William Parker (left, on kora), Patricia Nicholson Parker, and Hamid Drake open the 23rd Vision Festival in Brooklyn, May 23, 2018
The Archie Shepp Quartet—L to R: Dave Burrell, Archie Shepp, William Parker, Hamid Drake—at Roulette, May 23, 2018
Archie Shepp at Roulette, Brooklyn, May 23, 2018 (photo: Marek Lazarski)
Mary Halvorson performs with Code Girl at Roulette, May 24, 2018 (photo: Marek Lazarski)
Adam O'Farrill performs with Code Girl at Roulette, May 24, 2018
SPACE, featuring (L to R) Roscoe Mitchell, Scott Robinson, and Thomas Buckner, performs at Roulette, May 24, 2018
Irreversible Entanglements (L to R: Aquiles Navarro, Keir Neuringer, Tcheser Holmes, Camae Ayewa, and Luke Stewart) perform at Roulette, May 25, 2018
Nasheet Waits' Equality Quartet (L to R: Aruan Ortiz, Mark Helias, Darius Jones, Nasheet Waits) performs at Roulette, May 25, 2018
Matthew Shipp conducts his Acoustic Ensemble (clockwise from top right: Mat Walerian, Michael Bisio, Newman Taylor-Baker, Jason Kao Hwang, and Nate Wooley) at Roulette, May 25, 2018
Dave Burrell performs with the Visionary Youth Orchestra at Roulette, May 26, 2018
Fay Victor performs with Mutations for Justice at Roulette, May 26, 2018
Kris Davis (L) and Ambrose Akinmusire perform at Roulette, May 26, 2018
Steve Swell performs with the Frøde Gjerstad Trio at Roulette, May 27, 2018
Gerald Cleaver performs at Roulette, May 27, 2018
Craig Harris (center) switches from trombone to didgeridoo for a performance of his "Brown Butterfly" with (L to R) Calvin Jones, Jay Rodriguez, Tony Lewis, and Eddie Allen at Roulette, May 27, 2018
The 23rd iteration of the Vision Festival (Vision Fest 23, for short) opened on May 23 in the traditional manner: with an invocation by one of its directors, Patricia Nicholson Parker. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this year,” she repeated over a sparse groove courtesy of her husband, bassist William Parker, and percussionist Hamid Drake. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this year.” That’s for sure, and when it comes to getting work done, this festival’s organizers can serve as an example to us all. Over six days and nights at Brooklyn’s Roulette—plus a one-night movie screening/panel discussion at Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan—the Vision Festival presented an exceptional array of boundary-pushing music, dance, film, and conversation.
Photographer Marek Lazarski was there for many key moments, from pianist Dave Burrell’s joyous opening-night reunion with saxophonist Archie Shepp to performances by Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl; SPACE with Roscoe Mitchell, Scott Robinson, and Thomas Buckner; Matthew Shipp conducting his Acoustic Ensemble; Ambrose Akinmusire with Kris Davis and Tyshawn Sorey; Gerald Cleaver with Brandon Lopez, Chris Potter, and David Virelles; and a lot more.
Flip through a slideshow of Lazarski’s images here.
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