OPTION MILWAUKEE presents MOMENTUM 3: Memory, Gesture, Gaze.

Tim Barnes (drums, percussion)
Nick Macri (acoustic bass)
Lou Mallozzi (turntables, CDs, microphones, mixer)
Ken Vandermark (reeds)
Mars Williams (saxophones, toys)

OPTION MILWAUKEE presents the third in a series of projects focusing on Ken Vandermark's collaborations with musicians based in the United States. Momentum 3: Memory, Gesture, Gaze, is a long form composition commissioned by the Smart Museum in Chicago to celebrate their acclaimed Monster Roster exhibition, which showcased the early work of Leon Golub, Cosmo Campoli, June Leaf, Dominick Di Meo, Seymour Rosofsky, and Nancy Spero, among others. As Vandermark states, many things influenced the compositional process:

"I thought a lot about the shattered world that the artists included in the Monster Roster had encountered directly or indirectly during World War II, and after, the existentialist nature of their work in response to those experiences. What were the sounds of those times? Music included jazz, serialism, the New York School (which consisted of Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Christian Wolff); information was disseminated by radio and newsreels at the cinema. There were turntables and the LP. When I looked at Nancy Spero's, Homage to New York (I Do Not Challenge), the pairs of letters in the image made me think about codes- without knowledge of the artists she referred to, the initials indicated would not have had the same meaning- and codes made me think about the Cold War."

This Milwaukee concert will also include a set of improvised solos, duos, and trios.