Jason Moran: Staged LP

In the 1930s, the Savoy Ballroom (one of the rare venues that allowed blacks and whites to dance together) boasted an arced wall that shot up over the band, extending several feet past the stage over the dance floor. This wall was the visual hallmark of the famous club and acoustically was significant as well: it aimed the music directly at the dancers, moving the sounds from the dance floor right back at the performing musicians, thus blending the energy and music into one dynamic force. Conversely, The Three Deuces was a cramped and oddly shaped jazz venue located on the legendary 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan; the intimacy of this small space was antithetical to the sprawl of clubs like The Savoy Ballroom — the music was only a few feet away from the audience, where the ceiling was very low, the stage was small and uneven, the entire environment close and compact.

Certain design elements from these two historic spaces – the lighting fixtures, the wall treatments, for example – will be carefully and beautifully recreated in Jason’s stages, where in Venice music will be played. A number of live performances will activate The Three Deuces stage with a variety of contemporary jazz musicians, including Jason and his longtime band The Bandwagon; when no performances are happening, instruments (piano, bass, drums) will be positioned on the Three Deuces stage, wrapped in some fashion and waiting to be animated by musicians.  A series of old and new work songs will be the soundtrack playing from both stages (in between performances), strongly underscoring for the visitor the labor of the musicians who enlivened these original contexts and situations.

The sculptures will be positioned in the Arsenale directly across from each other; this will force visitors to walk between these two separate but related arenas for musical experimentation and production.  The dynamic tension created by the positioning of the two stages is critical – the Savoy wall confronting the Three Deuces stage embodies the face-off of these two distinct eras of jazz production  as well as the shifting contexts for African-Americans leading up to the period of unrest that was to come.

Side A
He Cares

Side B
Sharp Works
All Hammers and Chains