Artistic director of Global Arts Performance Initiatives at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and program administrator for the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music, an engagement program of the School of Music.
August 2020 marks the twenty-year anniversary of landing in Urbana-Champaign. I arrived here from New York City with my wife Cynthia Oliver, who accepted a faculty position in the dance department at the University of Illinois. In NYC my focus was primarily on making a life as a musician, improvising regularly in concert with my trio Straylight, composing and performing for dance and theater projects, and generally staying in the mix where avant-garde jazz and improvised music was happening. As a new arrival to Urbana-Champaign, I was seeking.
I found the energy I craved in hearing Water Between Continents. The concise power compositions Nick Rudd and Brian Reedy performed was the blast of creative expression I was seeking. I believe the first place I heard Water Between Continents was at Krannert Art Museum during an opening, but I’m not entirely sure that is correct.
What I do recall is my first collaboration with Nick Rudd. It was billed as “Sudden Sound Ensemble” featuring Nick, Brian, guitarist Tim McKeage and myself on September 4, 2003 at the Iron Post in Urbana. We covered a few compositions like Blue Jay Way by the Beatles and Israfel by Pat Martino, which along with a few other works, served as anchors between extended improvisations.
From that evening forward I was always keen to collaborate with Nick, who seemed willing to roll with whatever project I dreamed up. Nick and Brian performed in the first Late Night spACE event I organized in 2005, which featured them alone and later as part of a kaleidoscopic jam with three bands performing in the same projection filled room simultaneously. Soon after that we blasted off together performing as FERROCENE3, a trio with Jay Eychaner on synthesizer. Our last named project together was IO Mining Corp with baritone guitarist Brandon Beachum and vocalist Elizabeth Simpson.
A few interesting notes along this journey include performing with Sayan, a master musician from Tuva, a performance with Jack Wright - the Johnny Appleseed of American Improv, and in a Planetarium show at Parkland College with old school, full dome projections and laser light show. While IO Mining Corp didn’t perform often, Nick’s farewell concert at the Iron Post on June 30, 2017, would be the final performance by the ensemble. The evening included a reunion performance by Water Between Continents and a collaborative set between us all. (see photo)
On June 28, 2018, almost a year exactly after our last performance, Nick and I reconnected on stage in an amazing one off performance as part of a quartet with Brad Dutz and Kaoru Mansour at Sun Space, in Shadow Hills, Los Angeles. Nick played as brilliantly as ever, spinning song forms in the moment with Kaoru, as Brad and I exchanged percussive mayhem. It was truly one of the most memorable performances with Nick.
(L-R) Brandon Beachum, Nick Rudd, Elizabeth Simpson, Brian Reedy, Jason Finkelman, Iron Post, June 30, 2017