Along Interstate 40 in Tennessee lie two cities of immense musical importance and history – Nashville and Memphis. Check that and add a third to the list – Knoxville which hosts the annual Big Ears Festival, America’s and perhaps the world’s most diverse, eclectic, and explorative festival comprising music, poetry, literature, film, and art. Big Ears is an overwhelming sensory and wildly explorative experience over four days, this year’s held between March 21-24, 2024, in the vibrant downtown area of Knoxville. It is a beautiful time to visit the city as the redbud trees are blossoming with temperatures in the high fifties, though chillier on Friday. Consider 145 musical artists, many playing multiple times, not to mention the poetry, literature, panels, films, and interviews scattered throughout the mornings and afternoons. Eleven indoor venues, most within 10-15 minutes distance, hosted, by my count, 177 musical performances, all due to the comprehensive work of founder Ashley Capps, his staff, and the hundreds of volunteers.
Attendance approached 5,000 daily and it is safe to say that no two people had the same experience given the vast number of choices and ridiculously difficult conflicts within certain time slots. Attendees are the most knowledgeable, ardent music fans and intent listeners this writer has observed at any festival. One could choose depth – staying for entire sets, or breadth – a combination of entire sets and snippets. We were in the latter camp, as were many and we did avoid some of the bigger names by design. This was our first time and we plunged in, aided by a wonderful app that gave details on any changes to programs or venues at capacity. A free trolley system looped between all venues, proving especially advantageous on a chilly, rainy Friday evening.
Hardly any artist just plays in one performance, one band, or one configuration. The emphasis is clearly on pioneering avant-garde artists, mostly in jazz but one can hear any genre at this festival from classical to folk, bluegrass, rock, blues, electronica, and uncategorizable. Yet, along with the emphasis on explorative, “niche” artists, larger names were on the marquee too including Herbie Hancock, Jon Batiste, Laurie Anderson, Rhiannon Giddens, Christian McBride, Andre 3000, and John Paul Jones. NEA Jazz Master Henry Threadgill was associated with five musical performances and a film. Christian McBride and Rhiannon Giddens each appeared in multiple configurations including one collaborative performance. Collaboration is clearly a major theme with multiple one-off performances not seen elsewhere. Here are the standout performances by day that we witnessed (while at the same time yearning for the ones we missed).
Thursday
We kicked off in high energetic mode with Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus at Mill & Mine, a skronky band of two electric guitarists, two sousaphones, two trombones, one alto saxophonist/clarinetist, and a drummer playing Threadgill’s loosely composed music that allowed ample room for free jazz and ample wild sequences.\
At the Bijou Theater to witness one of the strongest sets of the entire festival by guitarist Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis, an improvisational sextet comprised of super talented musicians, many of whom are bandleaders. Halvorson has a one-of-a-kind guitar style that meshes beautifully with the especially animated vibraphonist Patricia Brennan and bassist Nick Dunston. Trombonist Jacob Garchik, like guitarist Brandon Ross of Threadgill’s ensemble, appeared in multiple lineups throughout the week (another major thread of the festival), with Garchik notably in Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, as just one example.
NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd, playing material from his recently released double Blue Note album, The Sky Will Still Be Here Tomorrow appeared at the immaculate Tennessee Theater. His quartet (pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Eric Harland) mirrored the album except for Harland in place of Brian Blade. Lloyd gave his typically spiritual and inspired performance although the energy was a bit muted compared to the past few years. Lloyd is 86 years old.
Friday
Jason Moran and his ten-piece Harlem Hellfighters in tribute to WWI-era bandleader James Reese Europe, whose band of the same name brought American jazz to European audiences. Moran and his bandmates were appropriately attired in Army fatigues, the 309 Regiment banners adorned the bandstands, and a slide show of Europe’s battalion played in the background as Moran on piano faced his orchestra, conducted, and led a deeply spiritual and respectful performance to their ancestors, culminating in each musician laying down his instrument to gather around the piano, joining hands in commemoration.
