• May 2nd, 1pm EST: Introduction, sharing of works and process and setting intentions for the month ahead

• May 9th, 1pm EST: Abbey Lincoln Listening Hour curated by Christine Correa

• May 16th, 1pm EST: Jeanne Lee Listening Hour curated by Eric Lewis

• May 23, 1pm EST: Christine Correa Masterclass inspired by Abbey Lincoln

• May 30, 1pm EST: Ayelet Rose Gottlieb Masterclass inspired by Jeanne Lee

• May 30, 6pm EST: LIVESTREAM (free to the public) Panel discussion with vocalists Christine Correa, Jay Clayton, Pyeng Threadgill, Kendra Shank and Ayelet Rose Gottlieb facilitated by Prof. Eric Lewis.

More Details:

We will concentrate on vocalist Abbey Lincoln’s style and powerful delivery and trace how her repertoire shifted from a nightclub act early in her career to songs with a social context through her association with Max Roach and later to her meditations on life and humanity through her own compositions and lyrics.

Abbey Lincoln’s art is today as current as it was in the time that it was created. She is a central figure in American culture. Mumbai-born, New York based jazz vocalist Christine Correa and pianist Ran Blake have recorded several albums of Abbey’s music over the last several years. We are gratful to have Christine lead both a Listening Hour and a Masterclass with a focus on Abbey’s work.

Our focus on Jeanne Lee, will be both on the points of contact and influence of Abbey Lincoln on her singing, and on her own vocal innovations and stylings, drawing from performances across four decades. We will come to have an understanding of the range of her vocal techniques, approach to the song-form, and her varied methods with which she improvised in assorted settings. We will spend some time on her long and fruitful collaboration with pianist Ran Blake. 

At the Livestream Panel on May 30th, we will focus on the influence of both Abbey Lincoln and Jeanne Lee on the wonderful vocalists who will be part of the conversation, and on the ways in which the jazz vocal tradition continues to evolve.

Bios:

Vocalist Christine Correa is a native of Bombay, India currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. After relocating to the U.S. in 1979, she soon became involved in a variety of improvisational contexts. Christine has performed and recorded with artists such as Ran Blake, Steve Lacy and John LaPorta and has appeared at numerous festivals and clubs in the U.S., Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East and India. Christine is currently on the faculty at Columbia University’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program and the New School in New York City and has been Director of the Maine Jazz Camp since 1994.

Eric Lewis has performed with a wide range of musical experimentalists, from Pauline Oliveros, through Joe McPhee, Matana Roberts and Lydia Lunch. During the day he is a professor of Philosophy at McGill University, specializing in the philosophy of improvised arts. Most recently he is the author of: Intents and Purposes: Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Improvisation, and Social Aesthetics. He is presently writing a book on Jeanne Lee. Eric runs the annual Koumaria Improvised new digital art residency program at an organic olive oil farm in southern Greece. He is also co-President of AIM (Arts in the Margins) and director of LUC (Laboratory of Urban Culture).

“The communal spirit of Ayelet Rose Gottlieb’s 13 Lunar Meditations: Summoning The Witches feels like a gift.” said Downbeat magazine about Jerusalem-born, Montreal based Gottlieb’s most recent vinyl release. In this song cycle reflecting on the stages of the moon, Ayelet continues her exploration of large scale compositions surrounding a theme relating to nature and the illusive qualities of our dream-realities. 


Gottlieb is a musician, multidisciplinary visionary and a mother. A former student of Ran Blake, and collaborator of composer John Zorn, contemporary string quartet ETHEL and Palestinian poet Naomi Shihab Nye, Ayelet extends her creativity into producing and facilitating workshops, accompanying and supporting the works of other fellow artists at the Orchard of Pomegranates.

Orchard of Pomegranates was founded by Gottlieb in 2018. It is a held space for creatives, for multidisciplinary exploration, deep listening and communal dreaming.

Through the Orchard’s Patreon, we engage in an ongoing DreamWeave, monthly Sensory Sonic meditations (inspired by the Deep Listening practices of feminist composer Pauline Oliveros) and evocative workshops about Jazz, sound, movement, improvisation, creative writing, collaging and more…

The Orchard chooses to highlight women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and mothers. We celebrate all bodies. We do not tolerate racism or bigotry of any kind. We welcome people of all genders and backgrounds.

On April 21st through May 31st, Orchard of Pomegranates and Ayelet are Artists in Residence at IONE’s 27th Dream Festival, on Facebook. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/annualdreamfestival/