Pulitzer Prize-winning drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey may just be the busiest musician on planet Earth. Depending on the day, Sorey is on the road with his energetic trio, innovative larger ensembles, or various bands led by other, like-minded innovators. Call it jazz if you must, but often, Sorey’s expansive take is something else entirely. Whatever it is, it’s impossible to ignore.
Adventurous ears can sample Sorey’s sweeping sound in person on November 21 at Duke’s Baldwin Auditorium in a program called Max Roach at 100, which honors the pioneering drummer who died in 2007. Following a set by Sorey with pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist HarishRaghavan, the Sandbox Percussion quartet will perform and then join the trio for “Cogitations,” an ambitious, multifaceted work celebrating Roach’s centennial.
Ahead of the show, the INDY spoke with Sorey on a phone call, the morning after the trio’s rousing opening night at New York’s Village Vanguard.
In a single week, you will travel from New York City to Vienna to Durham and present three completely different shows with various ensembles. That’s impossible, right?!
Yeah, this is a pretty freakish week with a lot of travel. It’s an anomaly, but I’m hanging in there. First, it’s my trio, then an opera with a string orchestra and singers, and then the percussion ensemble Sandbox with the trio in North Carolina. It’s almost like code-switching. You’ve mastered all these different dialects within the language of music. It’s natural to go from one to another, but it is still challenging.
We’ve talked about the deep history of jazz in North Carolina, including [pianist-composer] Mary Lou Williams, who was artist-in-residence at Duke at the end of her life. In Durham, you will perform “Cogitations,” which you composed for drummer Max Roach, who was born in the township of Newland.
It’s definitely an honor to play in your area, because there’s so much musical history. There are so many people who have changed the game. To perform “Cogitations” down there is a great opportunity for us.
You have a lot in common with Max Roach. Labeling him as a drummer, really, understates the case. Roach was a composer, a visionary, a fighter for personal freedom.
Going back to the 1960s, Max was a leader in the Black community. He made the public more aware of the civil rights movement. For me, all of his music is so important, including ambitious projects like the “We Insist: The Freedom Now” suite to [the quintet album] Members, Don’t Git Weary to the music of M’Boom, his percussion group.
“Cogitations” was inspired by M’Boom, which featured lots of percussion instruments: marimba, vibes, xylophones, gongs, and what have you. What M’Boom played is difficult to define. It’s not really jazz or contemporary or new music or whatever. Our performance is a tribute to all the members of the original ensemble, who were not only drummers but composers. The piece has seven sections, and each one is dedicated to a member of the original M’Boom ensemble.
And M’Boom’s Joe Chambers, as you know, is alive and well and working down in Wilmington.
Well, there you go. It’s that North Carolina thing [laughs].
Instead of the word “improvisation,” you say “spontaneous composition.” That’s so descriptive.
Spontaneous composition is music that is done in the moment in a logical and coherent way. It may incorporate things that you’ve already learned about music, maybe including some formal composition. When you sit at a desk and write out music, you have all the time in the world to prepare. In performance, however, you may have five minutes to communicate a message. It can be planned—or it can be unplanned. The composition may change. That’s spontaneous composition.
Can you tell me a little bit about the blues opera you’ll perform in Vienna, Longing to Tell?
The libretto is based on the book by Tricia Rose Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk about Sexuality and Intimacy. It’s a coming-of-age story involving six different characters. Linda Ray, the main character, evolves from a person of innocence to a grown-up. The characters learn about sexuality and relationships. They learn about drugs. Eventually, they are arrested and jailed. After their release and having endured sexual violence and miscarriages, they somehow come out on top. The piece was scored for Ensemble Resonanz (a 19-piece string orchestra), singers, and a quintet led by me. [Rapper] Akua Naru, who also wrote the libretto, portrays Linda Ray. It moves me to tears every time I perform it, because there are so many of these stories about women—and they need to be told.
You played at the world-famous Village Vanguard in New York City last night. The ghosts of John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk [two North Carolina natives] surely inhabit the club. I’ve heard other musicians describe the experience of performing there as “playing in church.”
It’s not even a jazz club, really. It’s hallowed ground, a sacred place. There are spirits in the room. You can feel the presence of all the greats who have played there. It doesn’t matter if you’re performing original material or jazz standards; you’re just presenting your art in the most honest and compelling way you can at the Vanguard.
As an artist, you’ve accomplished so much in such a brief period of time. How do you find the energy to do all of what you do?
When I wake up in the morning and open my eyes, that’s opportunity knocking. I am thankful every single day… every time that I touch my instrument. I would not want to be alive if I could not do the variety of things that I’m doing. To have all these opportunities and experiences that I have—in this rather short life—is amazing. I have to give it to the creator …. I wish I had better words, but that’s all I can say.
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