Veteran local percussionist Avreeayl Ra celebrates the release of a new documentary

Avreeayl Ra is quite literally a driving force in Chicago jazz. He’s an enduring member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) who’s spent decades drumming for countless local and visiting eminences, including Ernest Dawkins, Ari Brown, Fred Anderson, and Nicole Mitchell. While he can be counted upon to bring emphatic, surging energy to any setting, he can also throttle back and supply a gentle pulse when that’s all the situation requires. In recent times he’s also stepped out as a bandleader. Last February local nonprofit Homeroom, which fosters new arts production, sponsored a weekly residency at Elastic Arts for Ra’s ensemble Dream Stuff, which includes pianist and synthesist Jim Baker, bassist Jason Roebke, reedist and didgeridoo player Edward Wilkerson Jr., and guitarist, violinist, and mandolinist Peter Maunu. The group performed winding, set-length improvisations, which were also streamed over the Internet. Mexican film collective Rhizomes Films later combined excerpts from those four performances with archival footage and voice-overs by Ra to create an impressionistic portrait of the artist titled TUNING Into the Moment. That documentary will screen tonight as a prelude to a set by Ra and Dream Stuff.

Avreeayl Ra’s Dream Stuff The evening opens with a screening of TUNING Into the Moment, a 40-minute documentary about Avreeayl Ra. Thu 2/2, 8:30 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, $15. [all ages]

Read More