At a time when most longstanding jazz festivals are struggling, a relative newcomer, the New Languages Festival, is thriving.
New Languages was founded by two saxophonists, Jackson Moore, 32 years old, and Aaron Ali Shaikh, 27. “We began with the intention of shining light on jazz musicians who were of the generation that grew up with the avant-garde as a past occurrence," Mr. Shaikh said in an interview last week. For these musicians, he said, the avant-garde of the '60s and '70s “is a norm that informs their style and composing just as much as so-called traditional jazz." Mr. Moore said that the festival's name “seemed to sum up the potential of the creative jazz musician."
As the festival grew from a two-night event in 2006 to its current size, Messrs. Shaikh and Moore began shifting its focus away from youth and toward kindred spirits regardless of age. Though most of the musicians on this year's schedule are in their early 30s, the participants include saxophonist Tim Berne, 55, who will present a rare performance of “Julius Hemphill," a suite dedicated his late mentor, the co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet. The WSQ's embrace of both traditional and avant-garde jazz, as well as various forms of popular music, could serve as a stylistic cornerstone for many groups in the festival.
Those slated to perform at New Languages this year are a microcosm of cutting-edge jazz in New York today. There are big bands, such as Secret Society and Positive Catastrophe, that push the orchestral sound into the future. There are intimate duets between virtuoso performers: Two musicians who have adapted the microtones of Arabic music to their instruments—Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir El Saffar and Iranian-American saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh—will perform together, as will two men who have made music that straddles the border between jazz and contemporary classical music, drummer John Hollenbeck and vocalist Theo Bleckmann. In addition, the festival will present several veterans whose extraordinary music is heard too infrequently in New York: Mr. Berne, guitarists Joe Morris and Brandon Ross, and bassists Mario Pavone and Michael Formanek.
New Languages was founded by two saxophonists, Jackson Moore, 32 years old, and Aaron Ali Shaikh, 27. “We began with the intention of shining light on jazz musicians who were of the generation that grew up with the avant-garde as a past occurrence," Mr. Shaikh said in an interview last week. For these musicians, he said, the avant-garde of the '60s and '70s “is a norm that informs their style and composing just as much as so-called traditional jazz." Mr. Moore said that the festival's name “seemed to sum up the potential of the creative jazz musician."
As the festival grew from a two-night event in 2006 to its current size, Messrs. Shaikh and Moore began shifting its focus away from youth and toward kindred spirits regardless of age. Though most of the musicians on this year's schedule are in their early 30s, the participants include saxophonist Tim Berne, 55, who will present a rare performance of “Julius Hemphill," a suite dedicated his late mentor, the co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet. The WSQ's embrace of both traditional and avant-garde jazz, as well as various forms of popular music, could serve as a stylistic cornerstone for many groups in the festival.
Those slated to perform at New Languages this year are a microcosm of cutting-edge jazz in New York today. There are big bands, such as Secret Society and Positive Catastrophe, that push the orchestral sound into the future. There are intimate duets between virtuoso performers: Two musicians who have adapted the microtones of Arabic music to their instruments—Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir El Saffar and Iranian-American saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh—will perform together, as will two men who have made music that straddles the border between jazz and contemporary classical music, drummer John Hollenbeck and vocalist Theo Bleckmann. In addition, the festival will present several veterans whose extraordinary music is heard too infrequently in New York: Mr. Berne, guitarists Joe Morris and Brandon Ross, and bassists Mario Pavone and Michael Formanek.
