This Sam Rivers Legacy Rehearsal was held at the Timucua Arts Foundation. Sam Rivers is one of the greatest jazz legends of our time, having performed for over 70 years. In the 1970’s he was one of the first artists to open a jazz cultural center in Greenwich New York, which was used as a venue to help artists develop their talents and gain a reputation. Sam Rivers died the day after Christmas in 2011 at the age of 88 in Orlando Florida.
I was lucky enough to hear Sam Rivers perform live within a few months of having started this blog back in 2009. He performed live at the Maitland Art Center at the closing party for the Florida Film Festival. As a visual artist ,it felt liberating to sketch while listening to Sam Rivers perfuming jazz music. Lines and washes danced on the page with a wild abandon while swaying to the beat.
Sketching the Rejuvenation Orchestra Rehearsal was very much a similar experience. Lines would be thrown down on the page while being inspired by the ebb and flow of the music. All the musicians were arranged in a circle and a single microphone sat at the center of the circle created. I imagined the musicians being very much relaxed in the rehearsal since the stakes were not as high as during a live performance with an audience. There was laughter and camaraderie between sets.
This is the type of setting that I am most inspired by. Any mistakes were forgivable and the performers organically started to pull together as a whole. Finding variety in volume was an issue discussed. Playing sifter to start allowed for a greater crescendo as the music progressed.
I needed to stand to get the sketch, since a balcony railing would have blocked my view if I was seated. That meant that I could sway my hips and dance as needed as I sketched to the beat.