Steve Coleman and Five Elements

Steve Coleman and Five Elements, with their soon to be released live performance at the renowned Village Vanguard in New York City, “Mdw Ntr,” finds MacArthur Fellow Steve Coleman exploring new terrain in his use of non-linear performance practices in his music. Featuring his long-running flagship ensemble Five Elements, he utilizes spontaneous and pre-composed modules, or motivic cells that can be played in any order, allowing each musician to spontaneously jump forward or backward to different sections – even between compositions – highlighting different strata of the music and reinventing the form in a completely interactive way with each performance.
Featured prominently is long-time collaborator and spoken word artist, Kokayi, who brings a freewheeling, rhythmically-acute, almost tent revival aesthetic to the proceedings. Together, they continue to push the possibilities for spontaneous composition and improvisation.