An evening with Jason Moran at the British Library. Tickets for this event can be purchased from the British Library website.
Composer and musician Jason Moran reflects on the practice of writing and performing forgotten Black histories through jazz. Hear live performances of selections from his work, including latest project James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin on World War One African American military jazz band The Harlem Hellfighters.
Moran’s body of work is a musical evocation of African American history and the historical legacy of jazz. He consistently returns to these themes across periods and forms, and through collaborative creative practice: with diverse outputs ranging from RAIN, inspired by ring shouts from African American slaves; IN MY MIND an exploration of Thelonius Monk’s large band concert at New York Town Hall in 1959; The Death of Tom based on Thomas Edison’s silent film of Uncle Tom’s Cabin; the celebratory Fats Waller Dance Party; to the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement film Selma.
James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin is co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, Berliner Festspiele / Jazzfest Berlin, Serious and the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, with support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and from the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany
Jason Moran - The Harlem Hellfighters 