Artist in Residence, jazz composer/pianist Jason Moran’s newest album, to be released by Blue Note Records on September 12, features compositions commissioned by the Walker Art Center, the Dia Art Foundation, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Milestone, an evening-length theatrical jazz suite, had its world premiere at the Walker in May 2005 following an artist residency in which Moran drew inspiration from artworks in the museum’s collection, most specifically the work of Adrian Piper. Moran’s fascination with Piper’s The Mythic Being: I/You/(Her) (1974) and his subsequent research of her life and writing led to the conception of a parallel creation, transferring Piper’s combination of the personal, political, and theatrical into the context of a jazz composition and concert form. Piper lent her full support to the project, including use of her voice and writings.
“I now understand that much of jazz’s success is owed to its inherent abstractness,” says Moran. “I’ve recently created more music associated with people, places, and events as opposed to pretty chords and nice grooves. Adrian Piper says that I’m in what artists call a ‘mannerist phase’ now. I like how that sounds. . . . Adrian’s pieces tell stories, as seen by a black woman in the art world. They are poignant outpourings of her life. This was a goal we had for Milestone.”
In addition to the Milestone pieces, Artist in Residence features Moran’s The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things, created in collaboration with performance/video artist Joan Jonas and premiered as live solo piano accompaniment to Jonas’ 90-minute abstract video piece, as well as RAIN, a work for sextet commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Artist in Residence
JASON MORAN piano
MARVIN SEWELL guitar
TARUS MATEEN bass
NASHEET WAITS drums
ALICIA HALL MORAN vocals
ADRIAN PIPER sample voice
JOAN JONAS percussion
RALPH ALESSI trumpet
ABDOU MBOUP djembe, kora
