Close out the summer at CMC with a two-night festival of music and poetry from Bay Area artists who have performed nationally and internationally, spreading the word and the sound through improvisation, composition, and heartfelt truth-speaking. “Persistence” takes place September 25 and 26 at 7pm, featuring artists who have built decades-long careers on stages across the country and around the world.
We spoke with the artist behind the project, musician and poet Lewis Jordan, about his approach to the stage and the vision driving this ambitious lineup.
The inspiration behind the project traces back to Jordan’s own artistic community. “I wanted to feature the group I perform with within the context of presenting other performers with whom I share artistic values and influences,” he says. “All the performers in this two-night festival share an appreciation of improvisational music and spoken words from the heart with a moral compass.”
That same spirit shaped how he brought this impressive lineup of local talent together. “I wanted all the groups to be completely comfortable with improvisation,” Jordan explains. “I wanted all the poets to be comfortable in the strength of the spoken word in an energetic and improvisational setting, even though they will be delivering a cappella.” Many of these collaborations go back years: “I have had the good fortune to work with most of the performers on one occasion or another over many years.”
As for what he hopes audiences will take away, Jordan expects a wide range of experiences. “I imagine audiences will have a range of experience with the music,” he says. “Some in the audience may have been around when many on stage were beginning to be heard in the Bay Area, and they will celebrate in the confirmation with us the persistence of our approach to music. Some may be less familiar with improvisational music and spoken word with the ‘creative insistence’ that we will be bringing—I hope that they will be excited and inspired by the freedom and intensity the performers will be bringing.” Above all, he hopes for a kind of creative crossover: “I hope all may at times be surprised how music can open us up to poetry, and how poetry can open us up to music.”
The choice of venue carries its own history for Jordan. “I have been familiar with CMC for decades, having lived a long time in the Mission and elsewhere in the Bay Area,” he says. “I’ve appreciated it as a cultural center.” What ultimately sealed the decision was a concert he attended earlier this year. “The key factor is that early this year I attended a concert at CMC (David James’ ‘Mission Rebel No. 1’), and that experience coincided with my own developing idea of where I might want to present a project which I had just begun to think about,” he recalls. “I was very much interested in a space that invited community broadly.”
Don’t think twice! Book your ticket online and become part of an artistic community eager to share its art with you: Get your tickets here.