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Please click on the links below to read about our projects in development.
1. Icons Among Us: jazz in the present tense - Documentary Television Series.
1. The Wild.
Official Website
Icons Among Us: jazz in the present tense, a documentary series, looks at the Jazz music scene today. Through interviews, performance footage, and the voices of the musicians themselves, we will explore this music and the divergent influences that are shaping the world of Jazz at the beginning of the 21st Century.
Not a historical look at what has been called America's Music but a timely, vibrant trip through the clubs, festivals, and lives of this new generation of jazz musicians. Never before has jazz music been so many different things to so many different people, from hip hop to bebop from jam band to free form, the music continues to grow and shape itself in ways as varied as the musicians who play it. "Icons ..." is a look at all of this and more.
The Four Episodes
Episode 1 - A Quiet Revolution
The inaugural movement of the series directly challenging perceptions of what jazz is and what it is becoming by examining its innovative new voices as well as their influential forebears. We discover the primary questions associated with the jazz artists' quest to define themselves and their art form. They bravely communicate their allegiance to the present time in the face of jazz legacies that are monumental. The new voices as well as the powerful journeymen weigh in on their search for mentorship and its powerful effect on success. Our dialogue unfolds with Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, Jason Moran, Russell Gunn, Matthew Shipp, Avishai Cohen, Bill Frisell, Greg Osby, Robert Glasper, Bugge Wesseltoft, Aaron Parks, Lionel Loueke, Frank Lacy and David King, featuring interview appearances with Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Joe Lavano and George Wein.
Episode 2 - 12 Notes In Real Time
12 notes is all you have in western music. Inside that tiny box one finds expressions of love, friendship, glory, pain, joy and humor. 12 notes. The difficult part is to spin and space those notes in real time, in front of a live audience. This is where everyday life is distilled in the fire of the ³deep ritual² of improvised music. This is where the true art of the jazz musician comes to life in the moment of connecting his and her inner universe to that of a larger world. This episode features Skerik, Marco Benevento, Gretchen Parlato, Ravi Coltrane, Dafnis Prieto, Esperanza Spalding, Chris Potter, Dave Holland, Danilo Perez, Anat Cohen and Dianne Reeves as they engage the world in a dialogue that could happen in no other time.
Episode 3 - "In the Spirit of Family"
In this episode Icons Among Us goes inside with a deeper look into the process, the lifestyle and the friendships that create a unique bond only a "band" can posses. If jazz could offer us a model for a society in which everyone contributes to a greater good rather than focusing on personal gain, it would be reflected in the exploration of the collaborative process. During the seven plus years of production, Icons has been able to capture the natural progression of select bands such as The Bad Plus, Soulive, Medeski Martin and Wood, E.S.T., Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra and Jason Moran and the Bandwagon who offer up new languages and a unique glimpse into an often ideal world.
Episode 4 - Everything Everywhere
The origins of jazz are mysterious; its journey less so. African rhythms finding western instruments. Folk musics of the Caribbean drifting north into the brackish waters of New Orleans, mingling with the blues, Native American spirit, and the individualistic impulse of restless democracy. The transmission of this enigmatic but eminently humane art form to the world and to the youth who live in the epicenters of its origins and lifeblood are the focus of our final episode. Courtney Pine and Richard Bona weigh in with incredible stories evoking the penetration of jazz DNA into the body of world music. Terence Blanchard, Stanton Moore, Roy Hargrove, Charlie Hunter, Donald Harrison and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band bring us home to New Orleans, a damaged but luminous vessel that still embodies a musical culture unique to the world.
Artists Participating in Icons Among Us
The Bad Plus, Paul de Barros (Journalist), Marco Benevento, Will Bernard
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, Terence Blanchard, Richard Bona
Matt Chamberlain, Anat Cohen, Avishai Cohen (bass), Avishai Cohen (trumpet)
Ravi Coltrane, Jamie Cullum, DJ Logic, daKAH, Amy Denio, Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dave Douglas and Brass Ecstasy, e.s.t., Bill Frisell, Garage a Trois
Robert Glasper, Russell Gunn, John Gilbreath (Director - Earshot Jazz Festival)
Brian Haas, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Donald Harrison, Jr., Dave Holland
Charlie Hunter, Vijay Iyer, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Ashley Kahn (Journalist)
Robin Kelly (Historian), Frank Lacy, Brady Lahr, Joe Lovano, Lionel Loueke
Jessica Lurie, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Reed Mathis, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Stanton Moore, Jason Moran
Idris Muhammad, Greg Osby, Aaron Parks, Gretchen Parlato, Nicholas Payton
Danilo Perez, Courtney Pine, Tineke Postma, Chris Potter, Dafnis Prieto
Dianne Reeves, Damion Reid, Eric Revis , Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joe Russo
John Scofield, Matthew Shipp, Wayne Shorter, Skerik, Jason Smart
Soulive, Esperanza Spalding, Christopher Thomas, Robert Walter
