Athens an unlikely ACME for experimental jazz

Considering that Athens is not a town where free jazz and improv are known to thrive, the undertaking of such a large improvised music event, like the five-day Athens Creative Media Encounter Festival, is hugely ambitious and adventurous. ACME co-organizer Erik Hinds doesn't seem too worried, though. As a matter of fact, he seems pretty confident with Athens as the festival's host.

"There's tremendous confluence in Athens," Hinds says emphatically. "The art, music and activist populations seem to love new and challenging music and the people who make it."

Hinds remembers festival discussions with co-organizers -- Chicago saxophone powerhouse Ken Vandermark and fellow Athens musician Julie Powell -- beginning several years ago, following a DKV (Hamid Drake, Kent Kessler & Vandermark) residency set up by Hinds and Powell for the UGA music department. But it would be another event that would really set the ACME wheels in motion.

"After the success of the Golden Quartet [Wadada Leo Smith with Anthony Davis, Jack DeJohnette and the late Malachi Favors] concert that Julie and I arranged in 2000 -- 1,000 paid attendees at UGA's Hodgson Hall -- that in my mind was the green light," says Hinds.

Since then, Athens has hosted a regular schedule of concerts involving experimental, free jazz artists, including the phenomenal Peter Brötzmann/Drake duo in 2002. German saxophonist Brötzmann will be the featured artist at ACME. Listeners will not only get the opportunity to hear him in a duo setting, they'll get to experience his world-famous Chicago tentet twice. Brötzmann has brought his 10-member outfit -- four saxophones, strings, brass, and two percussionists -- to Atlanta before and they never fail to amaze. They cover the entire jazz spectrum, swerving through a storm of orchestration from composition to improvisation.

Unfortunately, original tentet percussionist Drake will not be joining the group this time around, but in his place will be a drummer of equal talent: Paal Nilssen-Love. Nilssen-Love is a man whose propensity for active, inventive playing needs to be seen live to be believed. Like Brötzmann, listeners will have many opportunities to see him. He'll be playing along with Scandinavian free bop quintet Atomic; in School Days, with supremely talented Chicago trombonist Jeb Bishop, Vandermark and bassist Ingebrigt Hker-Flaten; and in the Thing with innovative saxophonists Joe McPhee and Mats Gustafsson. Another ACME highlight will be 50-year tenor saxophone veteran Joe Maneri, playing twice with his son, sublime violinist Mat Maneri.

Kicking off the festival will be an opening ceremony at the Athens Institute of Contemporary Art, showcasing Brötzmann's visual art titled "The Inexplicable Flyswatter (Works On Paper: 1959-64)." Attendees can also attend rehearsals for the Chicago tentet as well as School Days and Atomic on Thursday and Friday, April 1 and 2 at Nuci's Space. All rehearsals are free and open to the public. And if that weren't enough, internationally recognized journalists Kevin Whitehead and John Corbett will be leading music-writing seminars for all those interested.

It's amazing to think that such an incredible feat as ACME can happen in a town like Athens. But then again, maybe it's time to remember Athens for what it is: a mecca for creativity and unpredictable waves of musical trends. That's how Mr. Hinds seems to think of it.

ACME, Thurs.-Sun., April 1-4. 40 Watt Club and ATHICA, Athens. Festival passes $50, individual shows $20. www.acmefestival.com.