Unconvential Recipes: Burnt Sugar

UCI's series of events celebrating Black History Month ended with the Black Urban Music Conference to discuss this particular style of music and its implications, later put on display with a concert from the jazz improvisational band Burnt Sugar, the Arkestra Chamber.

Burnt Sugar brought their jazz flavor to Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 28, in a concert topping off this year’s first Black Urban Music Conference at UCI. Among the stylish array of fedoras, sunglasses, scarves, and popped collars, eight members of the jazz improvisation band Burnt Sugar, the Arkestra Chamber performed in the Winifred Smith Hall for an audience of around 50 people.

Setting the casual and fluid tone of the night, band members strode onstage from their seats in the audience or through the front doors with the guests. Despite the band’s basis in New York City, many of the arriving audience members included fans, friends and colleagues of theirs, as well as UCI students, attendees of the conference, and others just there for the jazz experience.

“I don’t really know what to expect. I’m just here to take it in,” said Emma, a second year dance major, who came as an assignment for her dance class to experience live jazz music.

Music with meaning

Many had been in attendance at the conference earlier in the day and were returning for this concert. Put on by UCI’s new music PhD program, Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology (ICIT), the conference encouraged discussion among artists about their work, their influences and the impact that they can have on culture. Guest speakers included the likes of rapper Ugochi, vocalist and music producer Ryat, cultural activist the Agindotan Family Project, and hip-hop producer Ras G.

Nicole Mitchell, a core professor in ICIT and the director of the conference, said that one of her motivations in forming the event came from what she saw as a shortcoming representing black music in academia.

"African American music, culture and history speaks to the core of American history and culture, and presently our students are being denied access through limited exposure while studying at UCI. Our students should not be put at a disadvantage. When they depart from UCI with their degree, they should be prepared to navigate the diverse multidimensional environment of our American population. They shouldn't pay tuition and study diligently to enter into the world with ignorance, ” Mitchell said.

“A very special cat”

Walking onstage in a long white coat with a stiff collar wearing a checkered golf cap to test a guitar was one of the most celebrated guests in attendance, Greg Tate. Tate is a prolific writer in subjects such as jazz, culture, politics, or his specialty, all three at once, and he spoke at the conference as the keynote speaker. He is one of the founders of Burnt Sugar and since 1999 the band has been a collective for artists to do experimental jazz, hip-hop, and soul. Those terms aren’t limiting though—they claim no boundaries to their genre or style, describing themselves as “a territory band, a neo-tribal thang, a community hang, a society music guild aspiring to the condition of all that is molten, glacial, racial, spacial, oceanic, mythic, antiphonal and telepathic” on their website.

The New York vibe

Around 30 minutes after the stated show-time, the band was all assembled and the audience had trickled in, filling up the small theater with their chatter about jazz and the conference speakers.

“It’s like this New York vibe, waiting for the show to start,” said Mitchell, the director of the conference, and an improvisational musician herself.

But once they began playing, the audience couldn’t stop bobbing their heads. Each of their songs induced tapping and swaying to the rhythm and provocative, catchy lyrics. While they did have a set-list of songs written by founder Greg Tate, the group thrives on improvisation. Each musician received solo time to play with the music and turn it into something unique. Their ensemble included guitar, bass, saxophone, flute, horn, drums, vocals and the occasional harmonica.

“Pray to the sound gods”

While there were minor technical problems turning the microphones and speakers on for the variety of instruments, Burnt Sugar was still loud enough to be heard in the small space and continued with good humor. Mid-song, Tate came to the front to conduct and egged members into battles, especially between the saxophone and the trumpet, back and forth in fervor.

Guests from the audience, friends of the band and other band members present, came on stage throughout the nig

ht to perform with them. Among them was the event’s coordinator, Mitchell, a renowned flutist and composer, who joined them without missing a beat. Others included keyboardists and vocalists.

Burnt Sugar’s wild, improvised energy and music kept the audience entertained for two hours, running past their scheduled slot but ending the night with a loud standing ovation

Photo by: Nicole Block

#jazz #uci #clairetrevor