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

Saxophonist/composer Matana Roberts’ CoinCoin:Installation 1
with Hill Greene (bass), Jessica Pavone (viola), Daniel Levin (cello) and Mazz Swift (violin), Daniel Givens (laptop and slide projector).

Matana Roberts at Roulette 2006 (excerpt)

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!

Matana Roberts at Roulette 2006 (excerpt)

Roulette_Intermedium

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