George Wein, Bugge Wesseltoft, Miguel Zenon
Icons Among Us: Jazz in the present tense: Credits
A four-part film series sponsored by Don Q Premium Rum
in association with Rums of Puerto Rico
presented by The Documentary Channel
Production Co.: Paradigm Studio
Executive Producer: John W. Comerford
Co-Producer: Theo Ianuly
Associate Producer: B Dahlia
Co-Directed by Michael Rivoira, Lars Larson & Peter J. Vogt
Story by Peter J. Vogt, Kristian R. Hill, & Michael Rivoira
Director of Photography: Lars Larson
Editor: Kristian R. Hill
Title design by David Llama
Post Production Sound: David Pellicciaro, Lucky Devil Sound
Music Supervisor: Charles Raggio
Production Manager: B Dahlia
Associate Editor: David Llama
Editorial Assistant: Kyle Richardson
Theatrical Mix Re-Recording Mixer: Gary Rizzo
Theatrical Mix Post Production Sound Facility: Skywalker Sound
Additional Camera Operators: Jonathan Houser, Pete Vogt, Bill Cote,
John Comerford, Jeff Feller, Trevor Wierson, Doug Hostetter,
James K. Henley, Kyle Carver, Ryan Purcell, Mike Prevette
Audio Recording Engineers: B Dahlia, John Comerford, Michael Rivoira,
Chris Chappell, Trevor Wierson, Thomas Bell, Bob Marts, Bruce Foster
Camera Assistants/Grip/Electric: David La Carubba, Randy DeLeo,
Xavier Henselmann, Peter Ferren, Ian Holden
Art Director for Filmed Still Photography: Jason Puccinelli
Graphic Designers: Harold Mullen/Hapnin Design, Laurel Huggins, Shannon Karnofski
Transcriber: Andrea Valesko
Cameras Supplied by Optimistic Camera Co.
Film Lab: AlphaCine, Seattle
Post Production Services: Modern Digital, Seattle
Archival footage & photography: Getty Images
Public Relations: Sacks & Co.
Additional Public Relations: SWPR Group
Cyber Publicity: Ariel Hyatt Publicity
Concert Tour Producer: Charles Raggio
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Tsonoqua
There is an island on the fringe of the archipelago that is Southeast Alaska where something ancient sleeps. Millennia of oral history tell that She is awakened when a terrible wrong must be accounted for - when the People come to her once again through the mist - past the shards of black reef that guard her beaches - when the one who has upset the balance has been brought to her. The People have described her in many ways; "Thief of Souls and Children," "Cannibal Giant"..."The Wild Woman." Said to whistle fiercely through the rainforest and live deep underground, she is strong enough to tear down large trees and make the earth tremble with her voice. She is known by many names, but People of the coast only whisper one with such dread: "Dzonoqua."
Tsonoqua begins at her awakening.
Southeast Alaska - Before - Two young brothers from the Raven Clan lie in wait next to the swirling water of a river that cuts through the tangled moss and gnarled roots of the temperate rainforest. They spring from their hiding places into the frigid waters, causing an explosion of living bodies as spawning salmon thrash through the water, fleeing the boys. What begins as mischief transforms into malice and disaster as the older brother loses himself and kills one salmon after another, leaving them twitching and flopping on the banks of the river. The younger brother attempts to stop him but is overpowered. The worst taboo of their clan broken, both boys seem to snap out of a spell and turn to find the terrible Shaman of their people staring at them, standing among the dead and dying salmon.
The next morning a great cedar canoe slices through dark waters at dawn, circumnavigating the mountainous island. It lands on a beach that seems devoid of human presence - except for one ominous totem that squats prodigiously at the edge of a spruce forest. The two brothers are left on the beach even though the younger of the two thrashes through the water weeping and pleading to his mother. The boat continues to move out to sea as the Shaman stares back at the banished brothers stoically - until he and the wild keening of the boys' mother disappear completely into the vapor that swirls low over the water. The brothers are now alone - save for the presence that moves slowly toward them from the depth of the trees.
Juneau - Southeast Alaska - Now - Meg, a passionate Alaskan field nurse is called in crisis to embark on her first assignment into the wilderness. She is torn between the urgency of the mission and the fear of leaving her daughter, Becky with someone else for the first time since a shared tragedy five years earlier. Meg's anguish is compounded by the sudden recurrence of Becky's troubling "Visions" that have haunted her since birth. Meg finally makes the painful decision to bring Becky along on the mission into an unknown and potentially dangerous world. Embarking together, their turbulent journey begins on the fishing vessel 'Chinook' - helmed by Dunn, a surly Alaskan Captain and his shadowy deckhand, Steve. They arrive through the night, only to find the entire tribal fishing village Meg was sent to help has been suddenly abandoned.
A violent storm ensues. Meg and Becky are separated from the doomed Chinook then stranded on a mountainous island stained with the blood of broken taboos. In the heart of the forest, Meg and Becky find Walter, a guarded Native man who jealously protects the history of his people as fiercely as his own. In a quest for survival, Meg will come face to face with her past while protecting what is precious to her most. On this lush but ominous ground she will face her deepest fears, and in her darkest hour uncover the truth about a secret blood-line and what terrible presence moves through the forest when it is awakened.
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