Music
In 1915, when Alfred Stieglitz first saw
the drawings of Georgia O’Keeffe he declared, “At last, a woman on paper.”
Having just visited the Memorial Art Gallery’s O’Keeffe exhibition, the first
thing I thought of upon hearing Matana Roberts solo
CD was: at last, a woman on saxophone.
There are other excellent female sax
players, but just as O’Keeffe was a pioneering female modernist, Roberts is in
a class by herself when it comes to plunging boldly
into the avant-garde. She’ll be sharing her distinctive sound when she plays
solo at the Bop Shop atrium Monday, November 13.
As rare as Roberts is, her saxophone
prowess is not completely surprising considering her background. Raised in Chicago, Roberts was
immersed in the experimental music of the Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians. Founded in 1965, the AACM has spawned some of the finest
instrumentalists of the last five decades, including Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Lester Bowie.
“My dad is a vinyl freak,” says Roberts.
“He was very much into the creative music coming out of Chicago because at the time he was growing up
a lot of that music was incredibly political. That’s what brought him towards
the AACM, listening to the Art Ensemble [of Chicago] and other things.”
At first Roberts played classical
clarinet and didn’t want anything to do with jazz. But after having a tough
time adjusting to the lack of diversity at her college she found herself drawn
to jazz.
“There were so many black people who were
founders of that music, black people that people of all races were idolizing
because of their art form.”
As
she made the transition
she found that her voice on saxophone was more comfortable than her voice on
clarinet. She also discovered an alternative to the lack of support she felt at
school: the thriving music scene on Chicago’s
South Side.
“I was at a point where I felt like I was
falling through the cracks. If it wasn’t for the AACM…
I started going to jam sessions at Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge, hanging out
with Von Freeman…”
Among those who encouraged her were
bassist Josh Abrams and drummer Chad Taylor, with whom she formed the trio
Sticks And Stones.
Since then she has played and recorded
with Anderson, Steve Lacy, Peter Brotzmann, and many
others. She’s also a member of the New York-based arkestra,
Burnt Sugar
One of the most unique aspects of
Roberts’ sound is the manner in which it looks back and forward at the same
time. Her solo album, Lines for Lacy,
features five Ellington and Strayhorn tunes filtered
through her avant-garde sensibility.
The album is dedicated to one of her
mentors, the late Steve Lacy, a fan of Ellington and Strayhorn.
As avant-garde as she is, Roberts admits to a love of Ellington band
saxophonist Johnny Hodges.
As for female role models among
instrumentalists, Roberts had none.
“It’s a bit bizarre, and one of the
reasons I’m trying to be on the forefront of this music is so that it will no
longer be bizarre. Honestly, I can’t give you an example of a female
instrumentalist who I idolize in this style at this time and there’s something
wrong with that.”
Aside from her group and solo work,
Roberts is composing large-scale pieces exploring her family history. She’s
found records going back to the1700s of, among others, Marie Therese Coincoin of Lousiana. Coincoin was an African slave who became a businesswoman
and eventually headed one of the richest black families in the United States.
When she visits Rochester, Roberts will be performing in the
cavernous, resonant atrium at the Village Gate. While playing, she’ll be
seeking an elusive state.
“There’s one feeling that I’m always
trying to get to. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s a state of
nothingness where everything in that moment is exactly how it should be.
Improvisation gives you an opportunity to create a new reality, to forget all
the stuff I’ve been thinking about before I get on the stage. There have been
those rare moments. It’s like I’m on another plane, another planet, another
space. I find myself trying to get back to that.”
Matana Roberts plays Monday, November 13, at 8 p.m. at
the Bop Shop Atrium, Village Gate
Square, 274 North Goodman Street. $8
donation requested. Info: 271-3354. Upcoming shows at the Bop Shop Atrium
include LeeRonZydeco (November 18) and The Respect Sextet (December 19). The Bop Shop’s Milestone series includes The Asylum Street Spankers (November 19); folk legends Peter Walker and Jack Rose (December 5) and Bubba
Hernandez, who shared in two Grammy Awards while in Brave Combo (December
9). For more information check www.bopshop.com.
This article appears in Nov 8-14, 2006.
