sunday, September 11. We will share additional information soon in this newsletter and through Big Ears' social media channels.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Lineup revealed, and , if you're really into John Zorn, they are have another minifestival (again).  Apart from Mary Halvorson doing Amaryallis and Belladonna, there just is not anythig to get me excited abut this one. The main lineups are very, how shall I put it, Mojo Magazine. 

[kh1958]

 

The initial lineup includes the following... Thrilled to have the opportunity to see James Blood Ulmer and Sona Jobarteh again.

Amadou and Mariam

Zoh Amba

Rafiq Bhatia

Viinicius Cantuaria

Bill Frisell

Mary Halvorson

Vijay Iyer

Sona Jobarteh

Charles Lloyd

Joe Lovano

Christian McBride

Makaya McCraven

Ava Mendoza

William Parker

Marc Ribot

Cecile McLoren Salvant

Antonio Sanchez

Nate Smith

Tarbaby with David Murray

Tyshawn Sorey

James Blood Ulmer

Edited September 17, 2022 by kh1958

[randyhersom]

I'd add Cecile McLorin Salvant and Ava Mendoza to that list on the jazz side, although Mendoza's solo set may be more prog-rock than jazz.  William Parker's entry mentions both Mayan Space Station (that album featured Mendoza and was part of a recent BFT) as well as In Order to Survive, so she may be playing with Parker as well as as a leader.  Also John Zorn is listed as a player in one set and composer in several others.

For non-jazz acts, Los Lobos, Mountain Goats, Bela Fleck and Rickie Lee Jones are on my radar, as well as the Steve Reich string quartets.

 

[kh1958]

This festival sure does love Bill Frisell. It seems like he is present every year and this year he is listed as participating in seven concerts!

[Jason Bivins]

Post-pandemic trend continues, in that there's a LOT more indie-rock stuff. I'm sure it helps shoring up the bottom line, but it's not exactly what drew me to the festival years ago. Meh.

[BFrank]

At first I was a little disappointed in the lineup mainly because of so many returnees from last year. But the more I look at it, I'm not worried about seeing great music. I'm sure there will be lots of additions/changes in the next 6 months, too.

[kh1958]

6 hours ago, BFrank said:

At first I was a little disappointed in the lineup mainly because of so many returnees from last year. But the more I look at it, I'm not worried about seeing great music. I'm sure there will be lots of additions/changes in the next 6 months, too.

The festival will be wonderful, as always.

[ombudsman]

I'm very disappointed for the second year running. Lots of reruns (a certain amount of this was usual, and welcome to me since I couldn't see everything I wanted each year),  rock is up, free jazz/improv is down, minimalism is down, and world music is non existent unless I am missing something.

I don't know why this is happening. Ashley sold AC Entertainment to Live Nation in 2020, but Big Ears is a nonprofit, so (while sources online are not entirely clear) I think it's separate from AC Entertainment now. On the other hand, some of the more mainstream acts look suspiciously like cross bookings with the other fesivals. He must have gotten a nice sum for the company, and I know he is a long time fan of free jazz and minimalism, and still heavily involved with Big Ears.

 

[kh1958]

"world music is non existent unless I am missing something"

Sona Jobarteh is a kora player from Gambia, the first West African female kora griot and a cousin of Toumani Diabate.

Viinicius Cantuaria is a Brazilian guitarist/vocalist.

I haven't tallied the world music but this is about the same as usual, one or two such artists that interest me.

 

[BFrank]

Just a quick survey for other World music: Amadou & Miriam are from Africa. Ibeyi from Cuba.Tarta Relena, Spain. I'm sure there's more.

As I just quickly clicked through the artists I'm not familiar with, it looks VERY promising! As usual, what I tend to find most interesting at BE is discovering musicians and musical styles I've never heard before. It's gonna be GOOD!

[ombudsman]

I use the term to mean traditional music (from outside USA/Europe), so I probably would not put Ibeyi in that category, but with the others mentioned that I was not familiar with it does become a better stocked category than I realized before, which does make me feel a bit better about it.

[kh1958]

The Festival seems to have added another venue, the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, which features a 2500 seat auditorium.

[BFrank]

On 9/28/2022 at 6:55 AM, kh1958 said:

The Festival seems to have added another venue, the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, which features a 2500 seat auditorium.

Huh - interesting. Who would they be having that needs such large venues?

[kh1958]

12 hours ago, BFrank said:

Huh - interesting. Who would they be having that needs such large venues?

Good question. Probably no one I will be seeing.