On assignment for JazzTimes Magazine
Back in 1996, the Improviser’s Collective was one of New York’s answers to a diminishing jazz ecosystem in America. At that time there were few venues or promoters for improvisers, prompting co-founder William Parker to famously say that the only time he met his fellow American musicians was on tour in Europe or at funerals. Although the Improvisor’s Collective had regular weekly gigs and jam sessions, there was a need on the part of Parker and his partner, dancer/poet/activist Patricia Nicholson Parker, to do more.
This led to the birth of the Vision Festival, which just wrapped its 2025 edition at Roulette in Downtown Brooklyn. Organized by the Parkers’ mothership organization, Arts for Art, and centered on the relevant theme of “The Heart to Resist,” the festival provided a platform for a diverse group of artists, all given free rein both musically and politically.
As Nicholson Parker wrote in the festival’s sharply designed booklet: “At all events we must begin calling for one million on the streets till human rights of all peoples is secured,” adding, “this is a we moment, not a me moment, we the people must stand up for our common humanity.”
From June 2-7, musicians including Amirtha Kidambi, DoYeon Kim, Fay Victor, Mathew Shipp, Hamid Drake and David Murray took the stage and blew audiences away with their sophistication and soul. Roscoe Mitchell, the musical and cultural visionary from Chicago, was celebrated with this year’s Lifetime Achievement distinction. The musicians were joined by a host of dancers, visual artists and poets to remind us that the medium rarely dictates the culture. It is always in genuine collaboration and community building that true change can emerge.
Sets ranged from bare-bones, lightning-quick and relentless to expansive and otherworldly explorations, from culturally nuanced to boundary-shattering experimentation. These elicited a range of emotions — awe, joy, love, deep calm, spiritual fervor, laughter and even rage — from both performers and audiences alike. Writing about improvised music can be fraught with subjective biases, though getting too technical casts a shadow on its unbridled joy and spirit of freedom.
The only downside was the attendance. The Roulette can seat up to 400 people. Most days of the festival saw the auditorium at 40-50% capacity. Beyond the travails of fundraising, this is a clear indication that more people need to get out for these shows and support organizations like Arts for Art and the incredible performers they platform each year. Not everyone can afford a ticket but we can all get involved in our local arts organizations to volunteer, support and spread the word. In a climate of cruel, wholesale slashes to arts funding, it’s people power that will truly sustain organizations and festivals of this kind.
The photos and videos that follow are an attempt to transport those who couldn’t attend into the midst of the audiovisual treat that was Vision Festival 2025.
