A collection of Roulette concert excerpts by Black artists whose work has helped redefine conceptions of the avant-garde and highlight the contributions of avant-jazz composition and improvisation to the evolution of experimental music.

Excerpts from the Black Avant-Garde

Dutch artist performs on his instrument constructed from cannibalized organ pipes, toilet plungers, and bicycle pumps.

Roulette Concert Archive // roulette.org

Mercurius Wagen & Horst Rickels 1988 at Roulette

Recorded live on Dec 7th, 2012 at Roulette Brooklyn

TILT Brass 
Chris McIntyre, Jen Baker, Will Lang – trombones
Tom Bergeron, Gareth Flowers, Tim Leopold – trumpets

Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director
John King – live-electronics

John King - Astral Epitaphs (2011) at Roulette [excerpt]

The cellist's Quartet with bassist Jason Roebke, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and guitarist Mary Halvorson.

Tomeka Reid 6 Jan 16 (excerpt)

The doublebass master with John Purcell on reeds, Miya Masoaka on koto, and Gerry Hemingway on drums and electronics.

Roulette Concert Archive / roulette.org

Reggie Workman 15 Nov 02 (excerpt)

(Pulitzer Prize for Music 2016) Threadgill’s quintet Zooid performs parts of the award-winning “In for a Penny, In for a Pound” from a series of remarkable miniatures in which the ensemble is continuously reconfigured.

Henry Threadgill 4 Dec 2014 (excerpt)

(Pulitzer Prize in Music 2020) Early bits from his award-winning opera, The Central Park Five, with Davis on piano, Earl Howard synth, bassist Mark Dresser, reeds J.D. Parran.

Anthony Davis 13 Dec 2018 (excerpt)

TRANSFORMATION: new poetry/new music featuring legendary poet/activist Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) with two generations of masters who emerged from Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Steve McCall (1933-89) on percussion and Fred Houn (1957-2014) on baritone sax.

Amiri Baraka/Steve McCall/Fred Houn 1984

New & Adventurous Music! Founded in 1978 and operating out of lofts and galleries for years, Roulette continues its mission to support new and established innovators in music and cross-media performing arts in a glorious 400 seat theater in Brooklyn. Podcasts and excerpts here; you can hear these full concerts, and hundreds more, at roulette.org/archive. Enjoy!

Anthony Davis 13 Dec 2018 (excerpt)

Roulette_Intermedium

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