One of Threadgill’s major ensembles, Zooid, also played at the Civic Auditorium. Threadgill played his trademark bass flute and alto sax while flanked by acoustic guitar, drums, sousaphone, and cello. The instrumentation made for interesting harmonics and while the set was dreamy and of high quality, many in the audience expected a bit more energy.
At the Mill & Mine we enjoyed an especially uplifting set from bluegrass flat-picking guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway. They played their highly popular tunes such as “White Rabbit,” “Crooked Tree,” “Where Did All the Wild Things Go,” “Over the Line” and more. There were plenty of two-steppers enjoying the great show too. Following a terrific reverential solo performance by pianist Brad Mehldau, we lucked out by crossing the street to the Bijou for Chocolate Genius (AKA NYC great Marc Anthony Thompson). This performance harkened back to his 1998 acclaimed debut, Black Music, with regular collaborators John Medeski on keyboards and the inestimable Marc Ribot on guitar. Early in the set, he brought his daughter Zsela (also performing at the festival elsewhere) to sing with him as he switched between guitar, piano, and unaccompanied vocals. The lines to get in were insanely long. We were lucky to see it, albeit more briefly than we would have preferred.
The godmother of avant-garde Laurie Anderson, accompanied by Sexmob in a 100-minute set titled “Let X=X,” which featured new arrangements of ‘80s era songs from the 76-year-old. Sexmob, led by slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, is a muscular, versatile unit that added pulse and color to a fascinating multi-media show, where at one point, as Anderson walked to the rear, seemed to disappear right into the slides. Early in the performance (at the Civic Auditorium) she invited the audience to collectively scream, Yoko Ono style while decrying the ongoing wars, upcoming election, and whatever else ails us. She mixed her vaunted electronics and voice-altering devices with an electronic-enhanced violin and received a tremendous reception, with an encore where she led the audience in tai-chi movements.
The evening’s capper at the Bijou Theater was a thrilling set from Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, an 18-piece band comprised of major talents like the previously mentioned Garchik and tenorist John Ellis as just two examples. Argue took the time to explain the inspiration behind each piece, three of which were tributes as various soloists were featured in a highly colorful, textured set to a rousing reception.
Saturday
We took in snippets of Kassa Overall, Leyla McCalla, and later Sex Mob, Joe Russo’s Selcouth Quartet, and Christian McBride with Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi before more fully witnessing these:
Leveraging a friendship that extends for 35 years, the duo of Christian McBride and Brad Mehldau performed a virtuosic set that included Mehldau originals as well as standards from Sam Jones, Wayne Shorter, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, and more to a packed Tennessee Theater audience.
Bluesman Cedric Burnside delivered a stirring set of acoustic and electric (with drummer) set of Mississippi Hill Country blues, highlighting selections from his forthcoming album on April 5, Hill Country Love at Mill & Mine.
Pianist Myra Melford’s Fire and Water, an all-female unit of Mary Halvorson, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, cellist Tomeka Reid, and drummer Lesley Mok played an amazingly jagged, agitated, muscular, dynamic, colorful, and textured set marked by outstanding solos, group interplay, and surprisingly explosive but often abrupt endings to pieces. It was another performance that quickly filled up with all glued to their seats for the duration at the Bijou.
Festival main headliner Herbie Hancock appeared with his long-running band of Lionel Loueke, Terence Blanchard, James Genus, Kevin Daniels, and Trevor Lawrence in a career retrospective set where Blanchard and Loueke especially shined. However, this was the same set we saw at Newport Jazz for Hancock’s last two appearances, so it was disappointing from that standpoint, but he does put on a great show and those who see him far less often, basked in the stellar musicianship.
The Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis delivered a rousing, pulsating set that exceeded expectations, playing selections from their recently issued self-titled album and the cut from Lewis’ Eye of the I. Every band member, the former bass-drum tandem of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty, with guitarist Anthony Pirog and Lewis let it rip, firing on all cylinders at The Standard.
