Oct. 16th – Hooker-Niblock/Flowers Of The Spirit

Performances

  • William Hooker (US)
  • Phill Niblock (US)
Cinematheque
304 - 100 Arthur Street
$10 | 7:00pm

It’s our great pleasure to present an evening with legendary drummer, poet, and composer William Hooker, screening at Cinematheque and available to rent online. The two-part program features a collaboration between William Hooker and filmmaker/composer Phill Niblock, followed by an exclusive presentation of a brand-new solo work, “Flowers of the Spirit,” recorded for this occasion.

If you’re planning on attending, please read and carefully follow social distancing and safety guidelines. The theatrical screening is SOLD OUT, but you can view this program free on-demand at the Winnipeg Film Group website.

Co-presented with WNDX and Winnipeg Film Group.

William Hooker is an artistic whole, a vast circle of vision and execution. A body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his compositional agenda and the science of the modern drum kit. As a player, Hooker has long been known for the persuasive power of his relationship with his instrument. His work is frequently grounded in a narrative context. Whether set against a silent film or anchored by a poetic theme, Hooker brings dramatic tension and human warmth to avant-garde jazz. His ability to find fertile ground for moving music in a variety of settings that obliterate genre distinctions offers a much-needed statement of social optimism in the arts.

Phill Niblock (b. 1933, USA) is an artist whose fifty-year career spans minimalist and experimental music, film and photography. Since 1985, he has served as director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York with a branch in Ghent, and curator of the foundation’s record label XI. Known for his thick, loud drones of music, Niblock’s signature sound is filled with microtones of instrumental timbres that generate many other tones in the performance space. In 2013, his diverse artistic career was the subject of a retrospective realised in partnership between Circuit (Contemporary Art Centre Lausanne) and Musée de l’Elysée. The following year Niblock was honoured with the prestigious Foundation for Contemporary Arts John Cage Award.