The Jazzcat

Straight outta Oakland, meets the most extraordinary sounds in Los Angeles to form the Silverscreen Sextet! Vijay Anderson and Hafez Modirzadeh join William Roper, Roberto Miranda, Bobby Bradford and Vinny Golia. These elements form an organic compound whose sonic equation, derived by the sum of its unique parts, can only be vetted in the actual moments where the cross section of visual, audible, emotion, integrity and truth create temporary portals of unequivocal consciousness.

This is a very different environment for music and extremely cool! We are at the Los Angeles Center Studios, a full service television and film facility near downtown Los Angeles.  On the grounds outside is the Vortex Immersion Dome,  an immersive audio-visual experience, constructed like an igloo is where tonight’s planetary experience takes place. Visual artist Tim Hix has allowed us inside his colorful world, pomp and circumstance pressing the re-play button on life,  just in case you missed it!

Imagine a circle and at the center is you, the pendulum upon which all things will swing from and around. Look up, to the side and everywhere is your brain filled with vivid color, dimensions, scenes, plots and stories that will unfold and paint truths as you live and inhale the music.

A three hundred and sixty degree cinematic experience and in front of us are the cats, the musicians; on the ceiling and all around us are projections of earth, sea, sky, space and other mystical magical imagery. The music is the magic of a secret world indeed! Art and music enrapt us as the space and time take us back to a space in time, shedding light on the fact that, in the decades of our existence along a continuum of time and knowledge, the facade has changed but, movements in philosophy of human love have been unwavering.

Flashing pictures of truth trigger thoughts within us of the polar opposites of privilege and bitter fruit. The slow motion movement has a gravitational sensation that allows you to float in a world of sound and see beyond solo perspectives and experience the opaque pleasures of few and the colorful pains of the many. Rita Graciela Werner produced the images, the Silver Screen Sextet produced the sound and there you have it, the red pill matrix elixir of truth.

The rabbit hole indeed. The next thing you know the music is playing and the imagery starts to change. Surrounded by moving video scenes of Los Angeles crafted together beautifully with photos to tell its story. The crafting is beautiful, the story is yours to imagine but, with pictures of privilege on the one hand and degrading poverty on the other, it is not hard to distinguish the harsh reality of America’s past and its present. Now with a four  year regime of ignorance, arrogance and Red, WHITE and Blue wall building, health care slayers in the house of white, 2017 and 1917 might not be one hundred years apart at all. 

The Silverscreen Sextet makes so much sense as the images are melted to the sonics. Rhythm, no, Melody, no, but harmony galore, thought provoking and invoking! Usually with music as sensational as this, you are left to use your imagination to create the narrative. Hear the music and your inner voice tell the stories like Mingus’ “Scenes in the City”; Brass black and white images, over sensory perception, Rodney King and white picket fences. Imagine the definition of “swing” and how you would define it, a musician would define it, young protected children playing in posh backyards would define it. What about the Rodney’s, Gray’s, Trevon’s, and Garner’s of the world. Yeah, a much different kind of beat.

I am not dreaming but, I hear Martin speaking in my mind with abundant passion and words silenced by the speed of sound. The rhythm is the beat of a different drum with riots, fires and homeless tents to the left; privilege, swanky cribs and images of Skipper from Gilligan’s Island to the right. One city and 180 degree perspectives on life. Multiply this times 52 weeks and repeat it 3 times and you have the latest US reality show, only the “so called” boss is not undercover, and “You’re Fired” happens to any and every body who does not concur.

An evening of provocative thought, sound and imagery. The lessons are there and experience has taught us that acceptance of the status quo does not yield any colorful results. And once the picture has been painted with the truth revealed, knowledge can no longer be avoided, the question remains…Stand, Sit, Sink or Swim!

LeRoy Downs