Saturday, October 26th, 2019
Timucua Arts Foundation and The Civic Minded 5 present
Chris Dingman
Timucua Arts
2000 S. Summerlin Ave, Orlando
7:00 pm doors, 7:30 concert
$10-$20 donation, reservations suggested, all ages welcome

Seven and a half years ago is enough time to transpose sensate vibrations into a hazy, Impressionistic tableau- full of off-site parking for memories. That 7.5 interval, already, was Chris Dingman’s last Timucua/cm5 appearance, as the vibraphonist in Harris Eisenstadt’s Canada Day quintet. That ensemble displayed sophistry, solemnity and edges of tempered grit- a Venn diagram of Wayne Shorter compositions leaning into AACM meditations and subsumed polyrhythms from inky colour-processed travelogue shorts. It was cool and a while back.

Sensate vibrations merge with an Impressionistic tableau- no transposition needed. That’s our pitch for the Chris Dingman solo vibraphone recital at Timucua Arts. Shimmering composition in a sonorous and sympathetic live venue. The solo recital is a current focus for our guest. There’s a forthcoming solo release titled Peace, based on five-plus hours of focused, personal composition created for the purpose of palliative care to his father.

Previous to Chris Dingman’s NYC 2007 arrival, the vibraphonist received a breadth of university training: Anthony Braxton, Jay Hoggard and Pheeroan AkLaff at Wesleyan, then Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock at The Thelonious Monk Institute at University of Southern California. The Hancock and Shorter interface led to performing with the duo in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Agra, New Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai. His Wesleyan studies focused on South Indian, West African, Korean, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian music. Once in New York, Dingman expanded the legacy connections in performance with the likes of John Zorn and Anthony Braxton. He also follows the pattern of a 21st century creative musician- one that bypassed the binary Traditional vs. Fusion argument beset upon the 20th century players. His work with this century’s wide open improvisers and composers- Jen Shyu, Ambrose Akinmusire, Okkyung Lee, Steve Lehman and Amir Elsaffar- all speak to embracing the Now Esthetic™ where South Korea’s BTS are the boys on the bedroom posters.

Dingman is still operating in Decade One of his recordings as bandleader. His 2011 debut, Waking Dreams, drew superlatives out of the gate. The album was called “gorgeous” (Time Out NY), “brilliant” (All About Jazz), and “luminous” (NY Times). New York Times critic Nate Chinen hailed the album as one of the top Jazz albums of the 21st century in his book Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century. Chamber Music America and he Doris Duke Foundation commissioned Dingman’s 2015 release, The Subliminal And Sublime, a fusion of Jazz with Minimalism and electronic scapes. Huffington Post named the recorded suite as their #1 Jazz Album of 2015.

Take part in the Timucua instant arts community created at each event by appearing willing – described by composer Anthony Braxton as the “friendly experiencer.” Timucua encourages a small plate dish and a bottle of wine for community distribution. We’ll see you there.