X Avant XX Night 4

Night 4 curated by Keisha Bell is a staged intervention with an exhibition and performance reimagining MG’s story by commemorating and bringing forward overlooked jazz legacies that resoundingly shaped experimental sound forever.

This year is special. As we celebrate 50 years of history & 20 years of X AVANT, we’ve gathered 5 curators to take over 918 Bathurst to enliven and celebrate 5 eras of precious sound. 

Keisha says, “In summer 2020, I saw Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz perform online and contacted him for composition lessons. A year later, I got to meet him in person when he performed with AfroHORN in Buffalo. They captured my imagination with a blend of Afro-Caribbean, jazz, and free improvisation. I discovered trumpeter Milena Casado on Bandcamp. When I saw that the first track was called “THIS IS MY HAIR,” AND she recorded a cover of “Unconditional Love”, I knew I was in for a treat.

Part of the mission of the MG is to “cultivate artistic experimentation and community through sound, music and sharing in the creative process.” Listening to both of these artists, I find their work easily aligns with this ethos. Their music transgresses boundaries while remaining rooted in the tradition of Black American music, encompassing the Americas from North to South.”

About the exhibition she adds, “Archie Alleyne (1933-2015) was a Toronto-based jazz drummer who performed with the likes of Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, and Stan Getz, to name a few. He was the first Black musician to perform in white clubs on Yonge street in the 1950s. Throughout his life, Alleyne collected photographs of Black Canadian musicians. This exhibit features pictures of early Black musicians who performed at dances and jam sessions at the Toronto chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association from the 1930s-1960s. Archie exhibited these pictures as part of a fundraising show in 2012 to support his scholarship fund for young artists. By remounting this exhibit here at the 50th anniversary of the Music Gallery, we are making a critical intervention into the city’s music history. Most of the Black artists depicted did not establish careers in music for numerous reasons, including racial segregation and exclusion from the Toronto Musician’s Union.”

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