“We Play For You, Butch Morris” featuring Nublu Orchestra, DarkMatterHalo with Wadada Leo Smith, Screening: Black February

Nublu Orchestra

Built around the axis of musicians associated with the Lower East Side club/lounge by the same name, Nublu Orchestra is assembled from the multifaceted range of open-minded musicians that call Nublu home, artists who are brought together to discover a common ground. Nublu Orchestra is a project that expand the bounds of music in general and style in particular. It is a force that exists seemingly without definition. Rather than trying to compose music that enfolds the many approaches and genres by its members, the group enlists “conduction” (a term patented by the great late Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, the leading figure of this project since its inception over a decade ago until his passing in 2013) to shape collective improvisation to that end.

DarkMatterHalo with Wadada Leo Smith

New York City seems like a perfect place for a world premiere of a stunning project such as the collaboration between Wadada Leo Smith, and DarkMatterHalo. Wadada Leo Smith, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser is one of the most acclaimed creative artists of his times, both for his music and his writings. For the last five decades, Mr. Smith has been a member of the historical and legendary AACM collective. He distinctly defines his music as “Creative Music.” His diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered around important issues that have impacted his world. Wadada Leo Smith was the 2013 finalist for the most prestigious award in music, the Pulitzer Prize, as well as DownBeat’s 2013 winner of their 61st Critics Poll in the ‘Composer of the Year’ category. Consisting of two of the best and most original guitarists of their generation, Doug Wieselman and Brandon Ross, and the subtle, unpredictable sound designer, Hardedge, DarkMatterHalo is an enigmatic, daring ensemble, whose unsettlingly beautiful, visceral, always surprising, magical art beams with textures and timbres that one could never possibly expect. Their 2015 debut album, Darkness Interrupted has been described as “a sonic masterpiece: Dark Side of the Moon for the new millennium,” as well as “a perfect soundtrack for today’s dark times.” DarkMatterHalo’s second album, Cataclysmic Beauty will be released in June 2016. Wadada Leo Smith and DarkMatterHalo will be performing a few of Mr. Smith’s compositions using his revolutionary Ankhrasmation symbolic music language.