Big Ears Creates Open Minds Through Music

Big Ears Creates Open Minds Through Music

Big Ears Creates Open Minds Through Music
(by Lee Zimmerman)
 
It’s become abundantly clear over the years that The Big Ears Festival, which returned to Knoxville this past March 21st through 24th, remains one of the most eclectic and adventurous music gatherings in the entire world. While its focus is generally on jazz and music of a more experimental variety, it effectively covers all genres while sharing a decidedly progressive posture.
 
The event took over the streets of the city and its Old City sector, making it easy to access all the venues that hosted the shows, among them, the historic Tennessee and Bijou theaters, churches, refurbished warehouse spaces, museums, galleries, and clubs, as well as pop-up events and performances, exhibitions, films, literary readings, workshops, markets, and talks that took place in cafes, bars, hotels, restaurants, in alleyways and other nooks and crannies spread throughout the city.
 
So too, with nearly 200 performances spread across the four days, there was plenty of activity to keep the crowds enticed and in need of making crucial decisions as to which venues to visit next.
 
This year’s performers included Oscar nominee singer composer Jon Baptiste, jazz icons Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd, Jason Moran, and Dave Holland, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, performance art pioneer Laurie Anderson, guitar virtuoso Fred Frith, Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, Grammy Award-winning Bluegrass picker Molly Tuttle, Hip-Hop legends Digable Planets, and Mexico’s Son Rompe Pera.
 
In addition, 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winner Rhiannon Giddens was in residence, presenting several different programs with three different ensembles. The legacy of NEA Jazz Master and 2016 Pulitzer recipient Henry Threadgill was celebrated by four of his bands; and a 70th birthday celebration for guitarist Marc Ribot took place as well.
 
In addition, the legacy of the influential Nonesuch Records, concurrent with the label’s 60th anniversary was spotlighted through performances by Brad Mehldau, Caroline Shaw, Darcy James Argue, Mary Halvorson, Davóne Tines, Sam Amidon, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Yasmin Williams, Laurie Anderson, Molly Tuttle and a rare live performance by singer/songwriter Robin Holcomb, among others.
 
Taken in tandem. Big Ears brings together iconic trailblazers and young iconoclasts from throughout the world, performing both classical and contemporary compositions.
 
‘The programming for Big Ears is the culmination of actively listening to music, all year long, year after year, for decades’ said Founder and Artistic Director Ashley Capps. ‘It’s a product of the many conversations and discussions about music and ideas that emerge from that — between ourselves and our peers and often in discussions initiated by artists themselves. Obviously, if an artist has new music that has been released, that can be an influential factor, but not always. Of course, the festival’s uniqueness and character is also about the diversity of music presented — so we work to strike a balance between rock, folk, jazz, bluegrass, classical, hip-hop, and avant-garde. And we seek to draw from different cultures as well. There are many factors that play into the booking of the festival’.
 
In that regard, Capps sees Big Ears Festival as something more than simply an expansive array of gifts talent.
 
‘I think of Big Ears as an idea fest, one where the ideas are cloaked in music’ he added. ‘That reflects the vast melting pot that we call ‘American’ music in particular, the way Africans brought drums, singing, and instruments like the banjo to the New World — mostly involuntarily — and blended with European and indigenous influences. From that emerged Jazz, Blues, Country music, Bluegrass and, of course, Rock ’n’Roll. That melting pot is still alive and Big Ears strives to celebrate that vitality’.
 
The strategy appears to be working. After growing steadily at about 15 to 20 percent each year before COVID, the festival returned in 2022 doubling the attendance it attained in its last pre-pandemic gathering in 2019.
 
Capps and company’s efforts have been consistently rewarded by the accolades they’ve received from the international community. ‘The feedback has been amazing’ he said. ‘The festival has grown steadily every year from the beginning. Initially, it was quite small, but it still attracted a national and international audience and grew organically about 15 - 20% each year. There is a unique character to the festival that is central to it being in Knoxville, courtesy of the beautiful array of venues like the Tennessee and the Bijou, St. John’s Cathedral, the Mill & Mine, the Old City Performing Arts Center, and the walkability within Knoxville’s historic downtown. The history of our region plays into it, but the programming is also unique. There’s nothing quite like it, and each year more people from all over the USA and the world come to be part of the experience’.
 
This year was no exception, and given the diversity and expectations, it did not disappoint. As always, the headliners attracted the most interest, and with John Paul Jones among them, it likely attracted even more interest than usual. Nevertheless, those expecting a replay of Led Zeppelin were best advised to attend his first performance which found him replaying classic Zeppelin licks on his bass guitar. His Sunday show with Thurston Moore was substantially more jarring, with the two riffing extemporaneously to benefit the noise factor.
 
Many of the bands followed a similar route of free expression, often incorporating elements of psychedelia and cosmic cacophony. Aiofe O’Donovan’s performance with the Knoxville Symphony provided a melodic quotient and added some soothing sentiments that were sometimes missing in the more freewheeling expositions.
 
Still, the highlight by most counts came by way of Jon Baptiste, who offered an exuberant and imaginative combination of sheer showmanship, jazz and classic R&B. Baptiste may have sharpened his skills while serving as music director for Stephen Colbert, but let loose one is own, he proved to be a thoroughly engaging entertainer, putting on moves that would have made James Brown or Little Richard green with envy. Veering from keyboards to guitar to a giant deejay console, he wore a smile that illuminated the whole hall and had the crowd on its feet responding to his demonstrative dance moves and upbeat exhortations. If any proof was needed that Big Ears Festival can be marketed as mainstream, this was obviously it. (by Lee Zimmerman)
 
For more information, head to the Big Ears Festival website