Sunday
The day began a little later than the previous two and ended a bit earlier as well but for us, it tied with Friday as the two best days. Previously we mentioned conflicts. The biggest one for the festival consisted of the two below and a tribute to Pharoah Sanders: Harvest Time, which we were unable to attend. There were several other conflicts of that nature, but this one was the toughest, so we split the difference.
Silkroad, originally conceived by Yo-Yo Ma and now directed by Rhiannon Giddens, is a multi-cultural 10–12-piece collective focused on the pillars of people who built the American railroad: African Americans, the Irish, Chinese workers as well as Native Americans impacted. Musically the music features chants, percussion, and early acoustic folk music with Giddens sometimes singing but mostly helming a most democratic participatory performance from the ensemble.
Ches Smith’s Laugh Ash is another ten-piece ensemble, though vastly different with a makeup of strings, brass, woodwinds, and electronica. At The Standard Smith played drums, vibes, and electronics and led such vaunted band members as flutist Anna Weber, tenorist James Brandon Lewis, and trumpeter Nate Wooley in an intoxicating, intriguing mashup of jazz, classical, electronica, vocals-creating, textured, dissonant, and unpredictable flat-out weirdness- the kind of stuff that’s made for Big Ears.
Speaking of one-off performances, the trio of pianist Vijay Iyer, multi-instrumentalist Henry Threadgill, and drummer Dafnis Prieto delivered a captivating performance of both meditative and highly engaging, energetic material. It’s as if Threadgill went back in time, mustering incredible power, especially on his alto saxophone solos. While his performance in Zooid adhered closely to the written compositions, here we witnessed his legendary improvisation along with his masterful, ever-unpredictable pieces as his trio mates matched his deep musicality throughout.
Another one-off was Knoxville native and producer of guitarist Julian Lage’s Speak to Me album, singer-songwriter and producer Joe Henry collaborating with Lage’s trio (drummer Rudy Royston and bassist Jorge Roeder) in a set of Henry’s songs such as “Swayed,” “Only I Can See,” “God Laughs” and others in most captivating set that we unfortunately cut short. Jon Batiste began his set with his patented crowd-pleasing energy and his own James Brown-like moves that had the capacity crowd dancing to “Freedom” and his various exhortations, alternating with solo piano and more balladic material as well.
Julian Lage’s Speak to Me Band included his trio, Henry’s son, Levon Henry, on tenor and clarinet, keyboardist, Lou Berg on keyboards, and Kris Davis on piano, most whom appeared on his double Speak to Me album. Lage, who mostly shuns pedals, gets tremendous tone from any guitar he touches, acoustic or electric, He can be soothing, dazzling, or rocking depending on the tune. The band delivered an incredibly haunting version of “South Mountain” as Davis joined the band after about the first twenty minutes, as a catalyst for higher energy in pieces such as “76” and the closing “Northern Shuffle” with “Hymnal” and a gorgeously acoustically trio rendered “Omission” clear standouts. The full set was as riveting as any. This band suits Lage very well.
There was just enough time to catch the encore of Russo, Medeski, and Ribot at Mill & Mine, a fittingly powerful finale to a most satisfying four nights and three full days of spectacular performances.
As great as this musical experience was, this writer wishes he could jump in a time machine to revisit this same expansive Big Ears lineup to craft a completely different schedule, knowing it would be equally fabulous. This would be true for multiple iterations.
Photos by Mary Hynes
3 Responses
Powerful collab covering powerful artists, Jazz greats! Wonderful article and photos! Allowed me to see up close what I could imagine in sound! Thank you Mary and Jim!
Huge thank you to Jim and Mary for sharing your musical knowledge and experiences at the Big Ears festival. Beautiful reviews, beautiful photographs.
Wonderful pictures and article about a wonderful event! So glad you two dear siblings, Mary and Jim, went to Big Ears together and shared your own creative and beautiful reporting on this amazing gathering of artists with us! Bravo!