About this upcoming quintet, we will be able to say what some of its participants say about the reasons they had for imagining it, for wanting it. And this is said to the past, present and future: the guitar was heady, the trumpet dazzling, the harp thundering, the saxophone stunning and the drums unshakeable: life is a succession of choices but their meeting was crystal clear. Sometimes the guitar will be unbearable, the learned trumpet, the violent harp, the talkative saxophone and the exuberant drums, but the music that will spring from them will be stunning, bringing Paris and Chicago closer together across their bridge, subtle and resounding. Most of the band’s musicians have already worked with The Bridge, as special guests of this or that ensemble. They have already tasted the flavor of these ever-changing adventures, and have only one thing to look forward to: participating fully in the exercise this time, here and then there, or vice versa. To spend two weeks in immersion, without being cut off from the world, quite the opposite: being linked to the worlds. To practice intensely together a totally improvised music, without pretexts or stylistic constraints, to share the road, the city, the people, the mood, the heart… and to favour an elevation.
The Bur Oak, April 16. Meanwhile, in Madison, thanks to the friends and allies of BlueStem Jazz, The Bridge #2.7 (from left to right: Jaimie Branch, Tim Daisy, Isaiah Collier and Gilles Coronado) makes its debut in the fire and flames of grooves.
Hungry Brain, April 17. Gilles Coronado deliberately tangles his guitar strings with those of cellist Ismael Ali, but above all with the rhythms knitted by drummer Bill Harris. It’s Fred Jackson Jr. who pulls out all the stops (his saxophone), imperturbably passionate.
Elastic, April 18. Still in the Anagram Series, it’s The Bridge #2.7’s turn to go at it like charging bulls. Branch, Coronado and Daisy are on the charge, giving electric shocks to the delight of angels and demons alike.
Experimental Sound Studio, April 19 & 20. The Bridge #2.7 delve into Sun Ra’s archives and interstellar philosophy, recording the raw and dark material for a record that promises to be relentless.
Constellation, April 20. This is a band with a mind of its own: it persists, it persists, it lets go, it throws itself into the void, it recovers, it stupefies, with a smile.
Logan Center for the Arts, April 22. The Bridge 2.7, which lacks the presence of Rafaëlle Rinaudo, is visited by Emilie Lesbros and her songs in all languages, even those that don’t exist. And that’s just as well, because Jaimie Branch, Tim Daisy, Isaiah Collier and Gilles Coronado all sing in a lingua franca that burns the lips.
American Indian Center, April 23. It’s always more than music, songs, tunes, sounds, noises, improvisations… that we share with the Indians of the Plains and the Universe. It’s a way of living through emotion, the idea that there’s nothing more obvious than sharing an experience and experimentation, that the latter can be functional. To serve life.
CoLabyrinth / Fulcrum Point New Music Project, April 23. In the loft of Kahil El’Zabar and Lucy Slivinski – that labyrinth of artistic and human collaborations – we had once again put a star in the sky of an evening of intuitive music, entitled: “Phoenix Rising”. Emilie Lesbros and Gilles Coronado let loose in the wild, in culture, with Marvin Tate, Corey Wilkes, Angelo Hart, Katie Ernst, Reggie Nicholson and, in the second half, Kahil El’Zabar for a “conduction” in the form of a “ring shout”.
Doug Fogelson Studio, April 25. From Bridge 2.7, Gilles Coronado and Tim Daisy are still present, along with special guest Emilie Lesbros, who invents a song, proportioning and positioning it amidst the improvisation and its cross-hatching. Strokes, traces, treasures in the mist.
Roosevelt University, April 22. The Bridge 2.7 with Emilie Lesbros in Scott Mason’s class.
Old Town School of Folk Music, April 24. Gilles Coronado and Fred Jackson Jr. lead an “Improvisational workshop: linking up and bridging people, places, and things”.
The Whistler, April 27. Gilles Coronado in turmoil, between Gerrit Hatcher’s terrifying tenor and Ed Wilkerson’s sumptuous tenor, close to Tim Stine’s other hidden guitar, in front of Daniel Van Duerm’s insinuating keyboards, behind Vincent Davis’s prolix drums. Happiness lies in the penultimate square.
Connect Gallery, April 28. Gilles Coronado reunites with Fred Jackson Jr. and Ismael Ali for a few more sinuosities, dots, dashes and snakes.
Chicago High School for the Arts, April 26. Isaiah Collier, Gilles Coronado and Emilie Lesbros take part in Anthony Bruno’s class.
Chicago West Community Music Center, April 30. Morgane Carnet and Gilles Coronado in Howard Sandifer’s class, with the CWCMC orchestra.
