Cymbalism: Roy Haynes' & Bob Thompson's Master Improvisation

Isthmus Jazz Festival lecture by Matt Endres & Anthony Black. Free.

press release: In the 1950s, Bob Thompson (1937-1966) moved and created amongst the most formidable and innovative cadre of American artists and musicians including Ornette Coleman, A.B. Spellman, and Amiri Baraka. His body of work rose to prominence in the midst of Beat Generation exploration, Abstract Expressionism’s dominance of the art world, and the improvisatory flights of American jazz.  A risk-taking master of hybrid forms, Thompson combined the jazz aesthetic, Old World masterworks, Abstract Expressionism and dared to invoke narrative and figurative painting during the height of abstraction painting.  This talk will consider the significance of Bob Thompson, improviser of form, genre, and identity, as he riffs on the legacy of earlier black artists, the great works of the Western Tradition, alongside Abstract Expressionism’s gestures toward the universal.  

Roy Haynes has set the standard for modern jazz drumming for the last 65 years. Endres will be discussing Haynes' contribution to this American art form.  Along with a brief historical background, we will explore his approach to four-way coordinated comping and improvisation on the drum set.